Anim. Behav ., 1979, 27, 1278-1280

Neuronal Plasticity. Edited by CARL W. COTMAN. NewYork: Raven Press (1978). Pp . 335 . Price $32 . 50 .

The significance, extent and cellular mechanisms ofnervous system plasticity are questions at the centre ofcontemporary neurobiology. Carl Cotman is one of themore prolific of the middle generation of neurobiologists,and it would have been reasonable to expect that a bookedited by him on such a central topic would providevaluable insights into both theoretical issues and experi-mental approaches at a number of different levels fromthe biochemical to the behavioural . Indeed, both thebookjacket and the Editor's Preface promise just this .If it had been achieved, Neuronal Plasticity would havebeen a useful addition to the host of symposium volumesand collections which have appeared in recent years .

However, it has not . In a symposium volume one couldexpect a certain degree of incoherence, and perhapscondone it, but when as in this case one assumes that theeditor has actually gone out to solicit papers from keyworkers in the field on the theme of plasticity, one shouldexpect a degree of coherence and an attempt at a synopticoverview . Far from it ; with no obvious rationale for theirchoice, there are thirteen disparate chapters which rangefrom rather specialized research reports to attempts tosurvey a small area; there is a unified index, but nogeneral reference list and no apparent cross referencingbetween the authors, who seem to have been unaware ofone another's existence.

This is not to deny the value of individual chapters ;there are a number of good chapters on regeneration,sprouting, trophic effects and synaptic remodelling,a nice account by Merrill & Wall of their work ondeafferentation and silent synapses, an integrative paperby Goldman & Lewis on the developmental biologyof brain damage and experience, and a typically percep-tive and somewhat abrasive discussion by Pettigrewentitled `The paradox of the critical period for striatecortex' . The editor himself, together with Nadler,contributes on reactive synaptogenesis in the hippocam-pus, a useful paper which does attempt some integrationof events occuring after lesions of hippocampal connec-tions, both in terms of a temporal analysis and in therelationship of cellular to behavioural phenomena .

However, in the absence of any attempt at an overview,the reader will in all probability be left in considerabledoubt as to exactly what neurobiological issues theconcept of plasticity, as implicitly used in the book, isintended to address. Are the events of developmentalplasticity a consequence of experience, environmentalmodulation and learning, or indeed of epigenetic effects,of the same kind as the regenerative processes whichfollow the lesioning of brain regions or fibre pathwaysin the adult? Or is regeneration after insult not a usefulmodel for more subtle brain changes ? Is learning itselfa special case of developmental plasticity and should oneexpect it to have similar cellular and biochemical correl-ates? It would be nice to know what the editor or authorsthought about these issues . Failing this, the publicationof the present book seems to me to owe more to theopportunism of the editor and publishers and the self-interest of authors anxious to add to their publicationlists (a fault, if it be one, from which we all tend to suffer,let me hasten to add) than any burning desire to com-

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municate new insights . The only answer, for individualsor libraries, is to refrain from buying it .

STEVEN ROSEBrain Research Group,Open University,Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA .

The Dynamics of Arthropod Predator-Prey Systems .By MICHAEL P. HASSELL . Princeton : Princeton Univer-sity Press (1978). $16.00 cloth ; $6.95 paper.

The Princeton series `Monographs in Population Biology'has provided a forum for leading ecological and evo-lutionary biologists for over a decade . In Volume 13,Michael P . Hassell develops an extraordinarily clear andaccessible series of mathematical models relating particu-lar components of predator-prey interactions to systemstability . The greater portion of the book addresses thoseinsect communities where a host species is attacked andultimately killed by an insect parasitoid . For this simplesystem, difference equations modelling predator and preypopulation growth can be developed with varying degreesof sophistication in order to examine the assumptionsinherent in Nicholson's and Bailey's classic model .Hassell shows how variation in such components as thefunctional response of predator attack rate to preydensity, foraging patterns, interference between predators,and switching of preferred prey with prey frequency cancontribute to stability. In most cases, he presents amplebiological justification (drawn from both laboratory andfield results) for his models . The book concludes with adiscussion of strategies of biological control of insectpests that incorporates the lessons learned in the previouschapters .

Readers of Animal Behaviour will be pleased to findthat specifics of the behaviour of predators are all-important in determining the mathematical stability ofthese models. For example, Hassell shows how predatorsthat tend to aggregate in areas with high prey density cancause a two-species model to be more stable than a similarmodel in which predators search for prey at random .Similarly, predators that interfere with each other'ssearching efficiency promote stability . Again, manyexamples of these types of behaviour are drawn from theinsect literature and presented with the modelling .Incidentally, the mathematics itself is not difficult as themore complex arguments are relegated to an appendix .

I found one aspect of the book in need of furthercomment. In developing a simple single-species modelearly in the book, Hassell notes that the value of aparameter that locates the population on a continuumranging from scramble to contest-type populationregulation has a large effect on the stability of thatpopulation. He further notes that the small amountof data available places most real insect populations atthe contest end of the range . Population self-regulationof this type would potentially act as a strong stabilizingforce and yet, in further discussions, Hassell states thatprey population self-regulation is assumed to be of thescramble type ; the most potentially destabilizing responseto density. This is done in part to simplify the mathe-matics of single-species systems, a necessary prerequisiteto advancement to tractable multi-species models. Still,I would have liked to have seen some further discussionabout the interaction between the types of responses