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frontiersofbiogeographyvol.3,n3 november2011
thescientificmagazineoftheInternationalBiogeographySociety
ISSN19486596freelyavailableathttp://www.biogeography.org/
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frontiersofbiogeographythescientificmagazineoftheInternationalBiogeographySocietyvolume3,issue3 November2011
cover:Floweringredbuglosses(Echiumwildpretii,alsonamedtajinastes
rojosinSpanish)infrontofMount
Teide(Tenerife,CanaryIslands).PhotographbyAnaM.C.Santos.
editorialboard
editorinchief:Joaqun Hortal Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC),SpainandUniversidadeFederaldeGois,Brazil
deputyeditorsinchief:MichaelNDawsonUniversityofCalifornia,Merced,USARichardFieldUniversityofNottingham,UK
frontiersofbiogeography ispublishedbythe InternationalBiogeography Society (IBS),an internationaland interdisciplinarysociety
contributingtotheadvancementofallstudiesofthegeographyofnature
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President:LawrenceR.HeaneyPresidentElect:RosemaryGillespieVPforConferences:DanielGavinVPforPublicAffairs&Communications:MichaelNDawsonVPforDevelopment&Awards:GeorgeStevensSecretary:RichardFieldTreasurer:LoisF.AlexanderDirectoratlarge:CatherineGrahamDirectoratlarge:KathyWillisStudentatlarge:AnaM.C.Santos
FirstPastPresident:JamesH.BrownSecondPastPresident:MarkV.LomolinoThirdPastPresident:BrettR.RiddleFourthPastPresident:VickiFunkFifthPastPresident:RobertJ.Whittaker
Upcomingmeetinghost(exofficio):KennethFeeleyPastGraduatestudentrepresentative(exofficio):MatthewHeard
ISSN19486596
associateeditors:AntjeAhrendsRoyalBotanicGardenEdinburgh,UKJanBeckUniversityofBasel,SwitzerlandJessicaBloisUniversityofWisconsin,Madison,USAChrisBurridgeUniversityofTasmania,Australia
MarcusV.
Cianciaruso
UniversidadeFederaldeGois,BrazilMarkusEichhornUniversityofNottingham,UK
RoyErkensUniversiteitUtrecht,TheNetherlandsCamillaFljgaardAarhusUniversity,DenmarkDanGavinUniversityofOregon,USAMatthewJ.HeardBrownUniversity,USADavidG.JenkinsUniversityofCentralFlorida,Orlando,USAFrankA.LaSorteCornelllabofOrnithology,USARichardLadleUniversidadeFederaldeAlagoas,BrazilandOxford
University,UKRichardPearsonAmericanMuseumofNaturalHistory,USAThiagoF.RangelUniversidadeFederaldeGois,BrazilWillemRenemaNCBNaturalis,TheNetherlandsNriaRouraPascualUniversitatdeGironaandCentreTecnolgic
ForestaldeCatalunya,SpainSpyrosSfenthourakisUniversityofPatras,Greece
editorialassistant:LaurenSchiebelhutUniversityofCalifornia,Merced,USA
advisoryboard:MiguelB.ArajoMuseoNacionaldeCienciasNaturales (CSIC),
SpainandUniversidadedevora,PortugalLawrenceR.HeaneyFieldMuseumofNaturalHistory,Chicago,USADavidG.JenkinsUniversityofCentralFlorida,Orlando,USARichardLadleUniversidadeFederaldeAlagoas,BrazilandOxford
University,UKMarkV.LomolinoStateUniversityofNewYork,USAIBSV.P.forPublicAffairs&Communications
InternationalBiogeographySocietyofficers20112012
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http://www.birds.cornell.edu/http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.htmlhttp://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.htmlhttp://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.htmlhttp://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.htmlhttp://cbc.amnh.org/center/staff/stffpearson.htmlhttp://cbc.amnh.org/center/staff/stffpearson.htmlhttp://cbc.amnh.org/center/staff/stffpearson.htmlhttp://www.naturalis.nl/en/http://www.naturalis.nl/en/http://www.naturalis.nl/en/https://sites.google.com/site/nrourapascual/https://sites.google.com/site/nrourapascual/https://sites.google.com/site/nrourapascual/https://sites.google.com/site/nrourapascual/https://sites.google.com/site/nrourapascual/https://sites.google.com/site/nrourapascual/http://www.biology.upatras.gr/attachments/084_Sfenthourakis_CV.pdfhttp://www.biology.upatras.gr/attachments/084_Sfenthourakis_CV.pdfhttp://www.biology.upatras.gr/attachments/084_Sfenthourakis_CV.pdfhttp://ecology.nottingham.ac.uk/eichhorn.htmlhttp://ecology.nottingham.ac.uk/eichhorn.htmlhttp://ecology.nottingham.ac.uk/eichhorn.htmlhttp://www.ibiochange.mncn.csic.es/people/miguel-araujohttp://www.ibiochange.mncn.csic.es/people/miguel-araujohttp://www.ibiochange.mncn.csic.es/people/miguel-araujohttp://www.ibiochange.mncn.csic.es/people/miguel-araujohttp://www.ibiochange.mncn.csic.es/people/miguel-araujohttp://fm1.fieldmuseum.org/aa/staff_page.cgi?staff=lheaneyhttp://fm1.fieldmuseum.org/aa/staff_page.cgi?staff=lheaneyhttp://fm1.fieldmuseum.org/aa/staff_page.cgi?staff=lheaneyhttp://fm1.fieldmuseum.org/aa/staff_page.cgi?staff=lheaneyhttp://fm1.fieldmuseum.org/aa/staff_page.cgi?staff=lheaneyhttp://jenkins.cos.ucf.edu/http://jenkins.cos.ucf.edu/http://jenkins.cos.ucf.edu/http://jenkins.cos.ucf.edu/http://jenkins.cos.ucf.edu/http://jenkins.cos.ucf.edu/http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.htmlhttp://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.htmlhttp://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.htmlhttp://www.esf.edu/efb/faculty/lomolino.htmhttp://www.esf.edu/efb/faculty/lomolino.htmhttp://www.esf.edu/efb/faculty/lomolino.htmhttp://www.esf.edu/efb/faculty/lomolino.htmhttp://www.esf.edu/efb/faculty/lomolino.htmhttp://www.esf.edu/efb/faculty/lomolino.htmhttp://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.htmlhttp://jenkins.cos.ucf.edu/http://fm1.fieldmuseum.org/aa/staff_page.cgi?staff=lheaneyhttp://www.ibiochange.mncn.csic.es/people/miguel-araujohttp://ecology.nottingham.ac.uk/eichhorn.htmlhttp://www.biology.upatras.gr/attachments/084_Sfenthourakis_CV.pdfhttps://sites.google.com/site/nrourapascual/http://www.naturalis.nl/en/http://cbc.amnh.org/center/staff/stffpearson.htmlhttp://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.htmlhttp://www.birds.cornell.edu/http://jenkins.cos.ucf.edu/http://www.mattheard.com/http://geography.uoregon.edu/gavin/gavin.htmlhttp://person.au.dk/camilla.floejgaard@biologyhttp://www3.bio.uu.nl/peb/staff/personal/rerkens/royerkens.htmlhttp://ecology.nottingham.ac.uk/eichhorn.htmlhttp://www.wix.com/cianciaruso/homehttp://fcms.its.utas.edu.au/scieng/zoo/pagedetails.asp?lpersonId=5232https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/blois/web/http://www.biogeography.unibas.ch/beckhttp://www.rbge.org.uk/science/homehttp://www.mattheard.com/http://www2.fiu.edu/~kfeeley/Feeley%20Lab.htmlhttp://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rwhittaker.htmlhttp://botany.si.edu/staff/staffPage.cfm?ThisName=16http://sols.unlv.edu/faculty/riddle.htmlhttp://www.esf.edu/efb/faculty/lomolino.htmhttp://biology.unm.edu/jhbrown/http://cita.angra.uac.pt/biodiversidade/equipa/ver.php?id=20http://oxlel.zoo.ox.ac.uk/prof-kathy-willishttp://life.bio.sunysb.edu/ee/grahamlab/http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~lgzwww/contacts/staffPages/richardfield/rf.htmhttp://mnd.ucmerced.edu/MND.htmlhttp://geography.uoregon.edu/gavin/gavin.htmlhttp://nature.berkeley.edu/~gillespi/http://fm1.fieldmuseum.org/aa/staff_page.cgi?staff=lheaneyhttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6908354463http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6908354463http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6908354463http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6908354463http://biogeography.blogspot.com/http://www.biogeography.org/mailto:[email 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update
Speciesareacurvesandtheestimationofextinctionrates
The speciesarea relationship (SAR) isoneof the
longestknown,mostintuitiveandempiricallybestprovenpatternsofbiodiversity(Arrhenius1921).
Variousauthorsdeterminedtheoreticallythatthe
SARcanbeapproximatedasapowerlawfunction
(i.e.,S=cAzwhereS isspeciesrichness,A isarea
and c and z are constants; Preston 1962, May
1975,Harteetal.1999),withz 0.25incontinen
tal areas but higher when dispersal barriers are
involved (e.g., island speciesarea relationship).
Empirical data suggested lower z in continental
areas (0.130.18)andvaluesupto0.35 for islandsystems (Rosenzweig 1995). Dengler (2009) re
centlycametotheconclusionthatthepowerlaw
fits empirical data best in most cases (see also
Dengler & Odeland 2010). Various authors ob
served further systematicvariationsof z, suchas
whenconsideringspatialscaleorsamplingdesign
(Plotkin et al. 2001, Scheiner 2006, Tjrve 2006,
Dengler2009).Kinzig&Harte (2000)pointedout
the difference between SAR and the endemics
area
curve (EAR), which considers only speciesendemictoapartoftheregionunderanalysis.So
what couldHe&Hubbell (2011) report thatwas
so novel and generally relevant about SARs to
meritrecentpublicationinNature?
Sinceareaseemsalwaystoaffectbiodiver
sity,nomatterwhattaxon,systemorscale,SARs
have frequently been used to estimate species
richnesslossresultingfromanthropogenichabitat
destruction, i.e.extinctionrates inaconservation
context.Thelossofacertainamountofarealeadsto fewer species existing in a region at least
some regionalextinctionsoccur and the shape
of the SAR has typically been used to retrieve
quantitative estimates of how many species will
go(regionally)extinct.
Providingempiricalevidencefortheextinc
tionofaspecies ischallengingandestimatingex
tinction rates across a community evenmore so
(Ladleetal.2011,thisissue).Yetthisisneededfor
manyconservationapplications,suchasschemesforoffsettingbiodiversityloss(Curranetal.2011)
or,notleast,forpoliticalargument.Itistherefore
notsurprisingthatSARbasedestimatesofextinc
tion have been welcome despite critical studiesthatoften found lowerextinction rates thanpre
dicted (e.g.,Kinzig&Harte2000). Itwasargued,
reasonably,thatontopof imminentextinction in
some species, others will be doomed to future
extinctionbecauseof reductions in theirpopula
tion size, and that this extinctiondebt explains
apparentmisfits.Other sourcesofuncertaintyof
theSARbasedestimatesare the (often false)as
sumptionofacompletely inhospitablematrixbe
tweenremaininghabitatpatches (Koh&Ghazoul2010)ortheuseofdefaultslopevalues(z) inthe
absenceofsystemspecificfitteddata.
He & Hubbell (2011) pointed out that a
backward interpolation of SARs is a flawed con
ceptofmeasuringextinctionrates(seealsoKinzig
& Harte 2000). This is because the area gain
neededtoencounterthefirst individualofanew
species (which shapes theSAR) isalways smaller
thanthearealossneededtoremovethelastindi
vidual.Toshowthis,theyformulatedbothasspatiallyexplicitsamplingprocesses(SARforfirsten
counters, EAR for last encounters). They con
cluded that SARderived estimates of imminent
extinctionwillalwaysbetoohigh,unlessindividu
als are randomly distributed (i.e., no aggregated
occurrenceof individualswithinaspecies),which
isanunrealisticassumption.He&Hubbell(2011)
also showed that the EAR is a goodpredictorof
empiricalextinctionratesevenifnospatialaggre
gation is modelled, which offers an alternative(butamorechallengingone)forestimatingimme
diateextinctionofendemicsfromarealoss.
He&Hubbell (2011) clearly acknowledged
that there is an anthropogenic extinction crisis
and that habitat loss causes extinction. Further
more, they did not claim that small population
sizes of remaining species couldnot lead to fur
ther, lagged extinction (in He & Hubbells view,
EARsmodelonlyimminentextinctionandsodo
SARs, but wrongly). Despite this, He & Hubbell(2011) already anticipated that pointing out this
error in estimating extinctions would not be
news and update ISSN19486596
81frontiersofbiogeography3.3,20112011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySociety
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greetedwithenthusiasmamongconservationists,
andthecorrespondenceonthepaper(Evansetal.
2011,Brooks2011; see alsoonline commentsat
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/
n7351/full/474284b.html) seems to confirm that.
Thepaper isviewedas irresponsiblyundermining
conservationeffortsbyallowinganticonservation
groupstoclaimthatthingsarenotasbadasprevi
ouslyasserted (fossil fuel lobbying in the climate
changediscussion iscitedasexampleof this tac
tic).Conservingnature isnotonlyabout science,
butitistoalargedegreepoliticsandcorrecting
anerrorleadstobettersciencebutmightweaken
political success. I think scientists must correct
themselves and not hold on to preconceived
ideas,evenifitcreatessuchdilemmas.
However,He&Hubbell(2011)studiedarea
effects as a sampling problem in continental re
gions,whichisprobablyappropriateforcapturing
immediate extinction in many conservation set
tings which occur at the regional or landscape
scale. It remains to be understood and tested
whethertheirconclusionsthat(a)EARestimates
extinction better than SAR (cf. Kinzig & Harte
2000,Pereiraetal.2012)and(b)zdifferssystem
aticallybetweenSARandEAR(whichispresented
confusingly) aregeneralities.Thusitremainsto
be seen whether SARs always overestimate ex
tinction,asHeandHubbell(2011)claimed.Afur
ther task will be to quantitatively estimate how
many more species may go extinct after a time
lag: how large the extinction debt really is (see
alsoPereiraetal.,inpress).Inthiscontext,itmay
be worthwhile to thoroughly investigate under
whichcircumstances, ifany,theconsequencesof
area lost to habitat destruction could be under
stood solelyon thebasisof islandbiogeographic
mechanisms (Rosenzweig2001) that is, species
richness as equilibrium between immigration +
speciationandextinction.Thespatialandtempo
ralscalesofanalysis,amongotherfactors,maybe
relevantforthis.Undersuchcircumstances,SARs
mayestimatethenewequilibriumstate,account
ingforimminentandtimelaggedextinctions.
JanBeckUniversityofBasel,Dept.EnvironmentalScience
(Biogeographysection),Basel,Switzerland.
email:[email protected];
http://www.biogeography.unibas.ch/beck
References
Arrhenius,O.(1921)Speciesandarea.JournalofEcology,9,9599.
Brooks, T.M. (2011) Extinctions: consider all species.Nature,474,284.
Curran,M.,DeBaan, L.,de Schryver,A.M., vanZelm,R., Hellweg, S., Koellner, T., Sonnemann, G. &Huijbregts, M.A.J. (2011) Toward meaningfulend points of biodiversity in life cycle assess
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Dengler,J.(2009)Whichfunctiondescribesthespeciesarearelationshipbest?Areviewandempiricalevaluation. Journal of Biogeography, 36, 728744.
Dengler, J. & Oldeland, J. (2010) Effects of samplingprotocol on the shapes of species richnesscurves.JournalofBiogeography,37,16981705.
Evans,M.,Possingham,H.&Wilson,K. (2011)Extinctions:conservenotcollate.Nature,474,284.
Harte, J.,Kinzig,A.&Green, J. (1999)Selfsimilarity in
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He,F.&Hubbell,S.P.(2011)Speciesarearelationshipsalwaysoverestimateextinctionratesfromhabitatloss.Nature,473,368371.
Kinzig,A.&Harte, J. (2000) Implicationsofendemicsarea relationships for estimates of species extinctions.Ecology,81,33053311.
Koh,L.P.&Ghazoul, J.(2010)Amatrixcalibratedspeciesarea model for predicting biodiversitylosses due to landuse change. ConservationBiology,24,9941001.
Ladle,T.J., Jepson,P.,Malhado,A.C.M., Jennings,S.&Barua,M. (2011)Thecausesandbiogeographicalsignificanceofspeciesrediscovery.FrontiersofBiogeography,3,111118.
May, R.M. (1975) Patterns of species abundance anddistribution. In Cody M.C. & Diamond J.M.(eds.), Ecology and evolution of communities,pp.81120;BelknapPress,Cambridge(Mass.).
Pereira,H.M.,BordadeAgua,L.&Martins, I.S. (2012)Geometry and scale in speciesarea relationships.Nature,inpress.
Plotkin,J.B.,Potts,M.D.,Yu,D.W.,etal.(2000)Predict
ingspeciesdiversityintropicalforests.Proceedingsof theNationalAcademyof SciencesUSA,97,1085010854.
newsandupdate
82 2011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySocietyfrontiersofbiogeography3.3,2011
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7351/full/474284b.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7351/full/474284b.htmlmailto:[email protected]://www.biogeography.unibas.ch/beckhttp://www.biogeography.unibas.ch/beckmailto:[email protected]://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7351/full/474284b.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7351/full/474284b.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7351/full/474284b.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7351/full/474284b.html -
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Preston,F.W.(1962)Thecanonicaldistributionofcommonness and rarity: Part I. Ecology, 43, 185215.
Rosenzweig,M.L.(1995)Speciesdiversityinspaceandtime.CambridgeUniversityPress,Cambridge.
Rosenzweig, M.L. (2001) Loss of speciation rate willimpoverish futurediversity.Proceedingsof theNational Academy of Sciences USA, 89, 54045410.
Scheiner,S.M.(2003)Sixtypesofspeciesareacurves.GlobalEcologyandBiogeography,12,441447.
Tjrve,E.(2006)Shapesandfunctionsofspeciesareacurves:a reviewofpossiblemodels. JournalofBiogeography,30,827835.
EditedbyJoaqunHortal
newsandupdate
update
Extinctorextant?Woodpeckersandrhinoceros
83frontiersofbiogeography3.3,20112011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySociety
ISSN19486596
Biogeographical researchneedsaccuratedataon
thedistributionofspecies.Formanyspeciesthisis
exceedinglydifficulttoobtain,leadingtoalackof
global informationcollectivelyknownastheWal
laceanshortfall.Fortunately,new toolsarebeing
developed that allow conservationists and bio
geographerstodeterminetheexistenceofextant
populationswithmuchgreateraccuracy.
Foremostamongthesenewtools isthe in
creasinguseofgeneticanalysis.Thiswasrecently
used to greateffect to confirm theextinctionof
theJavanrhinoceros(Rhinocerossondaicusanna
miticus) in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam
(Brooket al.2011).Despite theirenormous size,
Javan rhinoceros are remarkably shy forest
dwelling animals that are difficult to see under
naturalconditionsandwereonly rediscovered in
mainlandAsia in1988.Giventhedifficultyoftra
ditional surveying techniques, scientists from
WWF and the Cat Tien National park had been
monitoring thepopulationby conductinggenetic
analysisofdungsamplescollectedintheparkbe
tween2009and2010.Theanalysis indicatedthat
all the dung belonged to a single individual, the
bodyofwhichwasfoundApril2010,therebycon
firmingtheextinctionofthepopulation.
Of course, genetic analysis is costly, time
consuming and requires some form of biological
tissue(hair,dung,etc.).Formanyrareanimalsthe
onlyinformationthatexistsistheoccasionalsight
ing, the reliability of which is often highly ques
tionable. Andrew Solow and his colleagues have
recently come up with an ingenious method to
account for this inevitable uncertainty (Solow et
al. 2011). They use Bayesian (probabilitybased)
statistics to model changes in the rate of valid
sightings and to assess the quality of uncertain
sightings for the ivorybilled woodpecker
(Campephilusprincipalis) in North America. The
woodpecker was controversially rediscovered in
2005, but a lack of clear documentary evidence
and the failure of subsequent intensive surveys
have ledmanyscientists todoubt theveracityof
this claim.TheBayesianmodel appliedbySolow
to68historicalsightings(29ofwhichwereclassi
fiedasuncertain)stronglysuggeststhatthebirdis
indeedextinct,andthe2005sightingwassadlya
caseofmistakenidentity.
RichardLadleFederalUniversityofAlagoas,InstituteofBiological
SciencesandHealth,BrazilandOxfordUniversity,
SchoolofGeographyandtheEnvironment,UK.
email:[email protected];
http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/rladle.html
References
Brook, S., de Groot, P.V.C., Mahood, S. & Long, B.(2011) Extinction of the Javan Rhinoceros(Rhinoceros sondaicus) from Vietnam. WWFR e p o r t . A v a i l a b l e a t : h t t p : / /www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2011/WWFBinaryitem24584.pdf
Solow,A.,Smith,W.,Burgman,M.,Rout,T.,Wintle,B.andRoberts,D. (2011),Uncertainsightingsandthe extinction of the ivorybilled woodpecker.Conservation Biology. doi: 10.1111/j.15231739.2011.01743.x
EditedbyJoaqunHortal
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Links between climate and societal instability,
conflictandwarhaveincreasinglybeensuggestedandanalyzed(Diamond2005),therebyfusingtra
ditionally distinct academic disciplines such as
(bio)geography, (agro)ecology and economics,
history and peace research. Studies exploring
these relationships are particularly pertinent in
timesofanthropogenicclimatechange.
Recent research has provided quantitative
support for such climateculture linkages, but
mostof thesestudieshaveeitherbeenbasedon
correlativeevidence(e.g.,Zhangetal.2007),analyzed shortterm climate fluctuations (e.g.,Burke
et al. 2009)or addressed specifichypotheseson
the causes of human conflict (Beck and Sieber
2010).However, inordertomakeconflictpredic
tionsunderclimatechangescenariosreliableand
toengageinconflictpreventionormitigation,itis
importanttobecertainaboutcausalrelationships
and to fullyunderstand themechanistic linksbe
tween past climatic changes and historical con
flicts.Twonewstudieshaveattemptedthis.Hsiangetal.(2011)madeuseoftherecur
ring yet irregular El Nio Southern Oscillation
(ENSO)climaticchangesasanaturalexperiment.
Thisallowedthemtoshow,onaglobalscaleand
foratimeperiodofmorethanhalfacentury,that
(withinthesamelocalitiesandsocieties)civilcon
flicts were more likely to arise during El Nio
events as compared to LaNiaperiods. Further
more,no sucheffectwasobserved for countries
outsidetheENSOaffectedzoneoftheworld.Thisprovides strong evidence that climate is indeed
causaltotheseevents.However,theauthorscan
only speculate on a variety of mechanisms for
how(warmeranddrier)ElNioperiodscouldlead
toconflict.Effectsmediatedbydecreasedagricul
tural productivity and/or economic disturbance
(e.g.,resulting from increases innaturaldisasters
and diseases) seem plausible, but psychological
effectsofunusualweather conditionson a largenumber of individuals may also increase a soci
etysconflictpotential.
Zhang et al. (2011) presented a detailed
causality analysis based on a time series of cli
matic fluctuationsovera300yearperiod inpre
industrialEurope.Theyprovidestrongsupportfor
theideathatclimaticvariationcausedfluctuations
inagriculturalproductivity,andhence foodavail
abilityandprices.The latterwas identifiedasthe
root cause for a number of societal phenomenasuchasmigrations,epidemics,populationgrowth
and war. A temperaturebased model based on
thesemechanismscouldsuccessfullypredictperi
odsofcrisisandharmony forpasteraswith less
detailedhistoricalrecords.
Animportantfuturedirectionofresearchin
this field will certainly be the identification of
natural factors and societal traits that explain
variation around such climatedetermined pat
terns. Demography and economic performancehave sometimes been analyzed in this context
(Samsonetal.2011,Hsiangetal.2011).However,
itwillrequirethefurtherintegrationoftheabove
mentioned disciplines to sort out the ultimate
causes of why certain regions and/or societies
navigated smoother and less violent routes
through times of crisis than others (my current
location, Switzerland, is a prime example within
thelastfewcenturies).
JanBeckUniversityofBasel,Dept.EnvironmentalScience
(Biogeographysection),Basel,Switzerland.
email:[email protected];
http://www.biogeography.unibas.ch/beck
ISSN19486596
Yourparticipationinfrontiersofbiogeographyisencouraged.Pleasesendusyourarticles,commentsand/orreviews,aswellaspictures,drawingsand/orcartoons.Wearealsoopentosug
gestionsoncontentand/orstructure.Pleasecheckhttp://www.biogeography.org/html/fb.htmlformoreinformation,[email protected]@gmail.com.
update
Climatewars
84 2011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySocietyfrontiersofbiogeography3.3,2011
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References
BeckJ.,&Sieber,A.(2010)Isthespatialdistributionofmankinds most basic economic traits determinedbyclimateandsoilalone?PLoSONE5(5):e10416.
Burke,M.,Miguel,E., Satyanath, S.,Dykema, J.& Lobell, D. (2009) Warming increases risk of civilwarinAfrica.ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciencesUSA,106,2067020674.
Diamond, J. (2005) Collapse: how societies choose tofailorsucceed.Viking.
Hsiang,S.M.,Meng,K.C.&Cane,M.A.(2011)Civilconflictsareassociatedwiththeglobalclimate.Nature,476,438411.
Samson,J.,Berteaux,D.,McGill,B.J.,Humphries,M.M.(2011)Geographicdisparitiesandmoralhazardsin the predicted impacts of climate change on
human populations. Global Ecology and Biogeography,20,532544.
Zhang,D.D.,Lee,H.F.,Wang,C.,Lie,B.,Pei,Q.,Zhang,J. & An, Y. (2011) The causality analysis of climatechangeand largescalehumancrisis.Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesUSA,108,1729617301.
Zhang,D.D.,Brecke,P.,Lee,H.F.,He,Y.Q.&Zhang,J.(2007)Globalclimatechange,warandpopulationdecline in recenthuman history.Proceedingsof theNationalAcademyof SciencesUSA,104,1921419219.
EditedbyRichardLadle
update
Emergingresearchopportunitiesinglobalurbanecology
Biogeographershaveexaminedhowhumanactivi
tieshave affectedpatternsofbiologicaldiversity
fromavarietyofperspectives,withspecialatten
tionoftengiven tooceanic islands.With thecur
rent accelerating pace of environmental change,
these effects are increasingly evident at global
scales. Human industry, commerce, agriculture
and transportation allhave thepotentialnow to
affectnaturalsystemsgloballythroughanassort
ment of drivers; primary among these are land
use change, species introductions and climate
change.
Human activities and their consequences
cometoauniquefocusinurbanareas,anexpand
ing formof landuse that is attracting increasing
research attention from ecologists (Grimm et al.
2008).Urbanareascontainsimilarenvironmental
conditionsworldwideandactasa focalpoint for
species introductions and extinctions. These hu
mandominated environments offer unique op
portunities to investigate thebroadscaledynam
ics of humanmediated biotic interchange (La
Sorteetal.2007),itsconsequencesfor diversity
(LaSorteetal.2008)andtheregionalfactorsand
biologicaltraitsassociatedwithnativespeciesex
tinctions (Hahs et al. 2009, Duncan et al. 2011).
Urban areas typically contain spatially heteroge
neouscollectionsofnativeandnonnativespecies
(McKinney 2008); these unique assemblages can
be examined based on their compositional
(Niemeletal.2002)andphylogeneticstructures
(Ricotta et al. 2009). Three nested sampling ap
proachesare currentlyused to investigateurban
systems at broad spatial scales: urban plots or
transects, theentireurbanmatrixand theurban
matrix embedded within a regional context
(Werner2011).Eachsamplingapproachprovides
a unique inferential basis, although the third al
lows for more refined interpretation, controlling
forregionaldifferences.
A recent study in GlobalEcology
and
Bio
geographyadoptsanovelperspectiveandexam
ineshowavianassemblagessampledwithinplots
of intactvegetation inurbanandseminaturalar
eas differ based on several common mac
roecological relationships. Pautasso et al. (2011)
compileddataon speciescompositionandabun
dance from all around the globe, although the
majority of the samples are from Europe and
NorthAmerica.Aprimaryfindingofthestudywas
a lackofevidence fordifferences in the speciesarea,speciesabundanceorspeciesbiomassrela
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tionshipsbetweenurbanand seminatural locali
ties. The number of exotic bird species in urban
areas is low, suggesting that these relationships
are defined primarily by native species in both
environments.Thesefindingshighlighttheimpor
tanceofmaintaining intact vegetationwithinur
banlandscapesandtheroleofurbandiversityasa
tool for promoting conservation initiatives and
biologicalawareness, asemphasized inmanyur
banecology studies. Nevertheless, the findings
fromPautassoetal. (2011)contrastwithcurrent
expectationsonhowurbanizationaffectspatterns
ofdiversity,and shouldbeamotivating factor in
promotingfurtherresearch.Theincreasingpreva
lenceandqualityofglobaldata sourcesprovides
anexcitingbasistoexaminethestructureandde
terminantsofthesemacroecologicalrelationships
acrossmorerefinedtemporal,spatialandanthro
pogenicgradients.
By taking a global perspective, novel in
sightscanbegainedontheuniquepositionurban
areashave,bothasasourceforglobalchangeand
as regions capable of maintaining important as
pects of biological diversity. Global comparative
studiesalsohave thepotential tobolsterand re
fine current recommendations about how to
maintain biological diversity within human
dominated landscapes. Specifically, thepreserva
tionorrestorationofpatchesofintactvegetation
within urban areas is as valuable in maintaining
basic macroecological patterns of avian diversity
asconductingtheseactivitiesoutsideurbanareas.
Importantly,thisworktakesthefocusawayfrom
EuropeandNorthAmerica,wherethevastmajor
ityof the researchhasbeenconducted,allowing
foramore inclusivesetof inferencesandrecom
mendations. Urban data are becoming increas
ingly available through remote sensing activities,
citizen science initiatives and broader collabora
tive efforts. Exploring how anthropogenic activi
tiesareimpactingnaturalsystemsgloballyiscriti
cal in supporting a truly comprehensive under
standing of the current dynamics and longterm
consequencesofglobalenvironmentalchange.
FrankA.LaSorteCornellLabofOrnithology,Ithaca,NY,USA.
email:[email protected];
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/
References
Duncan, R.P., Clemants, S.E., Corlett, R.T., Hahs, A.K.,McCarthy, M.A., McDonnell, M.J., Schwartz,M.W., Thompson, K., Vesk, P.A. & Williams,N.S.G.(2011)Planttraitsandextinctioninurbanareas:ametaanalysisof11cities.GlobalEcologyandBiogeography,20,509519.
Grimm, N.B., Faeth, S.H., Golubiewski, N.E., Redman,C.L.,Wu, J.,Bai,X.&Briggs, J.M. (2008)Globalchangeand the ecologyof cities. Science,319,756760.
Hahs, A.K., McDonnell, M.J., McCarthy, M.A.,et al.(2009) A global synthesis of plant extinctionrates inurbanareas.EcologyLetters,12,11651173.
LaSorte,F.A.,McKinney,M.L.&Pyek,P.(2007)Compositional similarity among urban floras withinand across continents: biogeographical consequencesofhumanmediatedbioticinterchange.GlobalChangeBiology,13,913921.
LaSorte,F.A.,McKinney,M.L.,Pyek,P.,Klotz,S.,Rapson, G.L., CelestiGrapow, L. & Thompson, K.(2008)Distancedecay insimilarityamongEuropeanurbanfloras:theimpactsofanthropogenicactivitieson diversity.GlobalEcologyandBiogeography,17,363371.
McKinney,M.L. (2008)Effectsofurbanizationon species richness: a review of plants and animals.UrbanEcosystems,11,161176.
Niemel,J.,Kotze,D.J.,Venn,S.,Penev,L.,Stoyanov,I.,Spence, J., Hartley, D. & Montes de Oca, E.(2002)Carabidbeetleassemblages(Coleoptera,Carabidae) across urbanrural gradients: an internationalcomparison.LandscapeEcology,17,387401.
Pautasso, M., BhningGaese, K., Clergeau, P., et al.(2011)Globalmacroecologyofbirdassemblagesin urbanized and seminatural ecosystems.GlobalEcologyandBiogeography,20,426436.
Ricotta,C.,LaSorte,F.A.,Pyek,P.,Rapson,G.L.,CelestiGrapow, L. & Thompson, K. (2009) Phyloecologyofurbanalienfloras.JournalofEcology,97,12431251.
Werner,P.(2011)Theecologyofurbanareasandtheirfunctions for species diversity. Landscape andEcologicalEngineering,7,231240.
EditedbyJoaqunHortal
86 2011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySocietyfrontiersofbiogeography3.3,2011
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Communityecologytraditionallyfocusesonhypotheticaldeductive and experimental approaches
and often is criticized for narrowing our under
standingofnaturetolocalidiosyncrasies,ignoring
the importanceofhistoricalexplanations.Onthe
otherhand,approachestakenbymacroecologists
and biogeographers have been excessively ex
ploratory and correlative,with limited success in
elucidatingthemechanismsresponsible formany
of the largescalepatternsweobserve innature
(seeGaston&Blackburn1999,Ricklefs2008andreferences therein). Recognizing that both ap
proaches can learn from eachother ispivotal in
the challenge of integrating data from different
scales inordertounraveltheecologicalandevo
lutionarymechanisms that influence currentpat
ternsinbiodiversityandecosystemfunctioning.
Species richness has been the most com
monmetricused to represent allaspectsofbio
logical diversity (from genetic and taxonomic to
phenetic diversity). However, species richnessalone cannot describe the processes involved in
species coexistence and ecosystem functioning
and also does not describe properly the differ
ences in community structure. In contrast, phy
logenetic and functional diversities allow us to
understand the relative importance of species
composition in termsofevolutionaryhistoryand
ecological similarities.Phylogeneticdiversity (PD)
is a biodiversity measure that accounts for the
phylogeneticrelationship(henceevolutionaryhistory)amongspecies,whereasfunctionaldiversity
(FD) represents how species are distributed in a
multidimensionalnichespacedefinedbyecologi
caltraits.
Phylogenetic and functional approaches to
communityecologyemerged asprominent fields
of research in the lastdecade (Fig.1),butsome
how independently and without much crossover
in the first years. Early PD measures were pro
posedasa tool to select conservationareas,butlater the idea was extended to understand how
communitiesareassembledfromaregionalpool.
FD,whichinitiallywasconsideredtheholygrailofthe biodiversityecosystem functioning agenda,
alsowasrapidlyappliedasametricforinvestigat
ingassembly rules (seePavoine&Bonsall2011).
Howcouldmacroecologyandbiogeographybene
fitfromthesetwoapproaches?Theanswerliesin
understandingwhat FDandPD should represent
andhowtheyrelatetoeachother:whilephyloge
netic community ecology links evolutionary and
biogeographic history to presentday ecology,
functionaldiversity (asany traitbasedapproach)linksnichetheoryto largescaleapproaches,such
as macroecology, biogeography or phylogeogra
phy.Therefore,combiningecologicalandphyloge
neticframeworkstoexplainlargescalepatternsof
biodiversityisanimportantstep,takenrecently.
Largescalestudies involvingPDandFDseems to
be increasing at similar rates (Fig.1). Recently, it
was shown that both measures can be decom
posed into gamma (regional), alpha (local) and
beta (turnover)components.Whereas largescalestudies and anyscale studies follows a similar
trend for betaPD, there were few studies with
betaFD (noneat largescale).This isperhapsbe
cause biogeographers and macroecologists were
more aware of evolutionary and historical hy
potheses, so the conceptual framework of beta
PDwaslikelytobeabsorbedfirst.Also,thiscould
reflecttheassumptionthatcloselyrelatedspecies
should be ecologically more similar than distant
related species and, thus, PD should be a goodsurrogate for FD (in fact this is what most large
and localscale PD studies used to assume). This
traditionalassumption isnowdebated(e.g.Losos
2008),andthesetwomeasuresmaybeviewedas
complementary, rather than competing, ap
proaches (Gmez et al. 2010, DinizFilho et al.
2011, Meynard et al. 2011, Pavoine & Bonsall
2011,Safietal.2011).
WhilesomelargescalestudiesinvolvingPD
andFDareexploratory(e.g.Meynardetal.2011)others have presented hypotheses and predic
tions. Safi et al. (2011) investigated global pat
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ternsofmammalPDandFDandfoundthatwhen
controllingmammal assemblages for theirevolu
tionaryhistorythetropicswerecharacterizedbya
FDdeficit.Thissuggeststhatmorespeciescanbe
closelypackedintotheecologicalspaceintropical
than in temperate regions (see figure 3 in their
paper),aparadoxical situation inwhichcompeti
tionseemsto limittraitevolution inagroup,but
does not decrease the cooccurrence of species
with similar trait values (Wiens 2011). There are
several nonmutually exclusive mechanisms that
couldberesponsibleforthispattern(seeFigure1
inSafietal.2011). In temperate regions, forex
ample, if resources are limited, species need to
occupywiderecologicalniches inordertosecure
theirenergydemandsandthereforecommunities
would show signsofoverdispersion in functional
traits. In addition, high environmental heteroge
neitycouldalso result inanoverdispersion inFD
because coexisting species could adapt and spe
cializetothedifferentenvironmentalconditions.
Some lighthasbeen shedonbetaPDpat
ternsbyGmezetal.(2010),studyingNeotropical
Forestantbirdsatdifferentspatialscales.Ifspeci
ationoccurredmainlyamongecoregions,there is
a lower probability of sister species cooccurring
in the same ecoregion, resulting in phylogenetic
evennessatthissmallerscale.Ifso,wewouldex
pecthighspeciesturnover(taxonomicbetadiver
sity) and low phylogenetic turnover (betaPD)
amongecoregions,becausespecieswouldtendto
becloserelatives.Analternativescenarioiswhen
phylogenetic structure at the regional scale is a
product of limited dispersal of lineages. In this
casewewouldexpectbothhighspeciesturnover
and high betaPD among regions, because each
88 2011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySocietyfrontiersofbiogeography3.3,2011
Figure1.ThenumberofarticlespublishedinpeerreviewedjournalsindexedbyISIwithfunctionalandphylogeneticdiversityinthetitle,abstractorkeywordsfrom1976to2010.Anyspatialscalemeansallstudiespublishedinallsubdisciplinesofecologyandevolutionarybiology, irrespectively of scale. Large spatial scaleare those studies constrainedbythesearchexpressionTopic=(geograph*ORmacroecol*ORbiogeogr*),thatis,thosestudiesmostlikelytoberelatedtomacroecologyandbiogeography.FD=anystudywithtopicfunctionaldiversity;PD=anystudy
with topicphylogeneticdiversity;betaFD=anystudywith topicfunctionalbetadiversityorfunctional turnover;betaPD=anystudywithtopicphylogeneticdiversityorphylogeneticturnover.The inset isprovidedtoshowcurrentlystartingpublicationtrendsconcerningbetaPDandbetaFD.TherewasnolargescalestudyinvolvingbetaFDupto2010;butafewwerepublishedin2011orareinpress.
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 20100
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
2007 2008 2009 2010 20110
2
4
6
FD
PD
PD
FD
Any spatial scale
Large spatial scale
beta-PD
beta-FD
beta-PD
year
published
studies
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region would contain distinct clades, with inde
pendent diversifications. Finally, if observed val
uesofspeciesturnoverandbetaPDdonotdiffer
from what would be expected by chance (using
nullmodelswhere randomassemblagesarebuilt
from the speciespool),phylogenetic structureat
the regional scale is unlikely to be the result of
historicalprocesses. In that caseusingFD should
be better because nichebased processes are
more likely to explain the pattern. For example,
alongastrongenvironmentalgradientwherespe
ciesaresortedfromtheregionalpoolaccordingto
theirtraits,weexpectbothspeciesandfunctional
turnover. However, if the species pool is com
posedof ecologically similar species an indica
tion that species were sorted according to their
traitsatahigherspatialscale(forexample,dueto
a climatic filter or historical processes) we
should expect low functional turnover because
the pool already contains very similar species.
Also,intheabsenceofenvironmentalfilters,spe
ciesturnovershouldoccurindependentlyoffunc
tional turnover (Mouchet etal.2010).Neverthe
less,speciestraitsshouldhaveat leasttosome
extentsomephylogeneticsignaland,therefore,
partitioningtherelativecontributionofevolution
ary history to trait dissimilarities among species
may be important. A potential, and unexplored,
solution is to decouple functional diversity into
phylogenetic structured and specific
(ecological) components. This would help us to
betterunderstandhistoricalandrecentprocesses
onbiodiversitypatternsandassemblyrules(Diniz
Filhoetal.2011).
The ground is reasonably well settled to
start rebuilding community ecology from func
tional traits (McGill et al. 2006) and merging
community ecology with evolutionary biol
ogy (CavenderBaresetal.2009).Yes, thereare
some methodological challenges how to prop
erly define the species pool and null models,
whichtraitsshouldbeused,whatisthemostsuit
able measure of PD and FD, and so on (see
Pavoine&Bonsall2011),butweshouldavoidbe
coming locked into a blinkered debate about
methodological issues. For example, in the last
decademorethantwomeasuresofPDorFDwere
proposed, each year! This may come at the ex
pensesofthemoreimportant(andexciting)steps
ofdoing science:how canwemove forward the
theorybyusingnovelapproaches?
Allexistinghypotheses thathavebeen ap
plied to taxonomic diversity can be extended to
phylogeneticandfunctionaldiversity(Meynardet
al.2011).However,PDandFDcanbeusedtocre
atemorerigorousanddirectpredictionsformost
of thehypotheses inmacroecology andbiogeog
raphy,suchasattemptstoexplainlatitudinalpat
terns of biodiversity (Willig et al. 2003). These
metricsalsopresentanopportunity to formulate
new hypotheses abouthow species evolutionary
history and trait diversity are distributed across
communities at different scales. For example,
Wiensetal.(2011)showedsituationswhereafter
amajorevolutionaryradiationwithinaregion,the
regioncan stillbe invadedbyecologically similar
speciesfromanotherclade,challengingthepara
digm that communities are saturated. Large
scale phylogenies and trait databases are cur
rently becoming available for a wide range of
taxonomicgroups,facilitatingestimatesofFDand
PD. Including these two aspects of biological di
versitywillbecrucial ifwewanttoadvancefrom
exploratory studieswhich report interesting rela
tionships between biodiversity and environment
toalsoidentifyingtheircausalmechanisms.
Acknowledgements
IthankJoaqunHortal,ThiagoRangel,andMichael
Dawson for valuable comments on the manu
script.ThisworkwassupportedbyCAPES(project
#012/09).
MarcusV.CianciarusoDepartamentodeEcologia,InstitutodeCinciasBiol
gicas,UniversidadeFederaldeGois, Goinia,GO,
Brazil.email:[email protected];
http://www.wix.com/cianciaruso/home
References
CavenderBares, J., Kozak, K., Fine, P. & Kembel, S.
(2009) Themergingof communityecologyandphylogeneticbiology. Ecology Letters,12,693715.
89frontiersofbiogeography3.3,20112011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySociety
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DinizFilho,J.A.F,Cianciaruso,M.V.,Rangel,T.&Bini,L.(2011) Eigenvector estimation of phylogeneticandfunctionaldiversity.FunctionalEcology,25,735744.
Gaston, K.J. & Blackburn, T.M. (1999) A critique for
macroecology.Oikos,84,353368.Gmez, J.P.,Bravo,G.A.,Brumfield,R.T.,Tello, J.G.&Cadena,C.D.(2010)Aphylogeneticapproachtodisentangling the roleofcompetitionandhabitatfilteringincommunityassemblyofNeotropical forestbirds. Journal ofAnimal Ecology, 79,11811192.
Jenkins,D.G.&Ricklefs,R.E. (2011)Biogeographyandecology: two viewsofoneworld.PhilosophicalTransactionsof theRoyal Societyof LondonB,366,23312335.
Losos, J.B. (2008) Phylogenetic niche conservatism,
phylogenetic signal and the relationship between phylogenetic relatedness and ecologicalsimilarity among species. Ecology Letters, 11,9951003.
McGill, B.J., Enquist, B.J., Weiher, E. & Westoby, M.(2006) Rebuilding community ecology fromfunctional traits. Trends in Ecology and Evolution,21,178185.
Meynard,C.N.,Devictor,V.,Mouillot,D.,Thuiller,W.,Jiguet, F. & Mouquet, N. (2011) Beyond taxonomic diversity patterns: how do , and componentsofbirdfunctionalandphylogenetic
diversity respond to environmental gradientsacross France? Global Ecology and Biogeography,20,893903.
Mouchet,M.A.,Villger,S.,Mason,N.W.H.&Mouillot,D. (2010) Functional diversity measures: anoverviewoftheirredundancyandtheirabilitytodiscriminate community assembly rules. FunctionalEcology,24,867876.
Pavoine,S.&Bonsall,M.(2011)Measuringbiodiversityto explain community assembly: a unified approach.BiologicalReviews,86,792812.
Ricklefs, R.E. (2008) Disintegration of the ecologicalcommunity.AmericanNaturalist,172,741750.
Safi, K., Cianciaruso, M.V., Loyola, R.D., Brito, D., ArmourMarshall, K. & DinizFilho, J.A.F. (2011)Understanding global patterns of mammalianfunctional and phylogenetic diversity. PhilosophicalTransactionsoftheRoyalSocietyofLondonB,366,25362544.
Wiens,J.J.(2011)Theniche,biogeographyandspecies
interactions. Philosophical
Transactions
of
the
RoyalSocietyofLondonB,366,23362350.
Wiens, J.J., Pyron, R.A. & Moen, D.S. (2011) PhylogeneticoriginsoflocalscalediversitypatternsandthecausesofAmazonianmegadiversity.EcologyLetters,14,643652.
Willig, M.R., Kaufmann, D.M. & Stevens, R.D. (2003)Latitudinal gradients of biodiversity: pattern,process, scale and synthesis.AnnualReviewofEcology, Evolution, and Systematics, 34, 273309.
EditedbyThiagoF.Rangel
90 2011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySocietyfrontiersofbiogeography3.3,2011
Remember thatbeingamemberof IBSmeansyoucanget freeonlineaccess to fourbiogeographyjournals:JournalofBiogeography,Ecography,GlobalEcologyandBiogeographyandDiversityandDistributions.Youcanalsoobtaina20%discountonthejournalsOikosandJournal
of
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Biology.
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TheWorldatlasofmangroves,anupdatetoSpal
ding et al. (1997), is amusthavepublication for
everyone lovingandworkingwith, in,ornear to
mangroves. It celebrates thewonderfulworldof
these beautiful forests with astonishing figures
and photographs. The informative maps and ta
blesprovidecaptivatingfactsabouttheecological
andeconomicvaluesofmangrovesandtheconse
quencesoftheirloss.The atlas scores with the presentation of
recent findingsoncarbonsequestration,showing
that mangroves store more carbon than tropical
forests(Donatoetal.2011);andwiththesuitabil
ityof intactmangroves forprotecting coastal re
gionsagainst tsunamis (WibisonoandSuryadipu
tra2006).Thiswillarm(withpowerfularguments)
ecologists, conservation biologists and policy
makers,whourgentlyneed to communicate this
knowledge inorder to increasepublicawarenessand political willingness to protect and rehabili
tate one of the most vulnerable ecological sys
temsonearth.
As indicatedby its title, theWorldatlasof
mangrovesgivesacomprehensiveoverviewofthe
globaldistributionofmangrovespeciesatcountry
level. A detailed description of the particular
statusofmangrove systems in each country, ac
companied by information about their specific
threats, levelofdegradation andextentof rehabilitation programs guides the reader through a
multitudeofdistinctfeatures,whilekeepingsimi
laritiesandgeneralprinciplesinmind.
Mangrove experts of international repute
contributeboxesonparticular topicsof interest,
such asmangroves responses to climate change
(Gilman,Dukeetal.)ortheirfunctioninginhighly
dynamic coastal regions (Fromard and Proisy).
They summarise uptodate research as well as
thehot topics thatwillbedeveloped in thenearfuture. In addition, the annexes containing tree
species descriptions, national species lists and
countryfactsheetsserveasanexcellentcompen
dium andmake this atlasperfect as aquickstart
guide for students as well as experienced re
searchersapproachinganewregion.
Considering the presentation of global
trendsasthemainpurposeoftheWorldAtlasOf
Mangroves, thisbook fulfilsexpectations.Unnec
essaryuncertaintiesanderrorsintheintroduction
to the ecology of mangroves leave, however, adrop ofbitterness. The first chapters (Mangrove
ecosystems andMangroves andpeople) notably
omit explicit references to any publications. The
authors state that these chapters and theboxes
therein drawheavily on the relevant literature,
but information presented is confusing or even
erroneous, and does not always reflect the con
tentofthepublications looselymentionedatthe
end of each subchapter, nor established knowl
edgeavailable intextbooks(e.g.Tomlinson1986)orextended reviews (e.g. Feller et al. 2010). For
example, the classification of mangroves into
fringing mangroves, basin mangroves, and over
washmangrovesisneedlesslyincomplete;itcould
be easily improved by following standard man
grove literature (e.g. Lugo & Snedaker 1974,
Woodroffe1992).Theheterogeneoushandlingof
outdatedtheoriesanddebatedhypothesesabout
the functioning of mangroves is also surprising.
For instance, the editors correctly do away withtheperspectivethatthe landcreatesthecapabil
ityformangroveformation,butthenpresentele
vationandthesubsequentgradientofinundation
as the only factors driving patterns of species
zonation. There are, however, four other major
hypotheses to explain this striking feature: geo
morphological influences, propagule dispersal,
predationandspeciescompetition(seee.g.Smith
III1992 fordetaileddiscussion).Furthererrors in
theclassificationofaeratingrootsandalso inthesystematicsandgeographicaldistributionofsome
mangrove species have been already listed and
newsandupdate
91frontiersofbiogeography3.3,20112011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySociety
ISSN19486596
bookreview
AmangrovecompendiumWorldatlasofmangroves,byMarkSpalding,MamiKainumaandLornaCollins(editors)
2010,Earthscan,336pp.ISBN:9781844076574
Price:65(Hardback);http://www.earthscan.co.uk/
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discussed indetailbyDahdouhGuebas (2010). It
remains a mystery why these chaptershave not
been written or carefully revised by the leading
mangrove experts mentioned above, or the nu
merousotherswhocontributedtothisbookwith
specificboxes.
This volume appears 14 years afterMan
groves Theforgottenforest between land and
sea(Mastaller1997). Itseemsthattheworldhas
changedandthe forgotten foresthasbeenredis
covered.Obviouslyneitherthesimpleexistenceof
this remarkable ecosystem, nor its fascinating
functioningbasedonadaptationtotheharshcon
ditionsof tidalzones,weresufficient toconvince
people that it is worth protecting mangroves
againstaquaculture,agriculture, landuseandthe
many types of waste water we produce. The
monetary expression of the value of mangroves
(US$20009000ha1yr1according to the statis
tics in thisbook), and the change from the eco
logical perspective to the human perspective in
termsofcoastalprotectionagainsthurricanesand
tsunamis and in carbon sequestration, is neces
sary to improve public awareness about the im
portanceofmangroves forourpresent lifeanda
criticalpartofour response to the challengesof
environmental changes, including sea level rise
andclimatechange.TheWorldatlasofmangroves
is a strong contribution towards this goal and, I
hope,anothersteptowardsusheringinanewera
where mangroves are valued for their beauty in
thesamewayasmanyrainforestsorcoralreefs.
Insummary, ifyouareworking in the field
ofmangroveconservationorrelated issues inthe
contextoftropicalcoastalzones,orifyourworkis
targeted towards practitioners, stakeholders or
usersofatriskmangroveecosystemservices,the
Worldatlasofmangrovesisyourbook;itwillsup
port yourdailyworkwitheasytounderstand in
formation and strong facts about the ecological
and economic values of this forest. If you are a
mangrove ecologist, thisbook should alsobeon
your shelf because it provides you with a quick
overview of mangrove distribution and current
statusonEarth.Italsoactsasanenormoussource
of suitablemaps andmaterial to roundoff your
lectures.Thisshouldconvinceyour students that
mangrove research is a challenge, an urgentde
mand formankind and thatbeing involved is an
accolade.Ontheotherhand,ifyouarelookingfor
a general text spanning the interdisciplinary as
pectsofmangroveecology,thisisnotthebookfor
you.Therootsofthisbooklargelycomefromge
ographyandremotesensing. Ifyouaresearching
foranuptodatetextaboutthepresentscientific
understanding and recent findings in mangrove
research, I recommend supplementing the atlas
with textbooks, recent reviews or more detailed
publications on mangrove ecosystems and peo
plesdepencyontheirhealthandfunctioning.
UtaBergerInstitutfrWaldwachstumundForstlicheInformatik,TechnischeUniversittDresden
email:[email protected];
http://www.forst.tudresden.de/SystemsAnalysis/uta berger
References
DahdouhGuebas,F.(2011)WorldAtlasofMangroves:MarkSpalding,MamiKainumaandLornaCollins(eds).HumanEcology,39,107109.
Donato,D.C.,Kauffman,J.B.,Murdiyarso,D.,Kurnianto,
S., Stidham, M. & Kanninen, M. (2011) Mangroves among the most carbonrich forests inthetropics.NatureGeoscience,4,293297.
Feller,I.C.,Lovelock,C.E.,Berger,U.,McKee,K.L.,Joye,S.B.&Ball,M.C. (2010).Biocomplexity inMangrove Ecosystems. Annual Review of MarineScience,2,395417.
Lugo,A.E.&Snedaker,S.C.(1974).Theecologyofmangroves.AnnualReviewofEcologyandSystematics,5,3964.
Mastaller,M.(1997)Mangrovestheforgottenforestbetween landandsea.TropicalPressSdn.BhD.
KualaLumpur,Malaysia.189pp.
Smith III, Th.J. (1992). Forest Structure. In: Tropicalmangroveecosystems(ed.byA.I.RobertsonandD.M. Alongi), pp.101136. American GeophysicalUnion,Washington.
Spalding,M.,Blasco,F.&Field,C.(1997).Worldmangrove atlas. The International Society forMangroveEcosystems,Okinawa,Japan.178pp.
Tomlinson,P.B.(1986).Thebotanyofmangroves.CambridgeUniversityPress,Cambridge,UK.419pp.
Wibisono,I.T.C. & Suryadiputra, N.N. (2006). Study oflessons learned frommangrove/coastalecosystem restoration efforts in Aceh since the tsunami. Wetlands International Indonesia Programme,Bogor.86pp.
newsandupdate
92 2011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySocietyfrontiersofbiogeography3.3,2011
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.forst.tu-dresden.de/SystemsAnalysis/uta-bergerhttp://www.forst.tu-dresden.de/SystemsAnalysis/uta-bergerhttp://www.forst.tu-dresden.de/SystemsAnalysis/uta-bergerhttp://www.forst.tu-dresden.de/SystemsAnalysis/uta-bergerhttp://www.forst.tu-dresden.de/SystemsAnalysis/uta-bergerhttp://www.forst.tu-dresden.de/SystemsAnalysis/uta-bergermailto:[email protected] -
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Woodroffe,C.D.(1992).Mangrovesedimentsandgeomorphology. In: Tropicalmangrove ecosystems(ed. by A.I. Robertson and D.M. Alongi),pp.741.AmericanGeophysicalUnion,Washington.
EditedbyMarkusEichhorn
newsandupdate
93frontiersofbiogeography3.3,20112011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySociety
bookreview
A comprehensive foundation for theapplicationofbiogeographytoconservationConservationbiogeography,byRichardJ.LadleandRobertJ.Whittaker(editors)
2011,BlackwellPublishing,301pp.ISBN:9781444335033
Price:95(Hardback)/34.95(Paperback);http://eu.wiley.com/
It isbecoming increasinglyclearthatthediversity
of plant and animal species in the world is con
tinuingtodeclineinspiteofambitioustargetsset
by governments to prevent this (Butchart et al.
2010).Itisalsobecomingevidentthatthecontin
ued functioning of ecosystems depends on this
diversity (Isbelletal.2011). Inorder toconserve
whatisleftofbiodiversity,itiscrucialthatweun
derstandthediversityoflifeandhowitisdistrib
uted across the biomes and ecosystems of the
world.Sinceunderstandingthedistributionofbio
diversity is a central tenet of biogeography, it
seems obvious that the field of biogeography
shouldbeofcentralimportanceinconservation.
In this volume, Richard Ladle and Robert
Whittakerbringtogetherchaptersbyanumberof
biogeographerstosummariseprogresstodate in
applyingtheprinciplesofbiogeographytoconser
vation and to identify areas where there is still
worktobedone.Thebookisacomprehensivebut
digestible summary of the field of conservation
biogeographyandshouldmakeessentialreading,
notonly for the studentsatwhom it isprimarily
aimed, but also for more experienced scientists.
Theeditorsprofessattheoutsetthattheaimwas
to achieve a degree of coherence among the
chapters,anaimthat isachievedremarkablywell
togiveaverycoherenttext.
Thefirstsectionofthebookprovidesabrief
but interestinghistoryof theconservationmove
mentandthecontrastingvaluesheldbydifferent
sectorsof thismovement (Chapters2 and3), as
wellassomebackgroundtothefieldofconserva
tion biogeography (Chapter 1). A distinction is
madebetweenapproachesthatfocusonthecom
positionofbiologicalcommunitiesandthosethat
focus on ecosystem function through an under
standingofecosystemprocessessuchasnutrient
cycling(p.31).Aninterestingandgrowingfieldin
ecology, which receives little attention in the
book,uses the functional traitsof species to ex
plainthelinkbetweenthecompositionofbiologi
cal communities and the functionof the ecosys
temsthatcontainthem.Functionaltraitssuchas
bodymass,diet,habitataffinityanddevelopment
modeof animals, andheight andphotosynthetic
pathwayofplantscanhelpexplainhowspecies
contribute to theprocessesunderlying the func
tioningofecosystemsandcanalsohelpinpredict
ing how ecosystems will respond to environ
mentalchange(McGilletal.2006).
Thesecondsectionreviewsourcurrentun
derstanding of the distribution of biodiversity,
summarises the history of the global protected
areas network and describes the methods avail
able for more systematically representing biodi
versityinfutureextensionstothisnetwork.There
isastrongterrestrialfocushere, indeedthrough
out the entirety of the book, which the authors
acknowledge and which is owing to a less com
pleteunderstandingofthedistributionofdiversity
in the oceans and in freshwater habitats. It is
worthnoting, though, that theCensusofMarine
Life, an ambitious $650 million project that fin
ished recently, hasmadehugeprogress towards
understanding the biogeography of the oceans
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(e.g.seeTittensoretal.2010).Evenintheterres
trial realm, knowledge about the number and
identityof theworlds speciesandhow theyare
distributed remains very far from complete: the
Linnaean and Wallacean shortfalls respectively
(Chapter 4). A recent paper (Joppa et al. 2011)
addressedbothoftheseknowledgegapssimulta
neously by predicting the spatial distribution of
undiscovered plant species, predicting that most
newplant specieswillbediscovered in areas al
readyidentifiedashotspotsofplantdiversity,em
phasising the importanceof theseareas for con
servation. Chapter 5 provides an excellent sum
mary of the many different types of protected
areas intheglobalnetworkandthedifferentval
uesthatunderpinthese,whileChapter6provides
ausefulandsuccinctreviewoftheenormousand
evergrowing literature on systematic conserva
tionplanning.
Thethirdsectionofthebookdescribeshow
thetoolsofbiogeographycanbeusedtoplanfor
environmentalchange inconservation.This isthe
onlypartof thebookwherethechaptersappear
somewhatdisjointed,butthisisprobablyowingto
the attempt to summarise a vast literature in a
verysmallnumberofchapters.Nevertheless,the
chapters inthissectionprovideexcellentdescrip
tionsofsomeoftheavailablemethods,fromphe
nomenological models that infer future changes
fromcurrentpatterns(Chapter7)tomoreprocess
basedmodels thatuse the theoryof islandbio
geographytopredicttheconsequences forbiodi
versityofshrinkingandincreasinglyisolatednatu
ral habitat patches (Chapter 8). Chapter 9 deals
with invasive species, which are an important
driverofenvironmental change,and thehomog
enisationofbiological communities, i.e. the ero
sionofbetadiversity.Mostofthestudiesinvesti
gating broadscale patterns of diversity have fo
cusedoninventorydiversity,commonlymeasured
as species richness, and it is only recently that
studieshaveattemptedtomapbetadiversity(e.g.
McKnight et al. 2007) and to relate it to spatial
and environmental factors (e.g. Ferrier et al.
2007).
Withagrowingneedtounderstandchanges
in the natural environment and the impact of
these changes on human society, the emerging
fieldofconservationbiogeography is likelytobe
comeincreasinglyimportantinprovidingthenec
essary theoretical basis and tools for doing so.
This book provides an excellent foundation for
that fieldand ishighly recommended reading for
students,scientistsandpractitionersofconserva
tion.
TimNewboldUnitedNationsEnvironmentProgrammeWorldCon
servationMonitoringCentre,Cambridge,UKemail:[email protected];
http://www.unepwcmc.org/timnewbold_368.html
References
Butchart,S.H.M.,Walpole,M.,Collen,B.etal. (2010).Globalbiodiversity:indicatorsofrecentdeclines.Science,328,11641168.
Isbell, F., Calcagno, V., Hector, A. et al. (2011). Highdiversity is needed to maintain ecosystem services.Nature,477,199202.
Joppa,L.N.,Roberts,D.L.,Myers,N.etal.(2011).Biodiversityhotspotshousemostundiscoveredplantspecies.ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciences of the United States of America 108,1317113176.
McGill, B.J., Enquist, B.J., Weiher, E. & Westoby, M.(2006). Rebuilding community ecology fromfunctionaltraits.Trends inEcology&Evolution,21,178185.
McKnight, M.W., White, P.S., McDonald, R.I., Lamoreux, J.F.,Sechrest,W.,Ridgely,R.S.&Stuart,S.N. (2007).Puttingbetadiversity on themap:
broadscale congruenceandcoincidence in theextremes.PLoSBiology,5,e272.
Tittensor,D.P.,Mora,C., Jetz,W., Lotze,H.K.,Ricard,D.,VandenBerghe,E.&Worm,B.(2010).Globalpatterns and predictors of marine biodiversity acrosstaxa.Nature,466,10981101.
EditedbyMarkusEichhorn
newsandupdate
94 2011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySocietyfrontiersofbiogeography3.3,2011
OneofthebenefitsopentoIBSmembersistheopportunitytohavejobopeningspostedonthe
IBSblog(http://biogeography.blogspot.com/).Ifyouhaveapositionyouwouldliketohaveadvertised, please contact Karen Faller ([email protected]) or Michael Dawson([email protected])withdetails.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.unep-wcmc.org/tim-newbold_368.htmlhttp://www.unep-wcmc.org/tim-newbold_368.htmlhttp://www.unep-wcmc.org/tim-newbold_368.htmlhttp://www.unep-wcmc.org/tim-newbold_368.htmlhttp://www.unep-wcmc.org/tim-newbold_368.htmlhttp://www.unep-wcmc.org/tim-newbold_368.htmlmailto:[email protected] -
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newsandupdate
95frontiersofbiogeography3.3,20112011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySociety
Despite existing in some form formanydecades
(Davis2005), invasionecology/biology is inmany
waysanascentandemergingfield,and isstillen
genderingdiscussionregardingwhether it indeed
trulyexistsasafieldordiscipline in itsownright,
or is ratheraparticularly focusedaspectofcom
munityecologyorbiogeography(e.g.Marris2009,
PyekandHulme2009).Aswithmanyecological
disciplines, invasionecologyhas seen fundamentaldisagreementsoveraspectsrangingfromcore
definitions (including invasion itself; Falk
Petersenetal.2006,RicciardiandCohen2007)to
level of scientific objectivity (e.g. Larson 2007).
Thefieldisatastageinitsdevelopmentwhere(1)
dedicatedjournalsexist (e.g.Biological Invasions)
and there is a substantial number of academic
articles published every year (for example a
searchof invasivespecies inWebofKnowledge
returns1181articlespublished in2010alone),2)thereisclearandsignificantinternationalinterest
andaction in relation to invasionsand (3)anex
tendedpeercommunityisinvolvedinresearching
andmanagingthethreatofinvasivespecies,from
worldleading academics at researchintensive
universitiestolocalgovernmentandconservation
volunteers.Theresultoftheburgeoning informa
tionandunevenlevelsofunderstandingandfocus
across the peer community is confusion and un
certainty,rightfromthefundamentals(whatisaninvasivespeciesexactly,andwhyisitinvasive?)to
thespecifics(whatisthebesttechniqueforreduc
ing populations of Crassula helmsii in my pond,
andhowdoesthatdifferfrommanagingspreadin
the local lake?).Thetime is ripe therefore foran
encyclopaediasuchasthisonebyDanielSimber
loffandMarcelRejmnek to formabaseline for
futuredefinitionsanddiscussions.
Thebook isoneofUniversityofCalifornia
PressEncyclopediasof
the
Natural
World series,
andaswiththeothervolumeshasawiderangeof
entriesthatareeffectivelyshortessaysorsumma
riesofkeytopicsrelating (inthiscase)tobiologi
cal invasions,without citationsbutwith relevant
further reading at the end. The entries vary in
length from 1 to 8pages, andoften incorporate
usefulfiguresandoccasionallytables.Thebookis
impressively glossy (all figures are in full colour)
andwellpresented,whichisallthemoreremark
able considering the relativelymodestprice.The
editors, Daniel Simberloff and Marcel Rejmnek,are leading invasionecologistsandarewellquali
fied to compile such a text; this is reflected not
justinthebroadrangeofwellselectedtopicsthat
thevolume includes(ofwhichthereare153)but
also the rollcall of esteemed contributors that
havesuppliedtheentries(ofwhichthereare197,
manyofthemhighprofile internationalresearch
ers). Thebook is aimed notjust at an academic
audience, however, and the articles are written
withtheinterestedandeducatedgeneralpublicinmind.
Theindividualarticlescovervariousaspects
of invasions,ranging fromparticularattributesof
invasive species and invaded ecosystems to im
pacts and management, interesting case studies
andhistoricalperspectives.Clearly it isnotpossi
bletocoveralloftheentries inareviewsuchas
this,butIdidfindseveralarticlesespeciallyinter
esting, particularly because they highlight the
many socioecological factors that complicateourrelationshipswithpotentiallyproblematicspecies.
TheentryonXenophobiaforexampledoesanex
cellentjobofsummarisinghowsocietysrelation
shipwithnonnativespeciesisconstructedincer
tainwaysby theuseof loaded termsor cultural
metaphors, forexample thenegativepersonifica
tion of zebra mussels as outlaws on the west
coast of the US, or the badging of harmful or
distasteful species with appellations that note
their foreign status (Japaneseknotweed,Chinesemitten crab, English sparrow and so on). As a
startingpoint foradiscussionof scientificobjec
bookreview
AnewencyclopediaforbiologicalinvasionsEncyclopediaofbiologicalinvasions,byDanielSimberloffandMarcelRejmnek(editors)
2011,UniversityofCaliforniaPress,792pp.ISBN:9780520264212
PriceUS$95(Hardbackorebook);http://www.ucpress.edu/
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tivity related to invasionbiology it works excep
tionallywell,andisexactlytherightsizefordiges
tionbystudentsorinterestedamateurs.
Indeed,oneofthebestusesIfindforrefer
ence works such as these are as opening forays
intotopicsforclassdiscussions,whetheratgradu
ate or undergraduate level. Good examples in
clude the entry on Succession, which very effec
tivelyandconciselysummariseskeyconceptsthat
take up whole chapters in many textbooks, and
although invasion biology is only addressed to
wards the end, it is clear how the two link to
gether. Likewise, thediscussiononNative invad
ers, in which issues of invasive terminologies
(andwhen they are appropriate) are covered, is
excellentlywrittenand illuminatingata rangeof
levels,particularly in relation to themanyexam
ples of invasion given. Certainly students and
researchersnewtothesubjectwillhaveanyinitial
confusion over what is meant by invasions dis
pelledbythearticle,and itwillalsohelpthemto
think objectively about whether a species really
maybeconsideredinvasiveornot.Allofthearti
clesIreadthroughwereofahighqualityandwell
written/edited, with very little wasted space for
suchalargevolume(althoughonoccasionfigures
arenotalwaysrelevantImnotsurewhyanim
age of Frank Buckland physicking a por
poise(page2)isworthyofinclusionforexample,
despitehisroleinfoundingthemainUKacclimati
sationsociety).
Ofcourse, it isalwayshardtogettheright
balance between conciseness and detail in such
entries, and to retain the relevant focus. The
opening entry,Acclimatisation societies is a case
inpoint:thearticledoesanexcellentjobofsum
marisingthedevelopmentand impactofsuchso
cietiesindifferentcountries,manyofwhichwere
responsible for the introduction of significant
numbersofnonnative species around the globe
beforedyingout in the faceof increasing legisla
tion, awareness of ecological risk from introduc
tionsand lackof interestfromthegeneralpublic.
The article elegantly conveys how originally be
nevolent intentions, such as the introduction of
nonnatives to improve food resources, control
pests and to soothe homesick colonists (among
otherreasons),inmostcasesfailedtoberealised
and also (with some notable exceptions) that
manysocietieswereunsuccessfulinactuallynatu
ralisingmany species at all.Butmuch is leftun
said: in some cases one is left wanting to know
more about whether species referred to as
released became naturalised, whether regions
suchasSouthAmericamaintainedanysuchsocie
ties (these countries are ignored, while others
suchasGermanyand Italy receiveonlyone sen
tence)andultimatelywhethersuchsocietiesindi
rectly provided evidence to force their own dis
continuation.Asatastertowhettheappetite,the
articlesucceedsverywell (andrelevantbookson
the subject are provided in the Further Reading
section),butitisnotanauthoritative,encyclopae
dicsummaryinitself.
Aswithanyvast topic,coveringallaspects
inasinglevolumeisdifficultinthiscasethereis
differential coverage of ecosystems (e.g. entries
forcanals, lakes,riversandwetlands,butnocov
erage of urban ecosystems, despite these being
importantpointsofintroductionforsomeinvasive
taxa);hypotheses(e.g.EnemyReleaseHypothesis,
Novel Weapons Hypothesis, but no Tens Rule);
geographical areas (Australia, the Great Lakes,
Hawaiian islands, theMediterranean, the Ponto
Caspian,NewZealandandSouthAfrica receivea
particular focus) and species (good examples of
somekeyspeciesorgroupssuchaszebramussel,
earthworms and fishes, but understandably not
comprehensivecoverage).This isentirely reason
able, and is not a criticismof the volume it is
impossibletocoverthevastrangeoftopicsasso
ciatedwithbiologicalinvasionsinsufficientdepth
in a single volume, and the material that is in
cluded is impressive.Thedivisionofthebookbe
tween invaderattributes,processes,taxa,ecosys
tems,pathwaystoinvasionandsoon isverywell
doneandrepresentsahugeeffortonthepartof
theeditors,forwhichtheyshouldberoundlycon
gratulated. Iwouldencourage considerationofa
secondvolume,however,at leastwith regard to
keyconceptsandhypotheses.Theopeningguide
to theEncyclopedianotes that there isawebsite
witha listofarticles, sampleentriesand so,and
notesthatthesitewillevolvewiththeadditionof
newsandupdate
96 2011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySocietyfrontiersofbiogeography3.3,2011
-
8/2/2019 FBv03i03 All
19/45
newsandupdate
97frontiersofbiogeography3.3,20112011theauthors;journalcompilation2011TheInternationalBiogeographySociety
The Neotropics leave an indelible impression on
everyonewhovisits them.The seedsof someof
themost importantconcepts inecologyandevo
lutionweresownduringtheSouthAmericantrav
elsof influential19thcentury thinkers.Forexam
ple,the latitudinalgradientofdiversity,nowrec
ognized as ecologys oldest pattern (Hawkins,
2001),wasfirstidentifiedbyvonHumboldt,while
Batesdocumentedthevarietyandadaptationsof
species in Amazonian forests, and Wallace and
Darwinponderedthemechanismsresponsiblefor
the myriad forms of life they encountered. Al
though theNeotropicshaveplayeda crucial role
in our understanding of the diversity of life on
earth,inmanywaystheycontinuetorepresentan
unexploredfrontier.Thisisparticularlyclearinthe
caseofNeotropical freshwater fish,agroupesti
matedtoconsistofmorethan7000species,and
thataccountsforoverhalfthefreshwaterfishon
theplanetandaround10%ofallvertebratespe
cies.
JamesAlbertandRobertoReisgoalasedi
torsoftheHistoricalBiogeographyofNeotropical
FreshwaterFishes is toexamine theevolutionary
forces responsible for this diversity. In doing so
theymakethecasethatmultipleprocessesofdi
versification were involved and that these oper
atedoverlongperiodsoftimeaswellasonacon
tinental scale.Thebook itself isdivided into two
parts, the firstofwhichexamines currentknowl
edgeonthebiogeographyoftheregion,whilethe
second isaregionalanalysisthat linkscontempo
rarygeographicalpatternswithgeologicalhistory.
The book is ambitious in scope and brings to
getherpreviously fragmentedmaterialtoprovide
anauthoritativeoverviewofthisimpressivegroup
offish.AndwhileafisheyeviewoftheNeotropi
cal ichthyofauna is inevitablydrawn to theAma
bookreview
ApiscinehistoryoftheNeotropics
HistoricalbiogeographyofNeotropicalfreshwaterfishes,byJ.S.AlbertandR.R.Reis (editors)2011,UniversityofCaliforniaPress,408pp.ISBN:9780520268685
Price59(Hardback);http://www.ucpress.edu/
new information, p. xxii). The web address has
sincechangedandIwasunabletolocatethenew
one.ThoughIhappilyagreethatthiscouldpoten
tiallybeaveryuseful resource,given the rapidly
changing environmentof the internet, thepubli
cationofasecondvolumewouldperhapsbe the
mostreliableoption.
In summary, this is an excellent reference
work that combines readability with academic
rigourthroughout.Itsbroadcoverageofthefield,
high quality of production and reasonable price
makes itanessentialpurchase foranyuniversity
withdepartments teachingor researchingwithin
thebroadspectrumofecology,aswellasforindi
vidualresearchersofspeciesinvasions.
RobertA.FrancisDepartmentofGeography,KingsCollegeLondon
email:[email protected];http://rg.kcl.ac.uk/
staffprofiles/staffprofile.php?pid=1961
References
Davis, M.A. (2005) Invasion biology 19582004: thepursuitofscienceandconservation.In:Conceptual ecology and invasions biology: reciprocalapproaches to nature (ed. by Cadotte, W.M,
McMahon, S.M. and Fukami, T.) , pp. 3564.KluwerPublishers,London.
FalkPetersen, J.,Bhn,T.&Sandlund,O.T. (2006)Onthenumerousconceptsininvasionbiology.BiologicalInvasions,8,14091424.
Larson, B.M.H. (2007) An alien approach to invasivespecies:objectivityandsociety in invasionbiology.BiologicalInvasions,9,947956.
Marris,E.(2009)Theendoftheinvasion?Nature,459,327328.
Pysek,P.&Hulme,P.E.(2009)Invasionbiologyisadisciplinethatstooyoungtodie.Nature,460,324
324.Ricciardi,A.&Cohen, J. (2007)The invasivenessofan
introduced speciesdoesnotpredict its impact.BiologicalInvasions,9,309315.
EditedbyMarkusEichhorn
ISSN19486596
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