BEN # 241

[Adolf Ceska]

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No. 241                              February 19, 2000

aceska at victoria.tc.ca                Victoria, B.C.
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 Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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BRYOLOGICAL THESES COLLECTED IN THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
From:  William R. Buck <bbuck at nybg.org> originally posted on
   BRYONET-L <bryonet-l at mtu.edu>

As reported in the last issue  of  The  Bryological  Times,  the
International  Association of Bryologists has decided to begin a
compilation of bryological theses from around the world. Many of
these theses offer valuable information,  but  are  never  offi-
cially  published. It has been decided that The New York Botani-
cal Garden Library will act as a repository for the theses since
its complete catalog is online at
http://www.nybg.org/bsci/libr/Catalog.html ,
and it offers interlibrary loan service  for  those  wishing  to
borrow  the theses. Each thesis received will be abstracted in a
regular column in The Bryological Times, with the  first  column
appearing  in  the centennial issue of the newsletter. Addition-
ally, basic bibliographic data as well as information on how  to
contact  the  author  is included. Theses for any degree, in any
language, on any aspect of bryology are included. Both  students
and their advisors are encouraged to send a single bound copy of
each bryological thesis for inclusion.

For  those  students  for  which  sending a copy of their thesis
would be a financial hardship, IAB offers small grants to  cover
the  reproduction  and  binding  costs.  Requests  for financial
assistance should be sent to  Dr.  Dale  Vitt  (e-mail  address:
dale.vitt at ualberta.ca),  Secretary-Treasurer  of  IAB.  Requests
should include title of thesis,  degree  for  which  thesis  was
written,  number of pages, language of thesis, and the amount of
money needed to produce a single copy.

Theses should be sent to Bill Buck at the address  below.  Thank
you  for  your  cooperation.  Copies of older theses, especially
those never published, are also welcome, not just recent ones.

   William R. Buck
   Institute of Systematic Botany
   New York Botanical Garden
   Bronx, NY 10458-5126, U.S.A.
   bbuck at nybg.org
   phone: 718-817-8624
   fax: 718-562-6780


NEW BOOK: SAVANNAS, BARRENS AND ROCK OUTCROPS IN NORTH AMERICA
From: Toby Spribille <tspribille at fs.fed.us>

Anderson, R.C., J.S. Fralish, & J.M. Baskin. (eds.) 1999. Savan-
   nas, barrens and rock  outcrop  plant  communities  of  North
   America.  Cambridge  University Press, Cambridge. ix + 470 p.
   ISBN 0-521-57322-X [hardcover] Price: US$110.00
   
   Cambridge University Press, North American Branch
   40 West 20th Street, New York NY 10011-4211  USA
   Tel.: 212-924-3900, Fax:  212-691-3239
   Email: information at cup.org -  web site: http://www.cup.org/

This book is a compendium of twenty-six  papers  describing  the
physical  characteristics,  flora  and  vegetation  of savannas,
barrens and rock outcrops across North  America.  The  scope  of
habitats included is very broad, ranging from Florida scrublands
on dry sandy ridges to serpentine habitats, oak savanna, alvars,
lower  boreal  aspen parkland and subalpine lichen woodland. The
contributions  are  organized  into  four   regional   sections:
eastern/southeastern,  central/midwestern,  western/southwestern
and northern.

The individual contributions provide thorough overviews  of  the
habitats  in  question,  with  descriptions of the physical set-
tings, historical attributes of the habitats (such as presettle-
ment vegetation and fire regimes), the flora and the vegetation.
The topic of endemism in  these  habitats  is  a  common  thread
throughout  the  entire  volume,  as the communities in question
tend to stand out for their concentrations of  endemic  vascular
plant  species.  In addition, important causal relationships are
discussed in connection with their causal relationships with the
vegetation. Vegetation descriptions offer cursory overviews, and
the plant composition tables are abbreviated.

The only contribution from the Pacific Northwest  is  a  concise
discussion by Dr. Kruckeberg of serpentine barrens from Califor-
nia  to  British  Columbia, in which he summarizes what is known
about these habitats, drawing from his own vast  work  over  the
past fifty years on Pacific serpentine barrens. He discusses the
tendency  of  endemism  on  serpentine,  listing  known  endemic
species in our region and the probable causes of endemism.

Unfortunately, the book contains no  summary  of  other  Pacific
Northwest barren and savanna vegetation types, such as the Garry
oak  (Quercus  garryana)  meadow ecosystems and the species-rich
"bedrock meadow" vegetation in the interior, with its  abundance
of  endemic  Lomatium  species.  However,  this  may in part at-
tributable to the fact that, at least in the latter case,  there
is not much research to summarize at this time.

The  volume  is  a  first  of its kind in North America, with an
evidently  comprehensive  summary  of  the  present   state   of
knowledge  on  these  as  yet  comparatively  poorly-known plant
communities. The bibliogaphies provided with  the  various  con-
tributions  will  be  a  valuable resource to future students of
these habitats. The book is a must for anyone working working on
bedrock or savanna plant communities and is  a  significant  new
contribution  to  the  repertoire  of  North American vegetation
references.

A list of the contributions and further discussion can be  found
at the Cambridge University Press website, http://www.cup.org or
http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk  -  click on  catalogue  and  query for 
the title.


COMMUNITY ECOLOGY
From: Jan Leps <suspa at entu.cas.cz>

We  are pleased to announce the launching of a new peer-reviewed
scientific journal:

                       Community Ecology

to be published starting in 2000, following the  merger  of  two
well-established  ecological periodicals, Coenoses and Abstracta
Botanica.

The journal is being launched in an effort to  create  a  common
global  forum for community ecologists. The scope of the journal
includes, but is not restricted to, the following subject areas:

o Community-based ecological theory.
o Modelling of ecological communities.
o Community-based ecophysiology.
o Temporal dynamics, including succession.
o Trophic interactions, including food webs and competition.
o Spatial pattern analysis, including scaling issues.
o Community patterns of species richness and diversity.
o Sampling ecological communities.
o Data analysis methods, including multivariate analysis and
  geostatistics.

Experimentally-based  field  studies  of  plant,  animal  and/or
microbial  communities,  in  terrestrial,  marine  or freshwater
systems, are welcome.

For more information on submission of manuscripts  and  on  sub-
scriptions, please visit

   http://www.terra.hu/comecol

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