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Pollen of wet evergreen forest of the western Ghats, India
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Book Reviews~Reviewof Palaeobotany and Palynology 83 (1994) 351-354
book which is thorough and detailed but which lacks a challenging and pithy individualistic approach. It is a report and synthesis of the current status of understanding of past ecosystems which covers much general ground with scattered examples of individual fossil sites. The book covers a wide subject and chapters fall into two categories: after a brief introductory chapter on evolutionary palaeoecology there are three chapters on interpretation of fossil assemblages including a lengthy and valuable review of taphonomy. The last three chapters methodically cover Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic terrestrial ecosystems during each geological period. Most people will read selected chapters in depth for an overview of a particular aspect of ecosystem analysis and then dip in later for specific topics. The reference lists are extensive and up to date (1987 was an initiation date, references include 1991 publications). This book does not yet answer all the challenges of the ecology-evolution interface, but it is to be commended strongly as a start, a catalyst for further ideas and studies and a sound base from which to proceed. J.L. CHAPMAN (Cambridge)
Pollen of Wet Evergreen Forests of the Western Ghats, India, by C. Tissot, H. Chikhi and T.S. Nayar. Publications du d6partment d'6cologie, Institut Fran9ais de Pondicherry, No. 35. 1994, 133 pp, bound. [The French Institute is offering this volume at a special price up to 31st of December 1994 for US$20 or French francs 120 (postage included). Address: French Institute of Pondicherry, P.B. 33, Pondicherry 605001, India.] We know the French Institute of Pondicherry in India to be productive in the field of producing helpful documents for palynological studies. The pollen atlas of the Western Ghats has been published in collaboration with the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram. The atlas shows, on 75 plates, the pollen morphology of 162 species, belonging to 44 families of the wet evergreen mountain flora of the Western Ghats, located
along the coast of southwestern India. The plates include good quality light microscope photos. For most genera also one or more good quality SEM photos are added. The plates are printed on glossy paper and the comfortable lay-out makes it a pleasure to use this pollen atlas when searching for the identification of fossil pollen grains. A pollen morphological key is not given but all species are described in short. Data about the geographical and altitudinal distribution of the taxa studied are included. The book has an alphabetical list of species, arranged after family. It ends with a morphological index and an index of taxa. So, the authors offer the user several entries to find his way in this book. The pollen flora of the Indian subcontinent has been documented by several regional pollen atlases: North-West Himalaya (Gupta and Sharma, 1986), Western Himalaya (Nair, 1965), Maharashtra State (Nayar, 1990), Upper Gangetic Plain (Rao and Shukla, 1975), the South Indian mountains (Vasanthy, 1976) and the Western Ghats (present volume). The atlas of the Western Ghats offers the best quality photographs. Palynologists working in the area of the Indian subcontinent, in the Quaternary as well as in older geological periods, may find this work very useful. It is a pleasure to note that several laboratories around the world are still able to perform pollen morphological studies of regional floras and prepare regional pollen atlases. Indeed, as the directors of the two institutes write in their foreword, palynology plays an important role in studies of past climatic change. Pollen atlases offer valuable instrumentation to these researchers. But how odd it is to note that many funding bodies have so little interest to support pollenmorphological studies. This well produced book deserves a wide distribution in palynological laboratories. Although 77 out of the 162 illustrated species are endemic to the Western Ghats, many others are also common in other tropical or subtropical areas, such as Africa. This makes the present atlas also useful for palynologists working in other areas. The price is very reasonable which will stimulate that individual researchers have it at close hand during routine analysis. H. HOOGHIEMSTRA (Amsterdam)
Book Reviews~Reviewof Palaeobotany and Palynology 83 (1994) 351-354
book which is thorough and detailed but which lacks a challenging and pithy individualistic approach. It is a report and synthesis of the current status of understanding of past ecosystems which covers much general ground with scattered examples of individual fossil sites. The book covers a wide subject and chapters fall into two categories: after a brief introductory chapter on evolutionary palaeoecology there are three chapters on interpretation of fossil assemblages including a lengthy and valuable review of taphonomy. The last three chapters methodically cover Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic terrestrial ecosystems during each geological period. Most people will read selected chapters in depth for an overview of a particular aspect of ecosystem analysis and then dip in later for specific topics. The reference lists are extensive and up to date (1987 was an initiation date, references include 1991 publications). This book does not yet answer all the challenges of the ecology-evolution interface, but it is to be commended strongly as a start, a catalyst for further ideas and studies and a sound base from which to proceed. J.L. CHAPMAN (Cambridge)
Pollen of Wet Evergreen Forests of the Western Ghats, India, by C. Tissot, H. Chikhi and T.S. Nayar. Publications du d6partment d'6cologie, Institut Fran9ais de Pondicherry, No. 35. 1994, 133 pp, bound. [The French Institute is offering this volume at a special price up to 31st of December 1994 for US$20 or French francs 120 (postage included). Address: French Institute of Pondicherry, P.B. 33, Pondicherry 605001, India.] We know the French Institute of Pondicherry in India to be productive in the field of producing helpful documents for palynological studies. The pollen atlas of the Western Ghats has been published in collaboration with the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram. The atlas shows, on 75 plates, the pollen morphology of 162 species, belonging to 44 families of the wet evergreen mountain flora of the Western Ghats, located
along the coast of southwestern India. The plates include good quality light microscope photos. For most genera also one or more good quality SEM photos are added. The plates are printed on glossy paper and the comfortable lay-out makes it a pleasure to use this pollen atlas when searching for the identification of fossil pollen grains. A pollen morphological key is not given but all species are described in short. Data about the geographical and altitudinal distribution of the taxa studied are included. The book has an alphabetical list of species, arranged after family. It ends with a morphological index and an index of taxa. So, the authors offer the user several entries to find his way in this book. The pollen flora of the Indian subcontinent has been documented by several regional pollen atlases: North-West Himalaya (Gupta and Sharma, 1986), Western Himalaya (Nair, 1965), Maharashtra State (Nayar, 1990), Upper Gangetic Plain (Rao and Shukla, 1975), the South Indian mountains (Vasanthy, 1976) and the Western Ghats (present volume). The atlas of the Western Ghats offers the best quality photographs. Palynologists working in the area of the Indian subcontinent, in the Quaternary as well as in older geological periods, may find this work very useful. It is a pleasure to note that several laboratories around the world are still able to perform pollen morphological studies of regional floras and prepare regional pollen atlases. Indeed, as the directors of the two institutes write in their foreword, palynology plays an important role in studies of past climatic change. Pollen atlases offer valuable instrumentation to these researchers. But how odd it is to note that many funding bodies have so little interest to support pollenmorphological studies. This well produced book deserves a wide distribution in palynological laboratories. Although 77 out of the 162 illustrated species are endemic to the Western Ghats, many others are also common in other tropical or subtropical areas, such as Africa. This makes the present atlas also useful for palynologists working in other areas. The price is very reasonable which will stimulate that individual researchers have it at close hand during routine analysis. H. HOOGHIEMSTRA (Amsterdam)