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Mangroves of Vietnam
Aquatic botany ELSEVIER
Aquatic Botany52 (1995) 155-159
Book reviews
Mangroves Mangroves of Vietnam, Phan Nguyen Hong and Hoang Thi San. IUCN, Bangkok, 1993, 173 pp., ISBN 2-8317-0166-x. Available from IUCN South-East Asia Regional Office, Asian Institute of Technology, GPO Box 2754, Bangkok 10501, Thailand. The literature on the mangroves is substantial and actively expanding. Even so, it is sometimes difficult to obtain up-to-date overviews of mangrove research for individual geographic areas. This is not necessarily because the study of mangroves in those areas is in neglect or because periodic review is lacking. Rather, it is often because the existence of published material is either not notified widely and/or because it is printed in languages which may not be widely understood. Vietnam is one of the areas so affected, with the notable exception of worldwide publicity given to the devastating effects of herbicide spraying during the Vietnam war. Thus, the production of Mangroves of Vietnam in the English language should be of considerable interest. The authors are to be congratulated on their initiative, especially since it must have followed very soon after the establishment of the Mangrove Ecosystem Research Centre in Vietnam in 1987. As the authors explain, the purpose of the Centre is to plan, coordinate and execute mangrove research in the national interest. The need is obvious since they report an approximately 66% decrease of mangrove area in southern Vietnam alone after 1965 with "severe impact in recent years ... from shrimp-rearing activities". Mangroves of Vietnam is a quite small book covering its subject matter in seven chapters. The first deals with the national distribution and status of mangrove forests with brief discussion of the most obvious underlying controls. Chapter 2 is a descriptive account of the flora and fauna including an outline of the limited information presently available on productivity and trophic processes. The third chapter is devoted to a description of differences in the mangrove communities occurring along the coast, and the fourth to a successional interpretation of observed vegetational patterns. Chapter 5 turns to an account of traditional uses of mangrove resources and Chapter 6 to the questions of human impact; now a formidable problem. The final chapter treats current initiatives aimed at improved management and rehabilitation. There are also six appendices listing: (1) the recorded mangrove flora with the national distributions of the individual species; (2) the associated algae; (3) the ichthyofauna; (4) molluscs; (5) brachyurans and (6) polychaetes. This is a book that anyone active in mangrove research, tropical coastal zone management or environmental impact assessment would find essential reading. Although the scientific treatment is limited in scope and depth, it summarizes all of the information presently
156
Book reviews/Aquatic Botany 52 (1995) 155-159
available and thus clearly reveals outstanding gaps in knowledge. Documentation of the current status of the mangrove resource and of the socio-economic setting and its history is especially revealing. Improved understanding of the mangroves in Vietnam, it is most obvious, can only be of value to the extent that it can make a contribution to human welfare. It is most fitting that this publication should have appeared under the banner of the IUCN. J.S. BUNT
212 Lower Plateau Road Bilgola N.S.W. 2107 Australia
Biology of economic algae Biology of Economic Algae, I. Akatsuka. SPB Academic Pubishing, The Hague, 545 pp. ISBN 90-5103-093-2. This volume represents a novel approach to compiling a phycological monograph. It provides extended reviews of the biology of algal genera that are of general economic importance, or whose limited utilization might be extended. All of the genera are marine, multicellular and benthic. The editor and the authors of the various chapters are to be complimented for bringing a highly scattered literature together into one place, and for putting their own perspectives on the biology of their respective taxa. The volume treats 14 (mostly) genera of marine algae with ten and four chapters dealing with Rhodophyta and Phaeophyta, respectively. The organisms treated have a wide range of economic importance ranging from small scale harvesting or cottage industries (e.g. Dilsea, Neodilsea) to forming the basis for major extractive (e.g. Chondrus, Gracilariaceae, Macrocystis) or food industries (e.g. Durvillaea). The emphasis is on the basic biology rather than the biotechnology or details of industrial utilization. In all cases there is a detailed discussion of the taxonomy and the problems presented with generic or specific segregation in the complex. Several contributions include either dichotomous keys or tabular summaries of morphological traits of species; these could have been included for many additional genera. Taxa are considered mostly at the generic level with the exception of the Gracilariaceae. The genera treated and their authors are as follows: Ceramium and Campylaephora (Boo and Lee), Chondrus (Taylor and Chen), Furcellaria (Austin and Boettger), Gelidiella (Ganzon-Fortes), Gracilariaceae (Oliveira and Plastino), Gymnogongrus (Anderson), Hypnea (Mshigeni and Chapman), Pterocladia (Felicini and Perrone), Suhria (Anderson), Duroillaea (Hay),-Ecklonia (Bolton and Anderson), Lessonia (Edding, Fonck and Macchiavello) and Macrocystis (North). Oliveira and Plastino circumvent the recent discussions of generic segregation within Gracilaria and its segregates Gracilariopsis, Hydropuntia and Polycavernosa by discussing all of these collectively as "gracilarioid algae" or simply Gracilaria. This is supportable given the similarities in biology and economic applications of the various taxa, even if it is
Aquatic Botany52 (1995) 155-159
Book reviews
Mangroves Mangroves of Vietnam, Phan Nguyen Hong and Hoang Thi San. IUCN, Bangkok, 1993, 173 pp., ISBN 2-8317-0166-x. Available from IUCN South-East Asia Regional Office, Asian Institute of Technology, GPO Box 2754, Bangkok 10501, Thailand. The literature on the mangroves is substantial and actively expanding. Even so, it is sometimes difficult to obtain up-to-date overviews of mangrove research for individual geographic areas. This is not necessarily because the study of mangroves in those areas is in neglect or because periodic review is lacking. Rather, it is often because the existence of published material is either not notified widely and/or because it is printed in languages which may not be widely understood. Vietnam is one of the areas so affected, with the notable exception of worldwide publicity given to the devastating effects of herbicide spraying during the Vietnam war. Thus, the production of Mangroves of Vietnam in the English language should be of considerable interest. The authors are to be congratulated on their initiative, especially since it must have followed very soon after the establishment of the Mangrove Ecosystem Research Centre in Vietnam in 1987. As the authors explain, the purpose of the Centre is to plan, coordinate and execute mangrove research in the national interest. The need is obvious since they report an approximately 66% decrease of mangrove area in southern Vietnam alone after 1965 with "severe impact in recent years ... from shrimp-rearing activities". Mangroves of Vietnam is a quite small book covering its subject matter in seven chapters. The first deals with the national distribution and status of mangrove forests with brief discussion of the most obvious underlying controls. Chapter 2 is a descriptive account of the flora and fauna including an outline of the limited information presently available on productivity and trophic processes. The third chapter is devoted to a description of differences in the mangrove communities occurring along the coast, and the fourth to a successional interpretation of observed vegetational patterns. Chapter 5 turns to an account of traditional uses of mangrove resources and Chapter 6 to the questions of human impact; now a formidable problem. The final chapter treats current initiatives aimed at improved management and rehabilitation. There are also six appendices listing: (1) the recorded mangrove flora with the national distributions of the individual species; (2) the associated algae; (3) the ichthyofauna; (4) molluscs; (5) brachyurans and (6) polychaetes. This is a book that anyone active in mangrove research, tropical coastal zone management or environmental impact assessment would find essential reading. Although the scientific treatment is limited in scope and depth, it summarizes all of the information presently
156
Book reviews/Aquatic Botany 52 (1995) 155-159
available and thus clearly reveals outstanding gaps in knowledge. Documentation of the current status of the mangrove resource and of the socio-economic setting and its history is especially revealing. Improved understanding of the mangroves in Vietnam, it is most obvious, can only be of value to the extent that it can make a contribution to human welfare. It is most fitting that this publication should have appeared under the banner of the IUCN. J.S. BUNT
212 Lower Plateau Road Bilgola N.S.W. 2107 Australia
Biology of economic algae Biology of Economic Algae, I. Akatsuka. SPB Academic Pubishing, The Hague, 545 pp. ISBN 90-5103-093-2. This volume represents a novel approach to compiling a phycological monograph. It provides extended reviews of the biology of algal genera that are of general economic importance, or whose limited utilization might be extended. All of the genera are marine, multicellular and benthic. The editor and the authors of the various chapters are to be complimented for bringing a highly scattered literature together into one place, and for putting their own perspectives on the biology of their respective taxa. The volume treats 14 (mostly) genera of marine algae with ten and four chapters dealing with Rhodophyta and Phaeophyta, respectively. The organisms treated have a wide range of economic importance ranging from small scale harvesting or cottage industries (e.g. Dilsea, Neodilsea) to forming the basis for major extractive (e.g. Chondrus, Gracilariaceae, Macrocystis) or food industries (e.g. Durvillaea). The emphasis is on the basic biology rather than the biotechnology or details of industrial utilization. In all cases there is a detailed discussion of the taxonomy and the problems presented with generic or specific segregation in the complex. Several contributions include either dichotomous keys or tabular summaries of morphological traits of species; these could have been included for many additional genera. Taxa are considered mostly at the generic level with the exception of the Gracilariaceae. The genera treated and their authors are as follows: Ceramium and Campylaephora (Boo and Lee), Chondrus (Taylor and Chen), Furcellaria (Austin and Boettger), Gelidiella (Ganzon-Fortes), Gracilariaceae (Oliveira and Plastino), Gymnogongrus (Anderson), Hypnea (Mshigeni and Chapman), Pterocladia (Felicini and Perrone), Suhria (Anderson), Duroillaea (Hay),-Ecklonia (Bolton and Anderson), Lessonia (Edding, Fonck and Macchiavello) and Macrocystis (North). Oliveira and Plastino circumvent the recent discussions of generic segregation within Gracilaria and its segregates Gracilariopsis, Hydropuntia and Polycavernosa by discussing all of these collectively as "gracilarioid algae" or simply Gracilaria. This is supportable given the similarities in biology and economic applications of the various taxa, even if it is