1
84 Book reviews if there is to be room for both forests and people when human numbers reach their expected 8 or so billion late next century. This book filled me with optimism, a counter to the prevalent doom and gloom one so often hears and feels about tropical forests. Many of the projects received assistance from developed-world governmental or non- governmental aid organisations. Let it be hoped that the evidence of their success presented here stimulates further similar assistance. T. C. Whitmore A Primate Radiation: Evolutionary Biology of the African Guenons. Edited by Annie Gautier-Hion, Francois Bourli~re, Jean-Pierre Gautier & Jonathan Kingdon. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1988. 567 pp. ISBN 0521 33523 X. Price: £60. Old World guenons comprise a large number of closely related primates that occur in diverse habitats throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The fact that these monkeys have extreme karyotypic heterogeneity, frequently form polyspecific associations, and tend to hybridize, all suggest that active evolutionary radiation has been occurring since the late Miocene with the reductions and expansion of forests, leaving many isolated refuge populations. A. Gautier-Hion, F. Boulirre, J. Gautier and J. Kingdon have collected together an impressive array of papers on these remarkable primates and successfully couple different disciplines with the central issue of guenon radiation. This book presents a rigorous assessment of guenon phylogeny placing savanna and semi-terrestrial species as ancestral and forest species as derived, using genetic, morphological and behavioural methods. The chapters by A. Hamilton on the dynamic evolution of African forests, T. Struhsaker and L. Leland on group fission, T. Struhsaker et al. on hybridization, and A. Gautier-Hion on guenon feeding ecology are a few examples of the many papers that have general implications to evolutionary biology. The content and wonderful illustrations by Jonathan Kingdon have produced an attractive piece of work. Understandably the book does not focus on conservation issues, apart from brief mentions of the importance in preserving such an interesting group of primates. Like so many technical publications the price rather than content will deter many individuals from buying this fine book. Richard E. Bodmer

A primate radiation: Evolutionary biology of the African guenons: Edited by Annie Gautier-Hion, François Bourliére, Jean-Pierre Gautier & Jonathan Kingdon. Cambridge University Press,

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

84 Book reviews

if there is to be room for both forests and people when human numbers reach their expected 8 or so billion late next century.

This book filled me with optimism, a counter to the prevalent doom and gloom one so often hears and feels about tropical forests. Many of the projects received assistance from developed-world governmental or non- governmental aid organisations. Let it be hoped that the evidence of their success presented here stimulates further similar assistance.

T. C. Whitmore

A Primate Radiation: Evolutionary Biology of the African Guenons. Edited by Annie Gautier-Hion, Francois Bourli~re, Jean-Pierre Gautier & Jonathan Kingdon. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1988. 567 pp. ISBN 0521 33523 X. Price: £60.

Old World guenons comprise a large number of closely related primates that occur in diverse habitats throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The fact that these monkeys have extreme karyotypic heterogeneity, frequently form polyspecific associations, and tend to hybridize, all suggest that active evolutionary radiation has been occurring since the late Miocene with the reductions and expansion of forests, leaving many isolated refuge populations. A. Gautier-Hion, F. Boulirre, J. Gautier and J. Kingdon have collected together an impressive array of papers on these remarkable primates and successfully couple different disciplines with the central issue of guenon radiation. This book presents a rigorous assessment of guenon phylogeny placing savanna and semi-terrestrial species as ancestral and forest species as derived, using genetic, morphological and behavioural methods.

The chapters by A. Hamilton on the dynamic evolution of African forests, T. Struhsaker and L. Leland on group fission, T. Struhsaker e t al. on hybridization, and A. Gautier-Hion on guenon feeding ecology are a few examples of the many papers that have general implications to evolutionary biology. The content and wonderful illustrations by Jonathan Kingdon have produced an attractive piece of work. Understandably the book does not focus on conservation issues, apart from brief mentions of the importance in preserving such an interesting group of primates. Like so many technical publications the price rather than content will deter many individuals from buying this fine book.

Richard E. Bodmer