Forest Pattern and Ecological Process: A Synthesis of 24 Years of Research (Book review)

FOR a biologist attaining his doctorate in 1990, David Lindenmayer has been nothing less than prolific. His web page at the Australian National University (ANU) credits him with more than 520 scientific publications and 20 books. This book, Forest Pattern and Ecological Process, brings together his 25 years of research experience in the montane ash forests of Victoria’s Central Highlands. That research began in 1983 with studies of the ecology of Leadbeater’s Possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri, an iconic and endangered arboreal marsupial and led to his doctorate from ANU entitled The Ecology and Habitat Requirements of Leadbeater’s Possum. I remember reading that dissertation and thinking how good it was and the promise it held for the young biologist who wrote it. I was not wrong