Content area
Full Text
Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide. L. L. C. Jones and R. E. Lovich (eds.). 2009. Rio Nuevo Publishers, ISBN 9781933855356. 567 p. $24.95 (softcover).-This book deals with 96 species-level taxa native to the "American Southwest." This region is defined as including the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and the southwestern corner of Texas in the US, as well as Chihuahua, Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur in México-almost 2.4 million km2. At nearly 1200 g and 567 pages, there is a lot of lizard biology packed into this volume. Production quality seems excellent: the covers are flexible and coated to resist the elements; the binding is sturdy; the plates are sharp and display accurate colors (I can attest to the latter, having been present when several of the lizard photos were taken in the field). Layout and design are excellent. Visually, the book is a treat, featuring color photos, charts, or maps on nearly every page. The font size and line spacing make for easy reading-a nice compromise between having to present lots of information, but also make it readable.
In the Foreword, eminent lizard ecologist Laurie Vitt places the study of lizards in a broader context, noting their utility for addressing numerous conceptual questions in biology, and pointing out that the American Southwest is blessed with a large number of species.
Several introductory sections offer the reader some background in lizard biology and help in understanding the book's layout and organization. In "About Lizards," editors Lovich and Jones place the southwestern lizard fauna in a modern context. A photograph of an ancient Native American petroglyph depicting a lizard (p. 22) reinforces their point that lizards have long occupied a place in human culture and mythology. In "Lizard Habitat," Jones and Lovich introduce a map depicting the 16 ecoregions represented in the book's coverage area. Photographs illustrate about half of these. They note the relationship between lizard species diversity and ecoregions (e.g., low in the Great Basin Desert Ecoregion, much higher in the Sonoran Desert Ecoregion), as well as latitude.
In "Life History and Behavior," Stanley Fox tries to convey the sense of wonder that lizard biologists know well, noting the diversity of behaviors, reproductive cycles,...