Customer Reviews

Latin American Mammalogy: History, Biodiversity, and Conservation (Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Publications)

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According to the Preface, this book is a sequel to Mares and Genoways' (1982) highly successful "blue book," complementing it in aspects that were scantily or definitely not covered there; namely, history, biodiversity, and conservation. Of course, the latter two topics started receiving attention from mammalogists only during the 1980s, and the first one demonstrates the increasing maturity of the discipline: when one starts thinking about origins, ancestors and forerunners, becomes humbled by the foresight of the ancient few and the follies of the numerous contemporaries. Due consideration to the history of Mammalogy makes us all a little wiser and is therefore is a welcome complement in this book.

The book is organized into those three major sections mentioned in the subtitle, though conservation is split into policy/management and education, thus yielding four parts. Overall, history takes up 16% of the book; biodiversity (and biogeography) account for 35%, conservation policy/management (26%), and conservation education (23%). Each of the four sections is preceded by an overview that is translated into Spanish. Every chapter has a summary, which is also translated into Spanish. The presentation and format of the book is attractive, same as the typesetting. The quality of the graphs and photos (black and white only) is uneven, probably owing to the different means at hand to the contributors rather than to the publisher. All headings, subheadings, and captions are perfectly standardized, including references in the literature cited sections. The English text is remarkably free of typographic errors. In what follows I concentrate on the different sections and chapters that compose the book.

Part I: Historical background, consists of four chapters. Rollin Baker opens this section with an historical résumé of the classification of Neotropical mammals, from Columbus arrival until 1957. This is an excellent synoptic view of the progress made in classifying Neotropical mammals by taxonomists from many nations. Keith Sterling tells the story of Edward Nelson and Edward Goldman, who together did pioneering work on the mammalogy of Mexico. This is an interesting tale on two regular guys who were part of the infantry that developed the discipline in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Knox Jones analyzes the academic branching pattern of a single mammalogical root in the U.S., that of Joseph Grinnell of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California-Berkeley. Grinnell (1877-1939) indeed was an intriguing and charismatic leader of U.S. mammalogy, but what bearing has this chapter on Grinnell and descendants for Latin America? In isolation, none; in conjunction with the following chapter, very much. Grinnell was an undisputed leader of U.S. mammalogy yet he is not known for having used his academic substantial weight in discouraging graduate students or "disciplining" critics or strays. Quite different is the personality of those who Michael Mares coins as "sapos" (sic, Spanish in the original). They are uncontested leaders of the discipline, who use their heavy weight to hammer down on underlings and strays the notion of who is the boss. These "sapos" are truly interested in the development of their science, but they want to be the one, only, and undisputed authority in the field. His/her associates will always be just that (but at least they will have an assured survival under the beneficial umbrella of their mentor) and his/her imagined enemies will receive relentless pressure until they cave in, migrate or die (academically speaking) in utter isolation. Poker-faced, "sapos" conveniently use the argument of nationalistic pride and patriotic honor when dealing with potential intruders from foreign countries. Mares must have observed very closely the behavior of several "sapos" because he not only describes them in great detail, but also even provides a key on "How to recognize a sapo," which I found very perceptive.

Part II: biogeography and biodiversity, consists of seven chapters. It opens with the contribution by Michael Willig and Elizabeth Sandlin, wherein they compare quadrat and band methodologies for assessing bat species diversity gradients and turnover along the Americas. I found this to be an enlightening analysis focused on a relevant problem. This chapter is followed by the long and rambling research report by Carleton Phillips and coworkers. I found it overly technical, dealing with a biogeographical issue involving two species of bats in the Caribbean (is this Latin America?). Bruce Patterson examines the role of biogeographic theory in dealing with down to earth conservation issues. He makes the point that there is not enough time left for studying areas one by one (the empiricist approach), and that theory will have to compensate for missing time. In contrast, William Boecklen presents a rather despairing litany on the limitations of biogeographical models. His is a neatly packed state-of-the-art chapter that it should have preceded Patterson's chapter. Gerardo Ceballos and Daniel Navarro present a scholarly review of the diversity and conservation status of Mexican mammals. This is a solid piece of work that will likely represent a benchmark for future studies of the same type. Although more restricted in scope, the contribution of John Fa and Luis Morales is a good companion to the preceding chapter. These authors examine the conservation status of mammals in the Trans-Mexican Neovolcanic Belt, a complex physiographic area across southern Mexico. In a commendably short chapter, Kent Redford and John Robinson recycle old information for a new purpose, that of determining the park size that assures the continuous existence of at least 500 individuals of a given mammal species. The conclusion is that most Brazilian parks (the only ones analyzed) seem to have an adequate size for most of the species examined.

Part III: Conservation policy and management consists of six chapters. Virgilio Roig describes how desertification brought about by man since the Spanish conquest, has resulted in decreased distributional ranges for several of the most conspicuous mammals in the southern cone of South America. Cleber Alho and Thomas Lacher report another case in conservation, on pantanal mammals. Although no mammal species seems to be endemic to the pantanal, the interdigitation of xeric and mesic vegetation and of terrestrial and aquatic habitats results in a rich mammalian fauna, even richer than that of typical tropical areas. The chapter by Jose Fragoso, on the effect of logging on a Belize tapir, seems out of place in this book. This is a plain progress report. In contrast, Jorge Cajal offers a synthetic and painstakingly documented work on the past and current distribution of guanacos and vicuñas. Although Cajal concentrates on the Argentine setting, he places his findings in the broader scope of neighboring countries. The contribution by Jeffrey Jorgenson and Amanda Jorgenson refers to imports of CITES-regulated mammals from Latin America to the U.S. This is an interesting chapter that succinctly explains CITES and then examines the statistics on importations of live specimens and parts, products and derivatives of mammals. Alisa Shull describes the role of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in preserving endangered mammals in that country. Although this agency and its mission have nothing to do with Latin America itself, it is interesting to be informed about its charter and operational mode --particularly the process of "listing."

Part IV: conservation education, is composed of six chapters. Don Wilson proposes that OTS (Organization for Tropical Studies), a consortium of universities and institutions, physically based in Costa Rica and administratively in the U.S., is a paradigm for tropical ecology and conservation education programs. According to Wilson, there is much to be learned from OTS, and that the experience developed in over 25 years of existence "could easily be transferred to similar programs in other tropical countries." Thomas Lacher and coauthors describe how international cooperation is helping the establishment of a program in Wildlife Management and Conservation at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, Brazil). Although of rather local interest, this chapter will become useful in providing the baseline against which the success of the above mentioned program could be gauged. Patricia Morton's chapter is on how to carry out an educational campaign to develop awareness of bat conservation in tropical America. I found that the guidelines proposed by Morton were good and adaptable to many organisms. Jane Packard and David Schmidly tell us about the role that mammalogists should play in promoting graduate training that integrates conservation and sustainable development. Although the authors carefully restrict their advice to U.S. universities, I found numerous words of wisdom throughout the chapter that are perfectly applicable to Latin American universities. Paisley Cato analyzes the value of natural history collections in Latin American conservation. Cato does an excellent rendition of the myriad of information pieces that well sampled, well curated, and well-conserved specimens may convey to the astute researcher. The final chapter of this section (and of this book) is by Janet Braun and Michael Mares. They call attention to the concept that natural history museums should not be mere repositories of dusty objects, but should instead become instrumental in promoting the development of a conservation ethic. Probably most museums do some of this through their exhibits, in-house education and research programs, and the dissemination of results in the literature. Braun and Mares are of the opinion that museums should do more. They make a compelling case for the establishment of outreach programs that take museum exhibits to the people, instead of waiting for them to attend at its central location. They further emphasize the importance of children education, which at tender ages are more susceptible of marveling at the wonders of nature. When grown up, these children may become advocates or even benefactors of the museums that once took the bother of reaching out to them.

In closing, I think this is a worthy companion of Mares and Genoways' blue book, and complements its coverage in precisely those areas most needed of immediate attention.