David Lindenmayer

A great foray into Australia's temperate woodlands, exploring the function of different elements of the woodlands (understorey / canopy / etc.) alongside the degradation that temperate woodlands have faced in Australia over 150 years (mostly issues with agricultural / pastoral damage) alongside what can potentially be done to conserve those woodlands while assisting and not taking away from agriculture strategies. That is basically the kind of proactive stance I've come to expect from authors who are picked up by CSIRO Publishing.

However, as a Western Australian who is aware that Western Australia has the 'Great Western Woodlands' - which is the largest intact Mediterranean-climate woodland left on earth and contains over 3000 species - I was made very aware of how little this book - which purports to cover 'Australian' woodlands - pays any attention at all to Western Australian woodlands. This research focuses heavily on the South-East, which is likely where the author/s hail from. This meant that the majority of fauna and flora references (both photographic and in the text) were South-East biased, and Western Australia - aside from a few sentences - was by and large neglected.

So a great book overall, but not a good book if you want to learn about temperate woodlands of the South-West of this great continent. Would have been a five star review otherwise.… (meer)