Sonoran Desert Spring

The common view of deserts as "barren" places empty of life is firmly laid to rest by this excellent collection of essays. Alcock's relation demonstrates the wide variety and diversity of lifeforms found in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Plants, insects, birds and other animal life abound if you take the trouble to find them. The author is an expert at observing all this life. Better, he's adept at showing you how to follow in his footsteps to see what he sees."Footsteps" is the significant term in this book. Not ATVs, aircraft, nor other vehicular means, but walking quietly is the method to employ in behold ing the desert. Alcock provides examples of his techniques in researching various aspects of life. Surprising wasps in their rituals requires finesse and timing. Seemingly, he moves directly from office to landscape - one of his marking tools being a bottle of Liquid Paper. With this "paint" he can identify individual insects - male wasps and butterflies seeking mates. This technique lapses with rattlesnakes and coyotes, however.More easily identified subjects are the palo verde trees and giant saguaro cactuses. His palo verde trees are numbered [in his memory], but the saguaros are often elusive. Not because these ancient, giant cacti are mobile, but because his urban neighbours see fit to use them for target practice. Many of his jaunts confront him with spent shells, pock-marked rocks and shattered giant cactus plants. Desert soil pockets, often the home of slumbering spade-foot toads are riven with vehicle tracks. Their passage disturbs the dormant toads who believe the noise presages water-delivering thunderstorms. Awakening, they emerge in the belief the water is signalling the time for courtship and reproduction. The disappointment is greater than simply mating deferred. It may mean the toad has expended its resources. It will dry out and expire.In describing how the details of desert life is seen today, Alcock muses on the roots of life's processes. Why do the Tarantula Wasp and the Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly [which displays nothing visible that's purple] evolve parallel mating rituals? How can some species successfully deal with the spines of the cholla cactus when a human stuck with the spines must endure a full day's pain? Why do some bees fly in solitude while others are flock in swarms? Alcock examines these and similar questions with sound evolutionary logic. He stresses that simple or apparent solutions often require re-examination. Horned lizards only take a few ants from a nest entrance. Are they "prudent predators" saving prey for later exploitation? Alcock reflects on possibilities to arrive at a solution Darwin would have admired. As do we. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

John Alcock brings us with him on a tour of the Usery Ridge (north of Mesa, near Phoenix, Arizona) after the winter rains, but before the harsh heat of summer. The book mostly discusses evolutionary behavior of plants and animals found there. There are a few humorous passages which add an unexpected laugh. Dr. Alcock is concerned with the disappearance of the desert and its treasures.