The Condor88:404-406 0 The CooperOrnithological Society 1986

BOOK REVIEWS

MARCY F. LAWTON, EDITOR

Neotropical .-P. A. Buckley, Mercedes S. those of Vuilleumier, Snow and Fjeldsa, illustrates the Foster, EugeneS. Morton, Robert S. Ridgely, and Francine extent to which the distributions of neotropical birds are G. Buckley [eds.]. 1985. Ornithological Monographs No. known and suggeststhat avian biogeographywill continue 36, American Ornithologists Union. 1,036 p. $70.00. to influenceour understandingof evolutionary pattern and In 1981, the editors of Neotrooical Ornitholom beaan processin the tropics. to assemble in one volume a display of cont&por&y The monograph ends with an overview of the papers researchon the richest avifauna in the world. The result and of the field of neotropical ornithology by Parkes.Most is a remarkable commemoration of the late Eugene Ei- readerswill share his enthuasiam for this impressive col- senmann, to whom the monograph is dedicated. It is a lection of papers. Many, however, will take issuewith his credit to the editors and a tribute to the ways in which view of the field and its future. neotropical ornithology has matured since the pioneering Parkesasserts that there are “three basic and successive works of Frank Chapman and Robert Ridgway. stagesof knowledge of birds that must precede all other The volume is more comprehensivethan the other re- aspectsof the study of ornithology,” namely, inventory, cent major work on neotropicalornithology, Migrant Birds classificationand descriptivezoology. These are important in the Neotropics(Keast and Morton [eds.] 1980), with stagesin ornithology, and in this volume Bock, Braun and which it overlaps only slightly in authorship and hardly Parker, Lanyon, and Sibley and Ahlquist present them at all in content. Appropriately, each of the 6 1 chaptersis with particularelegance and rigor. However, in the absence prefaced with English and Spanish abstracts, and many of extensiveknowledge about systematicsor speciescom- contain extensive tables and appendicesof original data. position in different habitats, other approachescan yield The geographicalrepresentation of study sites and au- information of general significance. thors reflects the editors’ successfulefforts to achieve a Parkes, like Eisenmann, is critical of “north temperate range of viewpoints on neotropical ornithology. Most theoreticistslike Lack” and the “hit-and-run observers” countriesof the Caribbeanand Central and South America of the ‘60s and ‘70s and applaudsthe exclusion from the are covered, although with an irony familiar to Latin volume of “these formerly fashionable superficialpapers, America, the ornithologicalriches tend to be concentrated with more mathematicsthan data.” The criticism is clearly in the hands of a few. One in seven studies focuses on aimed at Robert MacArthur and other ecologistswho made Peru, which representsonly one of 20 countriesin Central forays to the Neotropics to muster data to answer the Big and South America. Nine of the papers issue from just Questionsof thosedecades-Why are there somany species one of the volume’s 43 academic addresses(the omitho- in the tropics?Why do tropical birds have smaller clutch logical oligarchy is Louisiana State University). sizes than their temperate zone counterparts?What roles The authors and editors make up an All-Star team of do competition and predation play in structuring com- neotropicalornithologists. Several literally wrote the book munities? on neotropical birds, having published field guides to the A number of the present papers, in fact, are vulnerable avifauna of different countries: Ffrench for Trinidad and to the same “hit-and-run” criticism, for they are based on Tobago, Phelps for Venezuela, Ridgely for Panama, and observations(by qualified observers,admittedly) gathered (soon to appear) Hilty for Colombia and Stiles for Costa during brief expeditions; fewer than half of the studies Rica. Others, like Garrido, Sick, Skutch, and Snow, have could be described as “long-term.” None could be criti- contributed to the ornithological literature of the Neo- cized for being too theoretical or mathematical, although tropics for over a quarter of a century. some could be criticized for not being enough so. Some of the most interesting and thorough papers are A disconcerting fact, which may reflect the status of written by younger investigatorsreporting details of their neotropical ornithology as much as NeotropicalOrnithol- dissertationresearch. Willard ’s comparative feeding ecol- ogy, is that not one of the 61 studies in this volume is ogy of 20 tropical fish-eating birds and Robinson’s study principally experimental in approach (Moermond and of nest pirates and egg and nestling predators of the co- Denslow’s superbreview paper refersto their experimental lonially breedingYellow-rumped Cacique are outstanding work on fruit selection by birds and five other papers examples. mention experiments conducted). Few of the papers test The editors deliberately avoided removing overlap be- or even present hypotheses. tween papers. In one instance this results in the reader The tradition of descriptive, correlational studies may being subjectedin successivepapers to the same lengthy be due to the historical predominanceof North Americans quotation from H. W. Bates.More importantly, the over- versus more experimentally inclined Europeans in neo- lap between papersserves the same purposeas replication tropical ornithological research, or simply the lure most in experimental design. It allows an assessmentof varia- of us ornithologistsfeel for just identifying and watching tion between sites,years and researchers.Independent and birds. Yet this emphasizeseven more strongly that neo- sometimesopposing views are presentedon the same top- tropical ornithology can only profit by a redistribution of ics. intellectualwealth and an exposureto the perspectivesand For example, Munn and Powell draw on their distinct methods of academic trespasserslike mathematical mod- experiencesto describethe behavior of mixed speciesflocks elers,plant ecologists,and limnologists-even if they can’t in the neotropics. Powell’s paper provides an in-depth identify dendrocolaptidsby their alarm calls. Stile’s long- review of the literature on interspecificforaging flocks and term study of hummingbirds and their food plants dem- demonstratesthat the integrity and behavior of flocks de- onstratesthe indispensability of a broad biological back- pends upon season,site, and the diet of the component ground, driving home the point that we need more, not species. less, cross-fertilization between fields of biology. Haffer and Cracraft discussthe biogeographyof South Birds are unquestionablybetter known biologicallythan American birds, attributing the explosive adaptive radia- any other group of organismsin the neotropics. By build- tions of neotropical birds chiefly to divergence in forest ing on the wealth of information about their , refugia during the Pleistocene (Haffer) versus earlier vi- geographical distributions, evolutionary relationships, carianceevents (Cracraft). This pair of papers, along with population dynamics, and natural history, much of which

[4041 BOOK REVIEWS 405 is admirably exhibited in this volume, ornithology seems EndocrineSystem and the Environment is an important poised for more discoveries of major biological signifi- volume. cance.-NATHANIELT. WHEELWRIGHT,Dept. ofBi- The Endocrine System and the Environment grew out ology, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 040 11. of an international symposiumheld in India, in 1983, and attended by most of the major figuresin the nascentfield of environmental endocrinology. The volume, which is The Darwinian heritage.-David Kohn [ed.]. 1985. largely devoted to problems related to thyroid function, Princeton Universitv Press. Princeton. NJ. 1.138 v. is dedicated to J. P. Thapliyal, in honor of his seminal It is extraordinary how Darwin’s popularity hasgrown work with thyroxine and gonadal refractory periods in since 1959 when thejubilee ofthe publication ofthe Origin birds and reptiles. of Specieswas celebrated.At that time, several historians Many of the papers present new information and in- questionedthe validity of Darwin’s work and the quality triguing insights into the qualitatively different ways in ofhis mind, to suchan extent that H. J. Muller was moved which the endocrine systemmay respond to environmen- to exclaim “One hundred years without Darwin are tal changes.However, the volume is seriouslyflawed be- enough.” Twenty-three yearslater, at the centenaryofDar- cause it lacks conceptual cohesion and because most of win’s death (1982), almost a dozen symposia and me- the contributions fail to discussthe evolutionary or eco- morials were held, with all the participantsagreeing in the logical significanceof the observed interactions between conclusionthat Darwin’s theories are correct in all major organismand environment. aspectsand that Darwin clearly had been a genius of the For instance, several papers present new information first order. The most important and most comprehensive on the effect of the physical environment on thyroid func- of all the recent symposium volumes is the one edited by tion. Leloup and de Luze report on the effectsof temper- D. Kohn, with contributions by 30 authors, each a spe- ature and salinity on thyroid function in eels. They find cialist in some aspect of Darwinian scholarship. that increasingeither temperature or salinity leads to in- Owing to the recent discovery and evaluation of a rich creasedthyroid hormone secretionand increasedperiph- treasureof Darwin notebooks,journals, individual notes, eral T4 to T3 conversion,but not to increasedplasma T4. etc. (Darwin apparently never threw anything away), it is Although they suggesta role for thyroid hormones in ac- now possibleto reconstructthe gradualgrowth of Darwin’s climation to changingenvironments, and mention in this ideas more completely than for any other figure in the context both the estuarinefish Fundulusheteroclitus and history of ideas. The steps in this development are con- salmon in addition to their eels, the authorsdo not discuss vincingly reconstructed in a number of chapters, with the implications of their findings in understanding the enoughdisagreement still remaining to foreshadow future of estuarine and anadromousfish. elucidation. A series of seven other chapters deals with Similarly, Nicholls et al. deal with the gonadal refrac- Darwin in the context of his environment and of his as- torinessseen in adult male starlingsexposed to long days. sociates,giving us a far more balancedpicture of Darwin Thyroidectomy blocks the testicular regression seen in as a person and scholar than previous biographies that starlingson an 18 hr photoperiod, and thyroxine inhibits were either hagiographicor hostile. Another part of the testicularrecrudescence in short day length birds. Further, volume (with sevenchapters) provides an up-to-date anal- prolactin increasesin long-day birds and following admin- ysis of Darwinism, as evaluated by modem evolutionary istrationof thyroxine. However, Nicholls et al. do not relate biology. It deals with suchquestions as, how valid are the their findings to the natural history of starlings, nor do criticisms of Darwinism and how much (if any) has the they provide much comparative discussion;neither the theory of natural selection changed since Darwin? The older avian literature nor the recent work in reptiles on volume concludeswith a rather remarkable overview of the same topic is cited. recent historical treatments of Darwin (‘Images of Dar- A further flaw is that studieson the effectsof the social win’) by the Italian historian of scienceA. La Vergata. A environment are not well representedhere. Although sev- 79 page bibliography opens to the reader the vast field of eral papers examine the effects of hormones on a behav- Darwin scholarship. ior-for example, territoriality, sexualimprinting, or mi- Why should an ornithologist be interested in this vol- gration-only one paper dealswith how socialfactors affect ume? For the simple reason that ornithology is part of hormones. In her paper on the social factors involved in biology, and as Dobzhansky has said so truly: “Nothing the breeding cycle of ducks, Bluhm presentsand reviews in biology makes senseexcept in the light of evolution.” studies on, among other topics, the influence of flock It was Darwin who establishedthis truth. There is hardly vocalizations on serum LH levels in nearby unpaired fe- a chapter in this volume that doesnot provide stimulating males. It is unfortunate that so little space is devoted to thought to anyone who is interested in nature.-ERNST the social environment; Lehrman, Hinde, Silvers, Crews, MAYR, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Uni- and othershave shownhow important-and how fertile- versity, Cambridge, MA 02 138. an area it is. Although the book is disappointing in that its scope is The endocrinesystem and the environment.-B. K. Fol- so limited and that many of the papers fail to relate lab lett, S. Ishii, and A. Chandola [eds.]. 1985. Japan Scientific findings either to natural history or to the work of other SocietiesPress and Springer-Verlag.Tokyo and . researchers,there are essays which do present a more xiv + 329 p. broadly based perspective. For example, Lofts’ review, while brief, is truly international and cross-disciplinary; [In Autumn] birds seem all day long to be impressed he cites German, Italian, and Indian journals in addition with the desire to migrate: their habits change; they to the more accessible(for us) American journals. He fur- become restless,are noisy and congregatein flocks. ther puts his discussionof the environment and reptilian , 1871 reproduction into a context that includes more than rep- The importance of cyclic changesin the environment tiles, extensively citing the avian literature. in determining periodic occurrenceslike migration and Publishedinternational symposialike this, which attract seasonalbreeding cycleshas long been recognized. How- the major workers in a field, have the potential for pre- ever, environmental endocrinology, the discipline con- senting the relevant issues and questions in a field to cerned with how and why environmental changesaffect nonspecialists.Further, these symposia can provoke new organisms, is not even a generation old. Becausethis is insights from comparative studies, can describe tech- such a new field and because it has such wide-ranging niques that can be adapted to studies of other organisms implications for organismaland evolutionary biology, The or problems, and can foster a kind of synergysticinter- 406 BOOK REVIEWS action that results in both greater awarenessof the state Guinea. 1986. H. L. Bell. Proceedingsof the Western of our knowledge and the creative insights necessaryto Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology.-. Vol. 3. No. 1, Los expand that state. It is surprising that cross-disciplinary Angeles, CA. $7.00. innovation by exploitation of methods or approachesis Birds of the Indiana Dunes. 1986. K. J. Brock. Indiana not more widely employed, but perhaps not; most of us University Press, Bloomington, IN. $7.95. need help with developing creativity. Sadly, this volume Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and offerslittle assistance.There are no essaysto give structure North Africa. Vol. IV, Terns to Woodpeckers. 1985. to the volume or to introduce or to provide a conceptual S. Cramp, [ed.] Oxford University Press, NY. 60 context to the papers,and, in fact, the papersare not even Pounds, British. grouped or discussed.Although The Endocrine System Tales of a low-rent birder. 1986. P. Dunne. Rutgers Uni- and the Environment is a good sourcebookof recent re- versity Press, New Brunswick, NJ. $15.95. search,and valuable insofar as it servesas an introduction Natural selectionin the wild. 1986. J. A. Endler. Princeton to a new and growing field, this volume does not serve as University Press, NJ. $40.00 cloth, $13.95 paper. either a review of the important questionsand state of our Indiana birds and their haunts: A checklist and finding knowledge,or as much of a stimulus for further research. guide. 2nd ed. 1986. C. E. Keller, S. A. Keller and f It is, rather, simply a collection of papers.- WILLIAM R. C. Keller. Indiana University Press,Bloomington, IN. GARSTKA, Department of Biological Sciences,Univer- $22.50 cloth, $10.95 paper. sity of Alabama, Huntsville, AL 35899. Immigrant killers: introduced predators and the conser- vation of birds in New Zealand. 1985. C. King. Ox- ford Universitv Press. NY. $35.00. BOOKS RECEIVED Modeling nature: episodes in the history of population ecology. 1985. S. E. Kingsland. University ofchicago The fall of a sparrow. S. Ali. 1985. Oxford University Press, Chicaao. IL. $27.50. cloth. Press, NY- Birds of the Texas’ coastal bend: abundance and distri- Gulls and Plovers: The ecology and behaviour of mixed- bution. 1985. Texas A&M University Press, College speciesfeeding groups. 1986. C. J. Barnard & D.B.A. Station, TX. $19.50. Thompson. Columbia University Press. $30.00. Birds in Scotland. 1986. V. M. Thorn. Buteo Books, Ver- Occupation of urban habitats by birds in Papua New million, SD. $47.50.