Landscape Ecol DOI 10.1007/s10980-010-9479-9

BOOK REVIEW

S. E. Jorgensen, T.-S. Chon, and F. Recknagel (eds): Handbook of ecological modelling and informatics WIT Press, Billerica, MA, 2009, 431 pp, Hardcover, US$360.00, ISBN-978-1-84564-207-5 John B. Bradford

Received: 5 February 2010 / Accepted: 5 April 2010 Ó US Government 2010

The application of models to address ecological questions began in the early 20th century with relatively simple population models. Over the past century, ecological modeling has become an essential important tool in many, if not all, ecological disciplines. Increasing computer performance over the last several decades has facilitated simultaneous growth in two interrelated approaches to addressing ecological questions: ecological modeling, which is the practice of integrating mathematical representations of ecological processes into a framework for understanding the systems behavior, and ecological informatics, which is the practice of gathering, manipulating, storing, retrieving, synthesizing and interpreting data about ecological processes. Ecological models have benefited significantly by increasing abundance and quality of data about ecological processes and the emergence of ecological informatics as a means for utilizing and understanding those data. The practice of ecological modeling has evolved into a wide array of highly diverse model structures and types. This diversity has become a challenge to both new ecologists trying to understand the scope and utility of ecological modeling and for veteran ecological modelers interested in staying aware of the range of modeling approaches being applied. Editors Jorgensen, Chon, and

J. B. Bradford (&) USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Grand Rapids, MN 55744, USA e-mail: [email protected]

Recknagel have attempted to address this challenge in Handbook of Ecological Modelling and Informatics. Handbook of Ecological Modelling and Informatics begins with four chapters that present general background about the practice of modeling to address ecological questions. The first chapter describes the history of ecological modeling and how it applies to the wide range of ecological sub-disciplines. The next chapter outlines the various model types commonly used by ecologists and serves as a preview of the topics covered by much of the remainder of the book. The final two chapters in the introductory section provide brief overviews of ecological informatics and ecological model making. These chapters provide a solid introduction to both ecological modeling and the application of informatics to understand complex ecological processes. These chapters are, in my opinion, the best of the book, and are likely to be the most useful part of the book for readers who are interested in developing a general understanding of how ecology works and applying ecological models in their own research. The remainder of the book is a series of chapters devoted to discussing and illustrating the variety of types of ecological models. The topics covered by these chapters are as diverse as the processes examined by ecologists, and include spatial models, population models of several types, fuzzy models, biogeochemical models, ecotoxicological models, behavior models, and others. Although any individual reader is unlikely to find value in all of these example chapters, I am grateful to the authors for presenting such a diverse compilation of

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modeling approaches and examples. One of the major obstacles for many ecologists that are new to modeling is the practical details of acquiring and running an ecological model that is suitable for their system and question. Handbook of Ecological Modelling and Informatics provides a valuable tool for overcoming that obstacle by including a contact list for each example chapter, a CD with detailed datasets and programs, and, for most chapters, a website for more information about the modeling framework utilized. This allows interested readers to learn more about the techniques described and pursue the possibility of applying the models to their own data.

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Handbook of Ecological Modelling and Informatics provides a rare combination of both an approachable introduction to the practice of ecological modeling and a compilation of detailed examples of applying ecological models to actual questions. Although the cost of Handbook of Ecological Modelling and Informatics is quite substantial, readers who are new to ecological modeling will appreciate the introductory material, those with a particular modeling task in mind are likely to find value in the detailed examples, and even experienced modelers may benefit from the chapters about other modeling sub-disciplines.