2011 Noteworthy Books 387
Animal Invetigators: How the World’s First
Wildlife Forensics Lab is Solving Crimes and
Saving Endangered Species. Laurel A. Neme.
2010. University Press of Florida, Gainesville,
FL. 256 pp. $19.95, softcover. ISBN
9780813035628. Accomplished environmental
journalist Laurel Neme goes behind the scenes
at the only wildlife forensics crime lab in the
world to reveal how scientists and agents of the
US. Fish and Wildlife Service are working to
investigate wildlife crimes, protect endangered
species, and stem illegal wildlife trafficking—
the third largest illegal trade worldwide.
William Bartram and the Ghost Plantations
of British East Florida. Daniel L. Schafer.
2010. University Press of Florida, Gainesville,
FL. 176 pp. $24.95, softcover. ISBN
9780813035277. In his famous and influential
book Travels, the naturalist William Bartram
described the St. Johns riverfront in east Florida
as an idyllic, untouched paradise. Bartram’s account
was based on a journey he took down the
river in 1774. Or was it? Historians have relied
upon the integrity of the information in William
Bartram's Travels for centuries, often concluding
from it that the British (the colonial power
from 1763 to 1783) had not engaged in largescale
land development in Florida. However,
the well-documented truth is that the St. Johns
riverfront was not in a state of unspoiled nature
in 1774; it was instead the scene of drained wetlands
and ambitious agricultural developments
including numerous successful farms and plantations.
Unsuccessful settlements could also be
found, William Bartram’s own foundered venture
among them. Evidence for the existence of
these settlements can still be found in archives
in the United Kingdom and in the family papers
of the descendants of British East Florida
settlers and absentee landowners. So why did
Bartram choose to erase them from history? Was
his insistence on a pristine paradise in Travels
based on an early expedition that he and his
father, the botanist John Bartram, conducted in
1764–65? Was his distaste for development a result
of bitterness and shame over his own failed
settlement? Daniel Schafer explores all of these
questions in this intriguing book, reconstructing
the sights and colorful stories of the St. Johns
riverfront that Bartram rejected in favor of an
illusory wilderness. At last, the full story of Wil-
387
liam Bartram's famous journey and the histories
of the plantations he “ghosted” are uncovered in
this eminently readable, highly informative, and
extremely entertaining volume.
Systematics, Evolution, and Biogeography
of Compositae. V.A. Funk, A. Susanna, T.F.
Stuessy, and R.J. Bayer (Editors). 209. International
Association of Plant Taxonomy, Vienna,
Austria. 1000 pp. $110, hardcover. ISBN
9783950175431. The Compositae (Asteraceae)
are the largest and most successful flowering
plant family in the world, with ca. 1700 genera
and 25,000 species. They grow everywhere but
Antarctica, but they prefer open areas and are
common garden plants (i.e., sunflowers, daisies,
artichokes, thistles, lettuce). This volume is
based on recent morphological and molecular
data and has overview chapters that cover topics
such as chromosome numbers and chemistry as
well as a chapter on every clade in the family.
Nearly every chapter has a color-coded biogeography
tree and color photos of plants, and
there is a summary chapter with a ca. 900-taxon
tree (metatree) for the whole family. Appendices
include an illustrated glossary and a combined
literature cited (each chapter has a literature
cited as well). This is the first family-wide molecular
+ morphology phylogenetic treatment
for the Compositae; an ambitious undertaking
that contains 44 Chapters and 1000 pages (ca.
200 in color) contributed by over 80 authors.
Hope is an Imperative: The Essential David
Orr. David Orr. 2010. Island Press, Washington,
DC. 375 pp. $30, softcover. ISBN
9781597267007. For more than three decades,
David Orr has been one of the leading voices of
the environmental movement, championing the
cause of ecological literacy in higher education,
helping to establish and shape the field of ecological
design, and working tirelessly to raise
awareness of the threats to future generations
posed by humanity's current unsustainable trajectory.
Hope Is an Imperative brings together in
a single volume Professor Orr’s most important
works. These include classics such as “What
Is Education For?”, one of the most widely
reprinted essays in the environmental literature,
“The Campus and the Biosphere”, which
helped launch the green campus movement, and
“Loving Children: A Design Problem”, which
Noteworthy Books
Received by the Southeastern Naturalist, Issue 10/2, 2011
388 Southeastern Naturalist Vol. 10, No. 2
renowned theologian and philosopher Thomas
Berry called “the most remarkable essay I've
read in my whole life.” The book features
thirty-three essays, along with an introductory
section that considers the evolution of environmentalism,
section introductions that place
the essays into a larger context, and a foreword
by physicist and author Fritjof Capra. Hope Is
an Imperative is a comprehensive collection of
works by one of the most important thinkers
and writers of our time. It off ers a complete
introduction to the writings of David Orr for
readers new to the field, and represents a welcome
compendium of key essays for longtime
fans. The book is a must-have volume for every
environmentalist’s bookshelf.
Global Climate Change Impacts in the United
States. Thomas R. Karl, Jerry M. Melillo,
Thomas C. Peterson, and Susan J. Hassol (Editors).
2009. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
UK. 192 pp. $51.99, softcover. ISBN
9780521144070. This book is the most comprehensive
report to date on the wide range of
impacts of climate change in the United States.
It is written in plain language to better inform
members of the public and policymakers. The
report finds that global warming is unequivocal,
primarily human-induced, and its impacts are
already apparent in transportation, agriculture,
health, and water and energy supplies. These
impacts are expected to grow with continued
climate change—the higher the levels of greenhouse
gas emissions, the greater the impacts.
The report illustrates how these impacts can be
kept to a minimum if greenhouse gas emissions
are reduced. The choices we make now will determine
the severity of climate change impacts
in the future. This book will help citizens, business
leaders, and policymakers at all levels to
make informed decisions about responding to
climate change and its impacts.
Sustainability: A Biological Perspective.
Stephen Morse. 2009. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, UK. 274 pp. $45, softcover.
ISBN 9780521543002. Encouraging students
to engage in the challenges and complexity of
sustainability, this text considers not only the
theories underlying sustainability, but more
importantly, how theories are translated into
practice and the difficulties of achieving this
in the world in which we live. This pragmatic
focus gives students a greater understanding of
the practice of sustainability and highlights the
challenges involved. Models and theories are
illustrated throughout with real-world examples
to help students move away from the abstract
and connect with genuine issues. The text begins
by focusing on sustainable production and
consumption and how they are related. The role
of tools such as modelling and sustainability
indicators are explored, and extended into the
fields of stakeholder participation, livelihoods,
and evidence-based policy. The final chapter explores
the interconnections between apparently
disparate subjects and the importance of taking
an interdisciplinary perspective.
Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert
Region. Volume 3. T.H. Nash III, C. Gries, and
F. Bungartz (Editors). 2007. Lichens Unlimited,
Tempe, AZ. 238 pp. $49.95, hardcover. ISBN
0971675910. This is the third and final volume
of a complete lichen flora for the Greater Sonoran
region covering over 500,000 square km of
the southwestern Uniterd States and northwestern
Mexico. The first volume of the Lichen Flora
of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region provided
a substantial introduction to lichen terminology,
included keys to most groups, and descriptions
for almost 600 species for most of the pyrenolichens
as well as squamulose species and the
majority of macrolichens. Volume II extended
coverage to over 700 lichen species in 111 genera,
including many genera of macrolichens. It
also covered the majority of lichenicolous fungi
(species occurring on lichens) and included 64
full color photographs. Now, the third and final
volume completes the treatment of all remaining
genera currently known from the Sonoran
Region. It includes 224 color photos (none
repeated from Brodo et al., 2001) and covers
39 additional lichen genera, several large and
less known groups such as Acarospora, Buellia,
Caloplaca, and Usnea. It also treats four genera
of lichenicolous fungi. Altogether, 1971 species
are treated in the three volumes, of which over
25% have been described as new to science since
1990.
The Southeastern 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 southeastern US. Accompanying short, descriptive
summaries of the text are also welcome.