Ökologische Probleme der Umweltbelastung by G. FellenbergReview by: Eduard BrabecFolia Geobotanica & Phytotaxonomica, Vol. 21, No. 4 (1986), pp. 443-444Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4180722 .

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BOOKREVIEWS 443

burning practives were examined. It appeared to me that local managers and practising ecologists were of the view that fire was a fairly well understood phenomenon, with only a few problems unanswered. However, during my subsequent observations and measurements in African reserves I came to the conclusion that due to the variety of ecosystems all statements are too generalized and the language of individual experts too vague, so that adequate comparison and quantitative evaluation is hardly possible. In recent years the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environ? ment (SCOPE) has established a number of projects covering the issue of fire ecology. The book under review seems to be a very successful product of one of these projects.

Sixteen chapters of the volume have been written by 19 authors whose manuscripts were purposefully edited by the above named editors. The titles and arrangement of the chapters suggest a broad coverage and deep insight into the topic. J. B. Huntley starts with a short characteristic of South African biomes; instead of the vague concept of "veld", commonly linked with this part of the African continent, this author defines five distinct formation types ? fynbos, karoo, grassland, savanna and forest. Describing the fire regimes in various biomes, D. Edwards brings summarizing data on the occurrence of fires; surprisingly quite a high proportion of fires derives from lightning, and there is evidence of falling boulders in mountains and earthquake activity as ignition sources. In a chapter called "Man's historical and traditional use of fire" M. Hall describes two roles of anthropogenic fires: fire as a tool in changing man's environment, and fire as a symbol in the indigenous social systems. Two fire regimes are distinguished: "exten? sive fires" used in order to remove litter and encourage seasonal regeneration, and "intensive fires" followed in savanna and forest where fields ar to be sited. In an historical review of research on fire in South Africa, a paper from 1930 by J. F. V. Phillips 1930) is mentioned several times; the editors were lucky to start their book with a foreword by this pioneer of African fire ecology. Four chapters describe the specific fire circumstances and fire behaviour in four major South African biomes: F. J. Kruger and R. C. Bigalke in fynbos, N. M. Tainton and M. T. Mentis in grassland, W. S. W. Trollope in savanna, and J. E. Granger in forest; both short-term and long-term effects are discussed.

Under the phrase "fire behaviour" W. S. W. Trollope analyzes several dynamic properties of fires, such as the rate of spread, the energy profile and the rate of energy release (intensity). A botanical paper by F. J. Kruger presents an excellent summary of vegetation responses to various fire regimes and defines "pyric succession" in major biomes. The chapter by R. C. Bigalke and K. Wilan, describing effects of fire on faunal composition and faunal dynamics is of similar value for zoologically oriented ecologists. Authors of future textbooks on ecology will appreciate the chapter by P. G. H. Frost, summarizing responses and survival of organisms in fire-prone environments. Three authors ? A. Cass, M. J. Savage and F. M. Wallis ? have jointly compiled a stimulating review of the effects of fire on soil and microclimate; after a careful reiteration of available data these authors conclude that "physical condition of the soil surface exposed to regular fires will generally exhibit retrogressive change". Another chapter written by P. J. Edwards explains the objectives of burning and the use of fire as a management tool.

In the concluding remarks, P. de V. Booysen, one of the editors of the volume, admits the gaps left in fire research, and advocates standard terminology as a prerequisite for quantitative description of all aspects of burning. According to him, six phrases cover the most important characters of fire ecology: fire regime, fire circumstances, fire types, fire characteristics, fire behaviour and fire effects. No d oubt the whole book has contributed a lot to better consistency in fire vocabulary and would facilitate future communication and understanding in this field of ecology.

Jan Jenik

G. Fellenberg

OKOLOGISCHE PROBLEME DER UMWELTBELASTUNG

Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York and Tokyo 1985, 188 pp. Price 19.80 DM.

The environmentalists of the sixties attacked the world conscience with the vigour of religious zealots, threatening to punish the sins of mass consumption by all sorts of ecological catastrophes.

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444 FOLIA GEOBOTANICA ET PHYTOTAXONOMICA 21, 1986

There were hints in their teaching that whatever has hitherto been called an achievement of mankind, is in fact a disaster in the longer view. Sitting and pondering was left to humans as the last activity which did not interfere with the environment too much. This was not enough to sustain life and even less to attain the standard of living of the average U. S. citizen (a controversial measure of prosperity adopted in many world scenarios). Then came the Messiahs preaching alter? natives in agriculture, energy, society etc. Despair turned to hope, the hope to program, the prog? ram won adherents and a brand-new political force entered the battlefields for parliamentary seats. The formerly academic domain of environmental issues became politicum and any author merely touching on this subject willynilly enters the arena.

Professor Fellenberg with his earnest striving to climb the heights of a detached scientific point of view will please neither the technocrats nor the eco-radicals. The former may feel offended by the general man-plunderer attitude of the book and lack of optimism in the feasibility of technical solutions (they do exist but they are too expensive to be widely adopted, as in the case of composts, biogas reactors and scrubbers). The radicals will hardly tolerate the rejection of many alternatives at the down-to-earth cost-benefit basis (they have in mind a different socienty with different values). The independent layman will gain a surprisingly broad and well balanced overview for a minimum of reading patience (the text is brief and comprehensible in the best sense of the word, appended with a glossary and index) but not much hope. He will be endowed with sound and accurate arguments to cool up any overheated enthusiast whether the debate concerns population, food problems, pesticides, energy policy or acid rain but nearly the only alternative left intact is ? again ? the one of sit-and-ponder. Why not: there are many aspects of environmentalism which deserve a seeond thought and to cool down is precisely what this overheated world needs; if it is not too late.

Eduard Brabec

K. A. Kershaw

PHYSIOLOGICAL ECOLOGY OF LICHENS

Cambridge Studies in Ecology; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1985, 293 pp., 174 Figs., Price 30?.

Recently, lichens have become very interesting objects for physiological study. Apart from their symbiotic nature, their ecophysiology is intriguing because of the easy study of limiting factors of photosynthesis and specific physiological adaptations of individual populations. In addition lichens are a dominant component of many ecosystems (mainly arctic) and their study was stimulated by interest in production ecology (International Biological Programme).

This book is a synthesis of the author's long term research into the physiological ecology of arctic lichens, partly published in two series of papers in the Canadian Journal of Botany and New Phytologist. The main topic is classical ecophysiology, i.e. water relations, photosynthesis and respiration. The book is based not only on laboratory measurements of physiological processes under changing conditions, but it also uses data of actual rates of these processes in.the field (e.g. microclimate and thallus condition). Chapters covering individual environmental factors affecting physiological processes (temperature, moisture and ionic exchange) form the background of the book. In addition, the chapter Ionic criteria contains a section on physiological response to air pollution stress (uptake of sulphite and sulphate ions, heavy metals and metalloids). Further, lichens are unique among green plants from the point of view of nitrogen metabolism because of their ability to fix nitrogen. A separate chapter is devoted to this phenomenon; it deals mostly with nitrogenase activity in relation to ecological circumstances and fate of fixed nitrogen in the thallus. The central part of book is formed by three chapters concerning photo? synthesis and its interaction with limiting factors: light, temperature and thallus hydration. A special chapter is devoted to respiration and thallus growth. The last chapter is highly original; it uses the concepts developed in the book to study intraspecific plasticity in the photosynthetic characteristics of lichens from different habitats. Further, the author proposes a way to distinguish

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