CURRENT LITERATURE 



BOOK REVIEWS 

 Plant succession 



Clements has brought together in a satisfactory way and in sumptuous 

 form the contributions of all previous workers dealing with the phenomena 

 of succession in vegetation.' The work of the various students of succession 

 is conscientiously and sympathetically presented, and with great fulness. So 

 admirably is this work done that it will henceforth be largely unnecessary to 

 refer to original publications, prior to the appearance of this work, in order 

 to get the substantial views of the various authors. The work is thus a com- 

 pendium of our knowledge and theories bearing on the phenomena of succession. 

 In the field covered by this work, Clements is himself a major contributor, 

 and in no previous work has he contributed so much new material on the sub- 

 ject as this work includes. No more can be attempted here than to touch a 

 few of the high spots. 



As previously, Clements treats the formation as an organism, with 

 structures and functions like an individual plant. As compared with previous 

 studies by the same author, greater stress is placed on development and less 

 on habitat. To the reviewer this seems a distinct step forward, although 

 many workers, especially in Europe, will continue to emphasize habitat as 

 the controlling factor in classification. The formation is defined as "the 

 climax community of a natural area in whichrthe essential climatic relations 

 are similar or identical." Thus Clements' formation, as here presented, 

 departs materially from the concept of the Brussels Congress, but agrees 

 essentially with the "climax formation" of the reviewer, and with the still 

 earlier "climatic formation" of Schimper. Schimper, however, probably 

 failed to recognize that his "climatic formation" was really the topmost 

 member of a series of his "edaphic formations." A number of new terms of 

 classical origin are introduced in this volume, as is the wont of the author. 

 Perhaps the most important of these is "sere," a term used to include the 

 entire successional series leading up to the climax. This term is used, rather 

 than its essential equivalent "series," because of its adaptability in combina- 

 tion, as in xerosere (a xerarch series), etc. Clements' treatment of the term 

 "cHmax" is in general harmony with the often expressed interpretation of 

 the reviewer; "the climatic formation is the real climax of the successional 



' Clements, F. E., Plant succession; an analysis of the development of vegeta- 

 tion, pp. xiii-l-512. pis. 436. figs. 5/. Carnegie Institution. Washington. 1916. 



477 



