Ecology of marine bivalves : an ecosystem approach /

This book has a theme, but not a thesis. The absence of the latter weakens this work because the topic area, bivalve ecology, contains a large amount of information, which cannot be included in a single text. Consequently, to avoid having an idiosyncratic narrative, a text must have a thesis that makes it clear why some material is included and other material is ignored. Useful information is scattered throughout this new edition (1st ed., 1996), but only a discerning reader will be able to identify it. Frustratingly, Dame (deceased, February 2013; emer., Coastal Carolina Univ.) often fails to discriminate clearly between experimental versus nonexperimental methods and ecosystem versus systems analysis concepts. The depth to which concepts or studies are described varies without any relation to the complexity of the subject or its familiarity to the reader. By attempting to broaden the scope of bivalve ecology across disciplines, the author overreached; historical aspects, global perspectives, and management contexts should have been either expanded or omitted. Editorial errors occur in various parts of the text, and too little attention was paid to too many details. Summing Up: Optional. Graduate students and researchers/faculty. S. R. Fegley University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill