BOOK REVIEWS
Growth Control in Woody Plants
T. T. KOZLOWSKI and S. G. PALLARDY
Academic Press Inc., 525 B Street, San Diego, CA 92101-4495; 1997, 642 pages, hardcover, $74.95 US, ISBN 0-12-424210-3
Professor Kozlowski maintains his prodigious output of text-books on woody plants with this volume and two others re-cently published by Academic Press: The Physiological Ecology of Woody Plants (T. T. Kozlowski, P. J. Kramer and S. G. Pallardy, 1991) and Physiology of Woody Plants (T. T. Kozlowski and S. G. Pallardy, 2nd Edn. 1997). This volume covers some of the same ground as the other volumes, but is an update, and specifically addresses the ‘controls’ on growth and development. The early chapters deal, essentially, with the processes that occur in plants (involving carbon, nutrient and water fluxes, etc.) that are subject to internal and external influences. The later chapters then deal with the environmental factors (e.g., light, nutrient and water supply) and cultural practices (e.g., irrigation, pruning and thinning) which affect those processes and hence tree growth. There are also addi-tional chapters on (i) seeds and seedlings, and (ii)
biotech-nology. The book therefore covers an enormous field. The real value of a textbook such as this is as an introduction for students and as a starting point for researchers and others exploring a new facet of woody plant biology. The authors have surveyed a vast literature and have included all the main topics relevant to each subject. However, readers must be aware that the coverage of each subject is necessarily superfi-cial, with only illustrative information, and that the volume reports the conclusions of others without a critical analysis of its own. But as a reference text, this book is excellent and very well produced. Each chapter ends with a summary and list of general references, and nearly 25% of the book is represented by a species list, bibliography and index.
Melvin G. R. Cannell, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH260QB, Scotland.
Plants in Changing Environments: Linking Physiological, Population and Community Ecology
F. A. BAZZAZ
Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU, U.K.; 1996, 320 pages, hardcover, $74.95 US, ISBN 0-521-39190-3; paperback, $29.95 USD, ISBN 0-521-39843-6
In this unusually attractive book, Fakhri Bazzaz presents a special approach to exploring the mechanisms driving plant succession. The subtitle says it all----linking physiological, population and community ecology. Bazzaz has singularly approached the study of succession in an integrated manner, examining habitat resource availability, physiological re-sponses to these resources, morphological and life-cycle con-sequences of these responses, and finally the results of all of these interactions on a community level.
It is rather inexplicable that the obvious, and important, link between the disciplines of plant physiological ecology and plant population biology has not been previously explored to any extent. Bazzaz’s new book represents the first attempt to discuss this link in a comprehensive manner, and it is espe-cially rewarding in that he puts this synthesis into the context of plant succession and global change.
Thus the power of the book is in its unique synthetic approach to the dynamics of plants in changing environments. Bazzaz addresses this theme by utilizing abundant data that have originated to a great extent from his own efforts and those
of many exceptional students. Virtually all of the many figures in the book comes from the work of his laboratory. His text weaves in a more inclusive use of literature, but the sense is that this book really represents a synthesis of the work of an unusually productive scientist and of his students, covering a broad range of topics related to succession. This is not a criticism since the work, covering several decades, still repre-sents classic examples of the many that Bazzaz explores. One cannot help but feel that a very ambitious life research plan was formulated early in Bazzaz’s career and that over these last few decades he has worked very hard to fill in the many holes that existed in order to develop a mechanistic understanding of the processes controlling plant succession.
This book is filled with a wealth of information and ideas that, no doubt, will serve as a source of inspiration for students and research investigators for years to come.
H. A. Mooney, Department of Biological Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
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