Books

The ecology of tropical rain forests in the Far East

Tropical rain forests of the Far East, by T.C. Whitmore. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1975. 282 p. Price £12.50.

The tropical forests of the Far East, probably the richest and oldest of the world, are a subject that has been sparingly studied and about which the literature is all too scattered and fragmentary. Dr. Whitmore's book would be welcome for these reasons alone. In addition to this it is welcome because its scientific content is lucidly presented with a dynamic ecological approach.

There is, at the beginning of this book, a general description of the distribution of the tropical rain forests of the world followed by a broad analysis of the distribution of the wet tropical forests of the Far East. Representative profile diagrams are used to show the richness of the flora and the different kinds of rain forest ecosystems, each with different canopy layerings.

Dr. Whitmore then gives his attention to climate in the Far East, the most important controlling factor in distribution of plants. There is a great variety of climates within the tropics - from ever-wet, through dry for part of the year, to near arid - in the light of which the author considers the consequences for plant and animal life of seasonality, particularly in rainfall and even within the wettest parts of the region.

The author demonstrates how much is now known about growth rates and ecological requirements of individual species. Studies dealing with individual species, mainly of well-known timber trees, illustrate the problems a tree species has to overcome to maintain itself in the rain forest, and the ecological alternatives which enable it to do so. Little is known, however, about the physiological basis of survival and growth of seedlings of rain forest trees and the views on this expressed by the author are only indicative. Whitmore elucidates the ecological basis of rain forest silviculture, based on a close study of the behaviour of individual tree species over long periods. He goes into the details of the two most widely applied silvicultural systems, as applied to specific forested regions in the Far East, polycyclic and monocyclic, discussing them in terms of their merits and shortcomings.

There is a vivid description of the vegetative carpet, and the reader is brought to appreciate the considerable variation in these complex and species-rich ecosystems. As an aid to understanding the distribution and relationship of forest formations, Whitmore has conveniently arranged them into groups according to their habitat and they are treated in varying degrees of detail, including an appraisal of their economic importance.

In reading this work, it becomes once more abundantly clear that a great deal has yet to be learned about the forests of the tropics and their distribution. What is obvious is that economic considerations need to be brought into a rethinking of the management of the tropical forest. For example, economic considerations are increasingly leading forestry throughout the tropics into cultivation of trees in plantations rather than in semi-natural forest conditions. Compact blocks of merchantable species, in monoculture, are not only easier to establish and manage than are extensive natural forests, but give a higher yield of timber per hectare.

The author has also taken the opportunity of discussing in this book the complex and interesting subject of the variations displayed by tropical rain forest. Two dramatically opposed views on the nature of variation are developed. One is that the tropical lowland evergreen forest of a given region should be considered as a single vast plant community varying haphazardly from place to place. The other view is that most species have very precise habitat requirements and occupy distinct niches so that variation in the forest simply mirrors the occurrence of these niches. In examining the available scanty evidence the author suggests that the true nature of rain forest communities lies somewhere between these two extremes.

A chapter contributed by C.P. Burnhorn is devoted to an up-to-date account of the soils that occur in this part of the world and how they can be a valuable aid in understanding the ecosystems of the region. AS Dr. Burnhorn points out, soil-vegetation relationships are only beginning to be understood and much remains to be done on identification of soil factors which influence species abundance and distribution.

Part of the ecological presentation deals with animal life. The author suggests that the complex interactions between animals and plants contain clues to mechanisms which may stimulate tree-species formations in tropical rain forests as well as indications of other mechanisms which might be important in controlling species density. The many serious threats to survival of the fauna of the tropics should be seen from this broad point of view of survival of whole large tropical forest ecosystems which may depend upon animals for life much more than man has been aware.

The book concludes with a historical account of the impact of man on rain forests and expresses deep concern over the alarming rate at which these forests are being exploited, both for their valuable wood resources and for the agricultural development of the land on which they grow. Dr. Whitmore is critical of the frequent lack of awareness of the consequences of such exploitation by the people of tropical forest countries. But in the face of world-wide economic development and the needs of everyday life which are acutely felt by the populations of developing countries, it would be unrealistic to expect these nations to conserve more than a small portion of their forested land as inviolate nature preserves.

The published results of research into rain forests of the Far East are scattered in a large number of books, periodicals, monographs and governmental reports, and the author has drawn heavily on these, making copious references to original and secondary sources which are listed in the valuable bibliography appended to the book.

J. Wyatt Smith, who has written the foreword for the book, has paid a rich tribute to the author for his "excellent field knowledge and wide yet deep appreciation of the subject."

P. ARGAL

Man's impact on the ecology of Africa

Africa, the devastated continent? by Antoon de Vos. Monographiae Biologicae, Vol. 26 Dr. W. Junk The Hague. 240 p. Price: Guilders 65.

Africa, the devastated continent? covers the spectrum of human impacts from urban and industrial development to efforts to protect wilderness and wildlife in national parks and reserves. Problems of forestry, nomadism and other forms of animal husbandry, agriculture, soil conservation, range and wildlife management are examined. The activities of man are viewed and evaluated against the potentialities and restraints of particular ecosystems. The final chapter, "Planning for the future," stresses the need for ecological considerations in planning for the use of land and resources.

Forestry atlas

The Federal German Research Institute for Forest and Lumber Economy at Reinbek near Hamburg has issued four new maps in its World Forestry Atlas series.

This, brings to 67 the number of maps issued by the autumn of 1975. Another six are planned to complete the atlas or to replace outdated maps. The size of the maps, printed in five to ten colours, is 75 by 60 centimetres.

The four latest maps cover the world's vegetation types, forest distribution in Europe, and details on forestry in Italy and Australia. Subjects are listed on the maps in German, English, French and Spanish.

The atlas may be purchased from Verlag, Paul Parey, Spitalerstrasse 12, 2 Hamburg 1.

Soviet fauna

Die Säugetiere der Sowjetunion, Band II, Seekühe und Raubtiere by V.G. Heptner et al. Veb Gustav Fischer Verlag, (?). 1006 p. Price DM 239.40.

Originally published in Russian in 1967, the German translation of this book covers all the sirenians and carnivores found in the U.S.S.R., describing in detail each species' biology, distribution and behaviour. It is an exhaustive and monumental work.

Manual of remote sensing

Manual of remote sensing, American Society of Photogrammetry, 105 North Virginia Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia 22046, U.S.A. Price $35 plus shipping charge outside U.S.A.

This 2000-page, 2-volume work is probably the most advanced work available on remote sensing. It is intended for the experts, not for the uninitiated, and for serious students of the subject it is a must. It emphasizes techniques which require sophisticated equipment and scarcely deals at all with simpler, if not so adequate, methods to obtain information from remotely sensed imagery.

Geography of plant resources

Plants, man and the land in the Vilcanota Valley of Peru by Daniel W. Gade. Biogeographica, Vol. 6, Dr. W. Junk b.v., The Hague. 240 p. Price: Guilders 70.

This is a geography of plant resources in an important Andean Valley of great environmental diversity that provides an understanding of the use of plants, cultivated and wild, as they have varied from place to place and through time. Most of the contemporary data were derived from more than 20 months' observation of day-to-day practices of farming people in their fields, homes and markets. This is a comprehensive ethno-botanical account, of value to students, of plant-culture relationships.

Ecosystem convergence

Mediterranean type ecosystems: origin and structure, edited by Francesco di Castri and Harold A. Mooney. Springer-Verlag, Hamburg. 405 p. Price $30.10.

This book examines the concept of ecosystem convergence - the extent to which similar physical environments in different parts of the world, acting on native plants and animals of different phylogenetic history, produce types of ecosystems organized in a similar way and sharing similar structures and functional attributes. The similarities between the Mediterranean, Californian, central Chilean, South African and Australian mediterranean regions are considered in six sections: physical geography of lands with mediterranean climates, vegetation in mediterranean climate regions, soil systems in mediterranean climate regions, plant biogeography, animal biogeography and ecological niche, and human activities affecting mediterranean ecosystems. It is No. 7 in Springer-Verlag's Ecological Studies series.

European birds

A field guide to the nests, eggs and nestlings of British and European birds by Colin Harrison. Collins (?). 432 p. Price £3.50.

This is a concise, fully illustrated field guide to the recognition and understanding of nest sites, structures and materials, breeding seasons, egg numbers and shapes, sizes and colours, incubation and hatching, nestlings and nesting periods. North Africa and the Near East are covered, as well as Europe. Sixty-four colour plates illustrate 145 chicks and more than 700 eggs. All birds breeding from the Sahara up to Iceland and Spitzbergen and from the Canaries and Azores to the Ural mountains are described. Care is taken to emphasize the need for conservation. The purpose of the book is described as being to encourage protection through knowledge, not collection. Up to the high standard of Collins' field guides.

Pulp and Paper Glossary

An International Glossary of Technical Terms for the Pulp and Paper Industry. Edited by Paul D. Van Derveer and Leonard E. Haas. Pulp and Paper International Book Department, San Francisco, California, 1976. 240 p. $30.

This glossary contains 6252 specialized words, terms and phrases in five languages. The carrier language, English, is keyed to equivalent expressions in Swedish, German, French and Spanish. The contents cover specialized terms for the paper industry, forestry, wood handling, pulping, finishing, converting, testing and research and development.

Tropical landforms

The landforms of the humid tropics, forests and savannas by J. Tricart. Longman Group Ltd., London, 1972.

This book was first published in French in 1965. It does not include karstic phenomena but most of the other rock types are there. For all those interested in tropical landforms and geomorphic processes, this is an important contribution.

From Abarema bigemina to Zizyphus xylopyrus

The Sri Lanka Forester (formerly the Ceylon Forester) has published a special double issue (Vol. XI, Nos. 3 and 4) which is a glossary of 1520 names of local plants. They are numbered and cross-indexed showing species, family and the names in Sinhala and Tamil script as well.

The work is by W.M. Bandaranayake, M.U.S. Sultanbawa, S.C. Weerasekara and S. Balasubramaniam. Address: The Editor, The Sri Lanka Forester, Forest Department, P.O. Box 509, Colombo 2, Sri Lanka. Price: US$2.50.

Forest history books

The Forest History Society, Inc. has published its 1975 Catalogue of forest history books covering the subject mainly in the United States but also in Canada and the United Kingdom.

The Society's address is Post Office Box 1581, Santa Cruz, California 95060.

French version of multilingual forestry dictionary series

Terminologie forestière edited by A. Métro. Association française des eaux et forêts, Conseil international de la langue française, 1975.

A. Métro, Conservateur des eaux et forêts and formerly Chief of the FAO Forest Production Branch, is responsible for this forestry dictionary in French. It is No. 2 of the Multilingual Forestry Terminology series undertaken under the aegis and control of the FAO-IUFRO Joint Committee on Bibliography and Terminology. Out of the 7750 terms in it, 6800 are common with the English version, which was No. 1 of the series.

By allotting a serial number (Universal Reference Number) to each concept defined, full interlinkage is assured with the other participating languages - English, German and Spanish - and later on with the other languages that may be included in the project.

The publication contains an alphabetical list of French terms and a definition of concepts, an international numerical list of French terms, an alphabetical list of German and Spanish terms, plus a bibliography, illustrations, abbreviations and symbols. The dictionary also offers an extremely useful multilingual list of the forest species mentioned in the work.

Unasylva manuscript style Unasylva an international journal of forestry and forest industries, is published quarterly in English, French and Spanish editions. Language and writing style Manuscripts are accepted in English, French or Spanish. Well-organized and clearly written manuscripts not only help to communicate ideas and information to the reader, but they facilitate editing and translation. Manuscript preparation Manuscripts should be in duplicate, typewritten double-spaced on one side of the page only and with wide margins. About 250 words to a page will simplify word-count estimates. It should be possible for us to make clean, easily read photocopies from any manuscript, therefore please use a new typewriter ribbon. The first page should have in the upper right-hand corner the author's name and address, the date and the number of words in the main text, not including words in tables, figures, captions or titles. Subsequent pages should have only the author's name in the right-hand corner. Metric system All measurements should be in the metric system. Tables, figures, drawings Tables, figures and drawings of any kind should each be on a separate page and numbered to correspond to their points of reference in the text. They should never be pasted into the body of the text. They should be as clear and simple as possible. Only essential tables and figures should be included and all should be identified as to source. Photographs Unasylva uses black-and-white photographs. We prefer good quality black-and-white prints 18 × 24 cm (8 × 10 in) on glossy paper. If a diapositive colour-slide is of high quality we may be able to make a copy negative from it and a good quality black-and-white photograph, but we prefer not to have them. We will make every effort to return colour slides and black-and-white negatives but we cannot guarantee return. Black-and-white prints are not returned. Footnotes and references Footnotes and references should be listed on separate sheets at the end of the manuscript. Footnotes should be kept to an absolute minimum and we prefer none. References should be strictly relevant to the article and should also be kept to a minimum. For style of references please see examples in the magazine. Length Long articles are 3000 to 4000 words, and short articles are 750 to 2000 words. Republished articles Unasylva prefers original articles but does not rule out reprints, especially where there is the possibility of exchanging views and developments of basic importance in forestry and forest industries between readers in developed and developing regions of the world or where language considerations are involved. Queries in advance We welcome letters from writers suggesting ideas and subject matter for proposed articles. They usually result in articles of a higher quality and in a saving in writing and editing time. Who are the readers? Unasylva subscribers in some 135 countries fall into the following broad categories: - Government officials, in particular the executive level of national forest services, wildlife departments and national parks. This also includes delegates and missions attached to the United Nations and its specialized agencies and staff members of international organizations dealing with forestry, environment, forest industries and trade. - Forestry schools and institutes, both through their libraries and subscriptions to individual staff members. - Forest industry companies dealing with services for forestry, companies dealing in forest products. - Individual professional foresters, especially those concerned with international forestry. - Editors of professional and trade journals dealing with forestry, forest industries and environmental conservation.