Field Guide to Freshwater Invertebrates of North America

I wanted to let everyone know that a very nice and affordable book is coming out dealing with freshwater invertebrates of North America (so put it on your wish list). The current authoritative freshwater invertebrate book by Pennak is very nice; however, I've been told a lot has changed in aquatic invertebrate taxonomy and so a new guide is much needed. Also the new guide is far cheaper than Pennak's and so you won't hurt the wallet as much when purchasing this book. Anyways, below is some information that will help you track it down so you can consider purchasing it.

Authors: James Thorp and Christopher Rogers
ISBN-10: 012381426X
ISBN-13: 978-0123814265
Publisher: Academic Press
Release Date: 11/15/2010
Title: Field Guide to Freshwater Invertebrates of North America

It's available for pre-order on Amazon and I'm sure it will become available on many other websites as we get closer to the release date.

Thanks to Dan Murrow for informing me about this book -- I thought some of you might be interested, so I'm spreading the word.

Blake

Edited by blakemarkwell, 29 July 2010 - 03:50 PM.

Thanks. I like Pennak, but it really is overwhelmingly encyclopedic. I hope this new volume is what many people have been hoping and looking for.

I agree Bruce and I hope I didn't come across as bashing Pennak's guide in any way. It's a great guide and one that will never be replaced because of the volume of information it contains. However, this one will be more user and field friendly while still providing a great volume of information. I have empathy for field guide authors.... you either write too much and it becomes encyclopedic (coffee table book) or not enough and it becomes amateurish; a sweet spot does exist, but man it's hard to come by.

Blake

Edited by blakemarkwell, 29 July 2010 - 04:43 PM.

I'm in desperation for something of the sort.
Thanks for this Blake.

I was just about ask if something like this existed! I have a 10gal, planted, fishless tank collected from a local pond and there are SOOO many little inverts swimming around and I have no idea what any of them are beyond picking out copepods, isopods, and leeches. There is always something active but not always the same things throughout the day... who would have thought an aquarium of stuff I can barely see would be so entertaining? Now I just need a microscope... on second thought, does anyone know how deep into the microfauna the book will go?

It depends on what you are talking about. The book will cover the very small arthropods that inhabit freshwater, but if what you are barely seeing with the naked eye are protozoans drifting in the water column and above the substrate, you will have to look somewhere else. A great book for identifying protozoans down to the family and genus is: How to know the Protozoa (Picture Key Nature Series) by Theodor Jahn. It's a great book, but it's old. Protozoan taxonomy is always in a state of flux and most still use the old nomenclature (at least the protozoologist at Millikin did) so it seems to work just fine. I mean, what exactly is a protist? Heck if I know; everyone will give you a different definition.

Blake

Edited by blakemarkwell, 30 July 2010 - 02:04 PM.

I guess I won't know what they are until I get a microscope. Thanks for the tip!