386 "o'OI,IA GF.,.0BOTAI~ICA ~T PHY2"0%'AXONOM_."C.,~k 1% 2984

B o o k r e v i c w

P~. I-I_av_'cEs ~ed.)

JArN-VII%ONb"rEiN T A L " S C X E N C E M E 2 ' t t O D S

Chapmaz* and Hai l , L o n d o n stud New Y o r k 1982, 404 pp. , l a g iClgs., ~'I T~b. ; Price s 9.g5 (Pb)o

The so-ca l led envf l 'onmenta . l sc ience is a eonglomerat , lon e f ms~ny i nd iv idua l sc iences grid ;t. kas a _,Matively y o u n g h ' s t o r y , l:t h a s de~loF~.d in+eerie,ely, suppo r t ed b y a greeX t e c h n i c ~ progress , d u r i n g tb,~ l a ~ fifteer~ y~ars i~ ra ia t icw m a i n l y to %he q m e k ! y p rog re s s ing dezedcra~- io~ of t he ~ n v i r 0 n m c n t and to the i~_c.veasing ~ceds re',: *row nat~_~al resonrcos~ ~nvJronbnoz%al science ut i l ises met..hods o f p_h>sies.~ c h e m i s t r y , b iology, gce-gr~phy and o the r s , a~d. it s o m e t i m e s seems dif f icul t to bu i ld a cons i s t en t m e t h o d o l o g y ~ well as ~ theore t i ca l b~ekgrc=nd . I t is f u r t h e r compUeabed by' t he f ac t t h a t phys i c i s t s p re fe r phys i c s , chr chem:s t ry~ bloh,,gists hioXogy, Th i s si~-aatisn~ ~s also a~pe~ea t in ~he t e x t b o o k rev iewed h~rc. The; e.cnphasis l ies oa ph%ssica[ g e o g r a p h y meth~d~ w i t h b~olcgie~l ones ~]most a b s e n t .

Th(." t~;xt ~s d iv ided int.c c l o w n (daapters, egel~ desiiD.g wit, h i n d l v i d m ~ SToups of c losely ~J.s..ted me• %%% can ste~rt to rend t h e t+~xtbook w.~tho'at a n y p rev ious knowledge, beem.~se re~l iy bas i c prh]c~'ples a~'e exp l a i ned !br a[i p~r t i cu ia r se t s o f problegJs.

The first she.pier is devot, ed to basle problems of nmasuzemcnt (systems ef uniLs, aeeus~cy of measm'emenG sarnp|ing}o Three ve,.u tropes%ant chapters follow: ~[~otheme~tles~ 8,4,gt.isties~ and Computing. Tbmse three chapters form r_eariy one half of the book, It is very usei~i %ha~ t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t m e t h o d s o f m a t h : m e t i e r a n d s t a t i s t ' c a e ~ exp l a ined Emm %.he e l e m e n t a r y pr inc ip les ; ~.5us, t h e reader lock ing m~thcme~tic~l knowledge can eas i ly read t he se .~.grts. The eh~p%ers can a[su serve very well as a introduction to the use of mgthen:~tical ~.etho/s

some ether fields. ~'he next chapter "Labor~tery hee:~,~.iques" gives oniy a slzorL survey of some me%hods, particuls,r possibilities of the~ ,use in exvi(onment~'~l science could h~ve ~ s~at.ed -<nOTe freqsent].y. The sixth chapter; "31icrosoopy" focussss %oo narrow|y cn geology, n a m e l y on the d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f %he roek-fo_~ming mi..-,er~ls. Ve ry impor~sm.t s a d Je t . seaLing ~s t h e c h a p t e r " i ~ c m c t e S e n s i n g " . T h i s b r a n c h h~s been deve~oph~g r~p id ly in conne~t las , w i th t echn ics5 progress ~nd s u ~ i y ha~ g gre~b fu,~u~e. The m e t h o d s u f ae : ia l t~hotogr_s, p h y are wMoly dire'eased, some othe~r m e t h o d s (echo-sounders , r ada r s ) are also br ief ly m e n t i o n e d . The prs,oti- c~l -are c f a!! me thod~ is empha.s ised, (:~., for for<;caati*~. C h a p t e r ~ ae sc r lbes t h e t y p e s of m ~ p ro jec t ions a ~ d m a p ut, i ! i sg t ion in e n v i r o r a n e n t a l scion-cO, s taple}r ing e x a m p l e s o fg~e!og lea l ~nd wee.thor m a p s . C h a p t e r 9 de~ls w i t h d a t a sm,~eys for m a p eov~struet~ons. Chs.pz.or 10, on "8o~iai Surveys '* is v e r y ~nteres~.ing especia. l .y for invest ig~Xors i:~ ~s~turad science a l t h o u g h % only- br ie f ly s u m m g r ' z e s the r e l e v a n t problcn~s. T he last. chap te r o~. " P r o j e c t EvaZ, u ~ i o n " poi~zts o,at two smaly t ica l t cchn{qucs eval'da%ir~g the i m p a c t s o f di~'eren~ h u m a n a0*..ivi~ies or~ t h e e n v i * ~ n m e n t o n the bas is o f e conomi c pr inc ip les . These t e c h n i q u e s ea~ s u p p o r t r a t i o n s | dec is ions t a k e ~ by t h e au~,hsri t ies and c a n he lp to find e o ~ p r o m i s e s b s t w ~ e n economic and ecological in%crests.

�9 The t e x t b o o k g ives ~n i n t e r e s t i ng s u r v e y o f e n v l r 0 n m e n t . . l sc ience me%hods desI~ite ~be fao; t h a t j t does ~o t cover at! hra,~ehes o f the lieXd, t31ologlsts ~ partic, u|r~r ~.viX m i s s m a n y Mologies l mr>thetis s~nd in~rpret .a t~ 'ons. S0m,~ i r~po r t an t nqethodologies are omitt~ed-..-fGr e x a m p l e m.onit.orJng, an irnt>ort~=,t p a r t o f c o n t e m p o r a r y e n v i r o n m e n t a l selene.% ','s n e t men t i o - ned exp l ic i t ly . I/~at ~hese r e m a r k s do no t r~'(tuee t h e v s l u e o f the t e x t b c o k , I t m a y be reeo~m~e~=_- ded to all reader~ i n t e r e s t ed in field inves t iga t ions ,