B7 Noteworthy Books 2013 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 20, No. 4 Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide. Peter Del Tredici. 2010. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. 392 pp. $29.95, softcover. ISBN 9780801474583. Characterized by an abundance of pavement, reflected heat, polluted air, and contaminated soil, our cities and towns may seem harsh and unwelcoming to vegetation. However, there are a number of plants that manage to grow spontaneously in sidewalk cracks and roadside meridians, flourish along chain-link fences and railroad tracks, line the banks of streams and rivers, and emerge in the midst of landscape plantings and trampled lawns. On their own and free of charge, these plants provide ecological services including temperature reduction, oxygen production, carbon storage, food and habitat for wildlife, pollution mitigation, and erosion control on slopes. Around the world, wild plants help to make urban environments more habitable for people. Peter Del Tredici’s lushly illustrated field guide to wild urban plants of the northeastern United States is the first of its kind. While it covers the area bounded by Montreal, Boston, Washington, DC, and Detroit, it is broadly applicable to temperate urban environments across North America. The book covers 222 species that flourish without human assistance or approval. Rather than vilifying such plants as weeds, Del Tredici stresses that it is important to notice, recognize, and appreciate their contribution to the quality of urban life. Indeed their very toughness in the face of heat islands, elevated levels of carbon dioxide, and ubiquitous contamination is indicative of the important role they have to play in helping humans adapt to the challenges presented by urbanization, globalization, and climate change. The species accounts—158 main entries plus 64 secondary species—feature descriptive information including scientific name and taxonomic authority, common names, botanical family, life form, place of origin, and identification features. Del Tredici focuses especially on their habitat preferences, environmental functions, and cultural significance. Each entry is accompanied by original full-color photographs by the author which show the plants’ characteristics and growth forms in their typical habitats. Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast will help readers learn to see these plants—the natural vegetation of the urban environment— with fresh appreciation and understanding. The Eagle Watchers: Observing and Conserving Raptors around the World. Ruth E. Tingay and Todd E. Katzner. 2010. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. 264 pp. $29.95, hardcover. ISBN 9780801448737. Eagles have fascinated humans for millennia. For some, the glimpse of a distant eagle instantly becomes a treasured lifelong memory. Others may never encounter a wild eagle in their lifetime. This book was written by people who have dedicated years to the study of eagles, to provide an insider’s view for all readers, but especially those who have never been up close and personal with these magnificent yet often misunderstood creatures. In their stories, twenty-nine leading eagle researchers share their remarkable field experiences, providing personal narratives that don’t feature in their scientific publications. They tell of their fear at being stalked by Grizzly Bears, their surprise at being followed by the secret police, their embarrassment when accidentally firing mortar rockets over a school gymnasium, and their sense of awe at tracking eagles via satellite. The reader experiences the cultural shock of being guest of honor at a circumcision ceremony, the absurdity of sharing an aquatic car with the Khmer Rouge, and the sense of foreboding at being press-ganged into a frenzied tribal death march through the jungle. The Eagle Watchers covers twenty-four species on six continents, from well known (Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle), to obscure (Black-and-chestnut Eagle, New Guinea Harpy Eagle), and from common (African Fish Eagle) to critically endangered (Philippine Eagle, Madagascar Fish Eagle). The diverse experiences vividly described in this book reveal the passion, dedication, and sense of adventure shared by those who study these majestic birds and strive for their conservation. Featuring stunning color photographs of the eagles, information on raptor conservation, a global list of all eagle species with ranges and conservation status, and a color map of the sites visited in the book, The Eagle Watchers will appeal to birders, conservationists, and adventure travelers alike. To further support the conservation programs described in this book, all royalties are being donated to two leading nonprofit organizations for raptor conservation training and fieldwork: Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Intern Program and the National Birds of Prey Trust. Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken from Nature. Vaclav Smil. 2012. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 312 pp. $19.95, hardcover. ISBN 9780262018562. The biosphere—the Earth’s thin layer of life—dates from nearly four billion years ago, when the first simple organisms appeared. Many species have exerted enormous influence on the biosphere’s character and productivity, but none Noteworthy Books Received by the Northeastern Naturalist, Issue 20/4, 2013 Noteworthy Books 2013 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 20, No. 4 B8 has transformed the Earth in so many ways and on such a scale as Homo sapiens. In Harvesting the Biosphere, Vaclav Smil offers an interdisciplinary and quantitative account of human claims on the biosphere’s stores of living matter, from prehistory to the present day. Smil examines all harvests—from prehistoric man’s hunting of megafauna to modern crop production—and all uses of harvested biomass, including energy, food, and raw materials. Without harvesting of the biomass, Smil points out, there would be no story of human evolution and advancing civilization; but at the same time, the increasing extent and intensity of present-day biomass harvests are changing the very foundations of civilization’s well-being. In his detailed and comprehensive account, Smil presents the best possible quantifications of past and current global losses in order to assess the evolution and extent of biomass harvests. Drawing on the latest work in disciplines ranging from anthropology to environmental science, Smil offers a valuable long-term, planet-wide perspective on human-caused environmental change. A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming. Paul N. Edwards. 2010. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 552 pp. $27.95, softcover. ISBN 9780262518635. Global-warming skeptics often fall back on the argument that the scientific case for global warming is all model predictions, nothing but simulation; they warn us that we need to wait for real data, “sound science”. In A Vast Machine Paul Edwards has news for these skeptics: without models, there are no data. Today, no collection of signals or observations— even from satellites, which can “see” the whole planet with a single instrument—becomes global in time and space without passing through a series of data models. Everything we know about the world’s climate we know through models. Edwards offers an engaging and innovative history of how scientists learned to understand the atmosphere— to measure it, trace its past, and model its future. Edwards argues that all our knowledge about climate change comes from three kinds of computer models: simulation models of weather and climate; reanalysis models, which recreate climate history from historical weather data; and data models, used to combine and adjust measurements from many different sources. Meteorology creates knowledge through an infrastructure (weather stations and other data platforms) that covers the whole world, making global data. This infrastructure generates information so vast in quantity and so diverse in quality and form that it can be understood only by computer analysis—making data global. Edwards describes the science behind the scientific consensus on climate change, arguing that over the years data and models have converged to create a stable, reliable, and trustworthy basis for establishing the reality of global warming. Fragile Web: What Next for Nature? Jonathan Silvertown (Ed.). 2010. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 192 pp. $25.00, softcover. 9780226757810. Biodiversity is as close as your breakfast table. Your cereal and coffee are the products of at least a dozen species of plants and animals. And believe it or not, you are related to your morning meal—all life on earth is descended from a common ancestor, giving new meaning to the old saying “You are what you eat.” Making clear why the future of biodiversity matters, Fragile Web—which takes its name from the delicate mechanism that holds all life together—unites a team of international experts to explore the wonder of the natural world. Drawing on the very latest research, the book explains what biodiversity is and explores its evolution, from 3.5 billion years ago to the present day. It discusses the importance of the world’s ecosystems and how directly or indirectly humans are responsible for the fate of nature. Crucially, it also examines what can be done to protect the natural world and why it matters. Although we cannot undo all that we have done, ignoring the current crisis facing biodiversity could fundamentally change the lives of future generations. Fully illustrated with color photographs, diagrams, and maps, and edited by celebrated ecologist Jonathan Silvertown, this book is a timely snapshot of the state of life on Earth. From the plant and animal products that make up our breakfast to the ecosystems that help to produce clean water, our very survival depends upon the variety of plant and animal life on our planet. The year 2010 has been declared by the United Nations the “International Year of Biodiversity”, and Fragile Web will be an essential guidebook for our time. The Paleobiological Revolution Essays on the Growth of Modern Paleontology. David Sepkoski and Michael Ruse (Eds.). 2009. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 584 pp. $65.00, hardcover. ISBN 9780226748610. Paleontology has long had a troubled relationship with evolutionary biology. Suffering from a reputation as a second-tier science and conjuring images of fossil collectors and amateurs who dig up bones, paleontology was marginalized even by Darwin himself, who worried that incompleteness in the fossil record would B9 Noteworthy Books 2013 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 20, No. 4 be used against his theory of evolution. But with the establishment of the modern synthesis in the 1940s and the pioneering work of George Gaylord Simpson, Ernst Mayr, and Theodosius Dobzhansky, as well as the subsequent efforts of Stephen Jay Gould, David Raup, and James Valentine, paleontology became embedded in biology and emerged as paleobiology, a first-rate discipline central to evolutionary studies. This incredible ascendance of this once-maligned science to the vanguard of a field is chronicled in The Paleobiological Revolution. Pairing contributions from some of the leading actors of the transformation with overviews from historians and philosophers of science, the essays here capture the excitement of the seismic changes in the discipline. In so doing, David Sepkoski and Michael Ruse harness the energy of the past to call for further study of the conceptual development of modern paleobiology. The Quest for the Golden Trout. Douglas M. Thompson. 2013. University of New England Press Lebanon, NH. 324 pp. $29.95, hardcover. ISBN 9781611683196. The angler’s dream of fishing pristine waters in unspoiled country for sleek, healthy trout has turned fishing into a form of theater. It is a manufactured experience— much to the detriment of our rivers and streams. Americans’ love of trout has reached a level of fervor that borders on the religious. Federal and state agencies, as well as nongovernmental lobbying groups, invest billions of dollars on river restoration projects and fish-stocking programs. Yet, their decisions are based on faulty logic and risk destroying species they are tasked with protecting. River ecosystems are modified with engineered structures to improve fishing, native species that compete with trout are eradicated, and nonnative invasive game fish are indiscriminately introduced, genetically modified, and selectively bred to produce more appealing targets for anglers—including the freakishly contrived “golden trout”. The Quest for the Golden Trout is about looking at our nation’s rivers with a more critical eye—and asking more questions about both historic and current practices in fisheries management. Ecology of Temperate Waters of the Western North Atlantic Estuarine Fishes. Kenneth W. Able and Michael P. Fahay. 2010. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. 584 pp. $125.00, harcover. ISBN 9780801894718. This comprehensive reference book details the life history and ecology of the fish species that occupy the estuarine and coastal habitats along the eastern United States and Canada. Kenneth W. Able and Michael P. Fahay draw on their own studies and other research to summarize and synthesize all the known facts about the ecology of 93 important species of fish that inhabit the temperate waters of the Western Atlantic. Presented in individual chapters, the species accounts include complete information about each fish’s distribution, habitat use, reproduction, development, migratory patterns, prey, and predators and other natural enemies. The species accounts are illustrated and include lifecycle calendars, tables, and charts highlighting key information. Introductory chapters provide the general characteristics of the temperate ichthyofauna and explain the authors’ methodology. Featuring new information based on more than 76,000 samples, novel long-term data, and an exhaustive analysis of more than 1800 references, this invaluable resource is a complete compendium on estuarine fishes of the Western North Atlantic. A Year Across Maryland: A Week-by-Week Guide to Discovering Nature in the Chesapeake Region. Bryan MacKay. 2013. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. 312 pp. $24.95, softcover. ISBN 9781421409399. When can you find ripe blueberries along the Appalachian Trail in Maryland? Where can you see the air filled with Monarch Butterflies as they migrate south each autumn? If you want to enjoy nature this weekend, where is the best place to visit? Bryan MacKay can tell you. Written as an almanac, A Year across Maryland invites you to explore the natural world throughout the year, from watching Bald Eagles nesting in January to harvesting mistletoe in December. Entries identify the best time and place to experience such wonders as wildflowers blooming, birds in migration, amphibians singing, and morel mushrooms ready to be picked, sliced, sautéed, and devoured. Color photographs of more than seventy species enrich and illustrate the text. Every week of the year has a recommended “Trip of the Week”. Personal essays that draw from MacKay’s field notes provide an intimate glimpse into a biologist’s encounters with plants and animals over the years. Whether you want to see Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swans pausing in their northward migration each March, or the mating “jubilee” of polychaete worms during the new moon in May, A Year across Maryland offers valuable advice for the spontaneous adventurer and the serious planner alike. Noteworthy Books 2013 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 20, No. 4 B10 The Quick Guide to Wild Edible Plants. Lytton John Musselman and Harold J. Wiggins. 2013. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. 144 pp. $24.95, hardcover. ISBN 9781421408712. A recent rise in the popularity of urban farming, farmers’ markets, and foraging from nature means more people are looking for information about plants. In The Quick Guide to Wild Edible Plants, botanists Lytton John Musselman and Harold J. Wiggins coach you on how to safely identify, gather, and prepare delicious dishes from readily available plants—and clearly indicate which ones to avoid. More than 200 color illustrations, accompanied by detailed descriptions, will help you recognize edible plants such as nettles, daylilies, panic grass, and tearthumbs. For decades, Musselman and Wiggins have taught courses on how to prepare local plants, and their field-to-table recipes require only a few easily found ingredients. They offer instructions for making garlic powder out of field garlic and turning acorns into flour for Rappahannock Acorn Cakes. To toast your new skill, they even include recipes for cordials. Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. Mark P. Witton. 2013. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 306 pp. $35.00, hardcover. ISBN 9781400847655. For 150 million years, the skies didn't belong to birds—they belonged to the pterosaurs. These flying reptiles, which include the pterodactyls, shared the world with the nonavian dinosaurs until their extinction 65 million years ago. Some pterosaurs, such as the giant azhdarchids, were the largest flying animals of all time, with wingspans exceeding thirty feet and standing heights comparable to modern Giraffes. This richly illustrated book takes an unprecedented look at these astonishing creatures, presenting the latest findings on their anatomy, ecology, and extinction. Pterosaurs features some 200 stunning illustrations, including original paintings by Mark Witton and photos of rarely seen fossils. After decades of mystery, paleontologists have finally begun to understand how pterosaurs are related to other reptiles, how they functioned as living animals, and, despite dwarfing all other flying animals, how they managed to become airborne. Here you can explore the fossil evidence of pterosaur behavior and ecology, learn about the skeletal and soft-tissue anatomy of pterosaurs, and consider the newest theories about their cryptic origins. This book covers the discovery history, paleobiogeography, anatomy, and behaviors of more than 130 species of pterosaur, and also discusses their demise at the end of the Mesozoic. To Conserve Unimpaired: The Evolution of the National Park Idea. Robert B. Keiter. 2013. Island Press, Washington, DC. 368 pp. $29.87, softcover. ISBN 9781597266604. When the national park system was first established in 1916, the goal “to conserve unimpaired” seemed straightforward. But Robert Keiter argues that parks have always served a variety of competing purposes, from wildlife protection and scientific discovery to tourism and commercial development. In this trenchant analysis, he explains how parks must be managed more effectively to meet increasing demands in the face of climate, environmental, and demographic changes. Taking a topical approach, Keiter traces the history of the national park idea from its inception to its uncertain future. Thematic chapters explore our changing conceptions of the parks as wilderness sanctuaries, playgrounds, educational facilities, and more. He also examines key controversies that have shaped the parks and our perception of them. Ultimately, Keiter demonstrates that parks cannot be treated as special islands, but must be managed as the critical cores of larger ecosystems. Only when the National Park Service works with surrounding areas can the parks meet critical habitat, large-scale connectivity, and clean air and water needs, and also provide sanctuaries where people can experience nature. Today's mandate must remain to conserve unimpaired— but Keiter shows how the national park idea can and must go much farther. Professionals, students, and scholars with an interest in environmental history, national parks, federal land management, and adaptation to climate change should find the book useful and inspiring. The Fast-Changing Arctic: Rethinking Arctic Security for a Warmer World. Barry Scott Zellen (Ed.). 2013. University of Calgary Press, Calgary, AB, Canada. 410 pp. $41.95, softcover. ISBN 9781552386460. In this timely new book, international scholars and military professionals come together to explore the strategic consequences of the thawing of the Arctic. Their analyses of efforts by governments and defense, security, and coast guard organizations to address these challenges make timely and urgent reading. Rather than a single national perspective, The Fast-Changing Arctic brings together circumpolar viewpoints from North America, Europe, and Asia for an integrated discussion of strategic military, diplomatic, and security challenges in the high North. Thoughtful analyses B11 Noteworthy Books 2013 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 20, No. 4 are included of different regions, climate issues, institutions, and foreign and security policies. Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach, Tenth Edition. John Alcock. 2013. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA. 522 pp. $76.46, softcover. ISBN 9780878939664. Published in February 2013, this new edition of Animal Behavior has been thoroughly rewritten with coverage of much recent work in animal behavior. The scope of the changes for the Tenth Edition, however, is much more all-encompassing than that of past revisions. Thoughtful suggestions from many readers inspired a major reorganization of the material, such that the new book presents the central concepts of animal behavior in a different sequence from prior editions. Exploring Animal Behavior: Readings from American Scientist, Sixth Edition. Paul W. Sherman and John Alcock (Eds.). 2013. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA. 371 pp. $28.86 softcover. ISBN 9781605351957. Publishing June 2013, this anthology contains 37 articles published since 1974 in American Scientist, the journal of the scientific society Sigma Xi. While sequenced particularly to complement John Alcock’ s Animal Behavior, this readily comprehensible and richly illustrated reader can stand alone as a sampler of the excitement and diversity of research approaches and organisms that constitute the modern study of animal behavior. Invasive Species: What Everyone Needs to Know. Daniel Simberloff. 2013. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. 352 pp. $16.95, softcover. ISBN 9780199922031. Invasive species come in all sizes, from plant pathogens like the Chestnut Blight in eastern North America, to the Red Imported Fire Ant that has spread throughout the South, the predatory Indian Mongoose now found in the Caribbean and Hawaii, and the huge Burmese Python populating the Florida swamps. And while many invasive species are safe and even beneficial, the more harmful varieties cost the world economy billions of dollars annually, devastate agriculture, spread painful and even lethal diseases, and otherwise diminish our quality of life in myriad surprising ways. In Invasive Species: What Everyone Needs to Know, award-winning biologist Daniel Simberloff offers a wide-ranging and informative survey that sheds light on virtually every aspect of these biological invaders. Filled with case studies of an astonishing array of invasive species, the book covers such topics as how humans introduce these species—sometimes inadvertently, but often deliberately, the areas that have suffered the most biological invasions, the methods we use to keep our borders safe, the policies we currently have in place to manage these species, and future prospects for controlling their spread. An eminent ecologist, Simberloff analyzes the direct and indirect impacts of invasive species on various ecosystems, such as when non-native species out-compete native species for food or light, describes how invasive species (such as the Asian Mosquito that is a vector for West Nile virus, itself an invasive species) transmit pathogens, and explains his acclaimed theory of “invasional meltdown” in which two or more introduced species combine to produce a far more devastating impact than any one of them would have caused alone. The book concludes with suggested readings and a list of related web sites. Bird Homes and Habitats. Bill Thompson III. 2013. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, NY. 224 pp. $14.95 softcover. ISBN 9780618904464. Two of the best-known names in birding—Peterson and Bird Watcher’s Digest— team up to provide reliable, expert advice on how to attract the birds you want into your yard. Which birds use nest boxes? What’s required to maintain a birdhouse? What kind of habitat will attract which birds? What does it take to be a bluebird trail operator? What does it mean if baby birds or eggs disappear from their nest? Bill Thompson III answers all of these questions and more, helping readers to create yards and gardens where birds will make their homes and raise their young. It’s easy enough to hang a birdfeeder. But there are plenty of other things that can attract birds to a landscape—and, in fact, birds need four essentials: food, water, shelter, and a place to nest. The more of these elements a yard has, the more attractive it is to birds. A lavishly illustrated chapter provides ideas and inspiration for creating bird havens by profiling fifteen homeowners who have actively worked to create bird-friendly habitats. The Northeastern Naturalist welcomes submissions of review copies of books that publishers or authors would like to recommend to the journal’s readership and are relevant to the journal’s mission of publishing information about the natural history of the northeastern US. Accompanying short, descriptive summaries of the text are also welcome.