Reviews: International atlas of West Africa
Analyses: Atlas International de l’Ouest Africain
- Publication
- La Terre et La Vie
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 362-363
Atlas international de l'Ouest Africain · Version 1
1979F. Bourlière reviews the eight plates in the 1968 first delivery of the International Atlas of West Africa, issued with bilingual explanatory texts. He praises the clarity of the climate maps, particularly the seasonal rainfall distributions and the 48 monthly maps comparing precipitation, temperature, humidity and surface winds. He identifies errors in the mapped ranges of Jentink's duiker, the zebra duiker and Buffon's kob. He also questions the contrasting distribution schemes for mammals and birds on plate 18, arguing that mobility and the ability to cross geographical or ecological barriers often explain range size better. Bourlière considers the atlas a valuable synthesis but calls for corrections to its zoogeographical details and awkward or erroneous English before publication.
View whole-article summary
This is an academic review of the first installment of the West African International Atlas, published under the auspices of the OAU. The review praises the climatological plates (Nos. 10-13) for their effective representation of seasonal rainfall and monthly climatic data, but criticizes the zoogeographical plates (Nos. 18-19) for containing factual errors in species distribution limits and for a questionable theoretical opposition between mammalian and avian distribution types. The review also recommends polishing the English text. Additionally, the article briefly reviews two other works: the third volume of the Handbook of Birds of Central Europe, which is hailed as a new standard reference for European ornithology, and the first volume of the Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site, whose palaeoecological reconstructions, particularly regarding climatic fluctuations, are deemed highly valuable for ecologists.
Related Atlases
Comments
Loading...
0/2000