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Review of Recent mammals of Alaska, by S.O. MacDonaldand J.A. Cook (2010). Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.399 pp. ISBN 1602230722.

Billed as a summary monograph, this book is more pre-cisely a catalogue of all mammals that have beendocumented in Alaska during the past 10 000 years,fronted by an introduction to mammalian collections inAlaska, and a short overview of Alaskan biogeography,and summarized in a set of appendices. In between thesetwo segments are 116 1–2-page species accounts, each ofwhich includes a brief summary of the taxonomy, distri-bution, abundance and status. In creating this text, theauthors have summarized a great deal of detailed infor-mation gleaned from a thorough combing of both peer-reviewed and grey literature. However, the aim of thebook is centred less around describing the basic biologyand ecology of Alaskan mammals, than on introducingthe readers to the archived specimens that exist inmuseum collections. This focus reflects the training andexpertise of the two authors, both of whom have spenttheir careers affiliated with natural history collections:S.O. MacDonald worked as a curator at the at the Uni-versity of Alaska Museum (UAM) from 1979 to 1984, andis now curator in the Mammals Division of the Museumof Southwestern Biology (MSB) at the University of NewMexico, whereas J.A. Cook was the Curator of Mammalsat UAM from 1990 to 2001, and now fills that role atMSB. Cook, MacDonald and their students have con-ducted extensive field collections in Alaska, andthroughout their careers have advocated strongly thatnatural history collections are valuable research tools.This book serves as a summary of their work, and as aplea for continued efforts in these areas.

The focus on collections and their worth begins in theintroduction, with a review of the history of mammalcollections in the state, a review of the various uses towhich collections can be put and a few brief summaries ofstudies that were either hindered by an incompleteunderstanding of the diversity of species within an area orenabled by the existence of robust collections. Thesemini-reviews serve as examples of the value of naturalhistory collections, but because the emphasis is on the useof collections, and not the results of the studies, they donot provide the reader with much insight into the biology

or ecology of Alaskan mammals. The emphasis is alsoapparent in the individual species accounts, where therange maps for each species indicate Alaskan collectionlocations much more clearly than species distribution.Although collections are certainly valuable, and theauthors have gone to significant effort to provide infor-mation on the museums housing all known Alaskanspecimens—and have thereby saved others this time andeffort—I can’t help but wonder if much of this taskcouldn’t be accomplished through the judicious use ofonline databases, which, by their nature, are better ableto incorporate new entries. Indeed UAM and MSB bothparticipate in an ongoing effort to make mammalcollection data from multiple museums availableand searchable online (http://arctos.database.museum/home.cfm).

The section advocating collections is followed by a briefoverview of the six main regions within Alaska (South-east, Southcentral, Central, Southwest, Western, and

CorrespondenceJennifer M. Burns, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska

Anchorage, 3101 Science Circle, CPSB 101, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA.

E-mail: afjmb4@uaa.alaska.edu

Polar Research 29 2010 229–231 © 2010 the author, journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 229

Northern Alaska). Each region’s vegetative community isbriefly summarized (approximately one page per region),and a listing of key mammalian taxa present in the regionis included. This section is a fairly dry recounting of facts,and is one of the few sections of the text that is notadequately referenced, despite being derivative of anynumber of books on Alaskan ecology. The few low-resolution black and white photographs included in thissection add little value. In addition, as these regionsreflect the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s gamemanagement units (http://wildlife.alaska.gov/gis), ratherthan established ecoregions (Nowacki et al. 2001), theregional species distributions presented do not provideinsight into biotic factors that influence habitat selection.This is also reflected in the often terse description of thehabitats of individual species (for example, beaver [Castorcanadensis] habitat is described as “lakes, ponds, marshes,rivers and streams” [p. 79]). Data on Alaska’s current (orhistoric) climate are not included, nor is any indication ofthermal tolerances provided within the individual speciesaccounts. Thus, the interplay between climate, habitatsand species distribution remains unexplored. This isnotable mainly because the authors earlier argued (pp. 3,20) that expanded collections are needed to better under-stand the impact of global climate change on speciesdistributions, and yet this book does little to provide eventhe minimal level of detail with which to begin to makesuch links.

Throughout the text, the authors focus on what ispresent rather than why it is present. Indeed, the exist-ence of a single documented occurrence or specimenrecord from Alaska appears to be the sole requirementfor inclusion in this text. This odd selection criterionproduces a text that treats rare vagrants (harp seal[Pagophilus groenlandicus]), migrants (grey whale[Eschrichtius robustus]), endemics (many of the bats),introduced species (wapati [Cervus canadensis]) andcommon residents (black bear [Ursus americanus])equally, but that only includes extinct Holocenemammals for which specimens exist within Alaskan insti-tutions (Steller’s sea cow [Hydrodamalis gigas], woollymammoth [Mammuthus primigenius]). The 116 speciesincluded in this comprehensive catalogue are groupedtaxonomically, with alphabetical organization onlypresent at the level of genus and species, and not amongfamilies or orders. As a result, it is difficult to pagethrough the text to locate particular species, even withknowledge of ordinal and familiar affiliation.

The individual species entries that make up the vastmajority of this book each include sections on systematics(nomenclature for species and subspecies; source for theoriginal description, type locality and museum housingthe type specimen), distribution (globally and regionally),

habitat (vegetative community in which species islocated), status (abundance) and fossils (geological depos-its in which fossils have been located). These sectionshave a clear Alaskan focus, although data from otherregions are occasionally included. Although scrupulouslyaccurate, the information under each subheading hasbeen kept so minimal that it almost fails to convey anyworthwhile data (e.g., the status of meadow jumpingmice [Zapus hudsonius] is “localized and sometimesabundant” [p. 82].) Whereas this brevity is frequentlymitigated by the copious use of relevant citations, anyreader intending to use this text to learn much about themammals of Alaska will be immediately frustrated by theneed to return to the library to find the source literature.Conversely, information provided under the systematicsand fossils categories often assumes extensive geographicand geological background, rendering these sections chal-lenging for the lay reader. Nor will the text be of muchuse to readers aiming to determine species range or dis-tribution, as the range maps included with each accountemphasize collection locations. Statewide distributionaldata, if mapped at all, is often of poor quality. Aside froma few pleasant line drawings by Alaskan artist W.D. Berry,most of the species remain un-illustrated.

The text ends with an extensive and up-to-date litera-ture section, in which often difficult to find agency andnon-profit organization reports stand side by side withpeer-reviewed literature. The authors are to be com-mended on the depth and breadth of their review. Theindex is similarly thorough, and makes the entire textmuch more accessible to the scientist and public readers.However, it is the appendices that are the true glory ofthis text. In a series of 12 detailed tables, the authorsconcisely summarize and cross-collate all the data con-tained within the preceding species accounts. Amongothers, there are appendices tabulating the regional dis-tribution and habitat preferences of the various taxa, themuseums in which specimens are housed, the temporaloccurrence of the species, and the history and fate of theintroductions of non-native species. These tables doalmost as thorough a job at conveying the information asthe main text, and are likely to be much more useful tothe readers of this book, as they remove the need to pagethrough multiple accounts to discover the key facts.Where necessary, the appendices are equally well refer-enced as the rest of the book.

The fact that I found the most compelling informationof the book contained in the appendices highlights mypuzzlement over the audience at which this text is aimed.Hobbyists and lay people who may find this book inmuseum bookstores are unlikely to be greatly interestedin the locations of scientific collections or the details oftaxonomic nomenclature, and would probably prefer

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more information on each species to be included here,rather than only referenced. For these readers, this drytext fails to be a useful field guide to the mammalsof Alaska because of its dearth of basic biological orecological information and the remarkable absence ofphotographs in the species accounts. However, aside fromthe appendices, the text also fails as a reference guide forscientists working on Alaska’s mammalian fauna, as thederivative nature of the information provided within eachspecies’ summary is unlikely to provide any new informa-tion to active scientists. As one example, all pinniped andcetacean distributional data reported here are obtainedfrom the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-tion’s stock assessment report (Angliss & Outlaw 2007),which summarizes multiple primary studies, is availableonline and is updated regularly. Active researchers are farmore likely to refer to the most recent stock assessmentreport, Rice (1998), and UAM’s online database, ratherthan this book. Unfortunately, despite its breadth, the

shallow depth of the information contained within thesepages almost guarantees that this reference will be of useonly to a small subset of biogeographers and taxonomersthat are not currently familiar with Alaska or itsmammals; neither working scientists nor the generalpublic are likely to find this text compelling.

References

Angliss R.P. & Outlaw R.B. 2007. Alaska marine mammal stockassessments, 2006. NOAA Technical MemorandumNMFSAFSC-168. Seattle, WA: US Department ofCommerce.

Nowacki G., Spenser P., Fleming M., Brock T. & Jorgenson T.2001. Unified ecoregions of Alaska. U.S. Geological SurveyOpen-File Report 02-297 (map). Reston, VA: US GeologicalSurvey.

Rice D.W. 1998. Marine mammals of the world: systematics anddistribution. Lawrence, KS: Society for Marine Mammalogy.

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