Overall Score:

Target Readership	Undergraduate+					For help with criteria, click here
Presentation/Style
Content
Literature
Originality
Overall

Return to main review page

Contents:

1 - Vegetation ecology - an overview; 2 - Vegetation and environment: discontinuities and continuities; 3 - Vegetation and ecosystems; 4 - Vegetation types and their broad-scale distribution; 5 - Clonal plants in the community; 6 - Plant dispersal potential and its relation to species frequency and co-existence; 7 - Vegetation dynamics; 8 - Diversity and ecosystem function; 9 - Species interactions structuring plant communities; 10 - Terrestrial plant-herbivore interactions: integrating across multiple determinants and trophic levels; 11 - Interaction between higher plants and soil dwelling organisms; 12 - Vegetation conservation, management and restoration; 13 - Plant invasions and invasibility of plant communities; 14 - Vegetation ecology and global change.

Review:

As disciplines grow so it becomes increasingly difficult to get a comprehensive overview at a detailed level. What we see here is a range of topics within vegetation ecology that cover some crucial areas at this time.

The opening chapter acts as an overview for the book but also a chance to put some historical perspective to the discipline. It is also the opportunity for the editor to consider some of the more theoretical elements in terms of terminology, sampling, scalar effects and physiology. As such it acts an an overview to the discipline as a whole. The remaining chapters develop their own areas. Thus chapter two looks the distribution of vegetation in general and at two competing idea - continuity and discontinuity in particular. Given that the whole notion of ecosystem is under scrutiny the way we view vegetation 'patches' is crucial to our theoretical and practical understanding. Having said this, chapter three is a more conventional analysis of ecosystem especially as seen in the energy-flow concept. Nomenclature might seem unimportant but it has great significance when considering mapping. Biomes, ecosystems and eco-regions etc. need to be clearly defined to make sure that what we are mapping is a distribution and not an artifact. To this end, the discussion in chapter four is a useful introduction. Chapter five moves scale from global to clonal - the smallest in dependant unit. Clonal plants behave differently which means that both demographic models and management strategies need to be adjusted. Linked to this, chapter six examines plant dispersal. Dispersal is a complex mechanism with variations in time, space and species. Although seen originally as a relatively simple matter, the contributors show usa how much detail there still is no know. Succession is a well-known term. It's inclusion as chapter 7 gives us some stability of thought after some of the more challenging work but we see there are still concepts to challenge. The issue of stability and diversity is one of the longer running arguments in modern ecology. The global loss of biodiversity in the 1990s has given this debate new impetus and, as we see in chapter 8 we can now work towards more complex models linking not just stability but also co-existence, spatial differences in diversity and productivity to name just three of the variables discussed here. How do communities of different species get to a particular location and develop a specific pattern? Dispersal is obviously part of the answer but as chapter 9 demonstrates, there's also the intra-and inter-specific aspects to consider. The range of ideas presented here shows the complexity of the situation. Plants may fix carbon but the fate of that carbon often rests with herbivory. The key point made in chapter 10 is the spectra one can appreciate: symbiosis to parasitism, avoidance to tolerance etc. As with other work in this volume the effect is to highlight complexity. Chapter 11 investigates the systems and feedback mechanisms between plants and soil organisms. In a move away from biological ecology, chapter 12 provides a historical overview of the main aspects of plant conservation and restoration ecology. This work could be undone if alien species invade the area. The increase of vegetative homogeneity as a result of human action is well known: chapter 13 highlights some of the key issues. Finally, chapter 14 investigates some of the impacts of global change on vegetation.

This is a very interesting text. It is perhaps best aimed at the undergraduate/post-graduate level noted above. What is does, and does very well, is introduce some of the key areas of the topic and some of the issues involved. Overarching in this respect is the complexity of responses which are being discovered at all scales in all areas. This is a great collection of contributions. It deserves to be seen as a key text in its field with the widest readership.