Plankton ecology : succession in plankton communities /

Sommer's authoritative book differs from the great majority of books on plankton succession in freshwater because it deals with mechanisms rather than descriptive analyses of successional sequences. As a result, a sort of Darwinian view of plankton ecology emerges from its pages, with the basic premise that a biotic succession can be viewed as a temporal sequence of species replacements. The first chapter offers a 24-step sequence describing basic mechanisms associated with a typical temperate zone dimictic lake's seasonal succession. Predation, competition theory, and top down as well as bottom up factors affecting species replacement sequences in lakes are carefully examined. In the next four chapters, phytoplankton community competition, impact of grazers, and the impact of fungal parasites are examined. Subsequent chapters discuss the role of competition and predation in affecting zooplankton succession. Final chapters detail nutritional factors controlling bacterial seasonal successions and examine bacterial predation. This book should be compared with G.P. Harris, Phytoplankton Ecology, (CH, Feb '87) and C.S. Reynolds, The Ecology of Freshwater Phytoplankton, (CH, Jan '85). An excellent index, a comprehensive list of current references at the end of each chapter, along with numerous excellent figures, make this volume invaluable to college and university students interested in aquatic ecology, and to limnologists, and water managers interested in lake biota management strategies. -M. Dickman, Brock University