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Remote sensing: Energy-related studies
BOOK REVIEWS
241
There is increasing awareness that mercury and other heavy metals--including lead, cadmium and antimony--may have harmful environmental effects. This book set~ out to investigate the problem, in twelve articles by a great number of authors. Most of these articles have appeared already in the International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry or Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry Reviews, but environmental scientists not familiar with these pollutants will find it useful to have the papers collected in this way.
Remote Sensing: Energy-related studies. Edited by T. N. Veziroglu. Washington. Hemisphere Publishing Corporation. New York, John Wiley. 1975. Pp. xviii + 491. Price: £22, $43.85. Twenty-seven articles, by thirty-eight authors, deal with the ways in which remote sensing from the earth's surface, from aircraft and spacecraft can scan large areas, and contribute to knowledge of the environment. The book is aimed primarily at those involved in its subject, but is a useful reference source for a wider audience. K.M.
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (NERC) Annual Report for 1974. HMSO. 1975. Pp. 90. Price: £2.75. The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) is an amalgam of the former Nature Conservancy research establishments, with some additions, and its First Report not only describes work extant at the time of fusion of its elements but, perhaps more importantly, provides the historical and functional raisons d'etre of the Institute. Whilst its roots are firmly embedded in the soil of nature conservation, its branches seem to be extending vigorously towards a more varied set of applied ecological objectives. The Director, Dr Martin Holdgate, has written the first succinct section which emphatically demonstrates the need for ecology in policy-making and describes the role of ITE within this framework. The second section describes the attempted organisational solution to the difficulties of managing a geographically dispersed staff with heterogeneous expertise, in tackling projects, often multidisciplinary, anywhere in the UK or even abroad. It recognises, with candour and realism, the possible difficulties, particularly of the dispersed management scheme adopted. The section ends with a timely plea for more effective taxonomic training of undergraduates with professional aspirations to ecology. Two-thirds of the Report is devoted to descriptions of a representative selection (78) of the 400 current projects in ITE. The projects, superbly illustrated and summarised, include several multidisciplinary studies (Meathop Wood, Shetlands,
241
There is increasing awareness that mercury and other heavy metals--including lead, cadmium and antimony--may have harmful environmental effects. This book set~ out to investigate the problem, in twelve articles by a great number of authors. Most of these articles have appeared already in the International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry or Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry Reviews, but environmental scientists not familiar with these pollutants will find it useful to have the papers collected in this way.
Remote Sensing: Energy-related studies. Edited by T. N. Veziroglu. Washington. Hemisphere Publishing Corporation. New York, John Wiley. 1975. Pp. xviii + 491. Price: £22, $43.85. Twenty-seven articles, by thirty-eight authors, deal with the ways in which remote sensing from the earth's surface, from aircraft and spacecraft can scan large areas, and contribute to knowledge of the environment. The book is aimed primarily at those involved in its subject, but is a useful reference source for a wider audience. K.M.
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (NERC) Annual Report for 1974. HMSO. 1975. Pp. 90. Price: £2.75. The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) is an amalgam of the former Nature Conservancy research establishments, with some additions, and its First Report not only describes work extant at the time of fusion of its elements but, perhaps more importantly, provides the historical and functional raisons d'etre of the Institute. Whilst its roots are firmly embedded in the soil of nature conservation, its branches seem to be extending vigorously towards a more varied set of applied ecological objectives. The Director, Dr Martin Holdgate, has written the first succinct section which emphatically demonstrates the need for ecology in policy-making and describes the role of ITE within this framework. The second section describes the attempted organisational solution to the difficulties of managing a geographically dispersed staff with heterogeneous expertise, in tackling projects, often multidisciplinary, anywhere in the UK or even abroad. It recognises, with candour and realism, the possible difficulties, particularly of the dispersed management scheme adopted. The section ends with a timely plea for more effective taxonomic training of undergraduates with professional aspirations to ecology. Two-thirds of the Report is devoted to descriptions of a representative selection (78) of the 400 current projects in ITE. The projects, superbly illustrated and summarised, include several multidisciplinary studies (Meathop Wood, Shetlands,