How to Know the Protozoa (Pictured Key Nature Series)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource!
Review: I run a microscope sales company (MicroscopeWorld.com) and used this book a few years ago when we produced a high school video program on Protozoology. It was indispensable for identifying the many protozoans found in fresh water. I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource!
Review: I run a microscope sales company (MicroscopeWorld.com) and used this book a few years ago when we produced a high school video program on Protozoology. It was indispensable for identifying the many protozoans found in fresh water. I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: This book can open our eyes to an invisible world all around
Review: Jahn, Bovee, and Jahn's work is the best possible beginning textbook for the amateur naturalist. In clear scientific language, the authors provide an introduction to protozoa: their reproductive behavior, their methods of propulsion, their environments, and their life cycles. The book describes over 500 species of the subkingdom Protozoa, and also explains how to how to define and classify them, collect, preserve, and observe them under the microscope.

All around us--in pools of standing water, under rocks, on our lawns, in our aquaria, on the moistened branches of oaks, on our vegetables, in our toilets and sinks--and even inside us and our pets--there are countless organisms, invisible to the naked eye, occult to our blinkered sensibilities, swimming, flailing, creeping, swarming and generally existing without our knowledge. This book will help identify these creatures, whose biomass far outweighs ours, who have been here since a time before our kind arrived on this globe, and who will take back their dominion once we have shambled off into oblivion. It is a sobering realization that though they do not need us to exist, we would become extinct without their presence, even though various members of the kingdom Protista are toxic to our species.

During a visit to a zoological garden or aquarium, one is very fortunate if one sees two of the larger carnivores playing, or two ruminants reproducing or giving birth. One almost never has the luck (or misfortune) to see a large species preying upon another. And the movements of these creatures are usually so restricted that nothing akin to their behavior in their native environments is evident. Place a bit of pond scum beneath a microscope, however, and the viewer can see all of these activities take place in a mere drop or two of water, in the course of an hour. There is nothing quite like the experience of seeing the ameba Chaos carolinense absorb a Paramecium, or a member of the Podophryidae sucking another protozoan dry of its cytoplasm, or a beautiful blue Stentor coeruleus creating a vortex, like Homer's Charybdis, and pulling smaller organisms into the wide end of its trumpet shaped body. Likewise, there are many opportunities to see the various protozoa reproduce: to watch a Coleps divide into two new independent creatures, or a new Vorticella budding off from another, and swimming off to establish itself elsewhere, or two Ciliophora fuse temporarily to exchange DNA. Under the microscope, one can view the Lacrymaria olor sweep its long necklike member through the water like a scythe, or the graceful helical gyrations of a Euglena, or the Litonotus fasciola as it glides across the slide like a miniature plesiosaur. This book serves as an introduction to the wonders of this otherwise invisible world.

It is also a starting point for an adventuresome naturalist, and an excuse for travel. In pursuit of the protozoa found in this book, I have rambled through the woods and deserts of the globe, coursed the oceans and visited their shores, travelled by steamer up the Congo, and wandered the frozen wastes of the Leng Plateau. I have drilled into the long forgotten layers of sedimentary rock in quest of long dormant or fossilized specimens, and dug in unhallowed damps to find those species that feed on necrotic flesh. One need not work so hard to enjoy the field of protozoology, however; a stroll to the local pond can provide samples of life just as fascinating as those on the other end of the globe, and lead to a deeper understanding of the creatures with whom we share this sphere. I know of no better way to introduce the naturalist to this fascinating, rich and overwhelmingly varied group of creatures than this book.

Rating:
Summary: This book can open our eyes to an invisible world all around
Review: Jahn, Bovee, and Jahn's work is the best possible beginning textbook for the amateur naturalist. In clear scientific language, the authors provide an introduction to protozoa: their reproductive behavior, their methods of propulsion, their environments, and their life cycles. The book describes over 500 species of the subkingdom Protozoa, and also explains how to how to define and classify them, collect, preserve, and observe them under the microscope.

All around us--in pools of standing water, under rocks, on our lawns, in our aquaria, on the moistened branches of oaks, on our vegetables, in our toilets and sinks--and even inside us and our pets--there are countless organisms, invisible to the naked eye, occult to our blinkered sensibilities, swimming, flailing, creeping, swarming and generally existing without our knowledge. This book will help identify these creatures, whose biomass far outweighs ours, who have been here since a time before our kind arrived on this globe, and who will take back their dominion once we have shambled off into oblivion. It is a sobering realization that though they do not need us to exist, we would become extinct without their presence, even though various members of the kingdom Protista are toxic to our species.

During a visit to a zoological garden or aquarium, one is very fortunate if one sees two of the larger carnivores playing, or two ruminants reproducing or giving birth. One almost never has the luck (or misfortune) to see a large species preying upon another. And the movements of these creatures are usually so restricted that nothing akin to their behavior in their native environments is evident. Place a bit of pond scum beneath a microscope, however, and the viewer can see all of these activities take place in a mere drop or two of water, in the course of an hour. There is nothing quite like the experience of seeing the ameba Chaos carolinense absorb a Paramecium, or a member of the Podophryidae sucking another protozoan dry of its cytoplasm, or a beautiful blue Stentor coeruleus creating a vortex, like Homer's Charybdis, and pulling smaller organisms into the wide end of its trumpet shaped body. Likewise, there are many opportunities to see the various protozoa reproduce: to watch a Coleps divide into two new independent creatures, or a new Vorticella budding off from another, and swimming off to establish itself elsewhere, or two Ciliophora fuse temporarily to exchange DNA. Under the microscope, one can view the Lacrymaria olor sweep its long necklike member through the water like a scythe, or the graceful helical gyrations of a Euglena, or the Litonotus fasciola as it glides across the slide like a miniature plesiosaur. This book serves as an introduction to the wonders of this otherwise invisible world.

It is also a starting point for an adventuresome naturalist, and an excuse for travel. In pursuit of the protozoa found in this book, I have rambled through the woods and deserts of the globe, coursed the oceans and visited their shores, travelled by steamer up the Congo, and wandered the frozen wastes of the Leng Plateau. I have drilled into the long forgotten layers of sedimentary rock in quest of long dormant or fossilized specimens, and dug in unhallowed damps to find those species that feed on necrotic flesh. One need not work so hard to enjoy the field of protozoology, however; a stroll to the local pond can provide samples of life just as fascinating as those on the other end of the globe, and lead to a deeper understanding of the creatures with whom we share this sphere. I know of no better way to introduce the naturalist to this fascinating, rich and overwhelmingly varied group of creatures than this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Well-Respected Classic
Review: This book is perfect for the serious amateur who is interested in identifying and understanding the protozoa. It is extensively illustrated with meticulously crafted pen-and-ink drawings, and the author gives us instructions on how (and why!) to make good drawings of our own. The book is technical enough to be useful, with the technical terms carefully defined and explained. The coverage of the organisms is thorough and practical, given that to key out protozoans much further than the family level requires professional training. This is the most useful book I have found so far in my quest to identify the microscopic organisms of Guam.

Rating:
Summary: Best All Around Source for Identifying Protozoa
Review: While the classification of "protozoans" has altered much over the last few years, Jahn et al. has remained as a standard text for identifying these strange microscopic creatures. The second edition was published in 1978 and the fact that it is still in print indicates its utility.

When used with Kudo's "Protozology" and the more recent "Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Color Guide" by D. J. Patterson, along with a phase-contrast compound microscope, almost any known protozoan can be determined to genus. Even with simpler equipment most can be reasonably placed to genus. Phase contrast is useful to more easily see some of the characters, such as cilia and cirri.

In general, this is a very user friendly book (as are most, if not all, of the books in the "How to Know" series.) Some sections that are especially useful include those on protozoan sizes (absolutely necessary in most cases), drawing protozoans, and motion in protozoans. The illustrations are generally very good and clearly show characters needed to identify a specimen. The descriptions are equally clear and helpful. In addition, specialized terms are defined in the index, a very useful innovation as you only have to look them up once!

If you are interested at all in microscopic organisms, either as a professional or an amateur, this book is a must for your library.

Rating:
Summary: Best All Around Source for Identifying Protozoa
Review: While the classification of "protozoans" has altered much over the last few years, Jahn et al. has remained as a standard text for identifying these strange microscopic creatures. The second edition was published in 1978 and the fact that it is still in print indicates its utility.

When used with Kudo's "Protozology" and the more recent "Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Color Guide" by D. J. Patterson, along with a phase-contrast compound microscope, almost any known protozoan can be determined to genus. Even with simpler equipment most can be reasonably placed to genus. Phase contrast is useful to more easily see some of the characters, such as cilia and cirri.

In general, this is a very user friendly book (as are most, if not all, of the books in the "How to Know" series.) Some sections that are especially useful include those on protozoan sizes (absolutely necessary in most cases), drawing protozoans, and motion in protozoans. The illustrations are generally very good and clearly show characters needed to identify a specimen. The descriptions are equally clear and helpful. In addition, specialized terms are defined in the index, a very useful innovation as you only have to look them up once!

If you are interested at all in microscopic organisms, either as a professional or an amateur, this book is a must for your library.