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Handbook of the Birds of the World edited by Josep del Hoyo,

Andrew Elliott, David Christie, Hilary Burn, Walter J. Bock, and
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Article  in  The Quarterly Review of Biology · January 2012

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September 2012 NEW BIOLOGICAL BOOKS
The Biology of Gobies.
Edited by Robert A. Patzner, James L. Van Tassell,
Marcelo Kovačić, and B. G. Kapoor. Enfield (New
Hampshire): Science Publishers; distributed by CRC
Press, Boca Raton (Florida). $139.95. xv ⫹ 685 p.;
ill.; index. ISBN: 978-1-57808-436-4. 2011.
Gobioidei is an enormous vertebrate suborder
numbering roughly 2000 species in 270 genera.
Given this diversity, it is of no surprise that gobies
inhabit a broad array of marine and freshwater hab-
itats (coral reefs, grass beds, intertidal zones, lakes,
streams, and waterfalls), use a variety of life styles
(cleaning on coral reefs, mutualistic partnerships
with burrowing alpheid shrimp, and amphibious liv-
ing in mudflats), and use different reproductive
strategies (gonochoristic and hermaphroditic) and
mating habits (monogamy and polygamy). Thus,
the task of summarizing the current knowledge of
the systematics, biology, and ecology of Gobioidei
is not an easy one, and it is, therefore, of no
surprise that such a task has previously not been
undertaken. The present volume has accom-
plished this task nicely.
The book consists of 25 chapters in four sections
written by 30 authors. The first section summarizes
our current understanding of the systematics of
the nine families of Gobioidei. The second section
describes the genera of each of six different re-
gions, their biology, and distributions. Section 3
describes the general habits of gobies, including
foraging behavior, function as prey species, repro-
ductive strategies, development, and adaptations to
unusual habitats (the intertidal zone and terrestrial
mudflats). The final section describes the ecology of
gobies and includes chapters on the lifestyles of
planktonic gobies, coral reef gobies, cleaning gobies,
gobies that act as watchman for burrowing alpheid
shrimp, and mudskipper gobies.
The volume highlights what is known about go-
bies, but also discusses what is unknown and ripe
for research. Given that gobies inhabit a broad
array of lifestyles, are relatively easy to maintain in
aquaria, and are becoming increasingly phyloge-
netically resolved, they are suitable for compara-
tive work. Readers interested in taking on such
research will find this book to be of considerable
help in both providing a general background on
gobies and in formulating exciting research ques-
tions.
Patrick Lyons, Ecology & Evolution, Stony Brook
University, Stony Brook, New York
271
Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume
16: Tanagers to New World Blackbirds.
Edited by Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott, David Chris-
tie et al.; color plates by Hilary Burn et al.; Consultant
for Systematics and Nomenclature: Walter J. Bock;
Consultant for Status and Conservation: Nigel J. Col-
lar. Barcelona (Spain): Lynx Edicions. €212.00.
893 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-84-96553-78-1. 2011.
With the publication of this 16th volume in the
Handbook of the Birds of the World series, a well over
20-year project—including planning, writing, and
publication— comes to fruition. For me, as a re-
viewer, the project has come full circle in that I
reviewed Volume 1 for the QRB in 1993 (68:285).
Clearly, the praise and hopeful anticipation I ex-
pressed at that time for the then nascent under-
taking have been borne out, which is evident in
this final capstone volume. The original goal of
the project—to illustrate and describe each of the
world’s 10,000 or so avian species— has been
achieved, although a number of changes (all im-
provements) have been implemented along the
way.
In this volume, a foreword by A. P. Møller ad-
dresses the timely and critical issue of climate
change and its potential impacts on the world’s
avifauna. The chapter is clearly written and beau-
tifully illustrated with images of potentially sensitive
species and carefully designed graphs, and thus will
be accessible to nonexperts. The remainder of the
book follows the standard format of the previous
volumes, which includes detailed family profiles that
address systematics, morphology, habitat, general
habits, voice, diet, reproduction, movements, and
conservation. Following these sections are succinct
accounts of every species, each associated with a
color illustration and range map. The 81 stunning
color plates and the dazzling photographs offer a
visual feast, which alone make this volume difficult to
put down. As throughout the series, many of the
photographs were chosen to depict common behav-
iors in “freeze-frame” images or unusual behaviors
not typically seen. For example, readers are treated
to photographs of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak (p. 370)
mandibulating an elderberry fruit as juice squirts
into the air, or a Blue-black Grassquit (p. 473) caught
in a mid-display jump, or a female Northern Cardi-
nal and American Robin (p. 394) sharing a nest!
The four families treated are Thraupidae (tana-
gers), Cardinalidae (cardinals), Emberizidae (bun-
tings and New World sparrows), and Icteridae (New
World blackbirds) that, with only a relative handful
of exceptions (fewer than 6%), include mostly Ne-
arctic and neotropical species. Of course, since the
inception of the overall series and author assign-
ments, the taxonomy of these groups has gone
272 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY
through major adjustments, which have ultimately led
to the current volume not conforming to, for example,
the American Ornithologists’ Union’s most recent tax-
onomic checklist. This has evidently been a chal-
lenge, likely frustrating, for the contributors to this
volume, as implied in S. L. Hilty’s section on the
Thraupidae: “there now is strong evidence that
about 20-25% of the genera traditionally regarded as
tanagers are more closely related to other groups of
birds than they are to ‘typical’ tanagers” (p. 46).
Thus, Euphonia and Chlorophonia should now be
plucked from the tanagers and placed in Fringilli-
dae, while Geospiza finches, of Galapágos fame, need
to join the tanager fold based on newly demon-
strated genetic affinities between the taxa. As a series,
a project of this magnitude and duration could not
hope to track the shifting sands of taxonomic revi-
sion, although the authors do provide excellent dis-
cussion of what those changes have entailed. For
such rapid scientific advances, online publication
would be the preferred venue and, in fact, there are
plans to make the HBW series available digitally.
Overall, this volume—in its sheer magnitude,
design, and content—is a fitting finale to the HBW
series, although note that an additional work is
underway, which will include an index to the series
as well as accounts of newly described species.
Avian biologists, bird enthusiasts, and conserva-
tion practitioners will find much of value between
the covers of this impressive tome.
Mark Riegner, Environmental Studies, Prescott
College, Prescott, Arizona
Greater Sage-Grouse: Ecology and Conserva-
tion of a Landscape Species and Its Habitats.
Studies in Avian Biology, Number 38.
Edited by Steven T. Knick and John W. Connelly.
Berkeley (California): University of California Press.
$95.00. xvii ⫹ 646 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-
520-26711-4. [A Publication of the Cooper Or-
nithological Society.] 2011.
Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) were
classified in 2010 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
as warranted for listing under the Endangered Species
Act, but the listing was precluded by higher priority
species. Concern about this species has spawned a
substantial increase in monitoring and research
related to sage-grouse and their habitats during
the last decade.
Knick and Connelly provide the most compre-
hensive current review of our knowledge about
sage-grouse. The book is exhaustive, comprised of
24 chapters and 646 pages. Utility of the volume is
slightly diminished by the long delay between com-
pletion of manuscripts for the various chapters
(around 2009) and the final publication date in
2011. The rapid pace of research on sage-grouse
Volume 87
means that a substantial amount of work com-
pleted since 2008 was not included in the book.
More importantly, conflicting contributions of
multiple authors to the final volume leaves some
issues unresolved. For example, there is a clear
difference of opinion between Miller et al. (Chap-
ter 10) and Baker (Chapter 11) about the historic
frequency of fire in sage-grouse habitats. There are
other weaknesses in our understanding of sage-
grouse populations. Many studies of demographic
processes, like nest success or mortality, have re-
lied on relatively antiquated approaches that are
known to be biased and, therefore, unreliable.
Additionally, we lack controlled studies of impor-
tant anthropogenic drivers such as livestock graz-
ing or man-made structures like transmission lines.
These shortcomings are certainly not the respon-
sibility of the editors of a review volume and the
current book provides an exhaustive review of the
state of knowledge in the late 2000s. This volume,
however, missed an opportunity to carefully lay out
future research needs. Research will be espe-
cially important given societal pressure to de-
velop sage-grouse habitats (well catalogued in
this publication) and the economic stakes in
these developments. Despite the shortcomings
mentioned earlier, this volume will be the most
important reference for sage-grouse scientists
and managers for the next decade.
Jim Sedinger, Natural Resources & Environmental
Science, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada
The Biology of Small Mammals.
By Joseph F. Merritt. Baltimore (Maryland): Johns
Hopkins University Press. $60.00. xvii ⫹ 313 p.; ill.;
index. ISBN: 978-0-8018-7950-0. 2010.
This volume is a personal reflection of one biolo-
gist’s utter fascination for all mammals and for those
under 5 kg in particular. The book is not meant to be
comprehensive, but instead highlights the author’s
favorite small mammal species and their adaptations.
Thus, after a general introduction to the main taxo-
nomic groups (orders), including small mammals,
the remainder of the volume focuses on adaptations
associated with feeding, environmental adaptations,
and reproduction. The first two of these latter sec-
tions also include extended “case studies” examining
unusual or interesting topics worthy of more discus-
sion (e.g., the bizarre Hero Shrew, Scutisorex somereni,
with its mysteriously strengthened vertebral column
that apparently can support the weight of a full-
grown human).
The book is an absolute treasure trove of inter-
esting information and facts revolving around
these three main topics. The problem is, however,
that there is comparatively little structuring of this
information and virtually no analysis of it. For
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