ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

A three part series (upland, lowland, and aquatic habitats) on the ecology of the southeastern United States was undertaken in the early 1980s by the southeastern chapter of the Ecological Society of America. The project, which originally was proposed as the "Ecosystems of the southeastern United States," was certainly ambitious in its attempt to bring together in one volume approximately 3-4 centuries of information on the ecological systems of the southeastern United States. The basis of the treatise is Kiichler's classification of "potential" natural vegetation (Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Potential natural vegetation of the conterminous United Sates [Map and Illustrated Manual]. Special Publication No. 36. American Geographic Society, New York). The editors have assumed that the Kichler classification reflects pre-Columbian vegetation types of the southeast (recognizing that native Americans influenced certain areas intensively). This creates problems for most authors, especially those attempting to deal with ecological systems that have a long evolutionary history in association with disturbances, because the nature of such systems was not recognized by Kiichler. As a result, these two volumes are somewhat anachronistic. This is especially the case for chapters dealing with those regions (the lower coastal plain) where recurrent disturbances such as fire and hurricanes have been major environmental variables for very long periods of time, predating the arrival of humans in the southeastern United States. Reading many of the chapters is like a trip back, at least several decades, to times when disturbances were viewed as forces interrupting successional processes believed to dominate ecological communities of the southeast. The concept that natural disturbances such as fires and hurricanes are integral parts of the environment and as such have been involved in the evolution of the species (and communities) present is generally missing from the chapters dealing with disturbance-prone habitats. Each chapter deals with four general topics: the physical environment, the major plant and animal communities, historical and current patterns of resource use and management, and ecological research opportunities. Simply trying to cover all these topics for relatively large geographic areas created problems for most authors. As a result, there are long lists of plants and animals, and treatment of the ecology of the habitats often becomes very superficial, with little in-depth discussion of current concepts and ideas. Important species often are listed in tables, with only the merest mention of them in the text. As a result, the concept of a diverse and unique southeastern biota, with a long evolutionary history that predates the Pleistocene glaciations, does not emerge from the compendium. Furthermore, in some chapters, there is an overwhelming emphasis on human alterations of habitats, which further compresses the biology and ecology of indigenous species and habitats into minor sections that de-emphasize biodiversity. There are a total of 18 chapters in the two volumes. These are strongly oriented toward forested landscapes, including chapters on oak-hickory-pine forests, oak-hickory forests, mixed mesophytic forests, Appalachian oak forests, high elevation forests (including northern hardwood forests), floodplain forests, and southern mixed hardwood forests. There is only one chapter dealing exclusively with pine forests/savannas, the habitats that covered the majority of the area of the southeastern United States in presettlement times. Likewise, there are only two chapters on southeastern graminoid communities, one of which deals with the Everglades region of south Florida. A scattering of restricted habitats, such as rock outcrops, mangroves, maritime forests, and pocosins, are included, while others of similar areal coverage (e.g., seepage bogs, scrub, subtropical hammocks, open marshes, coastal and dry prairies) are incorporated as brief mentions in other chapters. I cannot help making a comparison of the Biodiversity volumes, especially that dealing with the lower coastal plain, to a similar book, Ecosystems of Florida (Myers, R. L. and J. J. Ewel [eds.]. 1990. Ecosystems of Florida. University of Central Florida Press, Orlando, Florida). The subject material of the two books is quite similar, because both deal with coastal plain communities. While the latter has a more restricted area to cover, there is more material covered at a greater depth. In addition, chapters of the Ecosystems of Florida are much more interesting to read and are more effective at relating the historical literature to current questions being addressed by ecologists in ways that stimulate thought on the subjects being addressed. Even more important, especially for students interested in working in the southeastern coastal plain, material in the Ecosystems of Florida is more current in its content, despite an earlier publication date. There is one final comment I must make on the Biodiversity volumes. I found numerous small errors in the content of those chapters that dealt with those regions of the southeast with which I am most familiar. For example, Florida is not the only state that lies entirely within the southeastern coastal plain. Nor is Lee County one of the four most southern counties in Florida. Likewise, all of the southern region of the lower coastal plain has a frost-free period of 270 days, not just peninsular Florida, and even the southern tip of the Florida peninsula is not completely frost-free. To me such small errors are disturbing and indicate that writing and editing of material might have been more careful.