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BOOKREVIEWS C. Neal Stewart Jr. (ed.): TRANSGENIC PLANTS. CURRENT INNOVATIONS AND FUTURE TRENDS; Horizon Scientific Press, Wymondham, 2003, 297pp. Price GBP 90.-, 1SBN 1-898486-44-1 This book deals with a hot topic of contemporary biotechnological research: genetic transformation of plants. As is clear from the title, current innovations and future trends covering this area of research are described and discussed by authors. The book is divided into I 1 relatively self-contained chapters, each having different contributors. All chapters are followed by a comprehensive list of references. The readers of the book should keep in mind that all the authors are in favour of genetic modifications. Indeed, this book has been composed to review current state-of-the-art biotechnologies and also focus on the immediate future. Maybe this is why no objective risks associated with the release of genetically modified plants or trees are discussed. Yes, it is discussed elsewhere, but it would be interesting to know the opinion of the authors of this book on the risks associated with the products they propagate. Generally, each novel technology and/or trait described and discussed should be accompanied by a discussion evaluating risks associated with the technology, if some occur. The only exceptions are made in chapter 6, where authors accept a very low risk of antibiotic-resistance transfer to pathogenic bacteria and in chapter 9, where authors deal with food safety evaluation. Release of genetically modified plants is a very tricky issue, at least in the EU. Thus, I would appreciate placing the content of this book into a wider context. It would be desirable to introduce readers into the machinery of genetic modifications. To outline briefly what the process of the release of genetically modified plants encompasses, which transgenes have already been released and where, what attempts have failed and why, and what economic benefits both farmers and consumers have registered. Otherwise, the book will not be comprehensible for non-scientists or people less oriented in biotechnological research. Until genetic modifications are more focused on consumers and their benefits, they will never be widely accepted. Some potential modifications sketched in this book, such as the possibility to manipulate trees for better wood quality or crown structure are primarily proposed for economical benefits. In my opinion, such modifications really are not essential for improving the human lives. Other examples, such as development of edible vaccines and pharmaceuticals, transgenic trees for remediation of contaminated soil and water, or development of drought or salinity tolerance would appear highly desirable. Similarly, the transformation of chloroplast genome seems to be very promising, if we consider that the risk oftransgenic material transfer would be really minimized. As noticed in the Introduction, the authors of this book believe that transgenic plants have a strong future because of their potential to improve human state. They also believe that aside from the rather simple modifications already established, engineered traits which have a more complex background, such as metal tolerance, drought tolerance or enhanced nutritional content, will represent further examples of mastered GM technologies. What more, the immediate future should bring progress in plant transgenic research as new genes will be discovered and identified. Chapter 2 reports about desirable genetic modifications in trees. In particular, controlling maturation and flowering for forest tree domestication is a topic of this chapter. Trees are planted to produce wood, however, nearly all the characteristics of juvenile wood are inferior to those of mature wood for both pulp and solid wood products. Therefore, to accelerate transition from juvenile to mature wood would appear highly desirable. The ability to control maturation or to induce flowering in very young trees might revolutionize tree breeding. This would enable breeders to accelerate the breeding process, to select the best traits and to transfer them to the next generations. Some approaches related to this topic are discussed here and examples of candidate reproductive and adventitous rooting maturation genes are given. Unlike crop species, forest trees are undomesticated and thus present unique problems with regard to genetic manipulation. Chapter 3 reports on advances in somatic embryogenesis, transformation and engineering with phytoremediation genes in trees. In vitro propagation, namely somatic embryogenesis, is one of the most important biotechnological tools. Interestingly, transgenic trees have been proposed also for new products and services not associated with forestry, such as remediation of contaminated soils and water. Further in this chapter, methods and progress in gene transfer in trees are discussed. Certainly, as noted by the author, even if the technical barriers are overcome, important ecological, social and ethic considerations to cope with before transgenic plantations will be deployed still remain.

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Chapter 4 describes another method of genetic transformation: in planta transformation. In particular, in planta transformation of female gametophyte and its genome. In the first part of this chapter, history ofinplanta transformation is described. Although the early methods described, in fact, generally failed, research is still active. The true beginning of transgenic plant technology took place in the early 1980s thanks to different modifications of Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated gene transfer. This method is now routinely used in Arabidopsis and also in a few other species belonging to the Brassicaceae family. This method helps researchers to understand the function of the 26,000 genes of Arabidopsis species. Engineering the chloroplast genome for biotechnology applications is the topic of chapter 5. Chloroplast transformation in higher plants is described as an extremely attractive approach since foreign proteins in transgenic chloroplast accumulate to high levels due to the polyploid nature of chloroplast genome. Moreover, lack of pollen transmission minimizes outcrossing to related weeds and thus reduces potential negative effects related with transgene flow. Chloroplast genome organization and gene expression are given. The high level of expression makes chloroplast genetic engineering especially ideal for development of edible vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. This topic is a particularly exciting field of research, which opens new prospects for improving the human state worldwide. Plant genome-transformation technologies use antibiotic resistance as selective markers to identify cells that have been successfully transformed. However, there has been a long debate over the possibility of transferring the plant-derived antibiotic resistance to pathogens via horizontal gene transfer. This would threaten the success of infectious disease treatment and prevention. Thus, there is a broad interest in eliminating antibiotic resistance as selective markers. Origins of antibiotic resistance in transgenic plants, risks associated with its spread into the environment, technologies for its removing from transgenic plants and candidate alternative markers are exhaustively discussed in chapter 6. The majority of transformation relies on random integration of DNA, which however poses problems associated with stability of transgene expression, variable expression between independent transgenic events and other position-related effects. Thus, to better understand some of the concerns with random integration and to better control the integration, expression and manipulation of transgenes, naturally occurring site-specific recombination systems have been utilized and adapted for better genetic manipulation. This highly sophisticated approach, which has a significant impact on crop improvement, is widely described and discussed in chapter 7. Chapter 8 deals with transgenic plants for disease resistance. Plant diseases are responsible for high losses of crop yield worldwide. Conventional plant breeding to increase disease resistance against several pathogens yielded considerable success, however, this process is very time-consuming. Agrochemicals as an alternative have another disadvantages - pathogens may develop resistance to the chemicals after a certain period of time and the chemicals have a harmful effect on human health and the environment. Genetic engineering thus represents a powerful tool for crop improvement for the immediate future. Mechanisms of responses of plants to pathogens are described here. Detailed examples of crops transformed for different disease resistances (I 7 species with resistance to more than 50 pathogens) are also given in this chapter. Genetically modified food comes to market. Benefits attained the field will not be acknowledged unless the products are widely accepted by public. In chapter 9, the process of plant biotechnology and food safety evaluation is described. Authors speculate which food is safe and what is the difference between conventional and genetically engineered food. Authors pointed out that products of biotechnology are rigorously evaluated for safety of human consumption, although they are scrutinized more than food products produced from conventional means. The process of potential toxicity and allergenicity evaluation of GM food is also described. During the past several decades, with the increase in the human population and international travel expansion, many previously unknown and largely incurable infectious diseases have emerged. It has been shown that transformed edible plants could express bacterial and virus antigens and provide protection against pathogens. Such vaccines can be made available for everyone, because even farmers in rural areas of economically developing countries can grow indigenous vaccine-containing plants through the use of their agriculture techniques. Such vaccines would eliminate the need of refrigerated storage, trained medical personnel and necessary medical tools for administration. Edible, plant-based vaccines have emerged as an inexpensive, easily administered and widely accessible method revoluzionizing the immunization where traditional methods are impossible to apply. Potential of plant-based vaccines as well as diseases for which plant-produced vaccines have been constructed, are reported in chapter 10.

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Plant transformation technology is not only useful for genome transformation, but it is also a powerful tool for the study of various aspects of plant genomics: the identification of genes and their expression. Chapter 11 brings insight into the most useful strategies in genome-wide approaches as well as into targeted approaches in plant genomics. Random insertional mutagenesis, which induces changes in DNA structure, is one of the most useful methods for linking gene sequence and phenotype. Other promising methods, such as T-DNA tagging, transposon-tagging system, gene silencing as a tool for creating reduction-of-function mutants or gene targeting, based on altering a precise chromosomal locus by homologous recombination with foreign DNA, are described in this chapter. The book can be recommended to all botanists interested in transgenic plants.

V~clav Maheika Institute of Botany. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-252 43 Prz~honice, Czech Republic J.H. Myers & D.R. Bazely: ECOLOGY AND CONTROL OF INTRODUCED PLANTS; Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge, 2003, 313 pp. Price GBP 24.95, USD 40.-, ISBN 0-521-35778-0 The increasing attention to biological invasions and problems they cause has lead to the publishing of many books that present many views of non-native species. A review of more than 20 recent books about invasions was published by SIMBERLOFF (2004). Ecology and Control of Introduced Plants is a book that links the introduction to the ecology of invasions with methods of control, focusing especially on biological control. This book belongs to the "new" series of publications "Ecology, Biodiversity, and Conservation" that aims to give up-to-date reviews to a wide group of potential readers, from students to people from management and land managers. This book covers the basic principles from community and population ecology, introduction to socio-economic issues linked with introductions of non-native species to principles of modelling and controlling mechanisms of established invasive species. As we see from this list, the authors had to cope with a trade-off between a wide overview of topics linked with invasion biology and the amount of information given for each topic. They chose a sufficient number of relevant references for further and more detailed study. In the book, you can find additional boxes with selected case studies, closer views on selected topics or some explanations, which can be trivial for some people but for others can be useful. In addition to the list of references and index, there is a sixteen-page appendix with the description of sampling designs for field methods in population biology and a short notice about GIS and their applications. The book is divided into ten chapters, but there are two main parts. The first six chapters introduce the subject matter of ecology of invasions and further, basics from plant population biology with examples from introduced species. In the second part, three chapters consist of more practical issues, background of the biological control, prediction and evaluation of spread and the effect of biological agents and other means of eradication ofinvasive plants. In the last chapter, we will find one of the most controversial European topics, GMOs. It is clear that the authors had limited space in the book but it is a pity that they did not include genetic issues in the context of introduced plants as well. This branch of science has more and more what to say now and introduced species are some of the best model organisms for these studies. Finally, I find this book very helpful as a textbook on invasion ecology and ecology not only for the students of ecology, but also for the teachers or people from NGOs. This book is more like a list for land managers and land owners of what is behind and what are the ways and problems when dealing with and eradicating the invaders. Although this book is written for beginners in ecology, it is not boring even for the advanced readers. By using plenty of examples such as case studies and recent references, the authors make the book suitable for a wider audience. The use of language that makes it easy to read for the non-native English speaking students is another reason why I recommend this book.

REFERENCES SIMBERLOFF D. (2004): A rising tide of species and literature: A review of some recent books on biological invasions. BioScience 54: 247-254.

Jan Pergl Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-252 43 Prt~honice, Czech Republic

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E. Broil, W. Merbach & E.-M. Pfeiffer (eds.): WETLANDS IN CENTRAL EUROPE: SOIL ORGANISMS, SOIL E C O L O G I C A L PROCESSES AND TRACE GAS EMISSIONS; Springer Verlag,

Berlin, 2002, 244pp., 64 Figs., 59 Tabs. Price EUR 69.95, ISBN 3-540-43474-7 Wetlands, i.e., ecosystems developed on waterlogged or flooded soils have long been in the focus of scientific research. On many sites worldwide, plant and animal components and their functioning have been thoroughly studied and the results used as background information for ecosystem protection and wise management. In comparison, much less information is available as yet on organisms inhabiting wetland soils and their functioning. The present book includes a series of scientific papers dealing with the ecology of wetland soils in Germany. The papers are based on presentations made at a workshop on soil ecological processes in wetlands held at the centre for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research (ZALF) in Mtincheberg, Germany in 1998. The book deals with three main topics: (1) Wetlands as habitats for soil organisms, (2) Soil ecological processes, and (3) Trace gas emissions. The first part focuses on the description of communities of particular groups of wetland soil organisms (annelids, Collembola) and their relation to the principal ecological factors (soil moisture content, soil type, management practices, inundation regime). The second part focuses on soil processes, with the aim to elucidate the functioning of the wetland ecosystem as a whole. The papers describe results of complex ecological studies, two of which were carried out in fens and one in a floodplain, in which the functioning of the ecosystem components was followed over a broader range of key environmental factors. Soil ecological processes, namely the carbon and nitrogen dynamics in relation to water r6gime, are also in the focus of the second part of the volume. The third part, on trace gas emissions, is closely related to the topic of soil ecological processes. The papers describe results of case studies dealing with the dynamics of methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, from different types of wetlands: peat lands, salt marshes, pond margins, and floodplain habitats. The book brings a substantial amount of scientific knowledge on the behaviour of various types of wetlands in Germany. The methodologies are based on up-to-date technologies and the experimental and monitoring designs are well planned. The results are interpreted in the climatic context of Central Europe, using the knowledge of research from other Central European countries. Though the chapters are based on conference lectures, and thus include a wide range of approaches and sites, the editorial team have succeeded in structuring the book's content and provide links to connect the contributions by grouping them according to their scientific foci. The scientific value of the book is not diminished by the choice of its tide, which is rather too broad and, as it is, may evoke unfulfilled expectations of a general synthesis of the functioning of wetlands from at least several Central European countries. The date of the workshop (1998) and, consequently, the missing references to much of the newest scientific papers, is another limitation of the book for those readers who may expect a general synthesis of up-to-date knowledge. Except for the first part, which has a fairly narrow focus on soil biota, the book includes complex ecological studies in various types of wetlands, which are of interest to all wetland specialists and ecologists in general. H a n a (~i~kovfi

Institute of Landscape Ecology,, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dukelskd 145, CZ-379 82 T~eboh, Czech Republic INVASIVE PLANT SPECIES OF T H E W O R L D . A REFERENCE GUIDE T O ENVIRONMENTAL WEEDS; CABI Publishing, Wallingford, 2003. 548 pp. Price USD 140.-, 1SBN

E. Weber:

0-85199-695- 7 Invasive organisms represent one of the most popular focus of contemporary ecology. There are both theoretical and practical reasons for this concern. We can consider ecological invasions as one aspect of globalization, thus the recent interest is probably not of only temporal character. Under these circumstances it is eminently urgent to have a world-wide survey of the most noxious invaders. Before Weber's book there was only one attempt to survey the most invasive plants over the world, i.e., the book of CRONK & FULLER (1995 - 1st edition; 2001 - 2nd edition), but this book deals with only 17 species in detail and then more than 200 plants in an attached list with only brief information included.

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445

In total, 450 species are included in the recent book, being arranged alphabetically, each on one page. Species that invade natural or semi-natural habitats, except agricultural weeds, are considered. The following information is very synoptically arranged: family, life-form, commercial use if applied, synonyms, geographical distribution, invaded habitats, description of a species, ecology and control, and references. The survey of geographical distribution is well arranged and easy for orientation. My only objection is that the largest continent, Asia, is subdivided into only temperate and tropical, while others are divided into a higher number of parts, e.g. small Europe into six ones. Symbols are used before the names of the regions to characterize the occurrence of the species as native, introduced but not invasive, and invasive. Instead of the rather detailed and traditional morphological description of the species I would prefer small drawings of a plant or the best photo. But I understand it was probably technically complicated, but in a possible future re-edition it would be a great improvement of this, in other aspects excellent, book. The list of references is very comprehensive including 1462 items, thus a reader interested in a species can easily find other sources of information. The book starts with a brief Introduction (9 pages) where the process of invasion is characterized, including basic definitions, and the intention and scope of the book is described. There is a very useful list of web sites included, where other information can be obtained. I only do not agree with the idea that native species can become invasive within their native range (p. 1), e.g. Phragmites australis in central Europe. This approach, although ecologically acceptable, is not concise and makes the definition of invasive species very loose. The term invasive should concern only alien organisms as now generally accepted (see RICHARDSON et al. 2000). The List of synonyms and Glossary of mostly morphological terms that are attached at the end of the book are important for the easy use of the book. I found only several small and marginal mistakes and inaccuracies throughout the book. For example, Impatiens glandulifera is not native in tropical but temperate Asia, occurring in the North-Western Himalayas far outside the tropical climate; the hybridogenic character ofSpartina anglica (p. 416) ought to be indicated; and small mistakes are in the list of references. The book is eminently useful and I believe it will be used world-wide as the most comprehensive available source of information on invasive plant species in the world nowadays. REFERENCES CRONK Q.C.B & FULLER J i . (1995): Plant invaders: the threat to natural ecosystems. Chapman & Hall, London. (2nd Ed. 2001) RICHARDSON D.M., PY~EK P., REJMANEK M., BARBOUR M.G., PANETTA F.D. & WEST C.J. (2000): Naturalization and invasion of alien plants: concepts and definitions. Diversi~ Distrib. 6: 93-107. Karel Prach

Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dukelsk~J 135, CZ-379 82 Tf~eboh, Czech Republic NORDOSTDEUTSCHLANDS 3; J. Cramer in der Gebriider Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin, Stuttgart, 2002, 304 pp. incl. 62 tabs. Price CUR 25.-, ISBN 3-443-5002 7-7 H. Passarge: PFLANZENGESELLSCHAFTEN

The third volume of the well-known German phytocoenologist Harro Passarge represents a continuation of the two previous volumes dealing with plant communities of north-eastern Germany (PASSARGE 1996, 1999). In the previous volumes, Passarge classified and described, on 298 and 451 pages, respectively, the formations Hydrophytosa, Therophytosa, Helocyperosa and Caespitosa. In this third volume continues the description of the Caespitosa formation followed by Herbosa formation. The book covers 9 classes of non-forest vegetation, 38 alliances and 340 associations as listed in the contents: Koelerio-Corynephoretea (6), Festuco-Brometea (4), Nardetea strictae (4), Artemisietea vulgaris (4), Galio-Urticetea (7), Lathyro pratensis-Vicietea (4), Trifolio-Geranietea sanguinei (2), Melampyro-Holcetea mollis (4) and Epilobietea angustifolii (3). Many discrepancies occur in the text, the first being that the contents and text are not in compliance at many places. At first glance, the work seems to be schematically well organized, with many communities listed, accompanied with synthetic tables. The order seems to be logical, purposeful and the number of evaluated (synthetized) relev~s is high, including the literature used. The number of communities reached shows something about the sense of the author to perceive fine differences between plant communities with

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a possibility to derive and transform them into a classification system. Undoubtedly, the authors who are in compliance with Passarge's opinion match the listed system and are accepted practically with no comments. However, when studying the work in more detail, we discover some problems that can be divided into two groups: (a) problems of technical nature and fb) problems of scientific nature. It is obvious that when preparing such an extensive work, the author can hardly avoid making mistakes; however, the work of Passarge exceeds the level usual for similar works, and it is quite clear that the author pays significantly greater attention to the contents while form is rather suffering. Unfortunately the mistakes are of such extent and nature that they significantly disturb the reader's understanding of content, often causing the reader to speculate about information. Technically, a great number of mistakes relating to the tables makes orientation in the text hard, so for a community, we can sometimes find a different number and table column than for the related data in synthetic tables (cf. Armerio elongatae-Galietum veri, Ceratodonto purpurei-Airetum praecocis, Pulsatillo pratensis-Festucetum ovinae etc.). Another type of mistake includes listing a different rank in the table than in the text: the community Ononis repens-Festuca ovina-Ges. (comm.) is listed in the text with sub-associations, and in the table, it is listed as the association. Campanula sibirica-Bromus erectus-Ges. (comm.) has two sub-associations listed. Discrepancies also appear for the names Sileno otites x Sileno otitae. For some units, races (-Rasse) are listed in the tables, however, in the text, they are not listed. For some units, no author is included. Another misleading information in the book is the scale for species cover where two categories overlap (4 = 50-70%, 5 = 64-100%). Names of Slavonic authors are interpreted incorrectly, and sometimes even printed in the text in a different way than in the literature. In some cases, references to non-existing columns appear in the tables (tab. 218f cf. p. 21 I) so that the reader is confused and has to concentrate too much on searching for correct references rather than on paying needed attention to the scientific contents of the work. Even the page numbers in the contents are not listed correctly, which should have been clearly verified by the printing company. Some significant problems appear already in the contents itself: pages not in order, names of units missing in the contents (cf. Vaccinio myrtilli-Molinietum caerulae, p. 85), different names in the contents than in the text (Cotydaletum claviculatae versus Corydalido claviculatae-Epilobietum, Senecionetum ovatae versus

Senecionetum fuchsii). The editorial work and work of reviewers was not of the best level. Reviewers are not listed, but are acknowledged. The scientific level evokes two feelings: respect and confusion. One obtains the generated conviction that the author has a great observation ability, great distinguishing skills, and the ability to reflect and transfer into scientific language also fine habitat characteristics and differences between individual communities. The reader suddenly recognizes some communities by description also from a different landscape than those being subject of study here. This is certainly an ability that must bring respect for the author and conviction that the reader is dealing with a highly intuitive author with, synthetic abilities and skills for presenting syntaxonomic results. Confusion arises, however, when certain problems disturb the scientific context of the work to such an extent that they impact its use. At first, nomenclatural types for newly described communities are not listed. We could chalk such comment up to technical problems, however, by its nature, it lowers the value of the whole work. However, an extremely high atomisation represents the biggest problems for reader when understanding the listed communities. We could, in a certain way, justify the use of association groups, main associations, collective associations that are known by nomenclature rules, however, hierarchic system constructed in this way becomes unclear and often confusing. The reader is taken to the verge of hesitation, e.g. because the already introduced and for a long-time used units are taken to a higher level and listed as the as. coll. without any further dealing with them, and new, small units, appear while the original community is not compatible with any of them. A high number of units goes always to the expense of understanding and good perception of reader, however, it can reflect the reality. In such a case, however, their presentation has to follow a certain logical line: floristic relations, ecological heredity, syngenetic subsequent relations, etc. Such a line must be explained methodologically and its functioning in nature, alias in hierarchic classification system, must be clarified as well. This is quite necessary, otherwise such a system lacks logical relation, and the reader, especially a reader with less experience, is missing the sense. This is the biggest problem of the Passarge's book. For newcomers interested in syntaxonomy and phytocoenology, interested in the presented communities, it will be difficult to get oriented, to search relations, and in some parts, also differences. A specialist who knows the basic types of

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described vegetation well is in a better position. Such a person, in many cases, will concentrate on specialized units and look at the work from a different point of view. Undoubtedly, H. Passarge has covered in his plant communities of the north-eastern Germany all that he has collected in his very active scientific life till present. Without exaggerating, it represents a great deal of work and I would not like that the following words in the context of the critical text above seems as a refusal to take responsibility for the above criticism. It is not the case. The author has contributed significantly to the knowledge of plant communities of Germany and Central Europe, has enriched syntaxonomy by a highly specific view of their understanding, and has evoked discussions in many respects (and what else does science present? To bring attention to "reality" or a problem and to get closer, by a system of mistakes, to an objectively realer interpretation). Many of his communities, also of a high rank, have been accepted, and they are now also being studied in other territories. This is a high satisfaction for a scientist and his field. A great amount of comparison and collection of his own material has allowed him to establish a concept of plant communities from the basis, and to organize the material in a significant number of small units. For some botanists, and possibly also phytocoenologists, Passarge will remain misunderstood and hardly accepted. However, his arguments, with no doubts, reflect great life experience, and a great deal of material. It is only up to the reader if he can learn how to read his texts and understand the not expressed relations and relationships as this is often the case in syntaxonomy.

REFERENCES PASSARGE H. (1996, 1999): Pflanzengesellschafien Nordostdeutschlands 1, 2. Berlin, Stuttgart.

Ji~i Kolbek Institute o f Botany, Academy o f Sciences o f the Czech Republic, CZ-252 43 Pr~honiee, Czech Republic SHORT REVIEWS D. Pimentel (ed.): Biological invasion. Economic and Environmental Costs of Alien Plant, Animal, and Microbe Species; CRC Press, 2002, 369 pp. Price USD 129.95, 1SBN 0-8493-0836-4. - Introduced species have for a long time been blamed for ecosystem damage, economic loss and also for their negative impacts on human, crop or livestock health. For scientists, managers, and landowners it is almost impossible to evaluate how costly these introduced species are and what the price for the eradication, soil erosion, water loss, diseases and changes in ecosystems is. Money is, however, the biggest criteria in this world, not biodiversity loss or a changed fire regime. In addition, policymakers or tax-payers want to know exactly for what reason (costs) we have to care about introduced species and what the rate between costs of prevention and consecutive eradication and management is. Fortunately, this compendium gives us estimates of economic losses caused by non-native species across the world and what their environmental effects are. The book is divided into sections according to continents and within most of them there are further chapters targeting different groups oftaxa. Readers can find chapters aimed at plants, vertebrates, insects and pathogens with long lists of references. For example, the costs of economic and environmental damage caused by non-native species are $34 billion per year only for the US. For countries covered by this book, it is more than $314 billion per year. This book should be recommended to a wide groups of readers, from scientists and teachers to politicians who are responsible for legislation and regulations of transport of non-native species. (Jan Pergl - JPe) J.M. Chase & M.A. Leibold: Ecological Niches: Linking Classical and Contemporary Approaches; University o f Chicago Press, 2003, 212 pp. Price USD 20.-, ISBN 0-226-10180-0. - What does a concept of niche mean and what is behind it? In this book authors propose why the niche concept has declined in popularity and why this concept should not be rejected. They link niche concept with mechanistic population models that include growth, consumptions and death rates and interactions between individuals. Also, they propose the duality of the niche, since the interaction between environment and organisms is bidirectional. Approach to niche concept according to Chase and Leibold makes it possible to include all kinds of processes in communities and across different scales. Plenty of graphical schemes in each chapter help to better understand the browsed topics. I hope that this complex approach will be interesting to many scientists and students and, as the authors have said, this book will open more questions for the future. (JPe)