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Land use in advancing agriculture
334
The authors b o w out with a laudable concluding statement that stresses the importance of the ecosystem approach and the predicament that m a n n o w finds himself in. They avoid the error of a long concluding chapter. In summarising m y idiosyncratic response to the book, the authors have achieved a fairly good balance in their approach. Inclusion of material in response to the above criticisms would have meant either shortening or omitting other topics, or lengthening the book. The rather superficial treatment of some topics is an inevitable outcome of the fairly successful attempt at a broad coverage. The major criticism is the order of presentation. Considering Dynamic Ecology in the light of the authors' objectives must result in a rather different evaluation. Their rejection of a systematic summary of the body of ecological knowledge in favour of the more lively and challenging approach of examining portions of that body through descriptions of selected examples makes the book interesting and easy to read. The approach is less suitable for beginning students, however, since of necessity it results in a rather uneven treatment of topics and the exclusion of several subjects that deserve inclusion. The book is therefore more suitable for a second course in ecology rather than for an introduction to the subject. Dynamic Ecology is a readable, well presented book, liberally provided with generally good illustrations. There are several minor errors in the text but these are not sufficient to detract from the overall high quality of the book. A glossary would have helped beginning students: the text assumes the knowledge of quite a number of technical terms. For many teaching applications, Dynamic Ecology should prove to be very useful, and in the light of their objectives, the authors succeeded in producing a very worthwhile book. J.P. KIMMINS
(Vancouver, B.C., Canada)
LAND USE AND ECOLOGY
Land Use in Advancing Agriculture. Vol. I of Advanced Series in Agricultural Sciences. A.P.A. Vink. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, N.Y., 1975, 394 pp., 94 figures, 115 tables, DM 60.00, US $ 25.80, ISBN 3-540-07091-5. This book has a very modest title.Besides agricultural land use, also nonagricultural land use, land evaluation and classification,planning of land use and planning of land improvement are dealt with. It addresses agronomists, soil scientists,geographers and planners, but will also be useful reading for terrestrialsystem ecologists. Because of the synthetic character of the text, the reader should have a reasonable training and previous experience in pedology, plant science and economics.
335
Land use is alternatively defined either as any kind of permanent or cyclic human intervention to satisfy human needs (p.1) or as the management and improvement of land resources (p.264). It is rather difficult to see why the author includes hunting and game cropping and excludes nomadism, since the latter is a consistent way of cropping the vegetation. The sections on land use, land potentialities, land evaluation and land-use planning are extremely up to date. The sequential treatment of these various activities leads to a certain degree of cyclic repetition and several duplications, such as Wiener's "geometry of human demands" (pp. 176 and 327), the subject of investments in land improvements (pp. 214 and 278) and the enumeration of major land qualities (pp. 198 and 284). Unique parts of the book are undoubtedly those dealing with land resources (properties and conditions affecting land use, mainly for agricultural purposes, pp. 66--130), the intercompatibility of different kinds of land use (pp. 186--194) and the paragraph on land evaluation classifications (pp. 280 --295). Most statements are given in qualitative terms, although there are a few general references to quantitative treatments (pp. 304--311). However, numerous references for further study facilitate a more thorough approach. In some cases, the citation of the core of an author's contribution in the form of a table or a diagram has resulted in a paucity of legends and other clarifications, as in the figures on pp. 224, 229 and 307. Ecology is brought in as a supporting science for the purposes of judging possibilities for a sustained agriculture, of obtaining a holistic view of landscapes, of assessing the best conditions for nature conservation areas or as a reminder that long term effects may show a picture that is different from the present experiences. Many ecologists would frown at the sweeping subdivision of cultivated plants into the ecological classes of cryophilous and non-cryophilous. They would also remember that there is no convincing proof as yet for a relation between heterogeneity in gradient zones and ecological stability (pp. 195--196). Though soil fertility is not a major line of the book, it is regrettable that soil organic matter and organic matter depletion as dominant ecological factors, determining the physical and mineral properties of the plant growth substrate, have been left out altogether. The figure 7.13 on p. 360, explaining the balance between economic, social and ecological viewpoints in land development, suffers from the wrong supposition that the total cannot exceed 100%. In view of the rapidly increasing demands for food and space of the world population, land use types in the different parts of the world are becoming more and more intertwined. Better planning and management will be badly needed. This book will help leaders and experts to organize in the best ways.
G.J. VERVELDE
(Wageningen, The Netherlands)
The authors b o w out with a laudable concluding statement that stresses the importance of the ecosystem approach and the predicament that m a n n o w finds himself in. They avoid the error of a long concluding chapter. In summarising m y idiosyncratic response to the book, the authors have achieved a fairly good balance in their approach. Inclusion of material in response to the above criticisms would have meant either shortening or omitting other topics, or lengthening the book. The rather superficial treatment of some topics is an inevitable outcome of the fairly successful attempt at a broad coverage. The major criticism is the order of presentation. Considering Dynamic Ecology in the light of the authors' objectives must result in a rather different evaluation. Their rejection of a systematic summary of the body of ecological knowledge in favour of the more lively and challenging approach of examining portions of that body through descriptions of selected examples makes the book interesting and easy to read. The approach is less suitable for beginning students, however, since of necessity it results in a rather uneven treatment of topics and the exclusion of several subjects that deserve inclusion. The book is therefore more suitable for a second course in ecology rather than for an introduction to the subject. Dynamic Ecology is a readable, well presented book, liberally provided with generally good illustrations. There are several minor errors in the text but these are not sufficient to detract from the overall high quality of the book. A glossary would have helped beginning students: the text assumes the knowledge of quite a number of technical terms. For many teaching applications, Dynamic Ecology should prove to be very useful, and in the light of their objectives, the authors succeeded in producing a very worthwhile book. J.P. KIMMINS
(Vancouver, B.C., Canada)
LAND USE AND ECOLOGY
Land Use in Advancing Agriculture. Vol. I of Advanced Series in Agricultural Sciences. A.P.A. Vink. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, N.Y., 1975, 394 pp., 94 figures, 115 tables, DM 60.00, US $ 25.80, ISBN 3-540-07091-5. This book has a very modest title.Besides agricultural land use, also nonagricultural land use, land evaluation and classification,planning of land use and planning of land improvement are dealt with. It addresses agronomists, soil scientists,geographers and planners, but will also be useful reading for terrestrialsystem ecologists. Because of the synthetic character of the text, the reader should have a reasonable training and previous experience in pedology, plant science and economics.
335
Land use is alternatively defined either as any kind of permanent or cyclic human intervention to satisfy human needs (p.1) or as the management and improvement of land resources (p.264). It is rather difficult to see why the author includes hunting and game cropping and excludes nomadism, since the latter is a consistent way of cropping the vegetation. The sections on land use, land potentialities, land evaluation and land-use planning are extremely up to date. The sequential treatment of these various activities leads to a certain degree of cyclic repetition and several duplications, such as Wiener's "geometry of human demands" (pp. 176 and 327), the subject of investments in land improvements (pp. 214 and 278) and the enumeration of major land qualities (pp. 198 and 284). Unique parts of the book are undoubtedly those dealing with land resources (properties and conditions affecting land use, mainly for agricultural purposes, pp. 66--130), the intercompatibility of different kinds of land use (pp. 186--194) and the paragraph on land evaluation classifications (pp. 280 --295). Most statements are given in qualitative terms, although there are a few general references to quantitative treatments (pp. 304--311). However, numerous references for further study facilitate a more thorough approach. In some cases, the citation of the core of an author's contribution in the form of a table or a diagram has resulted in a paucity of legends and other clarifications, as in the figures on pp. 224, 229 and 307. Ecology is brought in as a supporting science for the purposes of judging possibilities for a sustained agriculture, of obtaining a holistic view of landscapes, of assessing the best conditions for nature conservation areas or as a reminder that long term effects may show a picture that is different from the present experiences. Many ecologists would frown at the sweeping subdivision of cultivated plants into the ecological classes of cryophilous and non-cryophilous. They would also remember that there is no convincing proof as yet for a relation between heterogeneity in gradient zones and ecological stability (pp. 195--196). Though soil fertility is not a major line of the book, it is regrettable that soil organic matter and organic matter depletion as dominant ecological factors, determining the physical and mineral properties of the plant growth substrate, have been left out altogether. The figure 7.13 on p. 360, explaining the balance between economic, social and ecological viewpoints in land development, suffers from the wrong supposition that the total cannot exceed 100%. In view of the rapidly increasing demands for food and space of the world population, land use types in the different parts of the world are becoming more and more intertwined. Better planning and management will be badly needed. This book will help leaders and experts to organize in the best ways.
G.J. VERVELDE
(Wageningen, The Netherlands)