Review: [untitled] Author(s): Donald A. Walker Reviewed work(s): Polar and Alpine Tundra by F. E. Wielgolaski Source: Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Feb., 2000), pp. 107-108 Published by: INSTAAR, University of Colorado Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1552417 Accessed: 20/09/2009 23:49 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=instaar. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. INSTAAR, University of Colorado is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research. http://www.jstor.org Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2000, pp. 107-110 BookReviews THE DISTANT AND UNSURVEYED COUNTRY: A WOMAN'S WINTER velopment and history of the Canadian Arctic, and in the role AT BAFFIN ISLAND, 1857-58. Edited by W. G. Ross. Montreal of whaling in these waters. It is a scholarly work but one that I and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1997. xli + 258 read with great enjoyment and fascination. + 0-7735-1674-3. pp. 4 maps. $34.95. ISBN JOHNT. ANDREWS Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research This is a fascinating book. It chronicles the activities of the and Department of Geological Sciences wife of a Scottish whaling captain during a voyage on the "Lady University of Colorado Franklin" to Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, Canada. Mar- Boulder, Colorado 80309, U.S.A. garet Penny was the wife of Captain William Penny (for whom the Penny Ice Cap on CumberlandPeninsula is named). In 1857 she embarked on a whaling voyage with her husband and kept POLARAND ALPINETUNDRA. Edited by F E. Wielgolaski. Am- a detailed diary of events. The diary has been preparedfor pub- sterdam:Elsevier Science. 1997. 930 pp. Hardback,$497. ISBN lication by Gillies Ross, an Emeritus Professor of Geography at 0-444-88265-0. Bishops University, Montreal, and an expert on the whaling ac- tivities in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. He combines the simple Polar and Alpine Tundra is Volume 3 of David W. Good- transcriptionof the diary in terms of day-to-day activities with all's 30-volume Ecosystems of the World.It is principally a com- a discussion and explanation of events. This greatly adds to the pendium of ecosystem descriptions from diverse tundra regions enjoyment of the book because it puts specific issues and events around the globe, including Fennoscandia (authored by F E. in their appropriatehistorical context. Wielgolaski), Iceland (T. E. Thorhallsdottir),the EuropeanAlps I had my own reasons for wishing to read this book, and (G. Grabherr),high mountains in the former USSR (R. I. Zlotin), which to a degree rendered it "special." This was because in the central Himalaya (G. Miehe), tropical African alpine (0. the summer of 1973 Paul Carraraand I had worked along the Hedberg), southern African alpine (D. J. B. Killik), North Amer- north shore of Kingnait Fiord, and had camped for several days ican alpine (J. S. Campbell), New Zealand alpine (A. F Mark in what Ross believes was the harbor called "Sophie Harbour" and K. J. M. Dickinson), South American paramos (A. Diaz. J. in the diary (this name is no longer applied on topographicmaps E. Pefaur, and P Durant), Svalbard (A. Elvebakk), arctic Russia and its location is based on Ross's judgement of descriptions of (Yu. I. Chemov and N. V. Matveyeva), arctic North American the harbor in the diary). (L. C. Bliss), Greenland (J. Bocher and P M. Peterson), and The book starts with an Introductionwhich gives an infor- Antarctica (H. Kanda and V. Komarkova). Four chapters from mative overview and backgroundto the whaling industry at this the former Soviet Union are particularlywelcome additions with particulartime. It also includes biographical sketches of the two information that was previously not available in the West. Some main figures in this book, Margaret Penny and her husband, chapters are on more focused topics, such as adaptationsof al- William. The diary starts on July 5th, 1857 with the ship en pine plants (Wielgolaski), alpine insects (L. S0mme), primary route to Baffin Island. Initially the diary is kept by CaptainPen- production and biomass in Russian tundra (N. I. Bazilevich, A. ny, but from July 30th on Margaret Penny became the diarist, A. Tishkov, and G. E. Vilchek), chemical elements in tundra and is from this unique woman's perspective of native peoples, plants (Bazilevich), and subalpine ecosystems of the Carpathian and life on-board a whaling ship in the mid-19th century which Mountains (K. A. Malinovsky). The emphasis is on plant com- renders this book so absorbing. The editor has broken the diary munities and ecosystem function. Most chapters provide excel- and associated comments down into a series of chapters which lent overviews of the climate, geology, soils, and biota. The simply march through the year. Each chapter is given an appro- book is about equally weighted between alpine and polar envi- priate heading associated with the main events of that particular ronments. For tundra aficionados, it is a fine adventure reading period of time. Thus for the period November 26th to December this book from cover to cover. As in any work of this nature, 31st the title is "Ill Supplied with Food," whereas the period there is variability in the style and content of the various chap- May 13th to June 30th, 1858 is called "Fish in Every Direc- ters. There is no way to adequately review all the chapters, but tion." The book is illustrated in a number of different ways. I have selected three to provide some idea of the type of infor- Four maps are included and these are extremely useful in tracing mation in the book. some of the activities mentioned in the diaries. In addition, re- My favorite chapter is Chemov and Matveyeva's from the cent photographs of the area, older photographs of whaling ac- Russian Arctic. It is the longest chapter in the book (146 pages), tivities, and lithographs are all used to place the contents of the and it is a rich source of information regarding the ecology of diary into a better visual perspective. Ross himself visited sev- the Taimyr Peninsula, a huge piece of the Arctic that is little eral of the major sites noted in the diary, such as the old whaling known to western scientists. The chapter begins with a history station on Kererten, and has illustrated their setting with black of geobotanical and ecological research in northernRussia. The and white photographs. authors then examine biotic changes across the 10?C mean July The book ends with an "Epilogue" by Ross who reviews temperaturegradient of the Taimyr Peninsula. Chemov, a zool- some of the aspects covered in the diaries within their historical ogist, and Matveyeva, a botanist, discuss the major changes in perspective. Thus there is an interesting discussion on whaling a wide variety of biotic parameters (productivity, structure,di- and a piece on missionary Matthaus Warmow and the role of versity, phenology, and abundance) for a broad group of organ- the Moravian Church in the Arctic. isms (vascular plants, insects, birds, and mammals). Their ex- I heartily recommend this book to all interested in the de- amination of the consequences of climate change to all trophic ( 1995 Regents of the University of Colorado BOOKREVIEWS / 107 levels is a great strengthof this chapter.The chapter concludes cussions are quite general because of the huge variability and with an insightful discussion of the ecological implications of lack of similar data sets from such a wide variety of regions. reduced warmthto populations, communities, and trophic inter- The chapterhops across 23 mountainranges with short discus- actions. Their main message is that arctic tundraecosystems are sions, which are helpful for finding key regional references, but at the margin of global climatic conditions and are uniquely lack much depth. The territoryis too large for a single chapter. dependent on a single factor, temperature.This is reflected in A synthesis of informationin relation to obvious geographical the strong correlationof many biotic parameterswith summer gradients such as latitude, altitude, or regional climate would temperature.The micro-, meso-, and macrostructureof the living have been extremely useful. The bibliographyshows few refer- plant cover is dependent on the availability of summer warmth ences more recent than the mid-1980s, and numerouskey alpine and its consequences (shortness of the growing season, lack of references are not included, such as those of the 16-yearhistory nitrogen,etc.). However, numerousmechanisms are operatingto of intensive ecosystem researchLTER program on Niwot Ridge, partly compensate for the negative effects of temperatureand Colorado. contributeto the preservationof complex community organiza- The book brings to light some currentproblems with geo- tion.