Antarctic ecosystems: an extreme environment in a changing world

Abstract

book reviews ISSN 1948‐6596 Antarctic ecosystems: an extreme environment in a changing world Alex D. Rogers, Nadine M. Johnstone, Eugene J. Murphy and Andrew Clarke (editors), 2012, Wiley‐Blackwell. 564 pp. £85.00 (hardback) ISBN 9781405198400. This book arises from a meeting held in the Royal Society (London) and the material has, as it says at the start, been “originally published as an issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 1 … but has been materially changed and updated”. From perusal of the refer‐ ence lists there is evidence for updating of some of the chapters, but I must confess to not having comprehensively compared this one with the ear‐ lier‐published. Suffice to say, this is a wide‐ranging account of all the material from the original ver‐ sion, plus a bit more, between a single set of cov‐ ers. The book covers an Introduction to Antarctic ecology in a changing world (one chapter), then Terrestrial and freshwater habitats (Part 1, three chapters), Marine habitats and regions (Part 2, eight chapters), Molecular adaptations and evolu‐ tion (Part 3, three chapters) and Conservation and management (Part 4, two chapters). From this, it is clear that there is a strong marine emphasis to the book, but this is not really a bias as much as a reflection of the amount of understanding of the marine versus terrestrial and freshwater habitats. The authorship includes many notable ex‐ perts in the field, numbering 78 in total, the geo‐ graphical distribution of which is worth noting: only five are or were based in the southern hemi‐ sphere. None of these was from either a South American country or New Zealand, despite signifi‐ cant Antarctic research programmes in both re‐ gions. Nearly half of the authors were either based at the British Antarctic Survey or had passed through that organisation in the relatively recent past. The book has been edited to a high and consistent standard throughout, as would be ex‐ pected since it is based on a rigorously reviewed and edited scientific journal. Each chapter does as the title indicates, by both describing the ecosys‐ tems and then discussing how they might re‐ spond, or how they are responding, to environ‐ mental change. The book is a valuable reference source and summary of existing knowledge. Al‐ though research advances, and despite the five years since most of the material was first pub‐ lished, this book is likely to remain topical for sev‐ eral years because the logistical constraints of conducting research in the Antarctic tend to de‐ termine progress. From my understanding, the only Antarctic ecosystem that is not covered in the book, but which is likely to provide us with genuinely new information, is that of the sub‐ glacial lakes, but we may need to wait a few more years before there is enough new information from that habitat to merit a review. As an institu‐ tional library purchase, I would recommend this book. David Hopkins Heriot‐Watt University, Edinburgh, UK david.hopkins@hw.ac.uk 1 2007. Vol. 362 (1477 & 1488) frontiers of biogeography 5.1, 2013 — © 2013 the authors; journal compilation © 2013 The International Biogeography Society