Book Review

by Paul Ganderton

Mackenzie A., Ball AS. and Virdee SR. 1998. Instant Notes in Ecology. Bios. ISBN 1 85996 161 4. pp 321. £13.95.

With the increase in ecological material published each year there is a need for a basic guide which helps the student understand key concepts and relate them to other aspects of the subject. This text (one of a series of "instant notes") attempts to cover a wide range of ecological ideas. The book is divided into 24 sections A to X with each section normally having two or more sub-sections. The first section deals with the nature of ecology and some of the "rules" governing it. This is followed by an explanation of adaptation and 5 sections (water, climate, temperature, radiation and nutrients) describing the physical environment. Another set of 8 sections follows grouped around the theme of population ecology and covering all the major areas of this topic. A further 4 sections outline ecosystem theory and the final 5 examine human impact on the biosphere (harvesting, pests, conservation, pollution and agriculture). Each section starts with an overview (called key notes) which leads the reader towards fuller explanations. In reality the key notes occupy a central position in each sub-section. Each of these sub-sections is, at most, a few pages and so the reader is presented with two sets of explanations with different levels of detail. There are relatively few tables and diagrams but the concise text is sufficiently well-written to avoid bogging down the student.

There are few books which tackle ecology in this kind of way and even fewer with such lucid explanations. There is the feeling that the authors have tried to distill all the key facts into as few paragraphs as possible and still make in intelligible. Given the content and price this excellent text is really a must-have for the school and college library.