Review by Choice Review
Osborne (Univ. of Missouri, St. Louis) has revised his earlier work (CH, May'01, 38-5021) to provide information on recent advances in tropical ecology. To illustrate ecological principles, the author starts with a tropical ecosystem (Serengeti, Amazon, Namib Desert, etc.) and then illustrates a set of ecological principles (population growth, community assembly rules, the niche concept, etc.) using the organisms from the chosen ecosystem. For the most part, this works. At times, the pages rush by with glossary terms dangling. At other times, the story of the ecosystem flows nicely into sidebars and data-rich examples. It is hard to fault a textbook for sparse citations of the original literature because readability is a priority; however, many of the aforementioned "glossary terms" lack context, and the subtleties of their application are lost. Thankfully the glossary is well stocked with over 700 entries, despite the modest, idiosyncratic reference section. Where the author pauses to explain topics in detail, the writing is excellent and the charts/graphs are illustrative. The black-and-white photographs tend to be utilitarian rather than inspirational. Clearly, Osborne is a good teacher who has thought carefully about how to best explain tropical ecology using the entire world as his classroom. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates and general readers. G. C. Stevens formerly, University of New Mexico
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
