The ecology of Atlantic shorelines. - Review - book reviews

Ecology, Sept, 1999 by Mary Crowe

Bertness, Mark D. 1999. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts xiv 417 p. $39.95, ISBN: 0-87893-056-6.

The ecology of Atlantic shorelines is intended to introduce its readers (undergraduates and amateur naturalists) to the animal and plant communities of the Atlantic shores of North America. This book is easy to read and two students that I had examine the book thought it interesting and informative. Bertness stresses concepts and ideas rather than details. This approach is refreshing in that it will allow individual faculty members to pick the topics on which they wish to focus, using primary literature as ancillary materials. I anticipate faculty interested in teaching a summer field course for sophomore-junior level could use the book to frame their course (but see comments later for the need of supplemental material).

The book consists of seven chapters and the first four chapters introduce the reader to natural processes that shape the Atlantic shoreline. The first chapter covers a plethora of topics, ranging from geological, physical (tides, waves), and ecological (species invasions). The second chapter is entitled "The economy of the shoreline: the production and consumption of resources." This chapter focuses on productivity, how communities are controlled, trophic levels, optimal foraging, and prey defenses. The two students that read the book found the title of this chapter misleading. They expected the chapter to be focused on the fishing industry, rather than on primary productivity and trophic levels. I think it is important for students to be aware that the natural processes carried out by organisms in ecosystems are often referred to in these terms; however, the chapter lacks a brief introduction that would help students understand why these terms are used. Given the breadth of topics covered in these two chapters, Bertness clearly had to sacrifice in-depth discussions of these concepts. I do think he is successful in giving readers a general background into a wide variety of ecological theories, processes that create(d) the Atlantic Coast.

The third chapter is much more focused than the previous two. It concentrates on reproduction and recruitment of animals to the shores of the Atlantic. Bertness does a good job outlining the perils and benefits of different reproductive strategies of animals along the coast. He also makes the case for more laboratory experimental studies that mimic realistic natural conditions.

The fourth chapter introduces the reader to succession and how competitive interactions influence the communities of the Atlantic shore. Up until this chapter the majority of examples in the text are from animals and not plants. I think Bertness does a good job illustrating succession and the impact competitive interactions have on shaping the plant and animal communities that live on the shores.

The last three chapters each focus on a different habitat type that make up the Atlantic coast: Chapter 5 focuses on rocky shores, Chapter 6 focuses on soft sediment beaches while Chapter 7 concentrates on salt marshes. Each of these chapters give the reader a general but comprehensive introduction to each of these habitats and the ecosystem processes that are important in shaping them. Each chapter investigates both the common processes and differences (i.e., exposed vs. protected shorelines) within habitats. If students read the chapter on soft sediment beaches prior to visiting the shores of North Carolina or Georgia, they would have a firm understanding of both the physical and ecological interactions that make these communities work.

Each chapter contains a summary and a list of suggested readings. A few of the suggested readings have a one-sentence description that lets the reader know what to expect if they wish to do further reading, but most don't. Given that this text is aimed at undergraduates, an annotated list of suggested readings would be more helpful. The chapters are well organized and the differentiated chapter headings allow the reader to easily follow the organization of the book. I found the glossary useful and the literature cited extensive, containing a good mix of classic work in marine ecology as well as recent studies that have helped to elucidate our understanding of the Atlantic coast shorelines.

Throughout the book there are numerous figures, diagrams, and drawings. In fact it is rare for a page not to contain some sort of graphic. This is both a strength and a weakness of the book. The line diagrams of organisms are outstanding and students will gain much from these. The weakness lies in the figures. Many professors feel that students need to be able to interpret data and in my class I like to place a figure on an overhead and have students tell me what it means. Bertness, it appears, has tried to take figures from primary literature and simplify them for the book. But, by doing so, critical information is lost. I came across more than one figure in the text that could not be interpreted from Bertness's book alone. I needed to go back to the original papers to determine x-axes and/or scales.