Book review

Abstract

Plankton is of great ecological and economic importance as it is at the base of aquatic food webs and fisheries. Nonetheless, several species of phytoplankton and jellyfish represent a hazard to human health and marine life, as they produce potent toxins or cause other noxious effects, such as anoxia and clogging of fish gills. Over the past century, reports of harmful plankton increases have become more frequent. Although this may be in part attributable to greater awareness of the public and attention from the media, it seems that this increase is real and its cost to the fishing and tourism industry amounts to many millions of dollars per year world-wide. To forecast outbursts of harmful plankton, make plans to avoid their occurrence or control their impact, requires a broad knowledge of the life cycles, ecology and behaviour of these organisms, the ecosystems in which they flourish, and the chemical, physical and biological factors that affect their abundance. To capture the complexity of the plankton within a single book is a difficult and daunting task. There are, in fact, generally very few published books on the ecology of plankton and none to my knowledge that deal with the use of plankton for water quality monitoring. Thus, this concise introductory book edited by Ian M. Suthers and David Rissik represents a useful addition to the existing literature by integrating general aspects of the ecology and taxonomy of key species of marine and freshwater plankton, with technical approaches and methodological guidelines on water quality monitoring. The different chapters draw from the knowledge and experience of a team composed chiefly of Australian scientists and government environmental managers. The book opens with a general introduction on the importance of plankton and the aims of the book. In Chapter 2, the editors provide a concise summary of the ecology of plankton, its associated environmental and water quality issues and its relevance as an environmental indicator. Chapter 3 presents selected real-life case studies, mainly from Australian coastal waters, which the editors use to illustrate how plankton can be used for monitoring water quality. Consistent and rigorous methodological approaches and appropriate sampling design are key to the success of any environmental survey. Thus, Chapter 4 gives guidelines on the best practice in sampling and monitoring, detailing how to design, implement and conduct meaningful phytoplankton and zooplankton monitoring programs in both marine and freshwater habitats. Accurate identification of plankton, particularly harmful species, can be difficult because many of these organisms are very small requiring skilful microscopy and familiarity with the widely scattered taxonomic literature. Therefore, Chapters 5–8, defined by the editors as the “core section” of this book, provide a comprehensive overview of the major freshwater and coastal marine phytoplankton and zooplankton groups. The book closes with Chapter 9 in which the editors consider how the use of mathematical models could aid in forecasting harmful plankton blooms and outbreaks. As the authors point out, the output of most of these sophisticated mathematical models is, however, often controversial because such models cannot replicate the complexity of an ecosystem and it depends on the numerical approach used. They are also difficult to implement requiring mathematical skills very often beyond the reach of many scientists let alone water managers and government officials. Therefore, something which I think is lacking in this book are examples of, simpler but nevertheless useful, numerical methods traditionally employed to investigate changes in community structure and diversity such as biological indices (e.g. Shannon–Wiener index, Pielou’s index) and multivariate analysis. In a book of such wide scope, it is difficult to remain consistent and accurate and this work is not an