A dictionary of ecology, evolution, and systematics /

New techniques of investigation and understandings of mechanisms in molecular biology, developmental genetics, and global climate change, to name a few fields, make it high time for this second edition. Offering broader coverage than its title may indicate, this work would be useful in fields such as soil science, physical anthropology, biogeography, botany, and zoology. It contains brief definitions of more than 11,000 terms, roughly a 10 percent increase over the first edition. Among the new terms are "dot blotting," "ELISA," "hnRNA," and ten terms or phrases beginning "DNA." The definition of DNA itself has doubled in length. Among the 29 nifty appendixes are maps and tables covering such things as Wallace's biogeographical regions, tectonic plates, plankton size categories, the Quaternary Ice Age, genetic code and amino acids, zonation of the atmosphere, and the Beaufort wind scale. Alas, one typo was detected. Although the book was compiled by three researchers at the British Museum of Natural History, British spellings do not appear insurmountable. Fans of the first edition will love the second; those in need of a first-rate biology dictionary would do well to acquire this one. T. R. Faust Fairfield University