136 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW ZEALAND ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY, VOL. 24, 1977

BOOK REVIEWS

Man and the Boreal Forest. Edited by C. O. Tamm,Ecological Bulletin 21. Swedish Natural ScienceResearch Council, 1976.

This substantial bulletin represents the proceedingsof and papers written for a regional 'meeting on aboreal forest project which is part of UNESCO'SMan and the Biosphere Programme (MAB). Thevolume is one of a series published by the SwedishNatural Science Research Council. F. Ebeling intro-duces the collection and usefully quotes the generalobjective of MAB, "To identify and assess thechanges which result from man's activities in theboreal, temperate and Mediterranean zones and theeffects of these changes on man". Then C. O. Tammprovides a summarized report of the meeting whichconsists mainly of a list of recommendations fromthe four working groups. These comprised partici-pants from Sweden, Norway, Fi.nland, Po]and, USSR,USA and Canada. Not unexpectedly, there was agreat deal of emphasis on the need for moreco-operative research programmes. Of particularinterest among the many recommendations werethose which called for the involvement of socialscientists in multiple-use deve]opment; the compre-hensive monitoring of air and water ecosystems forpollutants; simultaneous studies of energy, monetaryand material flows; and the problems created by theintroduction of exotic tree species and monocultures.The supporting papers cover an astonishingly

wide range of topics, from the effects of air-borneacid pollutants on forests to the effects of forestryoperations on the yields of wild berries and ediblefungi, and from energy accounting in forestry tothe effect of silvicultural practices on reindeer. Thereis Jikewise a wide range of quaJity i.n the papers;some are disappointingly general with no referencescited at all and one or two of these approachbanality. Indifferent trans]ation does not help insome cases.However, there are some impressive papers. G.

Abrahamsen presents a most interesting account ofthe damaging effects of sulphur pollutants from theair on the germination and establishment of spruce,and also on brown trout which apparently havebeen devastated. M. Falkenmark writes of catchmentmodels and the hydrologic cycIe and records aninteresting consequence of hydrogen-bomb experi-ments during the fifties when traces of tritum, pro-duced in the explosions, were used to determine thetransit times of precipitation through catchments.E. Jaatinen describes an energy accounting system

which distinguishes carefully between the net use ofenergy at each stage of a technological activity,and total energy flow. His point that the accountingof physical energy flow can be used to identifyenvironmental impacts effectively and compre-hensively could be of considerable importance. A.Chambers points out the nub of environmentalproblems in the boreal forests, (indeed in all forests)when he says that society is so organized thatdifferent elements in it exploit single resources single-mindedly, with resultant ecological and socialtens:.on. The only feasible approach, of course, isone that considers the many resources together andanalyses the biophysical and socio-economic con-sequences of using resource complexes in differentways.This bulletin will be useful to many people, but

probably more to the geographer or general foresterthan to the ecological specialist; the treatment isusually too general for the latter. However, itrepresents a useful and wi,de-ranging collection ofaccounts of many aspects of the boreal forests andthe many man-induced problems associated withthem. Indeed, the reader who works his waysystematically through the papers will emerge witha clear impression of the boreal forest region.

P. J. McKelvey

Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Sulphur-Global Cycles.B. H. Svensson and R. Soderlund. SCOPE Report7. Ecological Bulletins (Stockholm) No. 22. 192 p.

In 1975 the Scientific Committee on Problems ofthe Envkonment (SCOPE) of the Royal SwedishAcademy of Sciences initiated a project surveyingthe global cycles of nitrogen, phosphorus andsulphur. Following a meeting in Stockholm attendedby experts in disciplines related to the cycling ofN, P and S, SCOPE Report 7 was prepared.It consists of nine articles, prepared by different

authors, covering the global cycles of N, P and S;the influence of man; transfer processes and timescales; the nitrogen cycle between mioro-organisms,vegetati.on and soil; and soil erosion. Each artic,leis a review of some aspect of the cycle.The infonnation is presented in tables and

simple diagrams showing the amounts of aparticular element or molecule in different partsof the environment.Data are shown as minimum or max.imum va1ues

BOOK REVIEWS 137

based on the authors' interpretation of relevantinformation. Thdr interpretaJtion is adequatelyexplained in the text.The influence of man on the global cycles of N,

P and S is apparent throughout the book. A pre-d:ction is made that if present growth rata; in thefertilizer industry continue, by ]989 N fertilizerproduction will roughly balance all terrestrialbiological fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. Againstthis, estimates of the N lost from soils bydenitrification vary widely by nevertheless amountto many millions of tonnes.This book wiJl be of use to anyone interested in

environment, and particularly to anyone interestedin the cycling of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur.However imperfect some of the estimations mightbe it serves a useful purpose in showing wheremore investigation is needed, and in showing howmanagement is likely to affect these importantnutrients on a world scale.

A. H. Nordmey..-

Vegetation of Mount Cook National Park, NewZealand. Hugh D. Wilson. National Parks AuthoritySc:entific Series No. I, Wellington, 59 Figures, 7Tables, 138 pagos, 1976. Price $7.05. Ava.ilable fromNational Parks, Department of Lands and Surveyand Government Bookshops.

About a decade ago, Botany Division of theDSIR began a project to describe and map thevegetation of the New Zealand Nati<:mal Parks.Individual botanists took on 'the task of collectingthe information and preparing publications. Thisis the first of them to be finished and sets a highstandard for others to follow. An impressive amountof fieldwork was done. in this most mountainous ofour National Parks. to provide a thorough coverageof the vegetation. In fact this is probably the mostthorough account of vegetation on any area ofcomparable size eveIi to have been done in thiscountry and it reflects the enthusiasm and dedicationof its author who, with a few staunch helpers, carriedout the entire work in some 270 days in the fieldbetween 1969 and 1972. It will be an importantreference work to the New Zealand mountain floraand vegetation for a considerable time to come. Itwill be most useful not on]y to our own students andscientists, but to workers in alpine regions elsewhere.The introductory chapter briefly outlines geology,

climate. soils, previous botanical work and the surveymethods. Sites were se]ected from air photographsafter initial ground inspection. The aim was to sample

all of the kinds of habitat with a scalter throughoutthe Park. Each site description (in 6 x 6 m quadrats)included a Jist of all species, a note of their physiog-nomic importance, a brief description of the vegeta-tion and an estimation of the percentage of bareground.Chapter 2 is a short account of vegetation patterns

in the Park, chi-eflly ,the vegetation zonation.Chapter 3 is an outline of the plant communities.Some 1500 site descriptions were done and were usedto synthesize the ,range of plant communities presentin the Park. We are not told how this was done andit would have been useful to know.The classification system used begins with landform

(landscape) physiognomic (.floristic) vegetationcategories and these are then subdivided accordingto their floristic composition. A brief account ofthe species composition is given as each type ofvegetation is listed. Five maps, at a scale of1: 60 000, show the vegetation (or lack of it) by 11

categories (perennial neve and glacier ice, bare rock,bare moraine + scree + alluvium, alpine grassland+ herbfield, scrub, beech forest, hall's totara forest,recently burnt a.reas, subalpine-montane grassland,water, moraine-covered glacier ice). Table 5 in thischapter is a full listing of the communities in whicheach species is present, a most valuable summaryof the floristic composition of communities, per-mitting the degree of objectivity of 1he communitiesto be seen.Chapter 4 describes factors in vegetation change

and has an important section on the effects of firefrom Polynesian times forward, induding thedevastating Liebig burn of 1970. Ten permanentquadrats were established in this area. Anotherimportant part of ,the chapter concerns influences ofintroduced mammals. The message is loud and clear,documented with good field evidence, that -thar aredetrimental to the alpine and subalpine vegetation.Clearly they must be eradicated in .the Park andadjacent areas. ,In Chapter 5 is an annotated floristic list which

includes lower and higher plants, both native andintroduced. Some 3000 specimens were collected andare housed at Botany Division, DSIR, with aduplicate set of vascular plants at Park Headquarters,Mount Cook.This volume will be a valuabJe baseline, not on]y

against which to measure other work in the SouthernAlps, but also when assessing vegetation change inthe area in future. I find it wholly commendablewith one exception. The vegetation maps wouldhave been much better if they had been prmted incolour. Otherwise the format is attractive, with apleasant cover drawing by Nancy Adams, clear

138 PROCEEDlNGS OF THE NEW ZEALAND ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY, VOL 24, 1977

photographs and a clear, logical presentation ofinformation.

C. J. Burrows

Applied Climatology, An Introduction. SecondEdition. Oxford University Press, 1976. John F.Griffiths. Texas University. 127 pages of text, 5pages of references, well illustrated with tables anddiagrams. Price £4.00 (United Kingdom).

The last decade has been one of increasingspecialisation at the expense of generalisation. As agood friend of mine once said, "I waS taught to lookat a tomato plant and its environment, today thereis an increasing tendency for one to call in aspecialtist .to look at the top of a leaf, and anotherto look ~t the bottom of a leaf". A rather exagger-ated claim yet not without some truth in the field ofmost applied sciences. It is refreshing, therefore, tofind a text which attempts to look at a whole subjectin a scientific fashion right through from the firstprinci.ples to speciaJist applied applica.tions fromarchiteoture to home heating and fashion inclothing.Yet in all aspects of life climate must be a prime

influence factor whether it be from the agriculturalstandpoint providing food for our ever increasingpopulation or the design of urban communitiestaking into account wind flow and light penetrationinto street and Jiving and working areas.John GTiffiths attempts to do all these things at a

very acceptable leveJ. Starting with instrumentationwhich defines parameters and their measurement hemoves on to elements of applied climatology at alevel tha;t explains rela,tionships by means of equa-tions and standard deviation from the means. Mathe-matical expressions are used to explain thevariation of wind speed with height and Penmansequation is explored with regard to evaporation andevapo-transpiration.Having ]aid the ground work simply and well he

moves on to ocean currents and air masses, the effectof these on the ideal climate followed by the actualclimatic classifications and then aspects of micro-climate. These basics occupy the first fi£ty-threepages, probably the most concise precis ever to bewntten on this subject. The remainder of the booka1ttempts to tie in climatology with soils, agriculture,£o'restry. animals. buildings, hydrology, humans andthe urban environment.The subject matter is vast, so the depth of

approach is naturally limited. However, the interestjs there and the coverage with given references offers

what is claimed. an introduction to areas whereclimatology has influence.No book on climatology would be complete today

without a chapter on climatic change and its causes.John Griffiths has added such a chapter whichfollows the same precis approach serving to whet theappetrite for, greater things to come. In this respectthe omission of Professor Lamb's text on ClimaticChange from the reference list appears unfortunate.This book is claimed to be suitable for the non-

specialist. This is certainly true and should be readby anyone interested in the environmenIt for a quickand general resume of the impact of climate onhuman affairs.In additi.on 1t is useful for specialists in relaWd

topics such as agriculture, forestry, architecture andengineering as a s.tarting point for investigations ofclimate and its effectj on their particular inrterest. Tothis end the list of over two hundred references isparticulaJ"ly useful although naturally somewhatlimited in scope.An interesting and useful text which makes easy

reading.R. A. Crowder

Soil Biology, with special reference to the animalkingdom. WilheJm Ki.ihnelt. (Translated by NormanWalker) Faber and Faber, London. Second, revisedEnglish Edition. 1976. 483 pp.

The appearance of a second edition of a book isevidence of the success of the first edition. However,I feel this. book may have a more distinguished past,than a promising future. It is now 27 yea.rs sincethe first German edition made this book a pioneer inits field, and the 15 years that have passed since thefirst EngJish edition have seen many advances in thisincreasingly studied fie]d. Close comparison of theEnglish editions reveals minor changes: a sternereditorial hand has tightened up parts of the text alittle, but 1961 edition more adequately mirroredthe state of knowledge at that time.New fea.tures are: a key to the identification of

higher groups of soil animals, four pages on plantparasitic nematodes, a discussion of pesticides insoil and a 6 page classification of animals found insoil. The value of these new features is questionable.Workers who need a key to distinguish vertebratesfrom protozoa must be few indeed! Butcher's con-tribution on pesticides is the most successful, butone is left wondering why the oddly arbitrary tableof zoologicall categories called a classification was

BOOK REVIEWS

included at all. Any standard invertebrate zoologytext would supply the same information.Many of the shortcomings of the revised edition

are no doubt aHributable to its long gestation: thepreface is dated 1971 but five more years elapsedbefore publication. It is not surprising therefore thatthe bibliography is rather archaic. It is surprisingthat none of the original references have beendropped, and few have been up.dated e.g. the 1963

revision of Goodey's "Soil and FreshwaterNematodes" itse]f now sadly outdated is ignored, asare the innumerable revisions of his how-to-do-itbooklet. In a book where literature citations takeup about a fifth of the space one could have expectedmuch more care in selecting and up-dating them.It is surprising that "Journal of Soil Biology andBiochemistry" was not considered worthy of mentionon p. 23.The strength e;f this book lies in its concentration

on what might be called the natural history of soilanimals, especially of soil arthropods. Here theauthor is in his e!ement. Much of what is said at afamily level, is transferable (with caution) to theNew Zealand scene but New Zealand workers willhave to compile thei.r own collection of localreferences.

This is no how-to-do-it book and the worker insearch of techniques will need to consult the varioussymposia on soil bi,ology that have appeared inrecent years and the more specialized works suchas the I.B.P. Handbooks. Similarly the student whomerely wishes to identify soil organisms will bedisappointed.

The modern role of such a book is problematical.It seems that soil bi,ology has grown beyond thisstage. This was a pioneering book originally writtenin pioneering days. I suspect the call today is foreither thoroughly up-to-date, general accounts ofbroader scope, or equally up.to-date specialist treat-ments of processes, kinds of soil envi.ronment, orgroups of soil organisms. It is a disadvantage of thisbook that despite the "Biology" of the title, fungi,bacteria and actinomycetes are ignored, and so tooI feel is the soil itself. There is no adequate accountof soil or of the soil as aJ habitat.

The book is well bound and printed, and ispleasingly free from misprints but it") origin from atranslation is stiJ1 apparent. (What, I wonder, is thenature of a sapro-phytic nematode?) Like the firstedition the second edition also lacks a subject index.The prime difficulty is that the book is an inade-quately revised re-tread. and at approximatelyNZ$30 it's a fairly expensive retread.

W. C. Clark

139

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The Editor,New Zealand Ecological Society.

Dear Sir,

The calculations appearing in the last paragraph of mypaper "Diet of the opossum" (Trichm;lIrus vulpeculaKerr) on fam1land northeast of Waverley, NewZealand", (Ecological Society Proceedings 20, 1973) arenot correct. This has been kindly pointed out to me byDr Eric SPUIT (Forest Research Institute) who hasgiven the following corrected version:If each opossum eats 0.11 kg dry matter/day, then 43

opossums/ha eat 4.70 kg d.m./ha/day. If each sheepeats 3.50 kg dry matter/day, then 43 opossums/ha eat4.70/3.50 kg = 1.34 sheep equivalentsjha. This contrastswith my calculation of 2.5 sheep equivalents/ha.r am indebted to Dr Spurr for sorting out this error.

Yours, etc.Alice E. Fitzgerald,

(Previously Alice E. Harvie)

CORRIGENDUM

WARDLE, P.; CAMPBELL, A. D. 1976. Seasonal cycleof tolerance ,to low temperatures in three nativewoody plants, in relation to their ecology andpost-glacial history. Proceedin;fs of the NewZealand Ecological Society 23: 85-90.

On p. 87 of this paper the legend was incorrectfor Nothofagus s. diffortioides 1200 m. The correctnotation for Fig. 1 (a) is:

.,, .............. N othofagus s. clifforti,oidesN othofagus s. cliffortioidesPhylodadus alpinusDacrydium bidwillii

1200m800m

-1-1-1-1-