193 BOOK REVIEWS

RIVER FISHERIES, R. L. Welcomme, F. A. 0. Fisheries Technical Paper 262, 1985. No of pages 330.

This authorative Technical Paper presents a lucid dis- cussion of the broad implications of River Fisheries Management and relevant data sources. It is enhanced by clear, precise, illustrations and tables which com- plement the text. The modelling figures are particularly good and contribute greatly to the up-date objectives of the document. The author acknowledges his references in an impecable manner and by clever use of world wide examples to illustrate principles, automatically expands parochial thinking to international level with- out in any way losing clarity in developing understand- ing.

The excellent first chapter on Morphology of River Systems sets the scene and the standard. Physico- chemical processes are explained in Chapter 2 which leads naturally to a very well documented treatment of Primary and Secondary Production in Chapters 3 and 4. It was at this point that I realized that the author had re-created for me the idea of catchments world-wide as living super organisms reminiscent of the conceptual approach of earlier eminent ecologists: Allee et al. in the forties and fifties. Time/space continua interactions with population/behavioural ecology aspects followed, including an up-date of the role of resource partitioning and their implications for management of resources, with very good models of use for more than fisheries. The final chapters explain Man’s activity, his depen- dence and responsibilities within these living catch- ments world-wide. There is a most prodigious reference list, up-dating all the leading papers in the field and a very useful and comprehensive triple index at the end of the paper.

The author is over modest in his statement at the top of page iii that this technical paper ‘is of interest not only to students, scientists and administrators working in the fisheries sector, but also to biologists, ecologists and geographers working on aquatic organisms other than fish and more general aspects of natural resources development and management.’ This document not only represents a valuable and comprehensive up-date of river fisheries, their importance economically and as an ecological indication of the catchment’s well-being, but also develops the new way in which workers in the wider river management field are thinking at the con- ceptual level. The integrative approach in this document refers to all aspects of use, management and potential impact problems and makes it clear that we have the knowledge, pre-operational management models and technology to integrate Man’s activities in catchments to optimize production with minimal aesthetic and diversity loss in our river ecosystems. It is in this latter context that this publication should be highly recommended to all of the above as indicated by the author; but I would go further and suggest that it should be high priority reading for all agriculturalists,

civil engineers involved in river regulation and industrialists working in catchments.

G. WHITE Senior Lecturer in Resource Ecology,

Department of Human Sciences, The University of Technology, Loughborough, Leicestershire

HANDBOOK OF HOLOCENE PALAEOECOLOGY AND PALAEOHYDROLOGY, Bjorn E. Berglund (Ed,) Wiley-Interscience, 1986. No of pages: 869. Price: $100. ISBN 0 471 90691 3.

Historical perspectives on contemporary water man- agement problems are of increasing interest to hyd- rologists, engineers and ecologists. However, documen- tary records of past environmental change are often deficient. No-one systematically recorded the pH of Scandinavian lakes until acid precipitation became an environmental problem in the 1970s, so it is difficult to know from historical records alone whether salmon have been eliminated by acidification or simply over- fished. Fortunately an alternative approach exists. If water managers were previously unaware of this approach, they have no excuses now. The Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology is a comprehensive guide to techniques of environmental reconstruction based on proxy evidence, such as tree rings and radioisotopes. The problem of acid fresh- waters illustrates well the power ofthis palaeoecological approach. Studies of lake sediment cores involving diatom analysis and Lead-210 dating have provided the clearest evidence so far that freshwaters have indeed been acidified by atmospheric pollution during the past 150 years (Pearce, 1985), and if you have only a vague idea about what diatoms of Lead-210 dating are, then this handbook will explain all (in Chapters 26 and 14 respectively).

The volume is truly encyclopaedic in character, hav- ing 41 chapters, 869 pages, and a price tag of US$lOO. At its heart are 6 chapters on dating techniques and an impressive 15 chapters on biological indicators, these being sandwiched between discussions of field sampling and research strategies, and a final section on numerical analysis. Among the many subjects covered are the stratigraphy of peat and lake deposits, sediment flux, field coring techniques, radiocarbon dating, palaeomagnetism, pollen analysis, dendrochronology, palaeolimnology and climatic calibration. The non- specialist may well wish for a guide simply to choose between the wealth of individual techniques available!

The book itself has an interesting history. It origi- nates from IGCP project 158 on the Palaeohydrology of the temperate zone during the last 15 000 years. This itself was split into two; Part A covering fluvial envi- ronments, and Part B-from which this handbook derives-dealing with lakes and mires. It was decided

194 BOOK REVIEWS

at an early stage of subproject 158B that standardiza- tion of methods was an essential prerequisite for mean- ingful comparison and correlation of palaeoecological data from different parts of the world. Consequently Bjorn Berglund organized and edited three preliminary volumes of technical methods by individual specialists, which were cheaply produced at the University of Lund in Sweden between 1979 and 1982. On the basis of comments received, these volumes were modified, reorganized and expanded to form the present, fully- published volume. In theory this comprehensive, if laborious, procedure ought to provide an end-product free from omissions and inconsistencies. Has it done so? The answer must be a slightly disappointing ‘yes’ and ‘no’. The final version has certainly filled some important gaps absent in preliminary drafts, such as dating via the isotope Caesium-137 (infamous since Chernobyl) and analysis of freshwater molluscs. But in ‘growing like Topsy’ the handbook also came to include some curious additional chapters, for instance on archaeological survey (Ch. l l ) , while other subjects such as carbonate geochemistry (Kelts and Hsu, 1978) have remained inexplicably absent. Similarly, it is far from clear why freeze-coring appears in Chapter 17 (laminated lake sediments) and not in Chapter 8 (cor- ing techniques). These and other inconsistencies do not detract substantially from the otherwise generally excellent descriptions of specific techniques, but they do suggest that the nearest approximation approach to publication does not lead to results as perfect as one might have hoped.

Indeed, if one were to level criticisms at this hand- book, it would not be towards technical details, but towards its own terms of reference. Perhaps the book’s orientation towards temperate Europe was inevitable given its origin in IGCP subproject 158B and its over- whelmingly European authorship (only 4 non- European authors out of 45). But this reviewer, at least, would have been happy to see more examples

drawn from, for example, Africa or North America. The vast bulk of the techniques described are applic- able in tropical or even arctic environments, and these could have been included within the compass of the handbook with only minor modifications, such as revamped and enlarged chapters on past lake-level fluctuations (Street-Perrott and Harrison, 1985). It should also be pointed out that fluvial palaeohydrology does not fall within the handbook‘s terms of reference. Reconstructing the recurrence interval of high mag- nitude floods from slackwater deposits (Kochel and Baker, 1982), and similar techniques, will have to wait for a companion handbook (from IGCP 158B, perhaps?)

As a reference manual this volume will undoubtedly become a standard source, to be thumbed in laboratories for many years to come. Bjorn Berglund and his colleagues are to be congratulated on their achievement. Wider congratulations might also be in order, for with the publication of this standard hand- book, it can be fairly said that the twin sciences of palaeoecology and palaeolimnology have come of age.

NEIL ROBERTS University of Technology, Loughborough, U K

REFERENCES

1. Pearce, F. 1985. ‘CEGB left out in the rain’, New Scientist, February 28, 10-11.

2. Kelts, K. and Hsu, K. J. 1978. ‘Freshwater carbonate sedimentation’, in Lerman, A. (Ed.), Lakes, Chemistry, Geology, Physics,

3. Street-Perrott, F. A. and Harrison, S. 1985. ‘Lake levels and climate reconstruction’, Hecht, A. D. (Ed.), Paleocli- mate Analysis and Industry, Wiley. pp. 291-340.

4. Kochel, R. C. and Baker, V. R. 1982. ‘Paleoflood hydrol- ogy’, Science, 215, 353-361.