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9781444332551

Tropical Rain Forests An Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison

by ;
  • ISBN13:

    9781444332551

  • ISBN10:

    1444332554

  • Edition: 2nd
  • Format: Paperback
  • Copyright: 2011-02-14
  • Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

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Summary

The first edition of Tropical Rain Forests: an Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison exploded the myth of 'the rain forest' as a single, uniform entity. In reality, the major tropical rain forest regions, in tropical America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and New Guinea, have as many differences as similarities, as a result of their isolation from each other during the evolution of their floras and faunas. This new edition reinforces this message with new examples from recent and on-going research. After an introduction to the environments and geological histories of the major rain forest regions, subsequent chapters focus on plants, primates, carnivores and plant-eaters, birds, fruit bats and gliding animals, and insects, with an emphasis on the ecological and biogeographical differences between regions. This is followed by a new chapter on the unique tropical rain forests of oceanic islands. The final chapter, which has been completely rewritten, deals with the impacts of people on tropical rain forests and discusses possible conservation strategies that take into account the differences highlighted in the previous chapters. This exciting and very readable book, illustrated throughout with color photographs, will be invaluable reading for undergraduate students in a wide range of courses as well as an authoritative reference for graduate and professional ecologists, conservationists, and interested amateurs.

Author Biography

Richard B. Primack, a Professor at Boston University, is the author of two leading textbooks in conservation biology and is the Editor in Chief of the journal, Biological Conservation. He has carried out research in Central America, Malaysia, and Australia, and is currently studying the impact of climate change on plant and animal communities. He is former President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.

Table of Contents

Preface to the first editionp. viii
Preface to the second editionp. ix
Acknowledgmentsp. x
Many Tropical Rain Forestsp. 1
What are tropical rain forests?p. 3
Where are the tropical rain forests?p. 4
Rain forest environmentsp. 9
Rain forest historiesp. 18
Origins of the similarities and differences among rain forestsp. 25
Many rain forestsp. 29
Conclusionsp. 31
Plants: Building Blocks of the Rain Forestp. 32
Plant distributionsp. 33
Rain forest structurep. 36
How many plant species?p. 37
Widespread plant familiesp. 40
Neotropical rain forestsp. 53
Asian rain forestsp. 58
Rain forests in New Guinea and Australiap. 65
African rain forestsp. 66
Madagascan rain forestsp. 71
Conclusions and future research directionsp. 72
Primate Communities: A Key to Understanding Biogeography and Ecologyp. 76
What are primates?p. 76
Old World versus New World primatesp. 80
Primate dietsp. 84
Primate communitiesp. 88
Primates as seed dispersal agentsp. 98
Conclusions and future research directionsp. 100
Carnivores and Plant-eatersp. 102
Carnivoresp. 102
Herbivores of the forest floorp. 120
Conclusions and future research directionsp. 135
Birds: Linkages in the Rain Forest Communityp. 138
Biogeographyp. 139
Little, brown, insect-eating birdsp. 144
Forest frugivoresp. 148
Fruit size and body sizep. 161
Flower visitorsp. 162
Ground-dwellersp. 167
Woodpeckersp. 172
Birds of preyp. 173
Scavengersp. 176
Night birdsp. 176
Migrationp. 179
Comparison of bird communities across continentsp. 180
Conclusions and future research directionsp. 182
Fruit Bats and Gliding Animals in the Forest Canopyp. 184
Fruit- and nectar-feeding batsp. 184
Flying behaviorp. 190
Foraging behaviorp. 192
Bats as pollinators and seed dispersal agentsp. 192
Gliding vertebratesp. 194
Conclusions and future research directionsp. 200
Insects: Diverse, Abundant, and Ecologically Importantp. 203
Butterfliesp. 204
Antsp. 212
Termitesp. 224
Beesp. 229
Conclusions and future research directionsp. 236
Island Rain Forestsp. 239
Pacific islandsp. 240
Evolution on islandsp. 242
Indian Ocean islandsp. 248
Atlantic islandsp. 250
Caribbean islandsp. 251
Natural disastersp. 251
Human impactsp. 252
Conclusions and future research directionsp. 255
The Future of Tropical Rain Forestsp. 257
Different forests, different threatsp. 257
The major threatsp. 264
The forces behind the threatsp. 275
Global climate changep. 279
Saving the many rain forestsp. 282
Conclusions and future research directionsp. 293
Referencesp. 297
Indexp. 318
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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