Invasion Ecology: Echoes of Elton in the Twenty-First Century

Book Reviews Invasion Ecology: Echoes of Elton in the Twenty-First Century The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. Elton, C. S. 2000. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 174 pp. $13.00. ISBN 0–226– 20638–6. Nature Out of Place. Biological Invasions in the Global Age. Van Driesche, J., and R. Van Driesche. 2000. Island Press, Washington, D.C. 352 pp. $29.95. ISBN 1–55963–757–9. As much as one can ever pinpoint the beginning of a field to a single event, the publication of Charles Elton’s book The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants signaled the beginning of the field of invasion biology. Elton’s remarkably insightful generalizations created a framework for the scientific study of invasions, and today his book is an obligatory citation for most papers on the population or community ecology of non-native species. The University of Chicago Press recently reprinted Elton’s classic with a new foreword by Dan Simberloff. This slim, reasonably priced, richly illustrated book should be on the shelf of every ecologist working in conservation or restoration. Each of the nine chapters is a mixture of conceptual ideas and case studies. Elton shows an encyclopedic familiarity with invaders from all taxonomic groups and habitats, providing an entire chapter on marine invasions as well as examples taken from plants, insects, fungi, and vertebrates. The book can be used effectively as a framework for a graduate seminar, combining Elton’s chapters with recent papers on related topics and following some of his case studies into the present time. Many ecologists are probably not aware that most of the chapters in El806 Conservation Biology, Pages 806–813 Volume 15, No. 3, June 2001 ton’s book were originally presented as a series of public radio broadcasts. As such, they are easily accessible to undergraduates or nonacademic audiences, highly entertaining, and full of colorful literary and cultural metaphors. Although the book was first published in 1958, few members of the general public today would find Elton’s ideas or examples to be “old hat.” In fact, it is discouraging that, more than 40 years later, our populace does not appear to be much better informed about the conservation issues associated with invasions than they were in Elton’s time. But it is also a testament to this book that its truly visionary statement of the conservation implications of invasions is still relevant today. Readers of this book may be impressed by its many references to geological time periods and historical biogeography. Elton placed his ideas in the context of Wallace’s Realms, pointing out that if the continents had never been divided in the first place, we would not be facing the wholesale disruption of biota that we now see. It is an interesting perspective that is rarely brought out today. In fact, the question of how to view modern invasions against the backdrop of large-scale faunal interchanges in evolutionary time (e.g., after the appearance of the Panamanian Isthmus or the Bering Strait) is one that is rarely discussed in the invasion literature today. Many conservation biologists may shy away from this issue because they believe that it compromises the conviction that modern, anthropogenic introductions are fundamentally different and alarming. Elton himself appears ambivalent about the conservation implications of this broader paleontological context. We would do well to address these difficult questions head on, in the same way we need to discuss how current patterns of extinction are similar to or different from patterns of extinction over geological time. Have we made any progress since the days of Elton? Although The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants remains the inspiration of much invasion research today, new theoretical and empirical approaches have moved the field far beyond what Elton envisioned. Mathematical models of spatial spread have gone beyond mapping the geometrical outlines of distributions, as in Elton’s case studies, to investigating the predictive value of local biological parameters. Well-designed, controlled experiments have been used to understand the mechanisms of the effects of individual invaders, such as the argentine ants Elton so dramatically described in his third chapter. Molecular approaches have allowed us to investigate patterns and processes of multiple introductions and long-distance spread. The Internet has given us global databases as a tool for tracking new invaders or the spread of old ones, a tool that Elton lamented as sadly lacking in his time. If Elton were alive today, he would be satisfied by the continuing relevance of his work but also by the exciting development of the field he inspired. Over the 40-plus years since Elton’s small book was first published, ecologists have been busy testing his ideas and accumulating detailed information on troublesome invasive species around the globe. The international Scientific Committee on Prob- Book Reviews lems of the Environment (SCOPE) program resulted in a series of edited volumes focused on invasions in different regions, and several other important books have been published reviewing particular aspects of invasions such as the mathematics of spatial spread or the application of control methods. But few authors have written as compellingly about the problem as Elton did, or to such a broad audience. Elton’s book, although sophisticated and packed with novel ideas and hypotheses, was also a passionate clarion call to awaken the public to an environmental crisis happening in their backyards. Following splendidly in the footsteps of Elton’s original masterpiece is a new book written by Jason and Roy Van Driesche, Nature out of Place: Biological Invasions in the Global Age. The book links a series of scholarly chapters reviewing general concepts of invasion biology with personal essays on particular invasive species or restoration projects. In the father-son team, father (Roy) wrote the scholarly chapters and son ( Jason) recounted his experiences traveling across the United States interviewing resource managers, local politicians, scientists, and John Doe about the problems of non-native species. Seamlessly woven together, this marriage of personal natural history essays with general overviews works beautifully. The book grabs the attention of the reader through the power of personal experience and conviction, but it does justice to the scientific and social complexities of the field as a whole. Nature Out of Place is organized into three parts with 14 chapters. The first part, “The Causes and Consequences of Biological Invasions,” includes a personal account of feral pigs in Hawaii, followed by a chapter on biogeography and the organization of global biodiversity and a chapter on the history of transportation and trade. Part 2, “Strategies for Preventing and Controlling Biologi- cal Invasions,” contains 8 chapters. This section includes detailed accounts of (1) zebra mussels in the Ohio river valley, (2) forest decline from insect pests and diseases, (3) removal of sheep from Santa Cruz Island, and (4) leafy spurge on ranches in the Great Plains. Interspersed with these accounts are chapters on invasiveness and invasibility, methods and strategies for control, biological control, and a well-organized and upto-date treatment of developments in the political and legislative realms. Part 3 is subtitled “What People Can Do about Biological Invasions.” One chapter highlights restoration efforts in urban wildlands around Madison, Wisconsin (with a fascinating introduction to the history of the horticultural industry), and a second chapter chronicles the fight to eradicate Miconia in Hawaii. The book’s final chapter gives a list of 15 specific problems associated with invasions and specific actions that individuals can take to address these problems (landscaping with native plants, writing editorials for local newspapers, lobbying environmental organizations to highlight non-natives as a conservation priority). Ending on an upbeat note, the chapter is not overly simplistic nor does it leave one with the dreary despair to which many of us are prone. On the whole, the book is carefully researched and well referenced. Because it is written for a general audience, references are placed in an appendix of endnotes, and some will find disconcerting the practice of discussing an author’s work without mentioning his or her name (for example, a figure is taken directly from a paper by Vitousek et al., but only Scientific American is credited in the text). This format also allows some statements to be made without the reader being aware that they are opinions of the authors and not universally accepted by the scientific community. For example, the authors, one of whom is an eminent biological control practitioner, clearly prefer the hypothesis that all non- 807 native species that become pests do so primarily because they leave their natural enemies behind. Because we still have a poor understanding of the role (if any) that herbivores play in controlling invasive plants in their native ranges, the suggestion that the success of garlic mustard and leafy spurge and others “was driven largely by a single factor: the absence of its controlling natural enemies” ( p. 201) seems premature and misleading. But these lapses into immodest promotion of the field of biological control are only minor distractions from an otherwise exceptionally thoughtful treatise. In fact, the biocontrol chapter itself is fairly well balanced, discussing both successes and failures and providing an outline of the steps that must be undertaken to ensure that environmental risks from biocontrol are low. There are places in the book where concepts or parts of stories are repeated in multiple chapters, which detracts somewhat from one’s sense of the book as an integrated whole. On the other hand, this repetition also means that each chapter stands well on its own and can be read singly or in subsets. In fact, many of the chapters from this book would be excellent required reading in courses in environmental studies, invasion biology, restoration ecology, or conservation. With its arresting jacket design, lovely line drawings and maps, and many illustrative photos (unfortunately, none of them in color), this book also makes a nice gift. Like Charles Elton, the Van Driesches are clearly out to change the world; more power to them. If the scientific and educational community helps ensure that this book receives a wide audience, we could achieve their vision of a fundamental change in public attitude toward biological invasions. Ingrid M. Parker Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, U.S.A., email [email protected]. Conservation Biology Volume 15, No. 3, June 2001 808 Book Reviews Cutting the Gordian Knot Pandora’s Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy. Thornton, J. 2000. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 599 pp. $34.95. ISBN 0–262–20124–0. Historically, the Earth has been viewed as a self-renewing resource, and we have used the environment as a wastebasket. For a long time it seemed bottomless, but there is increasing evidence that if the basket is not already overflowing the brim is near. This is particularly true for a major class of chemicals central to many industrial processes and known collectively as organochlorines. Chlorine and chlorinated compounds are utilized in water purification and in the manufacture of pesticides, fertilizers, medicines, plastics, and other earmarks of modern society. But the dark side of their broad utility is that chlorine and its byproducts accumulate in fatty tissue, often transmitted by the mother through the uterine environment or breast milk, and influence the development and behavior of the offspring. This influence in turn affects the offspring’s reproductive potential, thereby magnifying the effects through subsequent generations. Despite their usefulness, chlorine products and processes are persistent and pervasive, and they exact long-term devastating effects on the health of the planet and its inhabitants. All of this and more can be found in Pandora’s Poison, which is actually three books in one. The first “book,” designed for readers who wish to “see the forest,” is the introduction (“The Argument”). It serves as a précis of the debate, provides the basic facts of the historical impediments to effective regulation, and explains Thornton’s proposal for future action. For those more familiar with the larger picture but wanting to “see the trees,” there is a second book, divided into three major sections. The first, “The Problem: a Global Health Hazard,” describes and documents the Conservation Biology Volume 15, No. 3, June 2001 problem; provides a primer of chemistry, toxicology, and the mechanisms of action; and surveys and documents various case studies from the laboratory, wildlife, and epidemiology. The second section of this second book, “The Cause: Industrial Chlorine Chemistry,” addresses the history of the industry, how it has responded overtly and covertly to attempts to regulate it, and major sources of organochlorine pollution. The benefits of many products and processes of chlorine chemistry in industry and agriculture ensure that they will continue to be used. It is in the final section of the second book,” “The Solution: a Chlorine Sunset,” that Thornton steps outside the boundaries that seem to have thwarted our best efforts to address the chlorine problem. He does not advocate abandoning what have become fixtures in modern life but rather calls for re-engineering the chemical processes that produce these products. There is no call for an immediate ban, as if that were possible, but rather a well-reasoned proposal for the gradual transition from chlorine chemistry to other technologies that produce the same results. Some of these alternative manufacturing processes are already in practice, others remain to be implemented, and still others require further development. This is not a “lights out” as the industry decries but rather a “sunset,” a progressive diminution of reliance on a chemistry that all acknowledge is extraordinarily toxic. The third book contains extensive appendices, footnotes, and references that serve as the foundation for the book as a whole. For those areas with which I am most familiar, the appropriate citations are listed, enabling one to evaluate the original material. Finally, the index is complete and easy to use. Thus, Pandora’s Poison has the detail and citations to satisfy the scientist, the vision to energize the policymaker, and the grace and style to capture the concerned reader. Throughout the book Thornton contrasts two perspectives: the risk paradigm and the ecological paradigm. The risk paradigm emerged from the science of the 1950s and 1960s and continues to dominate current policy. Here the approach is one of risk assessment in which suspect chemicals are tested individually for their carcinogenic or toxicological properties. Dose-response studies, conducted in the laboratory with adult rodents, are meant to identify the lowest dose at which no adverse effects are observed. An uncertainty factor (i.e., dividing the lowest dose by 100 to 1000, depending on the toxicity of the substance) is then applied to render an acceptable exposure to that chemical. Risk assessments are founded on the presumption that for every chemical there exists a threshold dose below which no adverse effects occur. But in practice, the threshold is never empirically determined but rather extrapolated. Although this approach has worked well for drug testing, in real life contamination consists of mixtures of chemicals whose interactions are only beginning to be studied. Thornton proposes an alternative perspective, an ecological paradigm, which takes an entirely different approach. This alternative paradigm has emerged as researchers have learned that diverse fields such as epidemiology, immunology, ecology, biology, industrial chemistry, and social policy are not so disparate but are actually different facets of the global prism that is Earth. It has long been appreciated in medicine that the embryo is much more vulnerable than fully formed adults and that physiological and organ systems can respond differently to the same chemical. More recently, molecular biologists have discovered that many organochlorines mimic or prevent the action of endogenous hormones important in development. At the same time biologists have demonstrated how these chemicals can have potent effects at very low doses that are neither lethal nor carcinogenic. The result is that the exposed indi- Book Reviews vidual may survive to adulthood but dies an evolutionary death because of reproductive failure. Viewed in another way, the risk and ecological perspectives regard suspect chemicals differently. In the risk paradigm, innocence is presumed until proven otherwise; in the ecological paradigm, chemicals of a class of known toxicity are anticipated to be guilty until proven innocent. In terms of regulation, this is equivalent to crisis management versus preventive measures. Joe Thornton has the credentials of a modern Renaissance man. While an English major at Yale, he became involved in environmental issues, eventually becoming the research coordinator for the Greenpeace toxics program. There his work brought him into close contact with both industry and government, and it is the experiences gained in this work led to this volume. He returned to school (Columbia University) and recently received a Ph.D. for his work in molecular genetics. He is an authority on the mechanisms of change in social policy and molecular biology. He integrates and synthesizes these diverse fields to provide a better understanding of the issues and potential solutions to a problem that confronts us all. David Crews Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, U.S.A., email crews@ mail.utexas.edu Redwoods.edu The Redwood Forest: History, Ecology, and the Conservation of the Coast Redwoods. Noss, R. F., editor. 1999. Island Press, Washington, D.C. (in conjunction with Savethe-Redwoods League). 352 pp. $60.00 (hardcover). ISNB 1–55963– 725–0. $30.00 (paperback). ISBN 1–55963–726–9. The Save-the-Redwoods League has an eight-decade tradition of preserving redwood forests in parks and sponsoring research and symposia on redwoods. The Redwood Forest is its latest contribution to our knowledge and understanding of this important resource. Published by Island Press and edited by Reed Noss, The Redwood Forest is an impressive compilation integrating contributions from over 30 experts on redwoods and redwood forests. The Save-the-Redwoods League’s goals for the book are (1) to describe the scientific basis for their “Master Plan for the Redwoods,” (2) to produce a general reference on redwoods and redwood forests, and (3) to create a guide for decision making in the redwood region. The book achieves all three goals. Although it is not an exhaustive research or planning tome, it does a good job of presenting the scientific backdrop for and many of the major issues facing the conservation of redwood forests. Chapter 1 briefly describes the value of redwoods and the purpose and scope of the book. The second chapter is a fascinating and illuminating treatment of the history of redwoods and redwood forests. Geographic distributions and botanical associations of redwood and redwood’s ancestors are reported sequentially from the Mesozoic through the Holocene. Early human occupation in and around redwood forests is discussed, with a particularly interesting side bar on Yurok life among the redwoods. The latter part of the chapter is devoted to the effects of post-European settlement on redwoods and a history of early redwood preservation efforts. Chapter 3 dispells the notion that if you’ve seen one redwood forest you’ve seen them all. The authors present the great diversity of redwood forest types in an easily understood format. Prominent plant associations found within northern, central, and southern redwood forests are classified and placed into physiographic, climatological, and ecological contexts. The importance of exotic and rare plants is discussed, and an interesting account of redwood canopy 809 communities is given. Checklists of vascular plants, fungi, and lichens are provided in appendices. Two appendices listing rare and endangered vascular plants found in the redwood region are potentially misleading, however, because the majority of the plants listed are not found in redwood forests. Chapter 4 addresses the redwood’s life history, environmental relations, genetics, major coexisting tree species, and disturbance regimes, and the ecological roles of fungi. The science presented is excellent and vital to our understanding of redwood ecosystems and management. My primary concern with this chapter is its brevity. In particular, more should have been written on stand dynamics, disturbance regimes, and production ecology. The terrestrial fauna of redwood forests are presented in the next chapter. Most of the discussion revolves around vertebrate distributions, description, richness, and habitat relationships, and around the principles of landscape ecology. A relatively short section on invertebrates follows. Sections on forest carnivores and Marbled Murrelets provide support for conservation planning. The authors of Chapter 6 develop some basic principles of stream ecosystem processes, examine the natural histories and ecosystem roles of the aquatic biota, and then discuss the effects of timber harvesting and related activities on stream ecosystem processes. Conservation planning is the subject of the next chapter. Much of it focuses on a “focal area identification and assessment model” and its underlying principles of landscape and conservation biology. The authors take us through an analysis of 10 conservation criteria that eventually can be evaluated and represented in planning maps generated by a geographic information system. Redwood forest management is the logical last meaty chapter. Topics include management of redwood parks, traditional silviculture, new sil- Conservation Biology Volume 15, No. 3, June 2001 810 Book Reviews viculture, and adaptive management. Clearly, the future condition of younggrowth redwood forests will be a function of the silvicultural tools chosen. This chapter does a good job of presenting a sampling of alternate approaches. More are out there, and without a doubt new methods will be developed as we learn more about managing the redwood forest. The final chapter summarizes significant findings and argues for similar studies on other imperiled natural communities. Following this is a short glossary and species lists of animals, fungi, lichens, and plants. The extensive literature-cited section is an invaluable reference for redwood scholars. Strengths of the book are that it is (1) a succinct digest of our current knowledge of redwoods and redwood forests, (2) readable and accessible to a wide audience, and (3) a valuable reference for conservation planners. Weaknesses of the book are (1) that the topics dealing with ecosystem structure are disproportionately weighted more heavily than topics dealing with ecosystem process, (2) that the blurring of the redwood forest and the redwood region may lead to misinterpretation by some readers, and (3) that the tendency (other than in chapter 3) not to fully recognize diversity in redwood forest types could lead some readers to inappropriate extrapolations. In summary, I recommend the The Redwood Forest because it is a good summary of redwood history, ecology, and conservation. The book should become a valuable reference for scientists, policy makers, students, and people with an interest in redwoods and redwood conservation. John Stuart Department of Forestry, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, U.S.A., email [email protected] The Three R’s Precious Heritage: the Status of Biodiversity in the United States. Conservation Biology Volume 15, No. 3, June 2001 Stein, B.A., L.S. Kutner, and J.S. Adams, editors. 2000. Oxford University Press, New York. 399 pp. $45.00. ISBN 0–19–512519–3. In this beautiful book, an ensemble of authors tells the story of biodiversity conservation in the United States from the perspective of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). A joint project of TNC and the recently spawned Association for Biodiversity Information (ABI), the book takes the reader through the history and development of the Natural Heritage Inventory, its methods, results, and consequences for the future. Precious Heritage is lavishly illustrated with photographs, maps, and figures that delight the eye. Readers will find a treasure trove of information about the status of, threats to, and protective strategies for the remarkable biological heritage of the United States. The first 2 of the book’s 11 chapters introduce the concept of biodiversity and the methods used in its measurement. Here is described the brainstorm of TNC scientist Robert Jenkins that led to the establishment of the Natural Heritage Network, a consortium of biological inventory programs that eventually gave rise to the independent, non-profit ABI, which “now plays an increasingly active role in the planning for the future of the heritage inventory effort, creating the institutional framework for broader networkwide coordination, and helping to support the ongoing efforts to catalogue our nation’s biological riches.” Also described in considerable detail is how the inventory works, including what data are catalogued, how data are organized and mapped, and how data relate to other inventory and classification systems. Chapters 3–7 describe the results of the inventory, including patterns of diversity and endangerment for major taxonomic groups in the United States and the biogeographic principles that explain distribution patterns. This section represents the heart of the book, where the heritage inventory is thoroughly mined to describe “the geography of imperilment” through several different mapping methods. From these data, six locations, including Hawaii, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Death Valley region, coastal and interior Southern California, the southern Appalachians, and the Florida Panhandle are identified and described in “A Portfolio of the Nation’s Hot Spots.” Also included here is a lengthy discussion of efforts by TNC and others to describe and map vegetative communities and their conservation status. The last four chapters examine threats to biodiversity in the United States and what can be done about them. Chapter 8 consists of a revision of David Wilcove et al.’s important 1998 assessment, originally published in BioScience, which shows that habitat destruction leads the list of causes of endangerment, followed by alien species, pollution, overexploitation, and disease, in that order. Michael Bean profiles the various tools, regulatory and non-regulatory, that can be used to protect species and their habitats, and a group of esteemed conservation scientists looks at the distribution of imperiled species with respect to land ownership. Here, federal land is shown to be crucial to species conservation, with almost a quarter of imperiled species restricted largely to federal land, compared with 10% on private land. Among these lands, national forests harbor “by far” the largest number of population occurrences, but Department of Defense lands are also surprisingly rich in endangered species. In the final chapter, Mark Shaffer and Bruce Stein translate some of Shaffer’s early conservation ideas into a strategy for the future. Shaffer is known as the “father of population viability analysis” and has championed the idea that simply protecting a population in a reserve does not ensure its survival. Populations remain threatened by a number of internal and external processes, such Book Reviews as genetic drift and inbreeding, disease, climatic fluctuations, and catastrophic events, such as fires. Biodiversity cannot be protected on a handful of “postage stamp” preserves. Instead, it requires, as Shaffer and Stein say, “[s]aving some of everything, and enough to last.” Such a strategy requires a reserve system built on representation (saving some of everything), resiliency (protecting populations large enough to remain viable), and redundancy (saving enough copies of those reserves that some can be lost without a loss of species). These concepts are illustrated with several case studies, including the state of Florida’s efforts to “close the gaps” in its wildlife habitat conservation system, TNC’s vision for a conservation reserve system in the Central Shortgrass Prairie Ecoregion, and California’s Natural Community Conservation Planning program. The chapter closes with the recognition that no reserve system will serve its purpose without proper management to address ever-present threats such as alien species and disruption of fire and hydrological cycles. Precious Heritage is a beautifully built book that is only a pleasure to peruse. It describes well the intellectual foundation of TNC’s work in a way that is easily understood by nonspecialists and supporters of TNC’s mission. Photographs and figures are gorgeous and plentiful, and the paper and typeface are pleasing to the senses. The editors were obviously insistent that all concepts be illustrated with interesting anecdotes that make for entertaining interludes. There is little to dislike about Precious Heritage. Like all edited volumes, it suffers somewhat from repetition because multiple authors feel the need to make the same point, but in general it is well edited. As a reference, it suffers from an oversimplified table of contents that provides little clue as to what is inside or where to find it, but, again, the book is such a pleasure to flip through that I find this a minor inconvenience. Ta- ble of contents notwithstanding, conservation professionals will find this a handy source of information about the status and distribution of diversity and rarity in the United States, but they will find little new in it. It is a good, solid book, but not one that demands to be read cover to cover. As I completed Precious Heritage, I was struck with disappointment— not at the content of the book, but at how little we have progressed in conservation strategy in the past quarter century. We have learned a lot about the “geography of imperilment,” but our solutions have advanced little beyond the recommendations of Edwin Willis, E. O. Wilson, Jared Diamond, Robert May, and others who first brought principles of biogeography to reserve design. Indeed, Wilson and Willis (1975) proposed four “basic procedures” for reserve planners. (1) Individual preserves must be made as large as possible. (2) Unique habitats and biotas are best contained in multiple preserves, and these isolates should be located as closely together as possible. (3) [P]reserves of a fixed area should be as round in shape and as continuous as possible. (4) No group, not even the humblest and most obscure among invertebrates and microorganisms, should be ignored. Over 25 years later, we now refer to “representation, resilience, and redundancy.” New words for old ideas. Seemingly, reserve design remains what it has always been, a political process in which conservationists struggle to protect whatever wild land they can whenever and however they can. We will likely never have “some of everything and enough to last.” Sure, we need more and bigger ecologically integrated protected areas, but the eternal struggle will be how we manage the whole landscape. Even TNC, which has been spectacularly successful at promoting the popular idea of nature preserves, agrees in the finale of Precious Heritage: “Indeed, in the future conservation will be less about preserving pristine settings—these are al- 811 ready few and far between—and more about improved management of seminatural lands and restoring degraded landscapes.” Fight on. Gregory H. Aplet The Wilderness Society, 7475 Dakin Street, Suite 410, Denver, CO 80221, U.S.A., email greg_aplet@ tws.org Literature Cited Wilson, E. O., and E. O. Willis. 1975. Applied biogeography. Pages 522–534 in M. L. Cody and J. M. Diamond, editors. Ecology and evolution of communities. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. A Generous Facilitator Richard Archbold and the Archbold Biological Station. Morse, R. A. 2000. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. 108 pp. $29.95. ISBN 0– 8130–1761–0. High in the central ranges of West New Guinea, now a province of Indonesia, lies a broad grassland valley nearly 50 miles long and over 10 miles wide. Meandering among the broad sweet potato fields, low limestone ridges, and secondary-growth forests of that valley, and bordered by gray-green Casuarina trees, flows the coffee-brown Baliem River. Until 23 June 1938, the grand valley of the Baliem—with its large population of Dani people, and its elaborate systems of stone walls and drainage ditches— was unknown to the outside world. On that morning, Richard Archbold and his fellow crew members on the Guba, a twin-engined PBY flying boat specially outfitted for scientific expeditions, were surprised to see the valley while surveying nearby alpine areas in preparation for establishing a base camp at the 11,500–foot–high Lake Habbema. Years earlier, several Dutch government expeditions reconnoitering their colonial possession without the use of aircraft had mapped the mountain areas south of the Baliem and had found and named Conservation Biology Volume 15, No. 3, June 2001 812 Book Reviews the highland lake, but they had not found large pockets of population in the interior. A New York Times headline trumpeted Archbold’s discovery: “New Guinea Colony Found by Archbold. Explorers Locate Village in Remote Districts from Air—Primitive Race Studied.” Other North American news-papers announced “Unknown New Guinea Natives Found by Archbold Expedition.” A later National Geographic article contained photographs of thatched-roof villages, wood and rattan suspension bridges, and a memorable nose-first shot of the large seaplane, moored in Lake Habbema, with 92 members of the expedition perched on the wings. Besides bringing worldwide attention to the work of a few biologists conducting fieldwork in a large but little-known island in the prewar South Pacific, the discovery of the Baliem Valley altered Archbold’s plans. While the high altitude collecting continued as planned, a side-foray into the newly found valley also was mounted. In August the Guba landed on the Baliem to return a ground-survey party to the Habbema camp, and for 2 weeks in December a Baliem collecting camp yielded a rich selection of plant, mammal, and bird specimens, as well as early observations of the valley’s human inhabitants. This was one of 12 principal camps established by Archbold’s New Guinea expedition from April 1938 to May 1939. This book by Roger Morse is the first book-length consideration of the life and scientific accomplishments of Richard Archbold. Drawing from Archbold family papers, the archives of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), the extensive library archives, the cooperative staff and trustees of the Archbold Biological Station in Lake Placid, Florida, and his own considerable experience with Archbold and with the station, Morse covers a great deal of material with grace, accuracy, and a surprising amount of detail for such a slim volume. Morse, who was for Conservation Biology Volume 15, No. 3, June 2001 many years a professor of apiculture at Cornell University and who spent weeks each year for nearly 40 years in Florida at the research station, draws on his familiarity with the station and with its personnel over the years to provide many interesting insights into Richard Archbold’s life and into the lives and work of many Archbold associates. Born in 1907, the grandson of a cofounder of the Standard Oil Company, Archbold developed an early interest in the natural sciences. He was privately educated in the United States and in Europe, where he combined his interest in mountaineering with private tutoring in mammalogy. In 1929 Richard became a member of a joint British, French, and American expedition to Madagascar that was financed by his father. An early chapter discusses Archbold family history and the Madagascar expedition, especially the way Richard’s upbringing seems to have influenced him toward a life in the sciences. Another chapter examines the beginnings of Archbold’s long association with the AMNH. When he became an associate there in 1931, Archbold met Ernst Mayr, who had a neighboring office and was employed at AMNH to catalog ornithological collections from New Guinea and from the Whitney South Seas Expedition. Mayr would later be appointed curator of the Whitney-Rothschild collections and much later, in 1953, would become Agassiz Professor at Harvard. It was Mayr, and probably Leonard Sanford, too, who convinced Archbold to consider New Guinea, not Madagascar, as the venue for later biological expeditions. Morse’s second chapter contains Mayr’s account of these early years in New York and chronicles Archbold’s assembly of a scientific team that would remain loyal to him over many expeditions to come. Two noteworthy associates include Austin Rand, the ornithologist who accompanied Archbold to Madagascar, and Leonard Brass, an Australian botanist who eventually became instrumental in the found- ing and running of the Archbold Biological Station. Because this book tends to focus on the later station years and not on the two earliest New Guinea expeditions, it is not surprising that the account of those expeditions encompasses only four pages. Yet those two expeditions taught Archbold a number of the important principles he would later employ in the highly successful and visible third expedition and in establishing a research center, which was first planned for Hollandia, New Guinea, but ultimately was established in Florida. After the grueling overland ordeal that was the first New Guinea expedition (1933), Archbold learned to fly, hired a pilot, and selected a Fairchild 91 amphibian, the Kono, to give wings and flexibility to his second New Guinea expedition, which lasted from February 1936 to March 1937. Unfortunately, the Kono sank in Port Moresby during a storm in July 1936, but its use had already shown Archbold the importance of air support. Morse’s brief account of the expedition’s emergency retreat from a remote highland region is exciting reading and dramatizes the perils of New Guinea travel. Archbold’s history-making third New Guinea expedition (1938–1939) and the commensurate setting of aviation records, notably Archbold’s completion of the first circumnavigation of the globe by a seaplane, are appropriately given an entire chapter. Here we learn details about the two seaplanes: the first Guba was transferred to the manufacturer for resale to the Soviets for use in an Arctic search for a missing Russian aviator. Although the designation of Guba II as the name of the aircraft ultimately used in New Guinea is inaccurate (it was always referred to simply as Guba), the well-crafted description of the expedition’s logistics more than makes up for this cosmetic blemish. This chapter also highlights the issue of tropical illnesses, such as malaria, as an influence on the expeditions and their Book Reviews members. Although, as Morse reports, “disease was never mentioned in any of the expedition members’ reports, nor did they complain about this in any of the articles they wrote” (32), illness was an important problem in this work. The author quotes Frances Hufty, Richard Archbold’s sister, who is still a trustee of the Archbold Biological Station: “they all went to the hospital upon returning home to recover” (32). The book then enumerates some of the grim medical histories of expedition members. The second two-thirds of the book provides a history and description of the Archbold Biological Station, describes Archbold’s accomplishments and legacies, and gives accounts of the lives and work of scientists affiliated with the station. Chapter 4 describes the aftermath of the third New Guinea expedition. In 1939 the world was becoming an unsettled place, and Archbold’s planned 1940 expedition to New Guinea never materialized. Instead, he began to scout for a home base in the United States where study could be continued until more expeditions could be carried out. In 1940 he set up operations at Tanque Verde Ranch in Arizona. Shortly thereafter, Archbold learned of an estate in Florida, Red Hill, owned by the Roebling family. Donald Roebling, a friend of Archbold’s from school days, was the greatgrandson of John Augustus Roebling, a builder of the Brooklyn Bridge. In a number of detailed pages, complete with historic photographs, Morse describes the transfer of the property at Red Hill to Archbold, who turned it into the Archbold Biologi- cal Station in 1941 and made a number of physical improvements to the buildings. Morse quotes meeting minutes that show that initially the station was “‘established chiefly for the purpose of holding a biological staff together for the duration of the war,’ with a view to undertaking further New Guinea expeditions when hostilities ceased.” Conditions in the islands previously held as a colony by The Netherlands did not improve for many years after World War II; consequently, no Archbold expedition ever returned to West New Guinea. Although Richard Archbold never left the United States on another expedition, his organization, Biological Explorations (then renamed Archbold Expeditions) would later mount four more expeditions to New Guinea (1953, 1956–1957, 1959, and 1964), one to Cape York, Australia (1948), and one to Sulawesi, an island in Indonesia also known as Celebes (1973–1976). Until 1944 the station’s use was restricted to members of the AMNH staff, but that year an article in Science announced Archbold’s interest in making the station available to “a limited number of approved workers from other scientific institutions.” Richard Archbold lived at the station until his death in 1976. The next two chapters describe the importance of the Archbold Biological Station to scientific inquiry, describing the increase in visiting scientists, the expansion of the property, the active role Richard Archbold played as a promoter and encourager of scientific study, and personal accounts of the experiences of visi- 813 tors Dean Amadon and Erik Tetens Nielson. Using these anecdotes, Morse conveys the flavor of life at the station. Other sections describe the acquisition and management of the Buck Island Ranch, the development of the station’s library as an important resource, the notable collections of insects, birds, other vertebrates, and the herbarium. Chapter 7 describes some of the local philanthropic and service activities that Richard Archbold carried out, including the introduction of electric utilities to local counties in 1945–1947, the maintenance of an official weather station, and other civic activities. The final chapter, “Richard Archbold’s Living Legacy, 1976– 1998” is written by Frances Archbold Hufty and summarizes the enduring legacy to science of this generous enthusiast. “In the end,” she writes, “Richard Archbold, the great facilitator, let us all achieve success by allowing us to do the things we like.” Helpful appendices list taxa named for Richard Archbold; give biographical sketches of his associates, including Leonard Brass, Austin Rand, and James N. Layne; list the station directors; and discuss aviation awards and stamps commemorating Archbold’s historic Indian Ocean crossing. This book should be of value to readers interested in the natural sciences, in the history of scientific exploration, and in the history of New Guinea exploration. Larry M. Lake Department of Language, Literature, and Communication, Messiah College, Grantham, PA 17027, U.S.A., email lake@ messiah.edu Conservation Biology Volume 15, No. 3, June 2001