© 2002 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
Book Reviews
1 Department of Biology& Environmental Studies InstituteSanta Clara UniversitySanta Clara, California 95053
Analysis and Management of Animal Populations. Modeling, Estimation, and Decision Making. BYRON K. WILLIAMS, JAMES D. NICHOLS, AND MICHAEL J. CONROY. Academic Press, San Diego, California, 2002, 817 pp. (ISBN 0-12-754406-2, $99.95).
Quantitative Conservation Biology. Theory and Practice of Population Viability Analysis. WILLIAM F. MORRIS AND DANIEL F. DOAK. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 2002, 480 pp. (ISBN 0-87893-546-0, $38.95)
To the delight of few and exasperation of most, the fields of ecology and conservation biology are becoming ever more quantitative. The problem, of course, is that math-phobia and mathematical illiteracy are rampant not only among university students, but also among highly trained professional biologists. We know we should learn more about the use of mathematics in these fields and we want to learn more, but it is usually too time-consuming and painful to keep up with the rapid development of quantitative techniques and models in population biology. Two new books, Quantitative Conservation Biology and Analysis and Management of Animal Populations, go a long way to bridge the gap between the quantitative tools of population biology and the biologists who would use these tools.
Although the two books cover some of the same topics, the authors have taken very different approaches to their subjects. Quantitative Conservation Biology is an exceedingly readable and practical foray into the mathematical aspects of one particular brand of quantitative ecology, population viability analysis. In contrast, Analysis and Management of Animal Populations is an encyclopedic tome covering an expansive range of population ecology techniques in a more comprehensive, albeit less accessible, manner.
First, Morris and Doak tackle the subject of population viability analysis, or PVA, in their book, Quantitative Conservation Biology. In fact, the subtitle of this book (Theory and Practice of Population Viability Analysis) is a more accurate descriptor of its contents—the book covers PVA and the estimation of demographic parameters for use in PVA. PVA centers around the estimation of the probability of and time to extinction for a population. The main goal of this book is to make PVA accessible to practitioners—the academic, governmental, and other biologists who are directly involved in population management and conservation biology. The authors are superbly successful at accomplishing this goal. The writing is clear, the examples are excellent, and well-designed figures make obvious even the most complex concepts. A feature that I greatly appreciated was the inclusion of raw data along with examples (often with a web address for the data) so that readers can work through the examples and check their answers against those provided in the book. In addition, Matlab code is provided in the book and on-line via the Sinauer website, and in many cases the authors provide easy-to-follow directions for Excel or SAS.
Morris and Doak have written an extremely practical book that explains in simple language how to do PVA and how to interpret the results. Yet their book is not overly prescriptive. The authors wisely decline to provide a single one-size-fits-all or "canned" PVA. Instead, they encourage readers to create their own PVA models, possibly by pulling together relevant bits of code from the various chapters. Those familiar with PVA may be aware that the techniques can be extremely data intensive, and often only the simplest forms of PVA can be used. Fortunately the chapters proceed from very basic PVA to the more sophisticated and data-hungry techniques. Another benefit for the non-theoretician is that the authors frequently provide suggestions for how to read the upcoming sections, including what derivations or other details might be skipped without missing the central points. All of these features combine to make this the most user-friendly book in the field of mathematical ecology.
Williams, Nichols, and Conroy take on a much broader suite of subjects in their book, Analysis and Management of Animal Populations. This book is an all-in-one reference for just about every quantitative technique an ecologist might ever need to use in the study of animal populations. Topics include sampling, experimental design, statistical analysis, mark-recapture and other techniques for the estimation of population size and vital rates, population modeling, and decision analysis. The authors have organized these myriad subjects by dividing their book into four sections. The first section provides a framework for the book and includes discussions of the scientific method, the use of models in population ecology, hypothesis testing, sampling and experimental design. The second section deals with mathematical models applied to animal populations and contains, among other things, an overview of classical demographic models, a thorough introduction to stochastic processes, and a discussion of the applied uses of demographic models in management and conservation. It is here, incidentally, that the authors provide an introduction to PVA. The third section covers estimation of abundance and of population vital rates, including survival, movement, and recruitment. Estimation of community attributes, such as species diversity, is also covered. Finally, the fourth section of the book covers decision analysis with a focus on optimal management of populations in the presence of uncertainty. This section ends with an excellent case study focused on management of game birds. Overall, Analysis and Management of Animal Populations provides an excellent in-depth resource for the population ecologist interested in animal populations.
These two books nicely compliment one another. Quantitative Conservation Biology is more readable and accessible, with more worked examples, but its focus on PVA is relatively narrow. Analysis and Management of Animal Populations, on the other hand, is more encyclopedic with discussions of the philosophy of science, sampling, hypothesis testing, and modeling, while simultaneously providing details on a extremely broad range of methods. Both books would make excellent additions to any ecologist's bookshelf. Of the two, however, only Morris and Doak's book is likely to be picked up by the reluctant biologist, wary of the obscurity and impenetrability of mathematical notation and reasoning.
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