Book Review

The study of plants constitutes a major area of research in biology. Analogously, at 30 chapters and 628 pages Ansari et al.'s “Plant Biodiversity: Monitoring, Assessment and Conservation” is a weighty tome covering an eclectic array of papers on plant biodiversity. Much of this information is presented as case studies from geographical regions hitherto minimally examined. The case studies are detailed which makes the volume a useful reference. The book is organized into eight parts. Part I is focused on plant biodiversity patterns across larger spatial or temporal scales. The diversity of chapter topics in Part I is typical of other parts of the book. Topics covered include mechanisms to increase the utility of a modern botanic garden using the Lisbon botanical garden as a case study, diversification of temperate region fruit crops in India, a summary of the 1314 Indian species of Asteraceae and their distribution, and mechanisms of plant diversity maintenance in tropical closed-canopy forests. This last chapter summarizes 51 studies on four major theories of diversity drivers in tropical forests. Part II of the book addresses plant biodiversity and ethnobotany. It contains two chapters. The first covers dryland plant diversity in south eastern Turkey and the role it plays in human health and food security. The region examined was important in human agricultural development and is important for modern agriculture as it contains many wild crop relatives which may have potential food and medicinal uses. The other chapter examines the ethnomedicinal plants of Jharkhand, India and the indigenous people's use of these. Both chapters examine specific geographic regions and contain detailed descriptions of their respective plant communities uses. Part III focuses on the relationship between “Plant Biodiversity and Biochemical Parameters.” Written by the same authors, the first of two chapters examine the ability of plants to function as nanofactories for the synthesis of nanoparticles, such as noble metallic nanoparticles derived from silver, gold and platinum, and their subsequent potential practical applications. The second chapter is a literature review of plant bioactive triterpenoids which also examines their potential pharmacological properties. “Plant Biodiversity and Climatic Factors” is covered in Part IV of the book. The first of two chapters examine the secondary metabolites produced by plants in response to environmental stressors such as air temperature, light, drought, CO2 and ozone concentrations. This chapter concludes with a small section on the characterisation of plant populations through secondary metabolite “fingerprinting”. The second chapter discusses the ability of four Cistus species to adapt to changing climatic conditions within the Mediterranean region. Morphological and physiological responses to stressful environmental conditions (e.g. drought, high light intensity) are described along with inherent mechanisms these species may use to buffer themselves against future climatic stresses such as summer drought-deciduousness. Part V—“Plant Biodiversity and Environmental Studies”—of the book includes a chapter examining the use of aquatic plant biodiversity as an indicator of various types of water pollution. Water pollution is noted to lead to changes in aquatic plant community composition and differentially impact individual plant guilds (e.g. macrophytes, algae and diatoms). Only one other chapter in the book addresses the aquatic environment. The other chapter in this part examines the 20 species of gymnosperms from five families found to occur in the Kashmir Himalayas. Each species' morphology, geographical distribution and local economic importance is described. The subterranean relationships between plants and other organisms is examined in part VI. Given the strong bias of the global botanical literature towards the terrestrial and arboreal realms the three chapters in this part offer a complement to the extant literature. The first chapter examines six commercial pulse crops, describing their major nematodal assailants, symptoms of disease, and an array of control mechanisms for each assailant, including chemical, biological, traditional and cultural approaches. The impact of soil microbes on ecosystem functioning and plant diversity are examined in the second chapter. The final chapter explores the potential of endophytic symbionts as sources of antimicrobial medicines. The last two parts of the book examine the monitoring and assessment of plant biodiversity (Part VII) and plant biodiversity conservation (Part VIII). Half of the books' 30 chapters are devoted to these two topics. One chapter provides a review of plant biodiversity monitoring techniques using permanent subcontinental forest plots as a model system. The analysis includes a discussion on ensuring the accuracy of tree species diversity assessments by optimizing sampling design and selecting the correct plot size. Another chapter examines the status of the onion family (and allies) in India. Particular focus is given to discussing the two centres of diversity-the western and eastern Himalayas. For each component species, information on the geographical distributions (based on herbarium records) and rate of human consumption is also given. The importance of community engagement for conservation project success is covered in another chapter. Coverage includes a detailed assessment of the relationship between project success and the level of engagement between traditional ecological knowledge and conservation researchers. A final chapter examines tropical forest conservation from a silvicultural perspective. The chapter includes a list of managerial strategies intended to ensure maximal biodiversity retention within production forests. The many interesting chapters within Plant Biodiversity contain valuable information for conservation practitioners and when viewed in totality they cover a broad range of botanical fields and geographic regions. This strength is also a weakness, as the various parts of the book and the book as a whole, lack a common theme. Eclectic is one thing; the lack of connective tissue is another. Connecting chapters through book part introductions would have aided in setting a context for the many studies. Minor grammatical errors throughout the book affect clarity. Despite these shortcomings,