Download reograph their life. Plants are mov- ing all the time "without the

reograph their life. Plants are moving all the time "without the nerves,
muscles, bones, ligaments, and tendons on which animals depend. All
a plant needs is control over patterns of growth and the movement
of water, salt, and sometimes the
assistance of microscopic fibers of
proteins" (p. 112). Bending toward
light, growing right-side up, sleeping and waking movements, and even
the dramatic capture of insects are
described in detail showing how
plants control their growth and their
behavior.
Plants, as rooted organisms, must
have ingenious ways of "coping with
stress" (this stress does not refer to
emotional tension). Dehydration,
overheating, plant-eating animals,
disease-producing viruses, bacteria
and fungi, freezing, shading, floods,
trampling, and habitat disruption
all pressure plant survival. While
people focus on developing medical
solutions to combat threats to human health, plants are replete with
their own devices, yet to be discovered by humans, for rebounding,
thriving, and reproducing. Flexibility of life-style, not only in sexual
matters but in cell fate, gives plants
the ability to regenerate when
wounded and to overcome dire circumstances that would eliminate
most animals.
The rapidly emerging field of
plant interactions with microbesbacteria and fungi in particular-is
revealing ancient ways that plants
have evolved along with other organisms, sharing DNA and enzymatic functions to make the best of
their environment. These findings
and the growing understanding of
plant biology as outlined in this text
are brought together in a discussion
of "improving the green machine."
While this discussion clearly has
agronomic implications and ethical
56
considerations, our knowledge is
also likely to allow us to understand
better how plants are responding to
the drastic environmental changes
we are bringing about today.
Plants are curious, lively organisms not yet well understood. Readers of all levels are likely to benefit
from Galston's knowledge. The
book, particularly the introductory
sections, could be used as an educational text by elementary teachers
and other guides of children. Any
part of the book could be used as a
lesson for botany or horticulture
classes of any age. As a whole the
book is a terrific alternative to standard biology and plant physiology
texts for high school and college
classes. The layout of the chapters,
the figures, and especially the photographs draw the reader into the
text. Because it is so comprehensive,
the book would augment any advanced or graduate-level physiology or biochemistry class and should
be used for perspective of the field.
For the rest of us-interested lay
readers, political decision makers,
and specialized professionals alikethe story is truly enjoyable and compelling.
Plants have long attracted insightful experimenters and vibrant teachers. Galston, a master teacher himself, dedicated his book to three
who came before him, who lured
him from the study of veterinary
medicine and propelled him along
his fruitful path. His enthusiasm and
joy of discovery is characteristic of
teachers of plant physiology, and
his book is likely to interest many
who had not noticed before that
plants are actually doing much.
ELIZABETH V AN VOLKENBURGH
Department of Botany, KB-15
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
A HISTORY OF MAMMALOGY
Seventy-Five Years of Mammalogy
(1919-1994). Elmer C. Birney and
Jerry R. Choate, eds. Special Publication No. 1. The American Society
of Mammalogists, Provo, UT, 1994.
433 pp., illus. $50.00 (ISBN 0935868-73-9 cloth).
In 1919, C. Hart Merriam became
the first president of the newly created American Society of Mammalogists (ASM), and in spirit he still
returns to the annual meetings, if
one can judge from a message that
regularly appears on the bulletin
board: C. Hart Merriam-Please call
your office. However, the society
and the discipline of mammalogy
have changed greatly in the intervening years, as this book effectively demonstrates. Its contents are
likely to interest diverse biologists,
in addition to mammalogists.
Seventy-Five Years of Mammalogy (1919-1994) is divided into two
parts. Part I outlines the history of
ASM, while the second describes the
intellectual development of the science of mammalogy. Donald F.
Hoffmeister and Keir B. Sterling lead
off with a discussion of the history
of scientific societies, museums, and
the roles played by individuals of
the US Bureau of Biological Survey
(a bureau of the US Department of
Agriculture from 1906 to 1940);n
founding ASM. The next three chapters consist of 120 short biographical sketches of persons who have
played prominent roles in ASM and
in mammalogy during this century.
"Academic propinquity," a chapter
by John O. Whitaker Jr., presents an
intellectual genealogy of mammalogists, demonstrating the special roles
played by the Biological Survey, the
University of California at Berkeley, the University of Kansas, Harvard University, and Cornell University. Read in combination with
the biographical sketches, it provides a sense of the dynamic interplay between personalities, institutions, and disciplines in the
development of mammalogy.
Three more chapters are devoted
specifically to ASM and its publications, committees, membership, and
finances. Items of general interest
BioScience Vol. 46 No.1
include the increase in multiauthored
papers, the increase in number of
references cited, the changes in disciplines represented in the Journal
of Mammalogy, the continuing existence since 1927 of the ASM committee on the conservation of land
mammals, and the increasing internationalism of the society.
Part II is comprised of 13 chapters
outlining the changes that have occurred in a diversity of disciplines.
Many chapters take a broad international view of a discipline and its
development, starting well before the
establishment of ASM. In "Taxonomy," Mark D. Engstrom, Jerry R.
Choate, and Hugh H. Genoways
present the interplay between the increasing number of specimens available for study and the changing concepts of species and subspecies. The
large collections made by the Biological Survey under Merriam led to the
early recognition of geographic variation and intergradation between populations of small mammals. In turn, the
Modern Synthesis of evolution had a
major effect on the study of mammalian systematics by providing a broader
species concept.
A chapter by Richard J. Zakrzewski and Jason A. Lillegraven
emphasizes the difference between
the two approaches to paleomammalogy-the geological approach with its use of mammalian
fossils for study of stratigraphy and
the biological approach with its use
of mammalian fossils for the study
of evolution. Precise chemical techniques for dating rocks now permit
the blending of these two approaches
and testing of theories of synchrony
and asynchrony of fossiliferous strata.
In "Biogeography," Sydney
Anderson and Bruce D. Patterson
discuss the distributions of species
and biotas in ecological and geological time and the dramatic conceptual changes that occurred during the twentieth century. These
chapters are complemented by two
later ones. "Molecular Systematics,"
by Rodney L. Honeycutt and Terry
L. Yates, emphasizes the important
roles of protein electrophoresis, immunology, amino acid sequences,
and nucleotide sequences in systematics. The molecular clock concept
is also briefly discussed. "Cytogenetics," by Robert J. Baker and Mark S.
January 1996
Hafner, covers the history of the
study of chromosomes. In a fascinating if humbling section, the authors describe the many false assumptions of cytogeneticists in the
1960s. The number of cytogenetics
papers in the Journal of Mammalogy burgeoned in the 1960s and
1970s, peaked in the 1980s, and has
declined since, but Baker and Hafner
predict that new techniques will reinvigorate the field.
In the chapter "Anatomy,"
Carleton J. Phillips describes the
differences in history and perspective of medical anatomy, zoological
morphology, and mamma logical
anatomy. He argues that mammalogical anatomy has been strong in
taxonomic diversity but has been
too devoted to the service of systematics, in which anatomical features
become mere systematic characters.
In "Physiology," Bruce A. Wunder
and Gregory L. Florant compare the
topics of research covered in major
physiology journals with those covered in the Journa{ of Mammalogy.
They show the changing emphases,
decade by decade, and the greater
emphasis in the Journal of Mammalogy on studies of temperature
regulation, energetics, water balance, and reproduction. Reproduction is discussed by O. P. Pearson
and G. J. Kenagy. They provide an
interesting historical sweep, starting with the Cambridge and Johns
Hopkins legacies and offer a broad
perspective on the study of mammalian reproduction.
Ecology is considered in three
chapters. William Z. Lidicker Jr.
provides a masterful review of the
conceptual development of population ecology during this century and
the roles played by mammalogists.
Michael A. Mares and Guy N. Cameron review the history of community and ecosystems ecology, from
Merriam's life-zone concept through
development of the niche concept
and the study of competition and
predation to the influence of the
International Biological Program.
James H. Bowen and Don E. Wilson discuss how the early discovery
phase of nineteenth-century exploration led to natural history studies
and then to evolutionary ecology.
They further describe the interplay
between natural history data, the theo-
ries developed in the Modern Synthesis and later by G. Evelyn Hutchinson
and Robert H. MacArthur, and the
development of experimental techniques and hypothesis testing.
In a related chapter,John F. Eisenberg and Jerry O. Wolff present a
lucid, fascinating account of the history of behavioral research during
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They trace it from natural history accounts through the study of
sociobiology. They describe the many
factors, from world wars to choices
of faculty, that have influenced the
discipline, and the influence, in turn,
of behavioral research on other disciplines. Appropriately, the final
chapter by James H. Shaw and David
J. Schmidly treats the subject of
mammalian conservation and management, reminding us of the near
extinction of bison and the history
of predatory control. They summarize the changing attitudes and approaches to conservation, which
have led up to the current burgeoning interest in conservation biology.
If he were to return, Merriam
would learn much from this volume
about the conceptual changes in the
science of mammalogy, but he would
probably be surprised at the lack of
emphasis on the ways in which technology has changed the study of
mammals. Some major changes have
resulted from low-technology capture techniques, such as the use of
mist nets to capture bats (initiated
in the 1950s), the use of pit traps to
capture shrews, and the development of live traps.
At the other extreme, technological changes in transportation and
communication are having major
effects on the internationalization
of mammalogy. It would have been
valuable to have more extensive discussion of the influences of technological change on the different disciplines. Within the charge given to
the authors to describe the intellectual development of their disciplines,
however, Merriam would be well
served, as would a broad group of
today's biologists, who might not
pick up the book given its title.
RICHARD W. THORINGTON JR.
Division of Mammals
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20560
57