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EDITORIAL Re-interpreting the past: zoologist as ecological historian In this edition, Bob Paddle's well-written The front cover is a splendid view of a piece begins: "Species depart the biota, not breaching Humpback Whale Megaptera with a bang but a whimper. The Thylacine, nouaengliae. This magnificent creature is on the Tasmania Tiger or Marsupial M'olf, Thylacinus list of marlne mammals examined by Michael cynocephalus, is one of a handful of Bryden in his assessment of their status in the . . species. where the whimper has a precise Antarctic marine ecosystem. That the date." Australians, and Australian zoologists in organizing committee of the Sixth Inter- particular, grieve the extinction of the national Theriological [Mammal] Conference Thylacine. Its demise is now a textbook (held at the University of New South Wales in example of a conspicuous species that slid into July 1993) selected Bryden to present extinction in public view. The details of this the plenary paper on marine mammals fascinating species have yet to be properly acknowledges his authority and experience in explored, but Paddle's research makes a signifi- this field. His review of the status of the marine cant contribution by finding and re-assembling mammals, and of the ecosystem that sustains some of the fragments. Paddle has described them, depended upon a valuable set of how the Royal Zoological Society of New South records, without which the capacity of Wales was a bit player in the saga, and has zoologists to comprehend the trends would be provided our journal's readers with a thorough significantly reduced. history of ihe Society's records of the Thylacine. It is only by such painstaking work It is said that a picture is worth a thousand shall we recover what little was recorded of the words and the photographs illustrating the papers in this edition of Australian ZoologGt give largest marsupial carnivore extant at the time of European colonization. life to this adage. The historical photos of the Hawkesbury-Nepean not only depict what the The theme of this edition of the Awtralian authors are saying, but were themselves a Zoologst is re-interpreting the past with an eco- source of interpretation. The fine set of photos logical eye. The paper by Harry Recher, Pat and graphics that illustrate the paper on Hutchings and Sue Rosen on the fauna of the marine mammals allows one to glimpse the Ha~vkesbury-Nepeanis a major exercise in eco- Antarctic. Few of us have been there, or expect logical reconstruction. Here, two zoologists to go there, so our impression is formed by have linked forces with historian Sue Rosen to words and pictures. Zoologists emphasize the provide a timetable of changes in the river need to carry out field work, and one of the system, where major environmental degrada- best ways of recording what was seen is by tion was initiated by European settlement in photograph. In fact, it is the high quality 1788. The picture presented by the authors is photographs that help to make Auslralian a telling reflection of the entire span of Natural Hirtory (or ANH) a regular winner of European culture in Australia. The authors the Whitley Award for the best natural history acknowledge that their historical explorations periodical. If photos are so powerful, it could have gone further. One reviewer pointed remains a mystery as to why scientific journals to the lack of detailed attention to frogs and carry so few of them. There is an extra cost, reptiles in this eco-historical study, but this both in the layout of the pages and in the should serve as a challenge to other zoologists choice of paper, but it is not much extra for to re-interpret the current fauna, other than black and white photos or line diagrams. As an that focused on by Recher el al., in the context enthusiast of illustrative material, I urged of past environmental changes. The December authors to contribute photos, graphics and 1993 edition of Australian Zoologist will be maps for this edition of Australian Zoologist. devoted to Australian herpetology, and that Those that were submitted have undoubtedly could serve as an incentive to fellow zoologists enhanced the text and added a dimension to examine carefully the habitats of not conveyed by words. The sequence of the Hawkesbury-Nepean. Undoubledly they photos of the rare native rodent, the Hastings will draw on the zoological and historical River Mouse Pseudomys oralis, included by context provided by Recher, Hutchings and David Read in his paper, led this editor to the Rosen. observation that it looked strikingly similar to Australian Zoologist, Vol. 29(1-2) 1 the Bush Rat Rattus fwczpes. In turn, this The authors recognize that such a long time provoked the idea of suggesting adding an sequence has not been previously recorded appendix to describe P. oralis so as to dis- locally, and that the information gained shows tinguish it from R. fuscipes. The similarity that there is ample room now for experimental between these native rodents helps account for ecologists to understand and explain the pattern the lack of records of P. oralis for so long. This of changes over the years in a rock pool. point demonstrates the importance of the Among the numerous books reviewed in this visual zoological evidence, a point illustrated edition of Australian Zoologist is one by Dorothy from a quite different environment, marine Tunbridge on the loss of mammals of the habitats, by the fine drawings of Trochids by Flinders Ranges in South Australia, and the Patty Jansen in her paper surveying the fascinating story of the reconstruction of the Sydney coast line for members of this mollusc past through a skilled combination of family. Yet another visual perspective is anthropology, zoology and the memories of the provided by the excellent photos of a pistol local Aboriginal people. Such studies will become shotgun in the paper by John Disney. They increasingly important as it becomes more neatly complement the text and give the reader widely recognized that today's stock of organisms a close look at a museum-collecting technique is what remains after the often unrecorded as it passes into history. impacts of European land-use changes. The Two papers in this edition feature bats. decline of the fauna, its causes and con- The paper by Murray Ellis describes mid-air sequences, are often difficult to interpret. At collisions of the White-striped Mastiff Bat the moment, it is a sideline for those zoologists Tadarida australis, but there are no photos. with an ecological outlook. In time, however, Given the difficulty of seeing bats, and photo- ecological history will become a properly graphing them flying, it seems most unlikely recognized zoological and ecological discipline. that such collisions will soon be photographed. Recher et al. in their paper do not discuss The elusiveness of bats helps to keep them their depression at the current toxic condition from the public eye, and consequently it of the waters of the Hawkesbury that have is more difficult to prepare a research recently made headlines. To them, it is the programme or management strategy for inevitable outcome of detrimental changes these denizens of the night. So little has been over a history of nearly 200 years which have previously recorded about Australia's bats that gone unchecked. Their concern is to take a their ecological history is still in its infancy. To long-term view and to replace rights of use help its growth, the Australian Zoologist encour- with responsibility, as Harry Recher so firmly ages zoologists to publish their bat work. states in his review of the Ehrlichs' book Future workers will then be able to plot the "Healing the Planet". Amanda Armstrong, in development of the study of bats from these her paper on the responsibilities of the media glimpses. In this vein, the paper by Wilson, in reporting the environment, reflects Harry Ellis and Williams, featuring a bat survey of Recher's view on contemporary responsibility, the Macquarie Marshes, continues to raise the while the historical approach allows the possi- standard of bat survey, and the point has now bility of restoring the environment by reinter- been reached where the exclusion of bats in a preting the influences upon it. contemporary mammal survey is no longer acceptable. Daniel Lunney, Editor Both the paper by Ellis on the range exten- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS sion of the Fawn Hopping Mouse Notomys cewinus, and the paper on the pattern of dis- As always, the editor remains indebted tribution and abundance of the Platypus in the to the patience and skill of the authors, a rivers of New South Wales, as interpreted by dedicated network of referees, the support of Tom Grant in the light of mesh size in fish the Council of the Royal Zoological Society of nets, give powerful insights into hitherto New South Wales, and the thoughtfulness of unrecognized changes following European the printers. Editorial policy is to publish settlement and exploitation. It takes consider- original material of any length on any aspect able skill, and many years of patient, con- of Australian zoology and the conservation of centrated work in one area to be able to the habitats of the native fauna, and to main- recreate the past through interpretation of tain the highest standards of science while the minutiae of skull bones and fish net size. encouraging authors to express their own views Lardner, Ivanstoff and Crowley have patiently on the implications of their work. I also wish collected a 20-year record of a fish assemblage to thank Irina Dunn, Jean Joss and Pat Hutchings following defaunation of a marine rock pool. for their critical comments on this editorial. 2 Australian Zmlogisf, Vol. 29(1-2)