Reviews

The True (Laniidae) of the World: ecology, behavior and evolution By E. N. Panov Pensoft, 2011 Hbk, 910pp; many colour photographs and line-drawings ISBN 978-954-642-576-8 Subbuteo code M21133 £125.00 BB Bookshop price £112.50

Evigeniy Panov is one any other biological notes that the author con - of the great field siders interesting, depending on the taxa involved. ornithologists, and For example, there is a chapter dedicated to one of relatively few to have had a lifetime of hybridisation within the Red-backed/Isabelline access to the of Siberia and the republics of complex, illustrated with photographs of hybrid the former Soviet central . A previous book of phenotypes, which contains much information his, The Wheatears of the Palearctic (Pensoft, 2005), not easily accessible to western ornithologists. In drew on first-hand study of plumage, vocalisa - general, the amount of information is exhaustive, tions, behaviour and hybridisation, combined with bordering on overwhelming. The descriptions of an extensive literature review, to make conclusions breeding behaviour are alive with first-hand infor - about the relationships of the wheatears Oenanthe mation. In contrast, the newly split Giant and to synthesise our knowledge of their ecology. (or Tibetan Grey Shrike) L. giganteus , formerly This current book, his long-awaited and massive treated as a race of L. spheno - work on the shrikes of the world, follows a similar cercus , gets a chapter less than two and a half pages plan. Systematics and nomenclature figure heavily long, such is the paucity of literature, and much of throughout the book. Although this is not primar - that is a range map. ily an identification guide, the reviews of plumage Two appendices discuss specific issues relevant patterns, vocalisations and some important bio - to shrike . The first, by Tom Cade, dis - metrics will ensure that it becomes an essential ref - cusses the pros and cons of different morpholog - erence work for those who are interested in ical and genetic methods of subspecific delineation identification of these taxa in the hand or in the in the L. ludovicianus . It con - field. cludes that a more rigorous quantification of The book, with 26 chapters and two appen - plumage colours and patterns is required, and dices, is broadly divided into eight parts, starting much greater genetic sampling of populations with a general view of shrike biology and ending from across the range of the species. The second, with a discussion and proposed phylogeny for the by Anna Bannikova, is a critical review of genetic genus . In between, the shrikes are organised studies of the phylogeny of shrikes – it warns in species groups correlating with some of their against widespread changes in taxonomy based major radiations. Thus the ‘large’ grey shrikes are only on mitochondrial DNA and argues against treated together, as are the ‘Mediterranean’ shrikes changes to prevailing taxonomy without a firm (Masked L. nubicus , Woodchat L. senator and basis of evidence. This echoes arguments made by Lesser Grey Shrikes L. minor ), the Red-backed/red- Panov in the main text – where there is a recurrent tailed (Isabelline) Shrikes L. collurio /isabellinus , the theme of potential conflict between genetic- and east Asian species (including L. morphological-based phylogenies. Panov, for cristatus ) and the central/southeast Asian species. example, prefers to retain the current north/south The convergent African Laniids of the genera split of large grey shrikes (Great Grey L. excubitor , Corvinella and Urolestes are included and Southern Grey Shrike L. meridionalis ), in con - in a section about African Lanius . For all the trast to the arrangements proposed by recent species, the author’s studies and other literature genetic studies, which recommend this group pos - are summarised to cover nomenclature, range, sibly be split into six or more species (Olsson et al . subspecies, status, migration and phenology, 2010, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 55: breeding and nest-site biology, diet, moult, and 347–357). Also of interest is that the author splits

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Turkestan Shrike as L. phoenicuroides (previously backed Shrike, which would suggest that the name included as a subspecies within L. is invalid. The author’s approach, to respond to the isabellinus ), and discusses the greyer-backed form confused taxonomic situation by sitting tight and ‘karelini’ as an entity still in limbo, without any doing nothing to exacerbate the ‘capricious’ (his formal subspecific delineation. His treatment of word) taxonomic history of Isabelline Shrikes, may the remaining ‘Isabelline’ shrikes follows that of strike a chord with many people who maintain Stegmann from 1930, retaining the name L. checklists. isabellinus speculigerus for Daurian Shrike. The Overall, the book represents a phenomenal arrangement proposed in 2000 by Pearson ( Bull. body of work and an essential resource for anyone BOC 120: 22–27), under which Daurian Shrike with an interest in any aspect of shrike biology. It became L. i. isabellinus , is discounted. This is in is not cheap, and it is not an easy read, but it will spite of the fact that Panov has already shown that repay any number of hours of study afforded to it. the type specimen of speculigerus shows some fea - tures indicative of a hybrid origin involving Red- Martin Collinson

Winged Sentinels: birds and climate change By Janice Wormworth and Ça ğan Şekercio ğlu Cambridge University Press, 2011 Pbk, 262pp; many colour photographs ISBN 978-0-521-12682-3 Subbuteo code M21131 £24.99 BB Bookshop price £22.49 The subject of climate provided from every continent, and a good cov - change is rarely out of erage of the European literature. One chapter the news and its effects deals specifically with the oceans, the changes in are obvious to anyone sea temperatures, acidification and water-current with an interest in systems that underlie some of the major repro - weather, landscape or natural history. Many biolo - ductive failures and population declines wit - gists believe that, if change continues at its current nessed in recent years among some British rate, it is likely to present the major conservation seabirds. But it is not just ‘our’ seabirds that are problems of the coming decades and that many being affected, as similar events are occurring at plant and species will become extinct. Not various localities around the world. Although surprisingly, the scientific literature on the effects many species are likely to ‘benefit’ from of climate change on plants and has climate changes, developing larger populations mushroomed over the last 20 years or so, but this that extend over wider areas, others are expected book is an attempt to summarise this literature as to decline in numbers and distributions. It is the it relates to birds. The first author is a freelance potential problem-species that the authors con - science writer, while the second is an academic and centrate on throughout. The last chapter conservationist, working as an Assistant Professor describes how conservation thinking and actions in the Department of Biology at the University of are being modified and developed to take account Utah. of the population and range changes that are As expected, the book covers all the major already underway, but are likely to gather pace in known effects of climate change on bird popula - the coming years. According to the literature that tions, from shifts in the timing of seasonal events, the authors quote, extinctions are inevitable. such as migration and breeding, to changes in Some of the research in this field is based on population levels and distribution patterns, dis - what has happened already, and any argument cussing, wherever known, the mechanisms about it is likely to centre on the importance of involved. In the northern hemisphere, the climate as opposed to other human impacts that breeding ranges of many bird species are could have caused the changes observed. But other spreading northwards or upwards, while at the research, just as necessary, is concerned with the same time retracting from the southern and prediction of further changes likely to occur in the lower limits of their recent ranges. The book is coming years. However well founded, this is essen - truly international in its approach, with examples tially speculative. This is not a criticism, but a

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