Editors: Iain M. Suthers and David Rissik
CSIRO Publishing
ISBN: 9780643090583
AU$49.95
The resurgence of interest in plankton in Australia over the last few years is welcomed by those of us who have been studying these organisms for some time. While phytoplankton have remained a focus for study due to their critical position at the base of aquatic food webs, zooplankton have spent a long time in the aquatic wilderness. Thankfully this is changing and the importance of these animals in aquatic environments is being increasingly recognised. This new book, edited by Iain Suthers and David Rissik, provides an excellent introduction to many aspects of plankton ecology, both basic and applied. Over 20 authors have contributed to the book, with two or more co-authors for each of the nine chapters. The guide is aimed predominantly at water quality and resource managers at the local and state government levels, those interested in environmental planning, and teachers. However, the editors undersell themselves a little in terms of their target audience – ostensibly those with management aims – and I will happily both keep a copy in my reference collection and direct students to its contents. The book offers a fine array of examples from Australia, or at least from the Southern Hemisphere. Throughout the guide the use of boxes to highlight specific aspects is handy and helps to clarify certain key issues of plankton ecology.
Right from the beginning the guide provides a ‘how-to’ manual for anyone starting out in plankton sampling, though the focus is on those whose aims are directed towards water quality management. The first three chapters set the scene by describing plankton and their habitats, followed by sections placing plankton in the context of environmental and water quality issues. Here the focus is rightly on phytoplankton as controllers of nutrients and as producers of harmful algal blooms, though there is also a nice section on using freshwater zooplankton as water quality indicators. The chapter on sampling methods emphasises the need to define the question and statistical analysis before you begin. This is laudable given that plankton studies often seem to follow the collect first, analyse later approach. Plankton are relatively easy to collect but take a long time to process, and the authors highlight how a lot of wasted sampling effort can occur if the sampling design is not clarified fully beforehand. They make the important point that using old data or data collected using less than perfect methods can be a worthwhile exercise, particularly with today’s emphasis on trends and environmental changes.
Four chapters of the guide are devoted to identification of key planktonic organisms: phytoplankton and zooplankton from freshwater, coastal and marine habitats. I liked the boxes that highlighted the distinctive features of the key groups, and gave occasional additional information, such as vegetative reproduction in diatoms. The large table showing marker pigments in major algal groups (in Chapter 6) would have been more useful if it was accompanied by a description of extracting and measuring pigments. Perhaps a box summarising the use of HPLC could have been added, or at least some references listed where pigments were used to determine algal distribution.
The chapter on freshwater zooplankton provides a sound introduction and includes a decent reference list. The simple keys for the major groups are a good starting point and there is a useful summary of the sampling devices commonly used for freshwater plankton. The chapter on marine zooplankton is the longest of the four identification chapters and covers quite a lot of ground. Black and white photographs enable initial sorting of a plankton sample based largely on size and shape. While this will not assist in getting to species level for small animals with numerous similar species, e.g. the copepods, it will take you quite a long way with separating into major groups. The chapter provides information on the crustaceans (usually the dominant group in a zooplankton sample), gelatinous species (including salps and ctenophores), worms and snails and some protists. Jellyfish, which potentially provide huge problems for managers, are covered in their own section. Finally, there is a helpful section on larval fish, which is useful for those of us who only encounter fish larvae in their samples rarely.
The final chapter on models and management describes aspects that managers and others should look for when working with models and/or modellers and also provides a summary of the potential pitfalls of models. Clearly this chapter can only provide a brief overview but it does a good job of highlighting those issues that can be important to managers. Not least of these is that managers are often in the position of having to deal with mistrust and misunderstanding of models, and what they can provide, from people in the wider community. The chapter gives a brief rundown on common models such as trophic and NPZ models, then goes into more detail about Bayesian Decision Networks. The authors highlight the importance of community consultation for producing relevant and robust models.
Overall I have very few quibbles with this book. I would have liked the authors to include a few more photos. For example, when discussing the use of a Sedgewick-Rafter cell for counting phytoplankton, it would have made the text easier to interpret. The details of a couple of contributors (Ticehurst, Merritt) are not included in the List of Contributors. Overall, this is an excellent book and I recommend purchasing one for your book shelf.
Review by Dr Kerrie Swadling, Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute, University of Tasmania