© 2001 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
Dynamics of Coral Communities
1 Department of Zoology University of Hawaii 2538 The Mall Honolulu, HI 96822-2233
Dynamics of Coral Communities. Ronald H. Karlson, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999, x + 250 pp., Population and Community Biology Series #23.
Coral reefs are the biodiversity poster children of the marine environment, so it is not surprising that publishers have responded. The spectrum of available books ranges from kid's coloring books to multi-volume surveys of corals of the world, and in-depth monographs complete with CD. While Karlson states no explicit goals, nor describes the intended audience for the book, in his preface, he does set out his own primary interest in the "dynamic properties of living coral communities," with more emphasis on ecological than evolutionary considerations.
The book consists of nine chapters: an introduction, followed by chapters on a range of processes, and two chapters on his own area of specialization—the relationship of regional and local factors on community species composition. Each chapter opens with a section (2 to 5 pages) on general community ecology. These "general considerations" draw on both theoretical and experimental ecology studies in terrestrial, freshwater, and temperate marine systems. For coral biologists with no background in community ecology these sections might constitute a sort of instant primer to topics that have been the focus of community ecologists for decades. The introductory sections are followed by discussions of published studies of coral reef communities.
The introductory chapter is a survey of ideas of scale in ecology and the importance of disturbance, recruitment and biological interactions (themes that will be revisited throughout the book). By the end of the chapter the reader will have completed a cram-course in marine benthic community ecology that its reminiscent of many ecology textbooks in its intensive use of examples—almost to the point of overkill. Chapter 2, on diversity, is also loaded with results, mostly from transect-type studies, that are presented in a fairly undigested manner. If Karlson had devised some tables that extracted the points he was emphasizing the reader might have had a better chance at seeing the unifying theme to the studies selected. Chapters 3 and 4, on stability and succession, introduce dynamics of coral communities. The format, as elsewhere, is to present several general papers, typically classics, and to discuss them seminar-style. Whether it is a reflection of Karlson's stated intention to emphasize modern reefs or not, the underlying assumption throughout seems to be that reefs (as we saw them in the 1970s) are the end-state, and deviations from this ideal are, under good conditions, remedied by succession. Chapters 5 and 6 cover competition and predation respectively. The present-some-papers-and-discuss format is continued here. Interspecific competition among corals and among reef fishes are covered using mainly research from the 1970s and 1980s. Consumer-resource interactions dealt with include basic predator-prey relationships, but also include plant-animal interactions. Major disturbances to coral reefs, Acanthaster outbreaks, Diadema die-offs, bleaching, and tropical storms grab headlines in the popular press. Karlson covers these, but also asks whether more intermediate level disturbances can enhance diversity of reefs. The approach here again reflects the viewpoint that there may be an ideal steady state condition for most reefs. The last two chapters deal with the topics most associated with Karlson's own research. The format used in the rest of the book worked quite well in these two chapters, giving Karlson the space needed to expand his ideas on the ways that communities reflect both local and regional sources of species. To my mind these chapters are the best in the book.
The question remains who is this book intended for and how well is this audience reached? This book could serve as an introduction to community ecology for coral biologists with no background in that field, or could introduce coral reef biology to community ecologists unfamiliar with reefs. While Karlson does a good job of presenting a lot of primary data which might not be familiar to non-reef types, the value of the book would be greatly improved if he had done more synthesis and analysis of the extensive data he surveyed.
Who should buy this book? It might appear that it could serve as a good basis for a graduate seminar course, especially for ecology students not too familiar with reef studies. Unfortunately, at the price of $150 it is not only out of the price range of grad students, but most faculty as well. A comparison with several more specialized coral reef books shows Karlson's at 60 cents per page, compared with Charlie Veron's Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific (with color plates on every page) at 15 cents a page, and Rachael Wood's Reef Evolution in paperpack is nine cents a page. Why a book with no special production needs should be so expensive is hard to imagine, but it certainly puts it out of the range that could be afforded by coral or community biologists. This fault lies with the publisher and not the author, but a reasonable price structure for this series would make it more likely to have an impact on the intended audience.
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