Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Fall 1999
Abstract
The papers in this volume, gathered from a March 1994 symposium at the University of Wisconsin, survey the field of ecosystem management, are avowedly oriented toward the US, and concentrate on forest systems, though readers from abroad and those interested in aquatic systems and grasslands will also find matters of interest here. The editors have organized the book into five sections. "Ecological Framework" embraces ecosystem management, landscape ecology, keystone ecosystems, maintenance of rare species, and the role of mineral cycling. The "Disturbance" chapters cover riparian habitats and forested wetlands. "Techniques and Classification" includes classification of ecological landscape units, GIS and remote sensing, and population viability analysis. "Making It Happen" concerns ecosystem protection and restoration, silviculture, and protecting aquatic diversity. A single chapter on "Future Directions" completes the work. Most papers are extensively referenced, and several contain mini-primers on such subjects as macro-nutrient cycling, justifying a wider potential readership than the volume's title suggests. Ideas new at the time of the symposium (such as deMaynadier and Hunter on keystone ecosystems) and various case studies add further appeal. The book is well indexed, sturdily bound, and reasonably priced, though poorly illustrated.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Research 9: (Fall 1999). Copyright © 1999 The Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Used by permission. http://www.unl.edu/plains/publications/GPR/gpr.shtml