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Primate ecology
BOOK model is being tested by the statistic they have chosen. Many texts do little to discourage this approach. Lehrnann’s book provides an excellent antidote to these and other misuses of non-parametrics. Lehmann’s book is not a ‘cookbook’ of test statistics, but rather a text that emphasizes the ways in which differina assumotions lead to differences in statistical proced&s: estimation, confidence intervals, and testing. This allows for the intelligent planning of studies as well as for analysis after the study is completed. The book focuses mainly on the procedures of the Wilwxon type, which can be obtained from the corresponding classical procedures by replacing the observations by their ranks. These methods have the advantage of being fairly simple and having good efficiency as detailed in the text. For each techniaue (where nossible). the accuracy of various required approximations are derived and discussed. Model assumptions and limitations on inference are given very careful treatment. Each chapter contains an excellent and up-to-date discussion of further literature. One does not find in this book the loose and careless uses of language so common in many other texts. Consequently the person who studies this text is likely to develon the beginnings of a true statistical judgment in the use‘ of a numbed of non-parametric orocedures. Much of the book is understandable to a person with a background of about two semesters of nrobabilityi statistics. The discussions of power and -sample-size determination. however. reouire somewhat more nrenaration. For those readers with a good undergraduate statistics background, the Appendix (approximately 80 pages) contains an excellent treatment -of the elements of lame-samule-theorv anoroximations used in the text. Many of the exam~les’are drawn from published data, and there is a wealth of problems (with selected answers) at the end of each chapter. No multivariate techniques or goodness-of-fit tests are covered, Some tests for twowav wntinaencv tables are included where these fit into th6 Wilcox& framework. For each statistic covered, a table of the exact tail probabilities for small samples is provided. In short, this is an excellent text or reference that is sure to become a classic at this level of exposition. LAW ABRAMOVITCH Department of Statistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637. I~-----
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Primate Ecology. Edited by T. H. CLUTTON-BROCK. London: Academic Press (1977). Price %25XlO, $41.00. The guiding philosophy of this important collection of research reports on a wide range of primate species is given in a succinct quotation from a paper by C. C. Smith (page 97): ‘The adaptive basis of any trait is ultimately that it allows an individual to convert environmental energy into more successful offspring than are nroduced bv the average individual in the nonulation. it is often di%icult to demonstrate the connectionbetween social behaviour and successful offspring, but the logical connection can come by relating social behaviour to feeding and foraging efficiency’. The viewpoint will of course be familiar to socioecologists who have received their training from the ecological and ethological descendants of the classical proponents, in particular David Lack and Niko Tinbergen. As Clutton-Brock points out, the orientation
REVIEWS
635
is however unusual in ecology for there is little attention paid here to population dynamics, the energetics of populations or to the wider issues of community ecology. Instead, these papers treat behavioural and social aspects of grouping and population dispersion in relation to feeding, foraging and the patterning of daily activity. Ever since the mid-1960s primate field workers, like ornithologists before them, have been fascinated by the diversity of the social organizations and by the possibility that an exolanation might be found throuah correlating behavidur with ecolo&al factors. The original studies stimulated an outburst of field work well reported in numerous books of collected papers, which seem to have become a prime mode of publication in this field. The present volume continues the trend. Early work encountered problems as it was realized that ecological categories were often too gross to accommodate other than intuitive correlations with the great variance in primate social life. In any case, contrasts between species of phylogenetic origin had been to a degree neglected in assessing the direct relation between ecology and any given social state of a population. There was clearly great need for improved environmental analyses. for intrasnecific comuarison and for lonaer term; more detailed,*collection of data supported as Tar as possible by ‘natural* experiments. In particular a need for standardization in approach. in focus and in data collection was essential. Between 1972 and 1974 a LOUD of field workers in England met regularly to dis&ss’ these issues and the present volume is a result of their work and that of selected colleagues from overseas. The volume, so far as possible, is so constructed that each paper covers a similar range of topics: for example, feeding behaviour. activity budgets, ranging, food item selectivity, social structure and composition of the food supply and its seasonal variation. The papers cover two Lemur species, the Indris, Propitkecus, Howling Monkeys, Callicebus, Spider Monkeys, the Mangabey, Guereza, Rhesus monkey, two Leaf Monkeys, Gelada baboons, Siamang, Gorilla, Orang Utan and Chtmpanzees, thereby providing studies covering all major groups of primates and primate habitats. The work is summarized by two chapters on intra- and interspecific variations in feeding and ranging behaviour respectively. These concluding chapters show clearly that the approach by which social organization and the adaptiveness of foraging strategies are examined ecologically is entirely sound so long as sufficiently detailed investigations are made. In many ways this book vindicates the work of the pioneers of the subject at an appropriately more complex and contemporary level of research expertise. The appendixes on methodology are important in this respect and essential to a comprehension of the detailed praxis of the investigations. Primate Ecofogy is essentially a resource book stuffed to the brim with data. There is relatively little attempt here at theoretical interpretation using the sociobiological developments in recent evolutionary thinking in ethology. These are however often treated elsewhere by some of the authors represented. The volume contains essential material for all courses in primatology and is a ‘must’ on the shelves of all field workers. It represents some of the best work of the current generation of primate workers active in the field. J. H. CROOK Departmenr of Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, England.
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Primate Ecology. Edited by T. H. CLUTTON-BROCK. London: Academic Press (1977). Price %25XlO, $41.00. The guiding philosophy of this important collection of research reports on a wide range of primate species is given in a succinct quotation from a paper by C. C. Smith (page 97): ‘The adaptive basis of any trait is ultimately that it allows an individual to convert environmental energy into more successful offspring than are nroduced bv the average individual in the nonulation. it is often di%icult to demonstrate the connectionbetween social behaviour and successful offspring, but the logical connection can come by relating social behaviour to feeding and foraging efficiency’. The viewpoint will of course be familiar to socioecologists who have received their training from the ecological and ethological descendants of the classical proponents, in particular David Lack and Niko Tinbergen. As Clutton-Brock points out, the orientation
REVIEWS
635
is however unusual in ecology for there is little attention paid here to population dynamics, the energetics of populations or to the wider issues of community ecology. Instead, these papers treat behavioural and social aspects of grouping and population dispersion in relation to feeding, foraging and the patterning of daily activity. Ever since the mid-1960s primate field workers, like ornithologists before them, have been fascinated by the diversity of the social organizations and by the possibility that an exolanation might be found throuah correlating behavidur with ecolo&al factors. The original studies stimulated an outburst of field work well reported in numerous books of collected papers, which seem to have become a prime mode of publication in this field. The present volume continues the trend. Early work encountered problems as it was realized that ecological categories were often too gross to accommodate other than intuitive correlations with the great variance in primate social life. In any case, contrasts between species of phylogenetic origin had been to a degree neglected in assessing the direct relation between ecology and any given social state of a population. There was clearly great need for improved environmental analyses. for intrasnecific comuarison and for lonaer term; more detailed,*collection of data supported as Tar as possible by ‘natural* experiments. In particular a need for standardization in approach. in focus and in data collection was essential. Between 1972 and 1974 a LOUD of field workers in England met regularly to dis&ss’ these issues and the present volume is a result of their work and that of selected colleagues from overseas. The volume, so far as possible, is so constructed that each paper covers a similar range of topics: for example, feeding behaviour. activity budgets, ranging, food item selectivity, social structure and composition of the food supply and its seasonal variation. The papers cover two Lemur species, the Indris, Propitkecus, Howling Monkeys, Callicebus, Spider Monkeys, the Mangabey, Guereza, Rhesus monkey, two Leaf Monkeys, Gelada baboons, Siamang, Gorilla, Orang Utan and Chtmpanzees, thereby providing studies covering all major groups of primates and primate habitats. The work is summarized by two chapters on intra- and interspecific variations in feeding and ranging behaviour respectively. These concluding chapters show clearly that the approach by which social organization and the adaptiveness of foraging strategies are examined ecologically is entirely sound so long as sufficiently detailed investigations are made. In many ways this book vindicates the work of the pioneers of the subject at an appropriately more complex and contemporary level of research expertise. The appendixes on methodology are important in this respect and essential to a comprehension of the detailed praxis of the investigations. Primate Ecofogy is essentially a resource book stuffed to the brim with data. There is relatively little attempt here at theoretical interpretation using the sociobiological developments in recent evolutionary thinking in ethology. These are however often treated elsewhere by some of the authors represented. The volume contains essential material for all courses in primatology and is a ‘must’ on the shelves of all field workers. It represents some of the best work of the current generation of primate workers active in the field. J. H. CROOK Departmenr of Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, England.