Torrey Botanical Society
Review
Author(s): Jennifer H. Mattei
Review by: Jennifer H. Mattei
Source: The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, Vol. 131, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 2004), pp. 420-
421
Published by: Torrey Botanical Society
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Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 131(4), 2004, pp. 420-421
BOOK REVIEWS
Flowering Plants of the Neotropics. Edited by in the neotropics. The next section covers dis-
Nathan Smith, Scott A. Mori, Andrew Hen- tribution, both worldwide and tropical, along
derson, Dennis Wm. Stevenson, and Scott V. with typical habitats, emphasizing those in the
Heald. xxii + 594 pp. Princeton University neotropics. The third section discusses classifi-
Press, 41 William St., Princeton NJ 08540, in cation of the family and its relationship to other
association with the New York Botanical Gar- plant families, including molecular data, when
den. 307 color illus. 258 line illus. 6 tables. available.
Format 81/2X 11. 2004. US $75. ISBN: 0-691- The differences between the systems used in
11694-6. Hardcover. Flowering Plants of the Neotropics and other
classification schemes are also discussed. The
Flowering Plants of the Neotropics describes, editors have, for the most part, followed the sys-
in detail, all of the plant families in the Ameri- tem used in Cronquist (Cronquist, A. 1981. An
can tropics. It fills the wide gap between the
Integrated System of Classification of Flowering
very condensed treatment of neotropical plant Plants. Columbia University Press, New York)
families presented in Neotropical Plant Fami- for dicots, and Dahlgren et al. (Dahlgren, R. M.
lies: a concise guide to families of vascular
T., H. T Clifford, and P.E Yeo. 1985. The Fam-
plants in the Neotropics (Maas, P. J. M. and L. ilies of the Monocotyledons. Springer-Verlag,
Y Th. Westra. 1998. Koeltz Scientific Books,
Berlin) for monocots. This differs somewhat
Germany/USA) and the Flowering Plants of the from the various taxonomic systems used in oth-
World (Heywood, V. H. [Consult. ed.]. 1993. er literature. These inconsistencies make it dif-
Oxford University Press, New York). ficult for the non-taxonomist to compare some
This volume describes over 280 plant families
family descriptions but this problem seems to be
found in the new world tropics. It also contains inevitable among classification studies. Possibly
a number of other features, including a large future genetic work will bring greater consensus
section of color plates illustrating many of the to plant taxonomy.
plant families, a map of the region, tables dif- The heart of the text, "Features of the Fami-
ferentiating the numbers of various taxa in the ly", a detailed description of the family char-
neotropics versus worldwide numbers for those acteristics, constitutes the fourth section. These
taxa. The glossary is very complete and acces- are far more extensive than the descriptions in
sible and includes definitions of common prefix- Maas and Westra.
es. It also has two pages of illustrations of leaf The last two sections are the natural history,
and flower structures. Three of the four appen-
including habitat, pollination, and seed dispersal,
dices cover the various classification treatments when known, and economic uses, such as food
by Cronquist, Dahlgren, and Judd, which are plants, medicinals and ornamentals, that are
those used by the contributors. The last appendix found in the family.
is an extensive identification key to the families
Flowering Plants of the Neotropics is a splen-
covered by Flowering Plants of the Neotropics. did addition to the literature for anyone with an
The key is especially valuable in that it uses interest in tropical flora and an essential for the
vegetative features, as well as floral features, to library of anyone studying new world flora.-
differentiate families.
MARGARET B. GARGIULLO, City of New York,
The main body of the text is composed of
Parks and Recreation, Natural Resources Group.
family descriptions. The writing is clear and New York, NY 10029
consistent, despite the numerous contributing
authors. All but the most minor families are ac-
companied by very fine, detailed line drawings, Ecology, Genetics, and Evolution of Metapop-
beautifully executed by Bobbi Angell and a few ulations. Edited by Ilkka Hanski and Oscar
other artists. E. Gaggiotti. xix + 696 pp. Elsevier Academ-
Descriptions of each plant family include sev- ic Press, London. 2004. US $54.95. ISBN 0-
eral sections. After the author and figure num- 12-323448-4 Paperback.
bers, there is a brief list of major family char-
acteristics. The text begins with a discussion of Conservation biologists and ecologists in their
numbers of genera and species worldwide and quest for how best to preserve biodiversity in
420
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2004] BOOK REVIEWS 421
landscapes that are being rapidly fragmented interesting, providing a general discussion of
may find intriguing avenues of thought in this mechanisms involved in population extinction.
newly edited volume of Ecology, Genetics, and Habitat fragmentation and loss, inbreeding de-
Evolution of Metapopulations. The concept of pression, and interaction with invasive species
metapopulations revolves around the idea that top the list of causes for extinction whether the
some populations are relatively isolated due to population being studied is a plant, insect or ver-
local geography, where immigration and emigra- tebrate.
tion occur infrequently. Thus a particular meta- Of particular interest to readers of the Torrey
population has restricted gene flow but is not Journal are Chapters 18 and 19 in which ex-
necessarily completely isolated and may colo- amples of metapopulation studies involving
nize unconnected habitats. Metapopulation Bi- plants and plant-pathogens are discussed, re-
ology can be considered a subset of the field of spectively. Just as members of the plant king-
study known as Spatial Ecology. An emphasis dom do not fit neatly into Mayr's Biological
is placed on how local populations act as dis- Species Concept, it is even more difficult to de-
crete entities in space, and interact through mi- scribe plant populations with metapopulation
models. When attempting to predict the extinc-
gration and gene flow in patchy or fragmented
habitats. tion/colonization patterns of an organism that
The introductory chapter is a good overview can live clonally for 10,000 years, hide in seed
for anyone who has not kept up with this rapidly banks, and possess unknown seed and pollen
developing field. Additionally, Chapters 1 and 2 dispersal patterns, it is not clear if working time-
discuss other types of spatial models, examining lags into the equation will be sufficient for meta-
population models to predict plant population
briefly the Island Biogeographical model of behavior. Some population characteristics fit
MacArthur and Wilson (1967) and Landscape
well with the assumptions of metapopulation
Ecology models. This book is intended for grad-
models, (e.g., in Chapter 19, white campion/
uate students and active researchers in the fields
smut interactions, or specific butterfly metapop-
of ecology, evolution and conservation biology.
ulations, silver-spotted skipper in Chapter 20).
Even those whose calculus and linear algebra
However, long term data sets are still needed to
are a little rusty will find a diverse array of in- test the stability of the metapopulations being
formation and examples of metapopulation mod- studied. The true value of metapopulation mod-
el applications. For those who enjoy analyzing els, as applied to conservation issues, may not
theoretical models, Chapters 3-5 cover stochas- become apparent or appreciated until many more
tic patch occupancy models (SPOM) thoroughly. collaborations have occurred between field bi-
Nearly 300 pages are dedicated to metapopula- ologists and theoreticians. This book initiates the
tion genetics and evolution. Metapopulation communication process and leaves open many
models have been applied to everything from interesting pathways for future research.-JEN-
quantitative genetics, coalescent theory, and ex- NIFERH. MATTEI, Department of Biology, Sacred
tinction, to dispersal, migration, and the spread Heart University, 5151 Park Ave., Fairfield, CT
of disease. I found Chapter 14 to be particularly 06825.
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