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Saving the prairies. The life cycle of the founding school of American plant ecology, 1895–1955
Book reviews
289
Saving the Prairies. The Life Cycle of the Founding School of American Plant Ecology, 1895-1955. By Ronald C. Tobey. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 1981. 315pp. 15.5x23.5cm, ISBN 0 520043529. Price: £17.50 ($31.25). The development of ideas in plant ecology might seem to be almost too recent for a detailed historical study in the context of the history of the biological sciences. However, this book is a most successful example of the historian's approach to a limited subject--the growth of ecological studies on the plant communities of the North American prairies. It describes the work of the early botanists who pioneered ideas on the nature of the plant community, the concept of succession and the climatic climax. The founder was Charles Bessey, of the University of Nebraska, but the true flowering of ideas reached its peak in the work of Bessey's brilliant students, particularly Frederic Clements and Roscoe Pound, followed by John Weaver. Tobey shows how Clementsian ideas on the plant community were first widely accepted in America in spite of opposing views of Henry Gleason and the doubts of H. C. Cowles of the distinguished Chicago School of Plant Ecology, and also stimulated a great deal of discussion in Europe. British ecologists will be particularly interested in the chapter on the attitude of Arthur Tansley to Clements' holistic views of the plant community and how his first acceptance was followed by doubts and finally, rejection. Historians provide a valuable service to scientists by placing ideas in biology in the context of the contemporary influences which shaped them. Inevitably, however, because the record is seldom complete, the historian applies value judgements to the importance of particular events. Whether Tobey's interpretation will be accepted by later historians we cannot yet ascertain, but his book is a very stimulating and readable account with much new information for the European biologist and backed by copious bibliographic notes. E.D.
289
Saving the Prairies. The Life Cycle of the Founding School of American Plant Ecology, 1895-1955. By Ronald C. Tobey. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 1981. 315pp. 15.5x23.5cm, ISBN 0 520043529. Price: £17.50 ($31.25). The development of ideas in plant ecology might seem to be almost too recent for a detailed historical study in the context of the history of the biological sciences. However, this book is a most successful example of the historian's approach to a limited subject--the growth of ecological studies on the plant communities of the North American prairies. It describes the work of the early botanists who pioneered ideas on the nature of the plant community, the concept of succession and the climatic climax. The founder was Charles Bessey, of the University of Nebraska, but the true flowering of ideas reached its peak in the work of Bessey's brilliant students, particularly Frederic Clements and Roscoe Pound, followed by John Weaver. Tobey shows how Clementsian ideas on the plant community were first widely accepted in America in spite of opposing views of Henry Gleason and the doubts of H. C. Cowles of the distinguished Chicago School of Plant Ecology, and also stimulated a great deal of discussion in Europe. British ecologists will be particularly interested in the chapter on the attitude of Arthur Tansley to Clements' holistic views of the plant community and how his first acceptance was followed by doubts and finally, rejection. Historians provide a valuable service to scientists by placing ideas in biology in the context of the contemporary influences which shaped them. Inevitably, however, because the record is seldom complete, the historian applies value judgements to the importance of particular events. Whether Tobey's interpretation will be accepted by later historians we cannot yet ascertain, but his book is a very stimulating and readable account with much new information for the European biologist and backed by copious bibliographic notes. E.D.