When the late Professor Joachim Illies suggested in 1980 that I edit a volume of the Monographiae Biologicae on Sri Lanka, I was glad to accept the challenge. Although I had spent only six years of my research and teaching career in Sri Lanka, I had made personal contact or corresponded with many scientists who had worked in, still work in, or who have studied material from Sri Lanka. The present domicile of the authors of the chapters in this volume shows the wide geographic spread of interest in Sri Lanka, and indicates also the dispersion of Sri Lankan scientists like myself. Sri Lanka has...

One of the major river systems of our country, the Purari River, finds its outlet to the sea in the Gulf of Papua on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. All highlands provinces contribute to this mighty river: the Erave of the Southern Highlands Province joins with the Kaugel and Wahgi Rivers (Western High lands), the Tua River (Simbu), and Asaro and Aure Rivers of the Eastern High lands Province to make the Purari the third largest river in P. N. G. Unlike its rivals, the Fly and the Sepik, the distance between its escape from the mountains and its entrance to the sea is short. After...

G. K. Rutherford The Faeroes were first inhabited by Irish monks in the year 700 A. D. , yet they have remained insular and isolated for over 1000 years. In 1948 the Faeroes were still relatively unknown in the Northern European economic community and were regarded as an underdeveloped nation. The main occupation was fishing, as it still is now. No other primary activities existed other than local fishing and subsistence agriculture. There were no factories or industries. Enormous development has taken place since then and this development has created a demand for an inventory of the Faeroe...

'And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. ' Genesis 1:6 Lake McIlwaine is a man-made lake. It was formed in 1952 by the Hunyani poort Dam and is situated on the Hunyani River some 37 km southwest of Salisbury* in the Republic of Zimbabwe**. It is a lake of many aspects: being a popular recreational site, the City's primary water supply reservoir (and the fourth largest impoundment in Zimbabwe), a source of irrigation water to downstream farms, an important fishery, and, until the 1970s, the receptacle of Salisbury's...

High altitude research is comparatively a recent development. With the notable exceptions of entomology, botany and perhaps some aspects of human acclimatization, our knowledge of high altitude environment is extremely scanty. There is at present no comprehensive handbook on the general ecology of highlands. This book aims at providing such a text for the use of the general scientist, engineer, biologist and university students. It summarizes and critically reviews current developments and focusses atten- tion on urgent problems of highland ecology needing future studies. This book has grown...

This book describes the outstanding features of the ecology and bio geography of the Indian region, comprising former British India, Nepal, Bhutan, Ceylon and Burma. It summarizes the results of nearly four decades' studies and field explorations and discussions with students on the distribution of plants and animals, practically throughout this vast area and on the underlying factors. A number of specialists in geology, meteorology, botany, zoology, ecology and anthropology have also actively collaborated with me and have contributed valuable chapters in their respective fields. India has an...

For centuries the peak of Mount Kenya has held a magical and religious significance for the Bantu and Nilohamitic peoples around its base. The Kikuyu live around the Eastern and Southern bound- aries and the closely related Uembu and Umeru on the S.E. and N.E. respectively. Early in this century the Masai lived to the N.W. and North, but after continual warfare between them and their neighbours, the European administrators of that time moved them to a special reserve to the South, which accounts at the present day for the retention in the Masai language of many words that refer to Mount...

I have written this book because there is, as in almost all supraspecific ciliate taxa, an ur gent need for an up-to-date revision of the oxytrichids, which are common in terrestrial, limnetic, and marine biotopes. The last comprehensive, illustrated guides to this group of hypotrichs were provided by KAHL (1932) and SmLER (1974b); however, as regards syn onymy and faunistics, these works are outdated and not as detailed as EHRENBERG'S out standing book from 1838. In KAHL's revision, the oxytrichids sensu stricto are described on about 30 pages, whereas in the present book the systematic...

Lake Titicaca, because of its area and volume and its situation at high attitude within the tropics, is a unique hydrological site in the world. It should be noted that it stands at the transition point between two very distinct geographical regions: the desert fringe of the Pacific coast to the west and the great Amazonian forest extending to the Atlantic coast to the east.
Many scientists have been attracted to the lake in the past because of its unusual limnological features. In this book the editors have compiled an exhaustive review of current knowledge from the existing literature...

The valley of the River Wye has long been famed for its natural beauty and the salmon stocks which the river supports. As one of the largest substantially unpol luted rivers in Southern Britain, the Wye, which rises in Wales and flows into England, is now of considerable significance in the strategy for conservation of freshwater habitats in the United Kingdom and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific 1 nterest by the Nature Conservancy Council (N. C. C. ). However, des pi te this scientific importance, published studies of the aquatic ecology of the river during the earlier decades...