The Tropical Rain Forest: An Ecological Study

ISBN-13: 9780521421942 / Angielski / Miękka / 1996 / 600 str.

P.W. Richards

Opis

The rain forests of tropical America, Africa, Asia, and Australia are rapidly vanishing. With a focus on ecology, this book discusses rain forests as complex natural systems that are continually changing in response to climate and soil conditions, as well as to shifting cultivation, logging, and other human activities. The completely revised edition includes new chapters on climate (contributed by R.P.D. Walsh), microclimates and hydrology (contributed by R.P.D. Walsh), soils (contributed by I.C. Baillie) and an appendix on quantitative methods (contributed by P. Greig-Smith). This book, first published in 1952, is now a classic and represents an important record of what has become of the rain forest in the twentieth century and will be meaningful reading for botanists, ecologists, tropical biologists, conservationists, and general readers.

Recenzje

'Overall, this is a formidable reference work providing a substantial summary of vegetational research up to about 1990.' John Barkham, Geography

Spis treści

Preface; 1. Introduction; Part I. Structure and Physiognomy: 2. Structure of primary forest; 3. Regeneration; 4. Trees and shrubs (i) Vegetative features; 5. Trees and shrubs (ii) Reproductive biology; 6. The ground herbs and the dependent synusiae; Part II. The Environment: 7. Climate R. P. D. Walsh; 8. Microclimates and hydrology R. P. D. Walsh; 9. Phenology; 10. Soils of the humid tropics I. C. Baillie; Part III. Floristic Composition of Climax Communities: 11. Composition of primary rain forests (i); 12. Composition of primary rain forests (ii); Part IV. Primary Successions; 13. Primary xeroseres and the recolonization of Krakatau; 14. Hydroseres and freshwater swamp forests; 15. Mangroves and other coastal vegetation; Part V. Tropical Raion Forest Under Limiting Conditions; 16. Rain forest, deciduous forest and savannah; 17. The tropical rain forest at its altitudinal and latitudinal limits; Part VI. Human Impacts and the Tropical Rain Forest; 18. Secondary and deflected successions; 19. Postscript - the future of the tropical rain forest; Appendix 1. Tree recognition in the field and the use of vernacular names; Appendix 2. Application of numerical methods in rain forest P. Grieg-Smith; References; Index of plant names; General index.