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• W1738669252 abstract "Graham, A. (1999) Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic history of North American vegetation. Oxford University Press, New York. xviii + 350 pp, tables, figs, photos, index. Hardback: Price US$95.00, ISBN 0 195 11342 X. Why are the great plains of North America dominated by grassland vegetation? What are the origins of Tundra and Boreal forest? How have innovations in palaobotany, palynology and biogeography aided our understanding of the origins, affinities and evolution of the major North American plant formations? These questions are among the central issues explored in Graham’s comprehensive and excellent book on the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic history of North American vegetation. The principal aim of the book, to explain the origin and development of North American plant formations, is clearly defined at the onset and remarkably well achieved considering the broad scope. In Chapter One, the reader is provided with a descriptive overview of the seven major plant formations that exist in North America today, thereby setting the scene for the book as a whole, but also constituting the end point of the complex and dynamic vegetation history that unfolds in the subsequent chapters. In Chapters 2, 3 and 4, Graham provides the essential contextual framework of the environmental changes that have occurred over the last 70 million years, the timing of these events, and the methodologies and concepts used to investigate vegetation history. In the subsequent three chapters, an impressive list of fossil floras are discussed in time slices [Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene (Chapter 5), Middle Eocene to Early Miocene (Chapter 6), Middle Miocene through Pliocene (Chapter 7) and Quaternary, (Chapter 8)] in relation to the major factors that have influenced their distribution and composition, such as climate change, sea level oscillations, and tectonic processes. In addition to this complex web of interacting factors, the origin and development of vegetation through time are examined in relation to coeval faunal events. Chapter 9 finally synthesizes the formidable amount of information, to analyse critically the biogeographical affinities of North American vegetation. Throughout the book, there is a strong theme which emphasizes the need to combine all of the many threads of evidence present in the fossil record, be it isotopic, biological or geological in order to attain a comprehensive view of the major steps in vegetation dynamics. This is reiterated in the final chapter where Graham reviews emerging techniques in biogeography and outlines key areas for future research, both of which, are very much collaborative in nature. The book is very well structured, well referenced at the end of each individual chapter and although many disparate topics have been covered, the majority have been dealt with comprehensively and are well up to date. The targeted audience ‘both specialists and generalists who share an interest in the environments and events that have shaped North American vegetation’ at first seems slightly over ambitious as it is so difficult to cater equally for an audience of such a broad spectrum. Certainly, the inclusion of helpful summary sections, tables and explanations will suit the generalist and the impressive amount of detail covered and extensive references will provide plenty of fodder for the specialist. However when all is weighed up in relation to the price at US$95, I think the book will appeal more to the graduate than the undergraduate and I suggest that University and Institutional libraries will be the most likely buyers. For the more advanced undergraduate, this book will most certainly provide the biologist/botanist with an all important long-term temporal perspective of the complexities of vegetation history, and the geologist with an insight of the impacts of geological events on community dynamics. I also have a minor quibble with the figures as unfortunately, although their content is generally good, the quality throughout is quite poor and in places lets the book down. For instance, there are only two colour plates in the entire book, which considering the price, is disappointing. Colour photographs would have been much more helpful in giving a general impression of the different formation types in Chapter 1, rather than the rather greyish figures provided. In Chapter 2 however, a myriad of factors influencing and interacting with vegetation are skillfully woven together by the inclusion of a new factor as it is introduced in the text, into an increasing complex flow diagram. Although the quality of reproduction of these flow diagrams seems poor, they work very well at simplifying the huge amount of context information reviewed. In Chapters 5, 6 and 7, figures containing lists of the major fossil floras investigated in each of the three time slices, have been superimposed in a temporal sequence on palaeotemperature and sea level curves. Once more, the excellent content of these figures is somewhat let down by their poor quality. Finally, I feel that the important concepts of formations and associations used to describe units of vegetation throughout the book should have been discussed more critically at the start, particularly for the benefit of the geologist or undergraduate who may not be familiar with arguments for and against such a classification system. Graham does outline that these concepts have their problems as the book proceeds, but leaves the critical discussion that associations are dynamic and consequently so too is vegetation history to the final chapter. Notwithstanding, I think this is a great book which will serve as an excellent guide for an advanced lecture course and as a palaeobotanical guide to the localities of North America. I also like the personal asides and snippets of information on the history of the people and techniques that have brought this field of research to where it is today." @default.
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• W1738669252 date "2008-07-07" @default.
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• W1738669252 title "70 MILLION YEARS OF VEGETATION DYNAMICS" @default.
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