Animal Ecology

American Zoologist, Dec 2001 by Paine, Robert T

Animal Ecology. CHARLES ELTON, with new introductory material by Mathew A. Leibold and J. Timothy Wootton. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001. vi 209 pp., $18.00 (ISBN 0-226-- 20639-4 paperback).

". . . ecology is quite a large subject."

These terminal six words to Charles Elton's 1927 masterpiece, arguably the founding source of community ecology, catches both his flair for understatement and desire to paint concepts with a broad brush. Possible contenders for similar recognition could also include S. A. Forbes' (1877) "microcosm" paper and the third chapter of Charles Darwin's "Origin." Neither of these, however, developed a conceptual framework around which to assemble ideas of community structure and organization. Elton provided these, in an easy to read style loaded with insight and catchy analogies (e.g., his famous badger/vicar comparison). The University of Chicago (UC) Press should be lauded for republishing this small book: it belongs on every ecologists' shelf, not only as an acknowledgement of an astonishing synthesis but also, perhaps, to be venerated as one of the birth places of the pluralistic ecology challenging us today.

The UC Press has embellished the republishing with a significant addition: a "new introduction" by two leading and relatively youthful community ecologists, M. A. Leibold and J. T. Wootton. Their chapter by chapter analysis effectively places Elton's thoughts into a contemporary framework. Surely, however, the "central ideas of ecology" encompass more than fitness, Malthusian parameters, carrying capacity, niche, and ecosystem. Where are biodiversity, biogeography or for that matter, the dynamics implied by trophic cascades or bottom-up influences`? But these are quibbles. Leibold and Wootton identify when and how Charles Elton touched these issues and many others, and provide an extensive set of references encouraging readers to form their own opinion on whether Elton's intuitively based ideas, rooted solidly in keen observation and a deep commitment to natural history, have weathered the trials of time, the development of statistical analyses, rampant experimental hypothesis testing, mathematical modeling of simplified or even imaginary assemblages. or their ilk. Their chapter by chapter focus very effectively place Animal Ecology into a modern context.

Leibold and Wootton took an appropriate course in developing connections to today's ecology but what did Elton's contemporaries think? The review in Ecology (W. C. Cook, 9:356-357, 1928) identified the "dynamic approach to ecology" and is entirely favorable, if brief. Not so the L Ecology evaluation by A. G. Tansley (16:163-169, 1928). His lengthy review caught the inspiration of Elton's book: its new terms and related syntheses, the catchy imagery, and its "charmingly ingenuous humour." He identified it as a "pioneer book," and it truly was. Including the historical perspective would have provided an interesting addition to the UC Press republication. Although it is obviously inappropriate to evaluate a classic 78 yr after its publication, especially in a conceptually young and evolving discipline like ecology, this edition should stimulate numerous discussion groups exploring how community ecology has changed in the interim, and the relevance of Charles Elton's seminal insights.

ROBERT T. PAINE

Department of Zoology

Box 351800

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington 98195-1800

E-mail: painert@u.washington.edu