Book Reviews Ecology, 81(5), 2000, pp. 1469–1470 q 2000 by the Ecological Society of America BIODIVERSITY SCIENCE Cracraft, Joel, and Francesca T. Grifo, editors. 1999. The living planet in crisis: biodiversity science and policy. Columbia University Press, New York. xxiv 1 311 p. $60.00, £47.95, $69.00 international (cloth), ISBN: 0-231-10864-8 (alk. paper); $24.50, £19.95, $28.50 international (paper), ISBN: 0-231-10865-6 (alk. paper). This recent volume had its origins at a conference held at the American Museum of Natural History in 1995, under the auspices of the museum’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation. Attended by over 600 people, the conference goal was to assess the status of global biodiversity and discuss how scientists can better work with policy makers to improve conservation prospects. With a forward by E. O. Wilson and 14 major chapters written by 24 experts, the book is an important compendium of the crisis at hand. As Cracraft argues in the Introduction, there are several major roadblocks to effective conservation. Scientific ignorance is part of the problem, especially considering the truism that most of the world’s species still remain unclassified while they are being lost at unprecedented rates. The fact that conservation is interwoven with societal needs, and that these needs frequently conflict with conservation, is the next issue addressed. The Introduction provides an adequate framework for and roadmap of the rest of the book. The main part of the volume is divided into four parts, the first of which is devoted to the science of diversity and extinction. All four chapters therein, and two brief perspectives that follow, are interesting, informative, up-to-date, and well written. Coverage of issues herein, however, is itself a potential issue. That is, the first chapter (by Nigel Stork), which outlines the major issues of biodiversity loss worldwide, is the only one of major breadth. The chapter provides a good general overview of conservation issues and the modern mass extinction, but appears more aimed at those not familiar with these issues. Chapter 2 is perhaps the most important in the section. Written by Norman Platnick, it presents the alternative approaches of All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) with the goal of having the entire biota inventoried at selective places on earth, and All Biota Taxon Inventory (ABTI) with the goal of having all species of some higher taxa inventoried, and asks several important questions such as ‘‘does it matter?’’ With only vertebrates and higher plants reasonably well classified, the task at hand is daunting and time is limited. With a brief look at several different criteria, the author reasonably concludes that ABTI for some megadiverse groups, such as spiders, could be completed for less than the cost of a single ATBI, and could be used for more general conservation planning. The third and fourth chapters are equally interesting but perhaps too specialized for many potential readers of the book. Chapter 3 presents a look at freshwater biodiversity, and chapter 4 explores the past five centuries of mammalian extinctions. Both are good, but one may wonder AND POLICY why these are included and not other particular ecosystems or taxa. Declining amphibian populations worldwide, and highly endangered ecosystem types such as native scrub, for example, come to mind. Although each individual chapter in the section is technically sound and well presented, they just don’t ‘‘hang together’’ well as a unit. The five chapters of the second part seem better placed. Cracraft explores patterns of biodiversity loss and conservation capacity in Chapter 5, and uses three indices to assess threats worldwide: species diversity, biological threat, and capacity response, country by country. Graphs are presented by region, and priorities for action are assigned based on sound criteria. This is perhaps the strongest single chapter in this section, although several others are equally robust and interesting. John Burnett considers biodiversity conservation and its implications for agricultural productivity in Chapter 6, and Francesca Grifo and Eric Chivian explore some implications of biodiversity loss for human health in Chapter 7. A newly-recognized issue of biodiversity loss as it relates to armed conflict and global security is considered by Arthur Westing in Chapter 8, and Dominic Moran and David Pearce explore many economic consequences of biodiversity loss in Chapter 9. Collectively, this section is the strongest of the book as the chapters are well presented, broad in scope, but still present enough material such that conservationists and policy analysts will, for the most part, learn something new. The third part explores policy formulation in three general chapters. Norman Myers considers a number of issues that range from protected area management issues to consumption and population in Chapter 10, and Thomas Lovejoy explores topics ranging from scientific uncertainty to ecosystem management, to needed research and action in Chapter 11. The inclusion of work by these two visionaries is justified, but there is little new here that adds to the knowledge base of likely readers. Chapter 12, ‘‘Convention on Biological Diversity: program priorities in the early stage of implementation,’’ is more informative in that it explains in some detail the importance of the treaty, its legal and policy mechanisms, and some aspects of funding. Not presented in the volume is any discussion of the other major international conservation agreements (e.g., Ramsar, CITES, Bonn), or the historical successes or failures of legal approaches. Part 4 explores in two general chapters the question of what can be done, and perhaps the single best chapter of the book is that by Jeffrey McNeely (Chapter 13). In it he considers many aspects of the workings of science and policy—two very different professions—and how the differences can create biases and at times hinder results. The thesis is put in context with examples such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the ‘‘wise use’’ movement in the American West. The volume ends with an overview by Peter Raven and Joel Cracraft. Overall, this is a mostly timely and mostly important look at the nature of the problem, some aspects of policies to address the problem, and inherent conflicts between science 1469 BOOK REVIEWS 1470 and policy. Some chapters are excellent, while others seem rather out-of-place. The inclusion of some issues but not others is perhaps due to the experts available and to space limitations, but it does detract somewhat from the overall presentation. The book can, nonetheless, be recommended for general reading by conservation scientists and policy makers, and perhaps for use in university seminars devoted to exploring the nexus of science and policy. It has many inter- Ecology, Vol. 81, No. 5 esting things to say, despite a few problems with omission and commission. JOEL T. HEINEN Florida International University Department of Environmental Studies Miami, Florida 33199 Ecology, 81(5), 2000, pp. 1470–1471 q 2000 by the Ecological Society of America POPULATION DYNAMICS: AN UNEVENTFUL Y2K ROLLOVER Dempster, J. P. and I. F. G. McLean, editors. 1998. Insect populations in theory and practice: 19th Symposium of the Royal Entomological Society 10–11 September 1997 at the University of Newcastle. Kluwer Academic, Norwell, Massachusetts. xx 1 486 p. $216.00, £136.00, NLG 400.00, ISBN: 0-412-83260-7. When I was preparing my first manuscript for publication, I wrote about the thoughts of A. J. Nicholson and H. G. Andrewartha in the present tense: ‘‘Nicholson believes that populations are regulated by . . . .’’ One of my advisors, dutifully red-inking my first draft, changed all the present tense verbs to past tense, for the very sensible reason that Nicholson and company may very well have changed their minds since the 1950s. After having worked in the field of insect population dynamics for the past 15 years, however, I am starting to be convinced that my present-tense, never-changing image of the field of population dynamics may not be so far off the mark after all. In population dynamics one rarely changes one’s mind. Insect populations in theory and practice: 19th Symposium of the Royal Entomological Society, edited by J. P. Dempster and I. F. G. McLean, documents the snail’s pace at which this field evolves. Thirty years ago the Royal Entomological Society held a similar symposium on insect abundance in which some of the authors of chapters in the present volume participated. Many others who did not participate in the first symposium were nevertheless active contributors to the literature on insect population dynamics at the time. Indeed, there is not much young blood represented in the present symposium volume; the average age of those participants whose age I could guess is about 50. The sex ratio is also a bit uneven, although I have reason to believe that more ladies were invited than actually participated. The editors made an effort to invite authors spanning the range of viewpoints. However, do not expect the vituperative exchanges of the early Nicholson versus Andrewartha and Birch debates. Time seems to have mellowed many of the older folk and newcomers to the field are much more pluralist in their vision and approaches. Despite the slow progress in the field and the softening around the edges of some of the old arguments, this book is not at all an anemic survey of the issues in insect population dynamics. The editors and authors have produced a superb book with uniformly high-quality chapters. Most authors provide engagingly written historical accounts of the development of the ideas they present. Thus, the book would be an excellent choice for a graduate course in population ecology. The editors begin by defining the main concepts, so as to avoid the pitfalls of the past when symposium participants argued at cross purposes because they could not agree on what regulation was. Some of the chapter authors refine these definitions somewhat to reflect current usage, for example, defining a regulated population in terms of a stationary probability distribution rather than an equilibrial density. One of the definitions, that of ‘‘limiting factors,’’ is used differently by other authors in the field, but this is a minor quibble. The book is divided roughly in half into theory and practice, with ‘‘practice’’ referring to case studies as opposed to applied studies. One of the stated goals of the editors was to take the first steps towards bridging the gap between theory and practice in population dynamics. This bridging is accomplished more by individual chapters that include both theory and tests of theory than by cross-fertilization between the two sections. For example, Bill Murdoch, Cheryl Briggs, and Timothy Collier, although authors of a ‘‘theory’’ chapter, are among the finest ‘‘practitioners’’ in the field, conducting cutting-edge experiments on an applied system. Jens Roland’s chapter on comparative dynamics of the winter moth in Europe and North America, found in the ‘‘practice’’ half of the book, is another fine example of bridging the theory-data gap. So for those of you who update your database on population dynamics only periodically: what remains the same since the last time you read about the field and what has changed? Piet Den Boer still thinks (or should that be thought?) that spreading the risk is what stabilizes carabid populations, although he does not claim universality for this mechanism. Jack Dempster still thinks that competition for resources regulates many phytophagous insect populations. Ilkka Hanski still claims that metapopulation persistence characterizes the dynamics of the Glanville fritillary and other butterflies, although he now admits that some, albeit very little, density dependence is necessary to prevent extinction over the very long term. Finally, the whiteflies on viburnum bush A at Silwood Park are every bit as regulated as they were when you first heard about them. These chapters might leave you BOOK REVIEWS May 2000 with a feeling of déjà vu, but they’re nevertheless well worth the read. You’ll come away with a clearer understanding of the issues as well as of the history of the field. Identifying density dependence in time series is as fraught with problems as it has been for the past 30 years. Peter Rothery’s chapter provides something of field guide to the various tests available. Now that we have these methods, however, we should question the utility of simply testing time series against the null hypothesis that there is no density dependence. The question ‘‘is the population regulated?’’ has outlived its usefulness. Instead, questions about the form of density dependence—the lag structure and shape of the relationship between the per capita rate of population change and density—are much more interesting than the simple detection of density dependence. Population dynamics does evolve, albeit very gradually. Slowly over the course of the past half century, the importance of the spatial aspects of population dynamics—championed by Den Boer in the 1960s—has become clearer and certainly much more popular. Adding space to models grew in popularity throughout the 1980s and 1990s; however, as we begin the new millenium, quantifying movement in real populations is still the biggest challenge for field workers. With the awareness of the importance of spatial structure came the realization that spatial scale is critical to detecting regulating mechanisms. Although much lip-service has been paid to the effect of scale, very little work has actually been done in the field. Ironically, Roland’s work on alpine butterflies and tent caterpillars in patchy environments represents some of the best fieldwork to date on movement and scale. Pity he wasn’t asked to talk about these topics at this symposium. Nevertheless, Charles Godfray and colleagues, in their fascinating chapter on host-parasitoid interactions, do a fine job explaining questions of scale. Also slowly evolving has been the question of top-down versus bottom-up control. As the editors state in their concluding remarks, at the 1967 symposium on insect abundance there was much more emphasis on natural enemies than on the 1471 host plant in studies of regulation in herbivore populations. Dempster’s view of resources as the prime force regulating herbivorous insects is increasingly justified as we discover that many herbivores have quite subtle oviposition requirements, which set their carrying capacity well below that assumed in the ‘‘world-is-green’’ arguments of the 1960s. The present volume does provide more examples of bottom-up than top-down regulation, although this may reflect somewhat the inclusion of studies on flower-feeding tephritids (Nigel Straw), gall-making sawflies (Peter Price et al.) and psyllids (Ian McLean), taxa that might be expected to be resource limited. One of the strengths of the book is the inclusion of species representing a diversity of lifestyles, despite the preponderance of population dynamical studies done on phytophagous insects. In addition to the taxa already mentioned, there are studies on aphids (Tony Dixon), dragonflies (Ola Fincke), butterflies that are parasitic on ants (Jeremy Thomas and colleagues) and herbivorous ladybugs (Takayuki Ohgushi). These represent some of the best long-term studies on insect population dynamics. Data sets that will allow us to take a comparative view of population dynamics are now available, although the comparisons made in this volume are of the pre-Harvey-and-Pagel school of comparative ecology. As Peter Price and colleagues Tim Craig and Mark Hunter suggest in their chapter (which, true to form, is chock-full of juicy philosophical tidbits), the modern phylogenetic approach to comparative population dynamics is one of the waves of the future. Let’s get on board here, so that 30 years from now, when some middle-aged critic reviews a symposium edited by a new generation of hoary sages, she’ll be able to say that we’ve done something really new! NAOMI CAPPUCCINO Carleton University Department of Biology Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6 CANADA Ecology, 81(5), 2000, pp. 1471–1472 q 2000 by the Ecological Society of America FUNDAMENTALS OF FOREST ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT Hunter, Malcolm L., Jr., editor. 1999. Maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems. Cambridge University Press, New York. xiv 1 698 p. $100.00 (cloth), ISBN: 0-521-631041 (alk. paper); $44.95 (paper), ISBN: 0-521-63768-6 (alk. paper). While attending a 1993 conference exploring the emerging issue of ‘‘ecosystem management,’’ I listened as John Gordon, then Dean of the Yale forestry school, proclaimed that ‘‘none of us would be [t]here were it not for the Endangered Species Act.’’ As a young forester excited by recent developments in my profession, I at first bristled at Dean Gordon’s notion that a ‘‘wildlife law’’ could be driving such profound change in forest management. It was only later that I came to understand he meant not that the ESA, per se, had driven us there, but, rather, traditional forestry’s failure to prevent species endangerment. Mac Hunter addressed that conference, and already he was laying the groundwork for what would eventually become his latest book, Maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems. In this edited volume, which incorporates state-of-the-art thinking from some of the world’s leaders in progressive forest management, Hunter returns to the theme that sustaining ecosystems requires sustaining species, and sustaining species requires sustaining diverse habitat. While paying great homage to the foundations of forest science, this book challenges forest managers to think 1472 BOOK REVIEWS beyond wood production to sustain the composition, structure, and function of entire ecosystems. In this regard, it is a clarion call to the profession to reorganize for a bright, new century. Early in the book, Hunter and his Chapter 2 co-author, Bob Seymour, introduce three recurrent themes: 1) ‘‘manipulation of a forest ecosystem should work within the limits established by natural disturbance patterns prior to extensive human alteration of the landscape,’’ and 2) sustainably managed forest landscapes are likely to be composed of a ‘‘triad’’ of ecological reserves, intensively managed forest plantations, and a matrix of ‘‘ecological forestry,’’ and 3) sustaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems requires managing forests at both the macro (landscape) and micro (stand) levels to sustain diverse habitats of proper composition, structure, and function. The remainder of the book organizes myriad issues of forest management according to whether they affect the macro scale (e.g., Dynamic forest mosaics, Islands and fragments, Riparian forests) or the micro scale (e.g., Dying, dead, and down trees; Vertical structure; Plantation forestry) or are matters of implementation and synthesis (e.g., Restoration ecology, Forest reserves, Social perspectives). Maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems provides a very useful summary of the literature for anyone beginning a serious inquiry into ecosystem management. It is well referenced, and each chapter concludes with a brief ‘‘Further readings’’ section directing the reader to the essential literature. It is generally quite well written; several chapters, including those on species composition, abiotic factors, genetic diversity, and social perspectives especially so. The paperbound edition I reviewed has a nice look and feel, making for comfortable reading, and it contains few typos. While the book provides an excellent entree into the current literature, it suffers somewhat from problems that plague many edited volumes. Each chapter is a ‘‘stand-alone,’’ comprehensive survey of its subject. It, therefore, must present basic premises upon which the subject rests. As a result, many chapters repeat basic ecological and conservation principles and, to save space, employ considerable unexplained jargon. Each chapter tries to do too much, perhaps the inevitable consequence of trying to cover such an expansive subject as forest conservation in one multi-authored volume. The book also suffers from a lack of synthesis. Rather than review and draw lessons from the main body of the book, chapters from the section called ‘‘Synthesis and implementation’’ largely reflect the personal philosophies of the authors on their respective subjects. For example, the chapter on forest economics, while otherwise a fair primer, engages in unsupported editorializing regarding policy alternatives and employs unnecessarily complex examples from the authors’ experiences rather than drawing on previous chapters. Likewise, the chapter titled ‘‘Forest organization, management, and policy’’ misses the best opportunity for real synthesis and instead presents a rambling critique of traditional forestry, reserves, and ‘‘central planning,’’ while promoting the authors’ preferred ‘‘integrated management alternative.’’ This alternative, despite being called ‘‘integrated,’’ served to highlight perhaps the most glaring hole in the book: the lack of discussion of truly integrated landscape management. Hunter and Seymour discuss the ‘‘triad’’ approach but never really discuss how to achieve the proper blend. The otherwise Ecology, Vol. 81, No. 5 excellent chapter on restoration ecology notes the importance of restoration at the landscape scale but ultimately gives it short shrift. Similarly, the chapter on plantation management appears in the ‘‘micro’’ section and focuses almost entirely on stand-level concerns that fit well within the bounds of traditional forest management. Despite the fact that several chapters suggest that plantations may ultimately help in the conservation of biodiversity, none provides guidance as to how to site them to have minimal impact and fit well into the overall landscape. The same criticism can be made of the chapter on reserves, which, while providing a nice overview, does little to advance thinking on proper location or size of reserves or their relationship to the rest of the landscape. While there is much to like about this book, including its emphasis on forest dynamics, old growth protection, and a ‘‘large-scale perspective,’’ I couldn’t help feeling that it had also missed opportunities to contribute to important current discussions. For example, while the subject of disturbance and change is prevalent throughout, no chapter discusses the burgeoning literature on the concept of ‘‘historical range of variability,’’ thus missing the chance to shape current debates regarding national forest policy. Likewise, while ‘‘reserves’’ are mentioned throughout, the related but distinctly different word ‘‘wilderness’’ does not appear once in the index, and the book misses the chance to present a framework for integrated management of wilderness and non-wilderness landscapes. Overall, the focus on timber management excludes consideration of critical challenges in natural area management, such as off-road vehicle management, exotic species, and water management, all of which are frustrating conservation of biological diversity in forest ecosystems, often to a greater degree than timber management. According to the editor, Maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems is intended for a ‘‘broad audience,’’ especially ‘‘those who are managing forests on a day to day basis and the students who will soon be joining the ranks of professional natural resource managers.’’ In his introduction to the book, former Chief of the Forest Service Jack Ward Thomas predicts ‘‘that this book will significantly influence practitioners of the rapidly evolving art and science of ecosystem management.’’ My prediction is less sweeping. The generally academic tone and heavy use of jargon, combined with the overall lack of practical management guidance is likely to prevent day-to-day managers and undergraduate students from embracing this book. Likewise, the repetition of ecological and economic fundamentals hinders this book from being a ‘‘cutting-edge’’ contribution to the literature. Rather, the true value of this book is as a portal to current forest conservation philosophy and literature for the beginning graduate student. No book on the market provides such ready access to current thinking regarding aspects of forest ecosystem management. While Maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems may not reach its intended ‘‘broad audience,’’ it will be a useful addition to the libraries of teachers and mentors of aspiring conservation professionals everywhere. GREGORY H. APLET The Wilderness Society 7475 Dakin Street, Suite 410 Denver, Colorado 80221 BOOK REVIEWS May 2000 1473 Ecology, 81(5), 2000, pp. 1473–1474 q 2000 by the Ecological Society of America SPATIAL CONTROL: THE FINAL FRONTIER Hof, John G., and Michael Bevers. 1998. Spatial optimization for managed ecosystems. Complexity in Ecological Systems Series. Columbia University Press, New York. xx 1 258 p. $75.00, £41.50 (cloth), ISBN: 0-231-10636-X (alk. paper); $34.50, £19.00 (paper), ISBN: 0-231-10637-8 (alk. paper). Despite the impact of optimization ideas in theoretical ecology, optimization has received relatively little attention in applied ecology. Applied ecological problems always require decisions about what to do, where, and when (e.g., how to set harvest quotas, where to set up reserves, when to allocate water). These are essentially problems in spatial control. Although ecologists recognize the importance of space in structuring ecological communities, the mathematical difficulty of linking spatial processes with dynamic control has deterred attempts to address spatial management of realistic systems. Hof and Bevers’ book is the first to tackle spatial optimization in applied ecology. It summarizes a decade of research by the authors in which they apply optimization methods to practical, spatial problems in forest management. This book is a compilation of previously published papers. This has the advantage that many chapters can be read independently, but has the disadvantage that the flow of ideas through the book is not as smooth as it might be. Introductory sections were added to provide integration within each of the book’s four main parts. Beyond this, efforts to revise individual chapters were minimal. Readers will not find a history of optimization in ecology or details of the mathematical programming methods used (extensions of linear programming to integer and non-linear problems). Readers will find a first introduction to a complex topic in a manner that is accessible to ecologists without training in mathematical programming. Each model presented in the book is well documented, with surprisingly few typographic errors in equations and a carefully prepared list of variable definitions. The book has four parts. In the first part, the authors investigate optimization methods for static spatially structured systems. For example, how does one design an optimal reserve that takes into account the size, shape, and spatial configuration of suitable habitat for an assemblage of species? The authors illustrate general principles of design for species with a variety of spatial life histories, including edge-dependent species and those with minimum-patch-size requirements. The first several chapters begin with the shared objective of maximizing weighted abundance of species in an assemblage. Three general types of problems introduced are models on a regular spatial grid, models that allow various shaped regions to be laid out in continuous space, and models that account for spatial costs associated with supply and demand. These problems are solved using mixed-integer programming. The second part of the book focuses on the role of uncertainty in spatial optimization of static problems. This uncertainty arises from spatial correlation in environmental driving factors or spatial constraints on management options. In later IN APPLIED ECOLOGY chapters, however, the authors neglect uncertainty, pointing to adaptive management as a way to make future corrections for unforeseen events (in an unforeseen manner). The third part of the book adds the time dimension. Here, dynamic population models in discrete time intervals simulate feedback from management strategies that change over time. Each time interval greatly increases the computational complexity of the problem. These chapters offer useful and elegant extensions of previous ideas and models. Yet the authors leave it to the reader to provide the context of previous developments in spatial ecology. Although directed animal movement can have a large influence on predictions from spatial models, movement is modeled in a simple manner. Extensions to stochastic, individual-based models that allow more realistic movement will likely be needed in future. The fourth part of the book is a bold attempt to tackle the problem of sustainable ecosystem management. The clear, quantitative definition of sustainability offered by the authors is a refreshing alternative to the usual vague definitions. In these chapters, the authors seek periodic equilibrium solutions over a long management horizon. The solutions maximize the minimum joint viability of species using an iterative branchand-bound algorithm. Unfortunately, the size of the problem (92 species) forced the authors to use spatial averages. The computational limitations in solving optimization problems in this book are both discouraging and encouraging. Although it would be nice to think that the tiny examples used in many chapters (5 3 5 spatial grids, 3 time periods) were selected to improve clarity and understanding, we soon learn the truth: the size of feasible problems is severely restricted. As a result, overcoming limitations is an important and recurring theme of the book. Suggested tricks and compromises offer important practical insights. Scientists have good reason to be encouraged by these computational limitations because they point to a new frontier for ecological research. Faster processing speeds and parallel processing will greatly expand the range of problems that can be addressed in future. The simulation approaches introduced in the book represent the tip of an iceberg of future possibilities. Other methods, including genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, and spatial control of partial differential equation models, are also becoming available. In spite of these anticipated advances, researchers will have to construct models carefully and employ numerical tricks to make spatial control practical. And, as noted by the authors, computational limitations are not all bad: To the degree that the purpose of modeling is to provide a thinking tool, these difficulties force the analyst to experiment with and investigate the structure of the model being built. The second author of this review chose this book as a text for a graduate-level seminar that included students in math, ecology, and geography. Ecology students found the book to be a very readable introduction to spatial optimization. It 1474 BOOK REVIEWS inspired one student to add a new chapter to his dissertation. Geography students appreciated seeing alternatives to the vector optimization approaches common in geographic applications. Math students did not find sufficient guidance to apply optimization methods presented in the book. The class agreed that the book would be strengthened by developing equations less ‘‘suddenly’’ and by providing more details on the algorithms and numerical methods used. An appendix dealing with solution methods for mixed-integer problems would be useful. Hof and Bevers steer clear of the quagmire of philosophical and ethical issues that lie at the interface of science and management. Although the book lays out a framework for multiple-criteria optimization and discusses differences among objectives, the subjective nature of objective functions is largely ignored. In reality, most resource management decisions involve multiple objectives that are ecological, economic, and political in nature. Formulating ecological problems as optimizations opens the decision-making process by Ecology, Vol. 81, No. 5 making trade-offs among conflicting values explicit and providing an avenue for incorporating scientific knowledge. In conclusion, this book has the potential to empower resource managers to solve many applied ecological problems. We expect that twenty years from now, resource management decisions will incorporate an explicit spatial context built on the framework provided by this book. Its audience should include resource managers, landscape and conservation ecologists, geographers, and modelers. HENRIETTE I. JAGER Oak Ridge National Laboratory Mail Stop 6036, P.O. Box 2008 Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6036 LOUIS J. GROSS University of Tennessee Departments of Ecology and Environmental Biology and Mathematics Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1610 Ecology, 81(5), 2000, pp. 1474–1475 q 2000 by the Ecological Society of America PHOSPHORUS BIOGEOCHEMISTRY Reddy, K. Ramish, George A. O’Connor, and Claire L. Schelske, editors. 1999. Phosphorus biogeochemistry in subtropical ecosystems. Lewis, Boca Raton, Florida. 707 p. $69.95, ISBN: 1-56670-331-X (acid-free paper). In the past, ecosystem ecologists have focused considerably more attention on the cyling of nitrogen in terrestrial ecosystems than phosphorus. This disparity is partially driven by the relative ubiquity of N limitation in the temperate zone but is also due in part to a common perception (misconception?) that the study of P biogeochemistry is significantly more difficult than N. Over the past 20 years, the importance of P biogeochemistry in controlling terrestrial ecosystem processes—in the tropics, in key temperate zone ecosystems, and in many wetlands—has become increasingly clear. For ecologists interested in getting quickly ‘‘up to speed,’’ on the current state-of-the-art in P biogeochemistry, this recent volume by Reddy and colleagues will prove a useful tool. Phosphorus biogeochemistry in subtropical ecosystems is a collection of papers resulting from a symposium (‘‘Phosphorus Biogeochemistry in Florida Ecosystems’’) held in Clearwater, Florida, July 14–16, 1997. The purpose of this symposium was to provide a forum for the synthesis and interpretation of the current status of P biogeochemistry research in upland, wetland, and aquatic ecosystems, using Florida as a case example. Four main issues relating to P biogeochemistry are discussed: (1) the major sources of excess P supply; (2) the capacity of soils to retain P; (3) the processes governing P transfer between ecosystems; and (4) ecosystem recovery from excess P loads. Thirty-one chapters, representing the work of 60 contributors, are organized into eight sections, beginning with a brief ‘‘Symposium overview and synthesis’’ by the editors, and concluding with a ‘‘Panel discussion.’’ Also included is an index with over 1700 subject entries. A particular strength of this work is its attempt to link research at a variety of scales within ecosystems, as well as across major ecosystem types (terrestrial, wetland, aquatic) on the landscape. As the editors note, one problem with this approach is that scientists working in different ecosystem types often use different approaches in their research, obfuscating synthesis of their research findings. Collecting papers that address a common topic (P biogeochemistry) in these different ecosystem types within a single volume is certainly a step in the right direction towards solving this problem. Readers who tackle the entire volume, rather than optimally foraging on individual chapters, will reap the added benefit of comparing these various disciplinary perspectives. The initial sections provide an excellent framework for the remainder of the volume. The section on ‘‘Ecological analysis and global issues’’ begins with a concise overview of agricultural processes as related to P biogeochemistry (Sharpley), including insightful tabular analyses of data from a variety of published sources. Highlights are the increased importance of nonpoint source pollution over the last three decades, the important biogeochemical effects of feed- vs. crop-based agriculture, and how the N:P stoichiometry of manure can contribute to elevated P losses. Also noted is the transformation of fertilizer effects from local to global scale with the advent of large-farm, corporate agriculture. Richardson follows with a brief historical overview of the use of wetlands as sinks May 2000 BOOK REVIEWS for N and P, a review of the mechanism controlling P retention in wetland ecosystems, and a summary of research leading to the development of the ‘‘one-gram assimilative capacity rule.’’ Brezonik and Pollman’s review of P cycling in lake ecosystems is excellent, and includes a fairly detailed description of Brezonik’s long history of research in Florida lakes. Particularly enlightening are the discussion of the P forms routinely analyzed in aqueous media (soluble reactive P, soluble organic P, and particulate P), and attempts to identify specific P compounds associated with each fraction, and Brezonik’s work on the importance of internal P loading and its effects on the recovery of shallow lake ecosystems following reduction of external P inputs. Reddy et al. frame the material covered in previous chapters in the light of policy and management implications, and provide a variety of ecosystem and landscape scale P flux estimates. The final chapter in this section (Harris and Hurt) describes the variation in soil types in subtropical Florida. Although interesting, informative, and well written, the relevance of this information to P biogeochemistry is covered only in a short concluding section of the paper. In the section entitled ‘‘Biogeochemical transformations,’’ inorganic and organic P, and the transformations associated with each, are covered in four separate chapters. Graetz and Nair describe inorganic P forms in soils and sediments via an historical review of the P fractionation literature. This chapter will be generally informative for those interested in doing P fractionation work, and contains a nice treatment of the dynamics of manure P. Rhue and Harris’ chapter on inorganic P dynamics is one of the true highlights of the book, tracing the development of the P sorption literature from its early beginnings. The discussion of alternative theories is well balanced, and the evolution of current theory is clearly documented. This chapter is a ‘‘must-read,’’ for anyone doing soil/sediment P sorption work, and should serve as an invaluable reference for students. Missing here is only some 1475 mention of the importance of Al to the P dynamics of flooded soils. Papers by Newman and Robinson (‘‘Forms of organic phosphorus in water, soils, and sediments’’) and Wetzel (‘‘Organic phosphorus mineralization in soils and sediments’’) provide complementary information on the characterization and transformations of organic P. Subsequent sections deal with: (1) ‘‘Biogeochemical responses,’’ with chapters on microbial processes, plant community structure and function, wetland periphyton assemblages, and lakes; (2) ‘‘Transport processes’’; (3) ‘‘Phosphorus management’’; and (4) ‘‘Synthesis and modeling.’’ As in any multiple-authored symposium proceedings, the chapters vary in length, depth, and breadth. However the overall quality is generally good and frequently excellent, the primary difference being the depth of the literature review associated with each. The presentation quality of the book is first-rate and technical errors are generally minor. Readers will find coverage of the agriculture, soils, and aquatics literature strong in comparison to the coverage of the ecological literature. Although the title of the book is a bit misleading (readers expecting to find a review of P biogeochemistry in subtropical ecosystems worldwide will be disappointed), the potential extrapolatability of the work to other systems is high, and thus the ‘‘case study as example’’ objective is achieved. The number of recent volumes dedicated to P biogeochemistry is not large, and this work certainly adds to the relatively small body of material on this important topic. It would be particularly appropriate for a one-semester seminar or tutorial for biogeochemistry graduate students. I’m pleased to have this one on the shelf. MARK R. WALBRIDGE George Mason University Department of Biology Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4444 BOOKS AND MONOGRAPHS RECEIVED 1476 Ecology, Vol. 81, No. 5 Submit books and monographs for review to the Book Review Editor, Janet Lanza, Biology Department, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas 72204 (telephone (501) 569-3500). We welcome offers to review books for Ecology, but we cannot accept an offer to review a specific book. Anyone who wishes to review books for Ecology should send a current curriculum vitae, a description of competencies, and a statement of reviewing interests to the Book Review Editor. Authors of reviews must verify that they have no conflict of interest that might interfere with their objectivity, and that they have not offered (and will not offer) a review of the same book to another journal. BOOKS AND MONOGRAPHS RECEIVED THROUGH DECEMBER 1999 Agrawal, Anurag A., Sadik Tuzun, and Elizabeth Bent, editors. 1999. Induced plant defenses against pathogens and herbivores: biochemistry, ecology, and agriculture. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, Minnesota. ix 1 390 p. $55.00 ISBN: 0-89054-242-2 (acidfree paper). Agrawal, Shashi Bhushan, and Madhoolika Agrawal, editors. 2000. Environmental pollution and plant responses. Lewis, Boca Raton, Florida. 393 p. $79.95, ISBN: 1-56670341-7 (alk. paper). Farina, Almo, editor. 1999. Perspectives in ecology: a glance from the VII International Congress of Ecology (Florence 19–25 July 1998). Backhuys, Leiden, The Netherlands. ix 1 502 p. $62.50, Dutch Guilders 125.00, ISBN: 90-5782-041-2. Fielding, Alan H., editor. 1999. Machine learning methods for ecological applications. Kluwer Academic, Norwell, Massachusetts. xi 1 261 p. $125.00, £81.25, NLG 255.00, ISBN: 0-412-84190-8 (alk. paper). Fleagle, John G., Charles Helmar Janson, and Kaye E. Reed, editors. 1999. Primate communities. Cambridge University Press, New York. ix 1 329 p. $74.95 (cloth), ISBN: 0-521-62044-9; $29.95 (paper), ISBN: 0-521-62967-5. Gupta, Barun K. Sen, editor. 1999. Modern Foraminifera. Kluwer Academic, Norwell, Massachusetts. x 1 371 p. $185.00, £110.00, NLG 310.00, ISBN: 0-412-82430-2 (acid-free paper). Knudsen, E. Eric, Cleveland R. Steward, Donald D. MacDonald, Jack E. Williams, and Dudley W. Reiser, editors. 2000. Sustainable fisheries management: Pacific salmon. Lewis, Boca Raton, Florida. 724 p. $99.95, ISBN: 156670-480-4. (alk. paper). Kratochwil, A., editor. 1999. Biodiversity in ecosystems: principles and case studies of different complexity levels. Tasks for Vegetation Science 34. Kluwer Academic, Norwell, Massachusetts. vi 1 214 p. $126.00, £74.00, NLG 210.00, ISBN: 0-7923-5717-5 (acid-free paper). Krönert, R., J. Baudry, I. R. Bowler, A. Reenberg, editors. 1999. Land-use changes and their environmental impact in rural areas in Europe. Man and the Biosphere Series. Volume 24. The Parthenon, New York. xiii 1 261 p. $88.00, £55.00, ISBN: 1-85070-047-8. Lal, Rattan, John M. Kimble, H. Eswaran, and B. A. Stewart, editors. 2000. Global climate change and pedogenic carbonates. Lewis, Boca Raton, Florida. 305 p. $69.95, ISBN: 1-56670-458-8 (alk. paper). Manno, Jack P. 2000. Privileged goods: commoditization and its impact on environment and society. Ecological Economics Series. Lewis, Boca Raton, Florida. xi 1 267 p. $49.95, ISBN: 1-566-70390-5 (acid-free paper). Meinesz, Alexandre. 1999. Killer algae. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. xvi 1 360 p. $25.50, £17.50, ISBN: 0-226-51922-8 (alk. paper). Morin, Peter Jay. 1999. Community ecology. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts. viii 1 424 p. $45.95, ISBN: 0-86542-350-4. Noss, Reed F., editor. 2000. The redwood forest: history, ecology, and conservation of the coast redwoods. Island Press, Washington, D.C. xxvii 1 339 p. $60.00 (cloth), ISBN: 1-55963-725-0 (acid-free paper); $30.00 (paper), ISBN: 1-55963-726-9 (acid-free paper). Reinhardt, Forest L. 2000. Down to earth: applying business principles to environmental management. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts. xviii 1 291 p. $29.95, ISBN: 1-57851-192-5 (alk. paper). Scow, Kate M., Graham E. Fogg, David E. Hinton, and Michael L. Johnson, editors. 2000. Integrated assessment of ecosystem health. Lewis, Boca Raton, Florida. 358 p. $64.95, ISBN: 1-56670-453-7 (acid-free paper). Sheppard, Lucy J., and J. Neil Cape, editors. 1999. Forest growth responses to the pollution climate of the 21st century. Kluwer Academic, Norwell, Massachusetts. 448 p. $190.00, £110.00, NLG 315.00, ISBN: 0-7923-5991-7 (acid-free paper). Townsend, Colin R., John L. Harper, and Michael Begon, 2000. Essentials of ecology. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts. xvii 1 552 p. $65.95, ISBN: 0-63204348-2. Winston, Judith E. 1999. Describing species: practical taxonomic procedure for biologists. Columbia University Press, New York. xx 1 518 p. $35.00, £111.00, ISBN: 0231-06825-5 (alk. paper).