Customer Reviews (1)

A book to avoid
I have only just come across this title, which rather surprised me since I reckon to have a very comprehensive library of similar titles, which I attempt to keep up to date. However, having purchased the volume, I realised why I had not heard of it. It is a waste of money, and a waste of bookshelf space. Despite the claim of the preface that "This volume provides in-depth coverage of... endangered species through an extensive bibliography and author, title and subject indexes [sic].", it does nothing of the sort. It is difficult to imagine how a publisher could commit to print a book, which is simply a bibliography, nothing more, nothing less, which is so incompetent. The very first page shows a major failing: the titles are listed alphabetically -- a sensible and normal procedure -- but it is not normal or sensible to include the indefinite and definite articles in the index -- consequently there are several pages of books which, because the title begins with 'The' are extremely difficult to find. I presume this bibliography was generated from a computerised library data base -- how else explain the inclusion such titles as "Husbands, an Endangered species, by Lucille Lavender, 1982? The titles relating to endangered species are a pretty random selection. -- some are very detailed, dealing with a single species, but others of major importance, such as various IUCN publications are completely omitted. And the indexes [sic] are obviously of dubious value, when Jane Thornback's work is listed, but her name does not appear in the index. There are many more mistakes of omission and commission, but these few will do to demonstrate its failings. Six people are credited as being involved editorially in some way or other -- they should be ashamed of publishing a volume as poorly edited as this. Since I have published various books and papers on this subject, I am clearly biased, but nonetheless, I feel a word of warning is needed concerning a book as poorly researched as the present volume.

John A Burton
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Product Description

Product Description
This digital document is a journal article from Forest Ecology and Management, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The crown illumination index (CII) is an ordinal scale frequently used to qualitatively assess the light environment within a forest. Although this method provides a simple and rapid approach, it can be subjective and needs to be calibrated against quantitative measurements of canopy structure. A study was undertaken in north-western Amazonia to provide a means to calibrate the CII in tropical forests. Hemispherical photographs were taken to represent each CII class, which were then analysed using HemiView 2.1 software in order to calculate light availability factors. The proportion of visible sky and indirect, direct and global site factors (the proportion of indirect, direct and total radiation reaching a point, compared to an open location) were all found to correlate strongly with CII class and therefore offer a viable method for calibration. CII classes could only be weakly defined with respect to leaf area index (LAI), however, and so conversion of CII to LAI or vice versa is problematic. The results of this study provide a quantified description of each index class, significantly improving interpretation of the crown illumination index. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is a journal article from Forest Ecology and Management, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
An increased attention drawn to uneven-aged forests, selective cutting and natural regeneration have been seen in Norway over the past years. This means that forest managers face new challenges related to localization and prioritization of forest areas that potentially are suitable for selective cutting. A selective cutting index describing the suitability for selective cuttings based on objectively measured stand attributes related to forest structure and conditions for natural regeneration was therefore, developed. The index comprises four sub-indices describing diameter diversity, growth potential, stability of remaining trees, and conditions for natural regeneration of a stand. The index may be used as a tool in decision-support in practical management planning. It is easy to interpret and can be applied directly because all variables included are available from practical inventories. An evaluation, based on data from the national forest inventory in Norway, showed that the performance of the index agreed with general biological knowledge and previously performed research. The evaluation also showed that the suitability for selective cutting probably is more precisely determined with the index compared to a subjective assessment based on the number of vertical tree layers. ... Read more