The Study of Plant Communities

Abstract

SINCE plant ecology first started, as a distinct division of study within the major science of botany, with the publication of Warming's "Plantes-amfund" in 1895 (first German edition in 1896 and an English edition, "Oeeology of Plants", Oxford, 1909), it has owed much of its rapid growth to American workers. In particular, the concept of succession was clarified and systematized, if not conceived, in the United States, and its development has been stimulated and largely directed by the researches, terminology and theories of American ecologists. It is therefore to be expected that textbooks of ecology intended primarily for American students should record progress periodically. Such works naturally have both peculiar value and particular limitations for students in other countries. They direct attention to points of view and literature which might otherwise be overlooked and to examples which might remain unknown. On the other hand, it is not always easy to evaluate the conclusions reached because of unfamiliarity with both the flora involved and the field conditions.

The Study of Plant Communities

An Introduction to Plant Ecology. By Prof. Henry J. Oosting. Pp. 389. (San Francisco : W. H. Freeman and Co., 1948.) 4.50 dollars.