The question, 'animal, vegetable or mineral' just got a little easier to answer thanks to a new Bermuda field guide produced by a Canadian ecologist.

Martin Thomas, professor emeritus at the University of New Brunswick was on the Island this week to introduce his latest book, 'A Naturalist's Field Guide to Bermuda — An Exploration of the Island's Common and Important Wildlife and Geology'.

Dr. Thomas is no stranger to Bermuda, as he has brought many university students here over the years to study the Island's ecology.

He is also the author of 12 books about the Bermudian environment. The previous one, 'A Natural History of Bermuda', was a coffee table book published ten years ago.

He decided to write a field guide to fill a gap in the market.

"Several people had suggested it," he said. "There was a need for something that people could take out with them when they were walking around the Island to identify most things."

'A Naturalist's Field Guide to Bermuda' covers fairly common things in Bermuda geological features and important native and endemic plants.

"There is nothing else similar," Dr. Thomas said. "Bermuda field guides usually refer to only one group of animals or plants.

"For example, there are three field guides to the birds of Bermuda, but there are no field guides to the plants and spiders or anything like that."

This book takes a different approach and is divided up by habitat, such as common plants and animals or grass and roadsides.

It took Dr. Thomas three years to write.

"It was mainly myself putting it together, but I had to get help from a whole lot of people," he said. "I was able to take about 75 percent of the photographs, but I didn't have the specialised lenses for bird photos. I don't do fish photos either, generally.

"So I asked experts that I knew to contribute photos."

He said some things were more difficult to photograph than others.

The ghost crab lived up to its name, proving to be especially elusive.

"They were really difficult," said Dr. Thomas. "We had a professional photographer who couldn't get them."

In the end, he used a photo of a model of the ghost crab in an exhibit at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo.

Dr. Thomas said in the guide, he tried to highlight certain plants and animals that were in trouble.

"A lot of the things that need conditions that were here in the old Bermuda are in decline, because of all the building and destruction of natural habitat."

He believes the pressure on the environment in Bermuda is getting worse.

"The practice of raking the South Shore beaches to get the tarballs has been disastrous for the ghost crab," he said. "Now it is only found on two beaches and one of them is the one on Nonsuch Island."

He said there has seen significant decline in some plants and animals just in the ten years since he wrote his last book.

"Ten years ago, Sea Lavender was common," he said. "You could find it in three or four places. Now it is in one place. Information about this plant can be found in the ponds, swamps and marshes section of the book."

He blamed people and hurricanes for its reduction.

"It was common at Hungry Bay," he said. "It is called Sea Lavender because the flowers are blue. They are also very tough flowers. It spreads by seed."

Dr. Thomas said there was an attempt to reintroduce the plant, and so far, it was going well.

"There are several plants you could try reintroducing," he said. "But it is always a tricky business. You never know enough about the plant. Sometimes conditions around it just aren't right."

Dr. Thomas said bluebirds were also less common then they were a decade ago.

"The other way around, the green heron, a small heron with short legs, has just started breeding here. Before, it was just a summer visit, and there are quite a few pairs," he said.

The 75-year-old worked as an ecologist on the 1970 Arrow oil spill off Canada, so he has a unique perspective on the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The oil spill in the Gulf isn't likely to affect Bermuda directly, but it will have an impact on the whole world," he said.

"These oil spills are absolutely devastating. I have worked on a couple of them."

He said that although it is commonly thought that the environment will be back to normal in 40 years, he hasn't seen this to be the case.

"People gloss over the effects of the Arrow oil spill," he said. "But when biologists like myself go there now, we find clams that still have oils. The locals don't eat them.

"If you dig down you will find a layer of oil on the seabed."

He said things are slightly better in tropical climates.

"In the tropics bacteria will attack the oil and degrade it, but again it takes time," he said. "But in Canada where it gets very cold, nothing disappears at all in the winter."

Dr. Thomas thought the field guide would probably be his last book.

"The economic situation here has meant I can't come down as often as in the past," he said. "I will be working closer to home for the National Parks Service and Museums of Canada."

The book is published by the Bermuda Zoological Society and is available for $24.95 at the Bermuda, Museum & Zoo Gift Shop.