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and, finally, the ways of integrating the energy fluxes. Despite their containing some quite solid material, particularly a good review of the energetics of urban areas, these chapters do not fit as comfortably within the overall book structure as does the rest of the material.

In most of the chapters the treatment is as follows: some of the basic physics is outlined, exemplified by appropriate observations and then the temporal and spatial distributions of the element under considera- tion are reviewed, with due regard for the important influence of scale. The text is broken into many sec- tions, which, because of the brevity of the chapters, are quite frequently only tens of lines long. The au- thor’s personal experience, well outlined in the Pre- face, is manifest in his writing and one is reminded a little of P. R. Crowe’s book Concepts in Climatology where the author’s personality shines through quite clearly.

The book has two main strengths. First, it is indeed a major, comprehensive and up-to-date review of energetics at the surface of the earth. The material is well organized and the tremendous variety and com- plexity of landscape is continually held in the forefront

of the reader’s awareness. The references at the end of each chapter are numerous, inter-disciplinary and multi-lingual. As is usually the case in any treatment of physical meteorology/climatology, German and Russian literature figure quite prominently. We should be grateful to Professor Miller for easing our access to this material.

The second major strength lies in the wealth of observational material within the many tables. In his Preface Professor Miller tells us of his preference for observational rather than theoretical work and he has performed a most useful service by gathering together so much material on energy fluxes and temperatures in the many different niches to be found in ecosystems.

The volume is beautifully produced, slightly marred only by some indifferent photographs, indifferently re-produced, and the title of Chapter 14 being changed on the page headings. These are trivial prices to pay for such a valuable book.

B. W. ATKINSON

Queen Mary College, London

THE CHANGING CLIMATE: RESPONSES OF THE NATURAL FLORA AND FAUNA, Michael J. Ford, George AUen and Unwin, 1981. No. of pages: 190; 50 line illustra- tions; Price: f13.95, US$27.50.

This is an excellent book. The author is to be congratulated on the successful completion of a vol- ume which will undoubtedly prove to be an exceed- ingly useful source book for everyone who is in- terested in the biological effects of climatic changes. It is written with great clarity, admirably illustrated and well produced. It has a lengthy and wide-ranging bib- liography which cites numerous seminal works that will themselves afford an entry into the literature of specific fields.

The over-riding problem which always bedevils dis- cussions of such topics is the diverse disciplines of the people concerned. Climatologists, geologists and geog- raphers habitually have a detailed knowledge of the climatic effects. Complementarily, biologists possess immense funds of relevant information about the re- sponses of particular species to changes in the environ- ment. However, it is rare for the twain to meet! Indeed when they do one group frequently has to provide a simplistic account of its own discipline for the benefit of the other. This volume is an excellent synthesis which provides a readable syncretic account of many relevant fields. I have no doubt that it will make a major contribution to the education of under- graduates, research workers and the general public.

It is quite understandable that biologists are deter- red by the need to scrutinize vast numbers of

climatological data scattered through an immense array of journals in order to obtain data relevant to their own particular interests. In a similar manner it is a rare climatologist who holds in his or her head the plethora of relevant biological data. This book will help all such people. It provides a coherently or- ganized account of numerous topics which will be assimilated with ease by an enthusiastic reader. It will answer many questions, stimulate much thought and, I have no doubt, lead to a greatly enhanced awareness of both the patterns of change in nature and the essentially labile structure of much that is still fre- quently conceived as static.

The examples cited are drawn from a wide range of taxa. They supplement and complement each other and, taken together, provide a panoramic perspective for the British Isles. There is first of all a discussion of the biological principles involveddensity depen- dence, tolerance limits, genetic adaptation etc. These topics are discussed widely and at length in biological texts but the chapter will provide a useful introduction for workers in other disciplines. There is then a sequ- ence of chapters on long-term and short-term climatic changes, well known to climatologists but informative for many biologists. A discussion of the interactions between habitat and climate with particular reference to climatic refuges leads on to an amount of the direct effects of climate on the growth and distribution of both animals and plants. The examples available in the literature are, of course, legion, but the ones used are well chosen. In particular the zoological examples are drawn from both invertebrates and vertebrates with,

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perhaps, a slight, but fully explicable, emphasis on insects. A consideration of the effects of varying at- mospheric and oceanic circulation patterns on the transport of species is followed by two chapters which respectively feature pathogens and food production. The book ends with a consideration of the effects of climatic changes on inter-specific competition.

This terse summary should demonstrate that the subject matter of the book ranges over many fields. Obviously there are lacunae. Anyone who writes a volume of this type has to select examples from the myriads available. As a result it is very easy for a specialist in one component discipline to lament the absence of some personal contribution, pet theory or interest. This can be unjust. The author has set out to produce a readable and instructive collation of data

from a wide variety of fields. In this present case I am clear that he has succeeded.

The book should certainly be on the shelves of all biological and climatological libraries. Its various as- pects will certainly enhance the perspectives of botan- ists, climatologists, ecologists, geographers and zoolog- ists alike. I must express the hope that the readers will delve deeply into all aspects of its contents. They should certainly read those sections which dea3 with topics lying outside their own special interests. It is here that the book’s educational value lies. Providing this is done the readers will owe the author a consider- able debt of gratitude. It is a wholly admirable book which sets high standards for the future.

RONALD PEARSON University of Liverpool

FOOD-CLIMATE INTERAWONS (Eds.) Wilfred Bach, Jorgen Pankrath and Stephen H. Schneider, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland, 1981.

This book consists of the edited papers from an international workshop held in Berlin in 1980. The contents cover a wide range of issues, somewhat heroically entitled Food-climate Interactions, including the role of population size; nutritional levels; foreign aid, technical, financial and food itself; systems of social and food security; access to emergency food stocks; access to necessary inputs for high yields; preserving genetic diversity of food crops; conserving genetic resources; developing appropriate new crop strains; ensuring the sustainability of long-term food productivity through ecologically sound agricultural practices; exploiting and developing sustainable aquaculture and fishing; and dissemination of existing climatic information for timely use by food producers.

Climate is related to these topics first by authors looking at shocks to the food system created by short term climatic events such as droughts, floods, hail, frost, wind damage, hottdry or cooYwet summers, humcanes and tornadoes; and secondly, by regarding climate as a resource ivhich in the long-term will create opportunities for meeting world food needs. Unfortu- nately, the ‘climate as a constraint’ discussion is more convincing than the ‘climate as a resource’. The au- thors recommend what they claim to be six new poli- cies concerning food production, storage, distribution, agricultural finance and insurance. These policies seem to emerge as side issues. They are certainly not the main focus in any of the papers nor, for the most part, the logical outcome of any analysis. Crop insurance and credit provision are not even mentioned in the index. In contrast there is a long paper on sea- water-based agriculture whose relevance to the theme is at best somewhat tenuous.

The policy recommendations really emerged from

working groups whose interesting discussion is summa- rized at the end of five sections. The papers were prepared in advance of the meeting and they were clearly not modified very much by the editors or by authors following insight gains at the workshop. There is a variability in quality of papers and much repeti- tion. For example, many papers discuss the increasing COz issue but its importance, even whether it is a problem or an opportunity, is clearly unresolved. This reviewer finds it disappointing that this and other basic questions in climatology such as whether the climate is getting worse or better, whether variability is increas- ing or decreasing, are still open to speculation. Clima- tology still appears to accommodate an excessive amount of assertion and superstition despite the evi- dent economic importance of the practical matters it is concerned with.

After a brief overview the first 120 pages deal with food supply and demand issues rather than climate. There is little new here and much of it has a dull presentation. However, if it is some time since you read about doom, gloom and the mass guilt of the industrialized West for increasing global poverty, set out in flowery phrases, then reading the chapter by G. Borgstrom may spoil your appetite for lunch. The first quality paper is by James McQuigg and deals with climate variability and its impact on crop yield in temperate regions. The following paper by Swindale and colleagues from ICRISAT deals with climatic variability in the tropics where the problems appear more urgent. Technology for solving them often exists but apparently intractable infrastructure and institu- tional improvements impede its adoption. It is surpris- ing to this reviewer who works with medical, engineer- ing and agricultural specialists, how often conferences exclusively directed to their disciplinary concerns con- lude, as this conference did, that the ‘principal barriers are not technical but clearly (my emphasis) social and economic’. And where then are the antropologists, sociologists and economists who might confirm this