insect sampling in forest ecosystems

Austral Ecology (2006) 31, 106–110 doi:10.1111/j.1442-9993.2006.01570.x

© 2006 Ecological Society of Australia

Book Reviews

Freshwater Fishes of North-eastern Australia

B. Pusey, M. Kennard and A. Arthington. CSIROPublishing, Collingwood Victoria, 2005, xiv + 684 pp.Price AUD$89. ISBN 0 643 06966 6.

In Freshwater Fishes of North-eastern Australia, theauthors have set out to provide detailed informationon all native and introduced species within the north-east coast drainage division, an area bounded by theGreat Dividing Range, Coral Sea, northern NewSouth Wales and Cape York. The book certainly meetsthis aim, providing a comprehensive and detailed vol-ume on fish species in this area.

This book is well set out and initially provides back-ground information to provide a context for the spe-cies accounts, beginning with a review of the origin ofAustralian fish species. This is followed by a summaryof the classification system used, and information onfish anatomy and morphometrics to assist with speciesidentification and use of the key, including detailedline drawings of the main features. The key to speciesis clear, concise and easy to work through, withdetailed line drawings to clarify relevant components.

The third chapter provides climatic information forthe north-east coast drainage division. It also describesthe studies that were undertaken by the authors togather much of the information in the species accounts,including information on site selection, descriptions ofthe methods used for surveys and to quantify speciesabundances, and an overview of the data that werecollected to quantify macro-, meso- and microhabitatuse and structure. This information is essential tounderstand the information in the species accounts.

The species accounts are split into several key sec-tions. Each species is described in detail with a linedrawing to assist identification. The systematics of thespecies is then outlined, including taxonomic revi-sions, and the distribution and abundance of eachspecies are described, based on existing literature andthe authors’ studies. Wherever possible, data on spe-cies’ abundances in different catchments are tabu-lated, including information on ranked abundance andpercent biomass within each catchment.

Details of the macro-, meso- and microhabitats ofeach species are provided, again with information onthe preference of each species for the measured habitatvariables. The environmental tolerances of each spe-cies are then reviewed, followed by reproductive,development and movement biology and trophic ecol-ogy. The final section of the species accounts describesthe current status of each species as listed by state and

federal legislation and recommends an appropriateconservation status based on known threats, as well asproviding recommendations for management.

The species accounts are well structured and pro-vide a wealth of information. However, it was disap-pointing to find that some species are grouped withclosely related species rather than being treated sep-arately. Although detailed information on each spe-cies is provided, this has to be teased out of anextended, pooled account. Additionally, only oneline drawing is generally provided within the multi-ple-species accounts. Labelled drawings of each spe-cies would have made it easier to compare features,particularly in the field. Colour plates of some, ifnot all, species would also have been a nice additionto this volume.

Distribution maps are notably absent. The authorsnote that maps were not included because of incom-plete data for species and as some species may benaturally absent from a catchment within their widerdistribution. However, distribution maps can assistidentifications and help to target management actions.It would have been beneficial to include maps showingknown records within drainage divisions.

These few issues aside, Freshwater Fishes of North-eastern Australia is an excellent reference book thatprovides extensive information on the fish species ofnorth-eastern Australia. It complements other bookson fish in adjacent areas and will provide an invaluablereference tool for researchers, ecologists, and land andcatchment managers alike.

ADAM FAWCETTForests New South Wales

Hunter, New South Wales, AustraliaEmail: [email protected]

Seed Fate: Predation, Dispersal and Seedling Establishment

P.-M. Forget, J. E. Lambert, P. E. Hulme and S. B.Vander Wall (eds). CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK,2005, 410 pp. Price US$140. ISBN 0 8519 806 2.

What happens between a seed leaving the parent plantand a seedling establishing? This deceptively simplequestion encapsulates the ecological diversity and evo-lutionary dynamics of dispersal syndromes, seed pre-dation, dormancy and germination requirements interalia. Known collectively as ‘seed fate’, this multifac-

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eted suite of interactions has motivated considerableresearch, and a unifying volume synthesizing recentadvances is long overdue.

This edited volume arose spontaneously from the‘Post primary seed fate: predation and secondary dis-persal’ symposium at the Association for Tropical Biol-ogy and Conservation annual conference in Panamain 2002, where many chapters were originally pre-sented. Of the 48 contributors, 12 are from NorthAmerica, 12 from Asia and 12 from Europe – remark-ably uniform coverage that testifies to the truly globalperspective of the editors. The representation is notquite so even in terms of the authorship and geograph-ical context of the chapters, but this is a reflection ofunderlying research activity rather than any editorialbias.

Overall, the volume has been carefully edited, lack-ing the disjointed and inconsistent style of so manyedited volumes. The book also looks good, with well-selected photographs, uncluttered graphs and judi-cious use of flow charts and path diagrams. However,the quality of figures varies, from pixelated blurs tostylized line drawings. Writing style also varies, fromconcise and lucid, to overly technical bordering onimpenetrable. The seed dispersal literature can be aminefield of obscure and esoteric terminology (e.g.endozoochory vs. ectozoochory vs. epizoochory vs.synzoochory); but the language in this book avoidsunnecessary jargon and, when technical terms areused, they are generally clearly defined. The editorsunfortunately missed the opportunity to compile aglossary of these specialized terms – something manyresearchers would find invaluable. The volume alsolacks a single bibliography but, given the range of areascovered and complementarity of chapters, this is nota major drawback.

In terms of content, 11 of the 23 chapters arestraight empirical studies, reporting new findings fromfield-based investigation. Of the remaining chapters,eight are reviews or compilations of previous work ona specific topic (e.g. seed predation and dispersal bypeccaries; the role of dung beetles as secondary dis-persers), and four are broader conceptual pieces (e.g.evolution of secondary seed dispersal; effects of spatialvariation in post-dispersal seed predation on plantdemography). This mix of empirical reports, second-ary distillations and emergent syntheses works nicely,demonstrating how the study of seed fate is well onthe way to developing its own set of paradigms.

The role of scatter-hoarding rodents is repeatedlyemphasized. This dispersal syndrome relies on rodentvectors moving seeds away from parent plants tocaches where they are relatively safe from opportunis-tic seed predators. From the plant’s perspective, thisis only effective if the animal has an imperfect mem-ory, forgetting the location of occasional seeds that goon to germinate and establish. The researcher who

conducted pioneering work on this strategy is thesenior editor of the volume, Pierre-Michel Forget,who must rank close to Hatchwell (who studies avianreproduction) and Worms (the noted parasitologist)as the biologist with the most appropriate researchspecialty.

Although early literature on seed dispersal focusedprimarily on fruit-eating birds, it is now appreciatedthat a wide range of animals act as primary and sec-ondary dispersers. This shift in focus is apparent in thetaxonomic coverage of this volume, with birds onlyfiguring prominently in two chapters, both of whichwere primarily focused on mammals. Ants, beetles,rodents and primates were the best representedgroups, hinting at the breadth of organisms and rangeof interactions affecting seed fate.

The final chapter (by Forget and Wenny) is a com-prehensive review of methods used to study seedremoval and secondary seed dispersal. They systemat-ically cover the main methods currently used, present-ing examples of applications and a frank assessmentof shortcomings and benefits. A table or path diagrammatching particular questions/systems/taxa to themost appropriate methods would have been an excel-lent complement to the text, as would a table compar-ing the pros, cons, costs and exemplar applications ofeach method. Nonetheless, the chapter is a handymethodological overview that will be very useful forresearchers planning new projects or refining existingones.

For researchers interested in seed dispersal, thisbook will be compulsory reading. With its mix ofdetailed case studies, comprehensive reviews andthoughtful overviews, it provides an excellent sum-mary of current knowledge and highlights criticalgaps. For those researchers working on the ecology ofgranivores or frugivores, or the reproductive ecologyor life history of plants, this book will contain manyrevelations and highlight a suite of hitherto unsus-pected interactions.

DAVID M. WATSONInstitute for Land, Water and Society

Charles Sturt UniversityAlbury Australia

Email: [email protected]

Insect Sampling in Forest Ecosystems

S. R. Leather (ed). Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK,2005, 303 pp. Price AUD$94 (paperback). ISBN80 0 632 053887.

There is a growing awareness of the role that insectsand other invertebrates play in ecological processes

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and ecosystem function, and increasing knowledge oftheir contribution to ecosystem services. In recentyears several books have synthesized this growing bodyof literature (e.g. Wardle 2002; Weisser & Siemann2004; Samways 2005). In forest systems, ecologicallysustainable forest management has acknowledged thecontribution of invertebrates to overall biodiversityand the maintenance of ecological processes; however,forest managers are often overwhelmed by this com-plexity and unclear how to put this newfound aware-ness into practice. With managers often asking, ‘Sohow do we reliably measure this diversity?’ it wouldseem an ideal time for a good synthesis of currentinsect sampling methods to appear. Is Simon Leather’swork such a synthesis? A big ask, particularly for thoseof us raised on the bible of invertebrate sampling,Ecological Methods, by Southwood and Henderson(2000).

The Forward suggests that the series is ‘aimed athelping ecologists to choose and apply an appropriatemethodology for their research’, with an emphasis onnew and innovative techniques. The book’s scopeidentifies insect sampling as a special case withinecological census techniques, because of the intrinsicproperties of the target groups (e.g. small size, theirvaried life cycles and population dynamics). There are15 contributing chapter authors from a narrowspread of countries (10 from the UK, three from theUSA and two from Israel), which is odd given thegeographical range and diversity of forest environ-ments. The book starts logically with an introductionto sampling theory and practice, followed by chaptersdevoted to particular environments and/or groupswithin forests. This division of chapters based on‘specific habitats’ and/or ‘problematic guilds orgroups’ differs substantially from Southwood’sapproach, which focused initially on why you wantedto sample and then considered how best to do it. Onemight argue that establishing a rationale for sampling(including a hypothesis or two) is always a goodapproach to scientific study, yet as this is dealt withextensively elsewhere, Leather’s approach is notunreasonable.

The ‘sampling theory and practice’ section dealsbriefly but adequately with the basics of samplingversus census and observation versus experiment,acknowledging that insect collection has its originsin natural history studies. With sampling, it intro-duces ideas of passive versus active traps, directhabitat sampling, and destructive versus non-destructive sampling. Most invertebrate samplingtends to fall into the former category, which, giventhe likelihood that you will be transporting vastnumbers of beasties back to the lab, appropriatelyleads to the section entitled ‘how many samples?’This section is not ‘new and innovative’, andfocuses on traditional concepts of defining a sample

unit and estimating optimal sample size and num-ber of samples. The lack of mention of effect sizeand power analysis and other methods of estimatingsampling effectiveness is a major omission. This alsohighlights an inconsistency in overall approach, asChapter 9 on aquatic insects has 22 pages devotedto sampling errors; one has to ask why this did notform part of Chapter 1.

Some chapters do deal with new and innovativetechniques. The section on sampling tree roots cov-ers an area not normally described in such texts andexamines a wide variety of techniques. There is agood schematic decision-tree diagram to assist thenovice to select the most appropriate techniquebased on the feeding strategy of the target organismand the resources (mainly time) available. The sec-tion on small aquatic habitats found in plants (phy-totelmata) is quite innovative in its approach,particularly in regard to experimental design andhypothesis testing. The chapter dealing with sam-pling aquatic insects in streams and ponds also dealswith the ethical considerations of destructive sam-pling, something that will increasingly become anissue as invertebrates increase in ‘status’ and loominto the view of Animal Care and Ethics Commit-tees. Other chapters are more conventional, dealingwith pitfall trapping, sampling understorey vegeta-tion, insects on trees, insects in flight and canopyinsects, with two chapters dedicated to termites andparasitoids and predators.

So, does this book focus on new and innovativetechniques? Is it the synthesis that forest managersand ecologists require? My feeling is generally noon both counts. Most of these trapping techniqueswere designed years ago and have stood the test oftime, essentially unaltered. Chapter 6 (flight) recog-nizes this and suggests that advances in trappingtechniques will come from better observation of thebehavioural responses of the target insect, ratherthan from more modern technology. Maybe this iswhy the book fails to deliver on one of its objec-tives. I found the somewhat inconsistent approach,shifting between particular environments (e.g. roots,trees), particular groups (e.g. aquatic insects, flyinginsects) and particular techniques (e.g. pitfall trap-ping), confusing. There is considerable duplicationbetween chapters, and better cross referencing ofthis overlap in the index would have been useful.On a positive note, each chapter has a good refer-ence list and a table comparing the various tech-niques and their limitations, a feature which wouldbe particularly useful for students and novices.There are, however, glaring omissions which arehard to forgive. Two forest environments which areoften seriously impacted by management practices,leaf litter and logs, are ignored. Given the growingworldwide interest in the ecological significance of

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coarse woody debris, the latter is particularly unfor-givable.

ALAN YORKSchool of Forest and Ecosystem Science

University of MelbourneCreswick, Victoria, Australia


REFERENCES

Samways M. J. (2005) Insect Diversity Conservation. CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge.

Southwood T. R. E. & Henderson P. A. (2000) EcologicalMethods, 3rd edn. Blackwell, London.

Wardle D. A. (2002) Communities and Ecosystems. Linking theAboveground and Belowground Components. Princeton Uni-versity Press, Princeton.

Weisser W. W. & Siemann E., eds. (2004) Insects and EcosystemFunction. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes: The Native Vegetation of New South Wales and the ACT

D. Keith. Department of Environment and Conserva-tion, Hurstville, 2004, 356 pp. Price AUD$79.95.ISBN 07323 6780 4.

It is not an easy task to compile information anddevelop a classification system for the vegetation of aregion as large and diverse as New South Wales andthe Australian Capital Territory. David Keith hasattempted to do this through describing and mapping99 broad vegetation classes (from 12 formations) com-piled from disparate floristic mapping programs. Thevegetation map has been, and will be updated, as newinformation is forthcoming. Unlike the map, however,it is unlikely that the book will be updated in the nearfuture and thus it represents a snapshot of some of ourcurrent understanding.

The introduction provides a brief but luciddescription of the methods generally employed toconstruct vegetation maps. A useful key is suppliedto identify each of the broad vegetation classesdiscussed. Each formation is separately introducedwith broader background information provided. The99 classes are described briefly and often contain asnippet of some interesting dynamics that occurwithin that system.

Keith attempts to combine broad floristically derivedunits with a structural classification system. Whilethere is merit in attempting this, there are many pitfallsas well; floristically derived units are rarely restrictedto one structural type. Species most ubiquitous in abroad floristic unit (often typifying them) are usuallycommon in many other units and those that are highly

indicative often only occur in a few locations of abroadly mapped group. Because of this, arbitrary deci-sions have to be made when forcing vegetation intodefined classes; such compromises have been made inthis book and not always consistently in the same way.Often it is best to treat structure and floristics asseparate tasks, because the aims, objectives and meth-ods for deriving floristic units are not the same as thosefor structural units. Read (1994) provides a goodexample of a book using only structural units. Beadle(1980) again uses structure primarily, then successfullydescribes indicative species alliances intuitively.

This book has attempted to provide a current under-standing of major vegetation assemblages and theirdistribution, but much relevant information has notbeen thoroughly sourced. Information of importanceto many of the units described has been widely avail-able, some of it for several decades. Some vegetationtypes appear to have been missed (e.g. western canegrass grasslands) and units within the text are morenarrowly presented in terms of floristic variation anddistribution than is the case in reality (e.g. Wattle DrySclerophyll Forests).

There is an overemphasis of the fundamental impor-tance of fire in almost all of the vegetated systemsdiscussed. This emphasis greatly overshadows otherissues of equal or greater importance to some units.For instance, the frequency and duration of floodingevents greatly affect many semiarid communities, yetthis is only mentioned for Inland Riverine Forests.Long-term climatic cycles are known to be important,particularly in grasslands. Landscape features such aslarge rock massifs can significantly increase nutrientsand effective rainfall to surrounding sclerophyll forestsby run-off. In terms of the role of fire, the debate is attimes one-sided.

There are also instances where terminology or ideasare improperly used (e.g. the description of vicarianceand fire refugia). Comments are made on species andcommunity distributions, taxonomic features of euca-lypts, and situations which lower diversity (certainsubstrates or successional stages), although there ismuch literature that provide evidence contrary to thestatements given.

It is best to view this book as being ‘near as good asone can get’ within the format and methods chosen.However, because of its many compromises and attimes biased or limited research, it should not be takenas a definitive tome. Should a book like this have beenwritten? The answer is yes; this book has achievedmuch and will continue being of benefit, especially asan introduction to a broad audience. However, alter-native views and more in-depth information should besourced by those who wish to delve further into theunits discussed or the vegetation of an area. Being aconsultant, I am far too aware that books like this areoften taken as the definitive statement by many man-

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agers. This book is beautifully illustrated and providesa general introduction and snapshot of some aspectsof our understanding (particularly of fire) of the veg-etation of New South Wales and the Australia CapitalTerritory. I recommend it to any tertiary student orlandscape manager with an interest in vegetation andvegetation dynamics.

JOHN T. HUNTERSchool of Human & Environmental Studies

University of New EnglandArmidale, New South Wales, Australia


REFERENCES

Beadle N. C. W. (1980) The Vegetation of Australia. CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge.

Read I. G. (1994) The Bush: A Guide to the Vegetated Landscapesof Australia. UNSW Press, Sydney.

insect sampling in forest ecosystems

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