John Fellowes
Six Papers is now in its seventh year, and has established an honourable tradition of targeting distinguished academics for the gleanings of their epic sojourns through the literature. Enough of that: it's my turn. At the outset we hoped that our guests would fire the rest of us with renewed passion for scientific papers. This has happened to some extent, but there does appear to be a consensus that 'serious' papers inspire mainly apathy. Thus I am not the first to pay homage to publications that are more, well, human.
1. My early interest in animals was fostered largely by zoos, and by books about the 'exotic' animals within them. The Larousse Encyclopaedia of Animal Life was one, David Taylor's Zoovet another. First real shaker, though, was Gerald Durrell's The Stationary Ark. I bought this in Jersey Airport at the end of a holiday when we'd decided not to visit Jersey Zoo, thinking it would be a typically sordid tourist-resort menagerie. Dud decision. As I flew, and read, the marvels of that place were drolly brought to life as Durrell espoused his philosophy on conservation and the vital role of zoos. By the time I reached Gatwick I felt quite nauseous. It took me five years to get back there and see it for myself.
2. Throughout school biology I was sustained mainly by faith that it would get better. The endless repetitive laboratory practicals bore no relation to what interested me in nature. On the door of my locker I had a quote from Aldo Leopold in the 1 940s about the contemporary zoology student, that went something like: "Instead of being taught to view his native countryside with appreciation and intelligence, he is taught to carve cats." (It somehow gave me hope.) Later I came to read his classic: A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here And There (1949, Oxford University Press). Throughout this magical book Leopold combines keen ecological perception and calm reflection on the human place in nature, all delivered with a poet's linguistic finesse. The result is an infusion of sanity, and I still dip into it when the world gets too scary.
3. The work of some ethologists and behavioural ecologists did interest me during school and university — the likes of Tinbergen, Crook. Hamilton, Trivers — while a growing fascination for primate behaviour was fuelled by books such as Frans de Waal's excellent Chimpanzee Politics. More influential, though was John MacKinnon's The Ape Within Us, wherein the author shared the benefits of his field experience studying wild apes, and proceeded to form grand universal theories about humankind. Before reading the book I had a vague notion of doing something similar, and it had a dual effect on me: here was someone who had actually studied all those different apes, and done so with uncommon insight; yet his most fascinating conclusions were the most subjective. (He said it was panned by the critics.) Much as it impressed me, there was little point in retracing his footsteps.
4. My move from primate behaviour study towards ecology was rather gradual, but was helped by my WWF HK study of the Hong Kong macaques, which brought me into contact with the HKU ecologists. The spirit of inquiry into the neglected natural history of this part of the world, and the accompanying concern for its conservation, were infectious. I think this spirit found its expression in Hills and Streams: An Ecology of Hong Kong (1994, Hong Kong University Press) by David Dudgeon & Richard Corlett. It's a pretty good book, but what inspired me was not the product so much as the process. It takes a certain breadth of thinking even to attempt to document what is important about an ecology, and I think all those in the DEB at the time (was it the DEB at the time?) learned something from it. Of course, the second edition will need a lot more ants.
5. Doing a PhD on ant community ecology meant wading through a vast amount of ecological literature, some of it rather good, but none of it succeeded in giving direction to my thesis (recommended reading if your life lacks directionlessness). In some respects the whole edifice was built on shifting sand, in that the taxonomy required to identify the species turned out to be suspect; as a result I developed a healthy respect for those taxonomists who had helped clear up the mess of old, scattered literature. The late W.L. Brown, Jr., made a special contribution to dragging ant taxonomy out of the Dark Ages, and his user-friendly keys were much appreciated. His heir as the world's leading ant taxonomist is Barry Bolton, whose 1994 Identification Guide to the Ant Genera of the World (rather better than the unfinished version 1 had to learn with) will make things much easier. But the prize goes to his next (1995) book, A New General Catalogue of the Ants of the World (Harvard University Press) a 500-page listing of all the names (right or wrong) ever used, corrected using the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. While it has all the visual appeal of a telephone directory, it's an invaluable tome and, as far as I can see, flawless.
6. Just when I thought I was wrapping up my time in this part of the world, I got a copy of A Biodiversity Review of China (WWF International. 1996). MacKinnon again (always a step ahead), plus co-authors Meng Sha, Catherine Cheung, Geoff Carey, Zhu Xiang and David Melville, here outlining the biogeographical features, habitats and protected areas of each province in this megadiversity nation. The approach here also provides a strong practical framework for interpreting faunal and floral inventories. John MacKinnon, poor tortured soul, has developed a tendency to tackle not what he can do easily, but what urgently needs to be done. The Review, in fact, has many holes, some of which could have been filled by a more thorough literature search, but what struck me were the genuine gaps: the countless reserves with no biodiversity information, and the clear message that we can't even say what the urgent priorities are without further data. It directly inspired me, and many others, to get on our bike and go data-gathering.
A recurrent theme through all this? Hmmm. Perhaps only that the authors have put what is important in the big picture before what is academically expedient or 'productive'. It takes not just clarity, but also a little vision, to make the fruits of mental ruminating illuminating.
Asian ant network established
A recent international workshop in Bangkok marked the launch of a new network of Asian ant specialists. Thanks to the efforts of organisers, including Prof. Seiki Yamane (Dept. of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Kagoshima University), Dr. Maryati Mohamed (Tropical Biology and Conservation Unit, University of Malaysia), Dr. Yoshiaki Hashimoto (Museum of Nature & Human Activities, Hyogo) and host Dr. Decha Wiwatwitaya (Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University), the workshop brought together delegates from throughout in the region.
In 1998 the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) endorsed a Global Taxonomy Initiative, to improve taxonomic knowledge and hence the capacity of countries to further the wise use of biodiversity. In Asia, ants have been one of the most important target groups for inventorying forest faunas. A coordinating organisation, DIVERSITAS in West Pacific and Asia (DIWPA), has established a Network for Establishment of Ant Reference Collections in Asia (ANeT), which currently includes about 15 institutions from ten countries. The aims of ANeT include the establishment of excellent reference collections of social insects (especially ants), exchange of information and specimens among institutions, and elucidation of the role of these insects in ecosystems and (hence) in agroforestry.
Delegates at the Bangkok workshop came from a variety of Asian countries, including Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and China, and included both ant specialists and forest entomologists/ecologists with an applied interest in ants. Participants discussed the immense potential importance of ants in ecological agriculture, both beneficial (e.g. Dolichoderus tree ants as biological control agents on cocoa in Malaysia) and harmful (e.g. Pseudolasius ground ants as dispersers of damaging mealybugs and fungi in longan orchards of northern Thailand). The economic and ecological importance of ant taxonomy was thus highlighted. A keynote speech by Takao Itioka (Nagoya University) demonstrated the varied intensities of relationship between species of Crematogaster ants and Macaranga plants in Bornean dipterocarp forest, and the need to consider such ecological differences to help distinguish species of morphologically-identical ants.
Various recommendations were made to further the development of ANeT, and a regional action plan will be prepared. Those interested may contact the author (kfjrf@kfbg.org.hk, or 2483 9534) for details.
P.24-25
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