Made for Each Other: A Symbiosis of Birds and Pines [Paperback]

Ronald M. Lanner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 29, 1996

A beautifully written account of the symbiotic relationship between pine trees and jays; a cycle of dependency has progressed for several million years as birds have effectively planted the trees that sustain them by dispersing the seeds. This book covers a wide range of regions, focusing on the Rocky Mountains and the American Southwest, but also ranging from the Alps to Finland, and from Siberia to China. The book is written from the perspectives of evolution, ecology, and animal behaviour.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Combining personal research with the works of others, Lanner (professor emeritus, Utah State) presents a documented account of the obligatory mutualism that exists between those species of pines having wingless seeds and birds such as nutcrackers and jays. He explains how the food dependency of the birds on the pines has interacted with the tree's reproduction to result in the coevolution of both, with the birds being the directing force. Lanner proposes a new sequence in the evolution of the "limber pine complex" because of his findings. The importance of this bird-and- pine association in the plant and animal communities is discussed, as are the environmental threats that may destroy it. This accessible book will interest nature and bird enthusiasts. Recommended for larger collections.?Frank Reiser, Nassau Community Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A clear and convincing story of a fascinating example of the complexity of nature."--IBIS

"This accessible book will interest nature and bird enthusiasts."--Library Journal

"This is a wonderful book, and could be read with profit by anyone interested in birds, conservation, community ecology, or co-evolution."--Paul Ehrlich, co-author of The Birder's Handbook

"Original and fascinating....Easy to read [and] accessible."--Peter H. Raven, Director, Missouri Botanical Garden

"There are only two or three people in the world that could write this book from a position of authority, [Ronald M. Lanner] is perhaps the best equipped."--Stephen VanderWall, University of Nevada

"This book is recommended for larger collections and will be of interest to bird lovers and those with general nature interests."--Electronic Green Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1st Edition. edition (August 29, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195089030
• ISBN-13: 978-0195089035
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,673,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well researched and elegantly presented nature study., August 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Made for Each Other: A Symbiosis of Birds and Pines (Paperback)

Ronald Lanner is a professor of Forest Resources at Utah State University. He became fascinated with the ecology of the whitebark pine, the only member of the "stone pine" family in North America, commonly found in high elevations. Its wide distribution, and that of the other stone pines was puzzling, because they tended to have large pinecones that did not open by themselves, and their seeds were large and wingless, and could not be distributed by the wind. Clearly some other agent was responsible for the way these trees would appear in fire ravaged areas, and at very high elevations. But what?

Lanner concludes that Clark's Nutcracker, and related birds around the world, were and still are the instruments of these trees distribution throughout the northern hemisphere, and that this might well be a case of co-evolution; two entirely different species (in this case of two entirely different kingdoms of life), adapting to fill each others needs, to the ben! efit of both.

This is a short and well argued analysis of this relationship, clearly and entertainingly written. Lanner draws not just on his own work, but on the studies of many other scientists and field researchers, and it is one of the hallmarks of his book that he describes their research in some detail, giving you a feel for how science works, with seemingly unconnected studies of plants and wildlife around the world being put together in an increasingly coherent answer to Lanner's original question. It is impeccably scientific, but not dry in the least.

Lanner concludes, as almost any student of nature has to do in this era, with a warning that this beautiful relationship between birds and trees is endangered from several quarters, most notably a virulent man-introduced fungus that is devastating the whitebark pine, and thus also endangering the future of the creatures that depend on it.

The book has color photographs and is elegantly illustrated. As is the cas! e with any really well done book of this kind, you feel as ! if you have learned about a lot more than just the specific topic at hand. The book is really about interdependence--how different life forms, over time, create a network of relationships, so that removing any piece of the puzzle disrupts the whole. It's one thing to hear this line endlessly parroted in the media; it's another thing to have the intricacy and beauty of such an ecosystem laid out before you.

My only quibble is the title--I like it, but as a birder, would have preferred "The Nutcracker Suite." Oh well. (g)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful book but with physical problems, July 27, 2005

By 

Duane Marble (Florence, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Made for Each Other: A Symbiosis of Birds and Pines (Paperback)

I have no problem with the review presented by "A Reader" but the paperback version of the book presents some physical problems. First, the illustrations are not in color and would, in fact, be considered poorly done if they were printed on newsprint. This detracts significantly from the pleasure of reading the book. Secondly, a number of pages display small areas of missing ink. The resulting dropped characters are quite annoying. There apparently is a cloth edition (at least the ISBN is shown) and that may be the source of the previous review.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pas de Deux of Evolution, June 19, 2009

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Made for Each Other: A Symbiosis of Birds and Pines (Paperback)

The stars of this balletic study are the whitebark pine and Clark's "Crow" (as in Lewis and Clark, who reported seeing the bird). The tree needs the bird to crack open its cones, fly off with the seeds and cache them by burying, forget the location of just a few, and thus effectively spread the species. The bird needs the tree as a reliable source of food which no other species can compete for.

Advocates of "Intelligent Design" might rush to declare such symbiosis to be evidence of their pet notion; obviously neither the bird nor the tree could have come first, or formulated such a strategy of cooperation, so they must literally have been "made for each other." Author Ronald Lanner presents quite a different story, one of co-evolution over generations of bird and tree, by which the two species in a sense 'made each other. It's a striking example of Darwin's "descent with modification" and also one of a self-sustaining ecological balance that is easily disrupted by human intrusion and stupidity.

Co-evolution is an important element in the Darwinian explanation of evolutionary processes. It is, I'd say, implicit in Darwin's own hypothesis, but it has needed an explicit account like this.

Lanner's evidence is coherent and cogently presented. This is a book of science. But it is also wonderfully well-written and amusing to read, almost a detective novel in its unraveling of the mystery of the whitebark pine's survival. The bird, Clark's Nutcracker as it is more appropriately called now, is a delightful character. I've watched 'him' in the wild. I would hope my grandchildren (and yours) will some day have a chance to watch him also, but given that the whitebark pine is a species of high elevation, immediately threatened by warming climate, the prognosis is grim.