Blackhearts: Ecology in Outback Australia [Hardcover]

Richard Symanski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 11, 2000

A firsthand account of the adventures of an ornithological field team studying long-tailed finches in outback Australia. It provides an insight into the demands of professor-student-based fieldwork, particularly when generational conflicts and differing expectations complicate "doing" science.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is an eye-opening book for those who think trekking through the woods to study songbirds is an idyllic experience. Anyone who has been in the field will recognize some (or even all) of the hardships. Symanski (ecology and evolutionary biology, Univ. of California, Irvine) and his wife, behavioral ecologist Nancy Burley (ecology and evolutionary biology, Univ. of California, Irvine), went to Australia to study blackheart finches for her research, taking with them their one-year old son, a student as babysitter, and three student field assistants. Unlike Margaret Lowman (Life in the Treetops (LJ 5/15/99) and Marty Crump (In Search of the Golden Frog (LJ 5/15/00), who discuss their careers in the field, Symanski covers only one field season, with some discussion of his wife's previous results. Like Crump, Symanski makes some interesting observations about the people and countryside around the field site, especially the place of Aborigines in Western Australia. However, he focuses on fieldwork, particularly recounting the social interactions among the field team members, and he has hard words for students unprepared for the difficulties of field life. Recommended for public libraries with travel or natural history collections; highly recommended for academic libraries.DMargaret Henderson, Cold Spring Harbor Academics, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

This fascinating book is a firsthand account of the adventures of an ornithological field team studying long-tailed finches in outback Australia. In 1991, Nancy Burley, a noted behavioral ecologist, and her husband, Richard Symanski, went to Australia with their one-year-old son and four American students hired as field assistants and babysitter. The social relationships and problems that developed among these individuals in confined and exotic settings and the scientific discoveries that did-and did not-take place form the heart of the book.Symanski begins by telling how he and his wife set up this elaborate field expedition-including the hiring of what seemed to be qualified, compatible, and knowledgeable field assistants. He then describes the harsh realities of their circumstances in Australia: primitive living conditions on an outback cattle station; field sites and subjects for study that were not as expected; and students who were not prepared for the rigors of field life and who became unenthusiastic about the work for which they had been hired. And he tells how he and his wife strove to overcome all the different challenges with which they were confronted. The book provides insight into the demands of professor-student-based fieldwork, particularly when generational conflicts, differing expectations, and culture shock complicate the "business" of doing science.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; First Edition edition (July 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300078196
• ISBN-13: 978-0300078190
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,612,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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