Tropical Rain Forest Ecology

ISBN-13: 9780216931480 / Angielski / Miękka / 1991 / 300 str.

D. J. Mabberley

Opis

Since the first edition ofthis book was written, public awareness oftropical rain forests has become so great that issues involving their exploitation are the stuffofdaily newspapers, radio and television. The plight offorest-living peoples has become an international issue; concerns over the greenhouse effect and other climatic changes are often linked to rain forest destruction. At the same time, there has been an unparalleled scientific interest in the workings ofthe rain forest and an increasingconcern by economists as to its potential in balancing the books of many developing countries. The need for an advanced yet concise and up-to-date synthesis ofrecent studies and a key to the increasingly voluminous literature on rain forests is even greater than it was in 1983. There are now many highly illustrated popular books on rain forests, as well as new editions of K.A. Longman and 1. Jenik Tropical rain forest and its environment (2nd edition, 1987) and T.e. Whitmore Tropical rainforests of the Far East (2nd edition, 1984, many of the splendid illustrations from which are to be found in his rather less ambitious Introduction to tropical rain forests, 1990). Other very welcome regional accounts of rain forest biology in various parts of the tropics have appeared, notable being D.H. Janzen (ed.), Costa Rican natural history (1983); Earl of Cranbrook (ed.), Malaysia (1988); G.T. Prance and T.E. Lovejoy (eds), Amazonia (1984); A.

Spis treści

1 The Tropical Rain Forest.- 1.1 A tropical origin for ecology?.- 1.2 Tropical forests.- 1.3 Some misconceptions.- 1.4 The tropical rain forest in a wider context.- 1.4.1 Floristics.- 1.4.2 Numbers of species.- 1.5 The global interest.- 1.5.1 The global carbon cycle.- 2 The Changing Physical Setting.- 2.1 Continental drift.- 2.2 Tropical climate.- 2.2.1 Precipitation.- 2.2.2 Storms, droughts and vulcanism.- 2.2.3 Temperature and radiation.- 3 Soils and Nutrients.- 3.1 Tropical soils.- 3.1.1 Soil processes.- 3.2 Soil types.- 3.2.1 Major groups of soils.- 3.2.2 Volcanic soils.- 3.2.3 Other soil types.- 3.3 The relationship between soils and forest type.- 3.4 Nutrient cycling.- 3.4.1 Precipitation.- 3.4.2 Litter.- 3.4.3 Roots and mycorrhizae.- 3.4.4 Animals.- 3.4.5 Overall production.- 4 The Changing Biological Framework.- 4.1 Tropical rain forest successions.- 4.1.1 Problems with older views.- 4.1.2 The modern interpretation.- 4.2 The ecology of gaps.- 4.3 The ecology of pioneers.- 4.3.1 Pioneers and shade-bearers.- 4.3.2 Pioneer morphology.- 4.3.3 Effect on shade-bearers.- 4.3.4 Features of regeneration.- 4.3.5 Seed-rain, seedbanks, dormancy and germination.- 4.4 Features of later succession.- 4.4.1 Seeds and seedlings.- 4.4.2 Saplings.- 4.4.3 Effects on nutrients.- 4.4.4 Effects beyond the gap.- 4.5 Animals and succession.- 4.5.1 Effects of gaps on animals.- 4.5.2 Effects of animals on gaps.- 4.5.3 Pollination and dispersal.- 4.6 Primary successions.- 4.7 Implications.- 5 The Components of Diversity and Their Dynamics.- 5.1 Geographical diversity.- 5.1.1 Flora.- 5.1.2 Fauna.- 5.2 Morphological diversity.- 5.2.1 Tree form.- 5.2.2 Other growth forms.- 5.2.3 ‘Anomalies’.- 5.3 Infraspecilic variation.- 5.4 Seasonal variation and other cycles.- 5.4.1 Plant cycles.- 5.4.2 Animal cycles.- 6 Coexistence and Coevolution.- 6.1 Herbivory and resistance to it.- 6.1.1 Plant resistance.- 6.1.2 Some mammals.- 6.1.3 Some invertebrates.- 6.2 Frugivory and seed dispersal.- 6.2.1 Birds.- 6.2.2 Dispersal by several agents.- 6.2.3 Some marsupials and primates.- 6.2.4 Fish and ants, wind and water.- 6.2.5 ‘Anachronisms’.- 6.2.6 Specificity.- 6.3 Florivory and pollination.- 6.3.1 Insect pollination (entomophily).- 6.3.2 Bird pollination (ornithophily).- 6.3.3 Bat pollination (chiropterophily).- 6.3.4 Other mammals.- 6.4 The milieu for ‘mutualism’.- 7 Species Richness.- 7.1 Speciation.- 7.1.1 Refugia.- 7.2 Species diversity.- 7.2.1 Environmental heterogeneity.- 7.2.2 Biotic factors.- 7.2.3 Combinations of factors.- 7.2.4 An element of chance?.- 7.3 Practical problems.- 8 Traditional Rain-Forest Use.- 8.1 The fossil record.- 8.2 Early agriculture.- 8.3 Hunter-gatherers?.- 8.4 Some rain-forest societies.- 8.5 Humans as ecosystem modifiers.- 9 The Changing Forest Today.- 9.1 Forest conversion.- 9.1.1 Farming and gardening.- 9.1.2 Logging and silviculture.- 9.1.3 Ranching.- 9.1.4 Fuel.- 9.2 The prospects.- 9.2.1 Soils.- 9.2.2 Succession after clearing.- 9.2.3 Animals.- 9.2.4 The ‘new’ forest.- 9.2.5 Conservation.- Postscript.- Further Reading.- References.