Jürgen Schwoerbel, einführung in die limnologie

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LIMNOLOGY

J'drgen Schwoerbel, Einf~hrung in die Lirnnologie. Gustav Fischer Verlag, S tu t tgar t , F .R.G. U T B - 3 1 . 4 t h edn. , 196 pp. , DM 14.80, ISBN 3-437-20230-3 .

This is the 4 th ed i t ion of Schwoerbe l ' s small t e x t b o o k on l imnology. The main chapters deal with: the hydrologica l cycle; the s t ruc ture and phys- ical p roper t ies of water ; lake physics (light, t em p e ra tu r e and heat , water m o v e m e n t ) ; communi t i e s ; sewage and water po l lu t ion and two chapters on energy and mater ia l t ransfer processes (lake metabol i sm) , the first dealing with water chemis t ry sensu s t r ic to and the second with p r imary and second- ary p r o d u c t i o n (pr imary consumpt ion} and bacter ial processes. Bo th lakes and running wate r were t rea ted , a l though for the chemis t ry , the lakes are in the fo reground .

The t e x t has been slightly improved and only excep t iona l ly up-dated. This means tha t there are very few references af ter 1975 (one or two per full page of references) , while by far the major i ty are older than 1970. The l i te ra ture is main ly German . There is one re fe rence to the work of Talling, two for t ha t of Lund , one to tha t o f Vol lenweider ( the IBP manual ) , two very old Winberg references and none to the work of Macan.

In such a small b o o k one canno t e x p e c t an extensive t r e a t m e n t of the dif- f e ren t processes, bu t as far as I am concerned , the d i f fe ren t subjects are n o w t rea ted so br ief ly tha t no just ice is done . Fo r instance, the famous Talling curve is n o t deal t wi th at all, and his work is on ly m e n t i o n e d via c i ta t ions in o the r papers, while the curve i tself is given in a figure by an o th e r au thor , w i t h o u t explana t ion . Ni t rogen and phosphorus each get one or two pages, and the sed iment wa te r phospha te in te rac t ions are t rea ted so br ief ly tha t I th ink it will confuse the un in i t i a ted reader .

The b o o k is wr i t ten with great care and in an easy style, even for the non- nat ive German reader . There are no serious errors; dubious points arise due to the shortness of the t e x t (e.g., the C 14 m e t h o d does n o t measure n e t t pro- duc t ion ; a figure such as 23 is misleading w i th o u t a discussion in the text}. The b o o k gives a good overview over the whole field of l imnology and can serve as a r eminde r of the c o m p l e x i t y of the sys tem -- and will p robab ly be useful the evening be fo re an examina t ion . Whether it is useful as a first t ex t fo r a beginner in the field seems somewha t dubious , due more to its shortness , t han to a lack of clarity. I t m a y be helpful during undergradua te courses, since the teacher has an easily accessible book l e t at hand for tables, figures etc. With some criticisms, the b o o k l e t appears to be useful , especially during these courses.

H.L. GOLTERMAN (Arles, France)