The Tropical Rain Forest: An Ecological Study

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.

Table of Contents:
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.

Review :
'... this remarkable book is a unique source of detailed empirical knowledge on the ecology and especially the natural history of the plants and their forests in the wet tropics. In these respects the second edition is much more comprehensive than its predecessor and other, previous publications. The text is lucid, rigorous and readable.' P. S. Ashton, Trends in Ecology and Evolution '... it will stand as a recommended textbook and reference to the subject for decades to come.' John Feltwell, Biologist '... a gratefully received gift.' Ulrich Luttge, Journal of Plant Physiology 'I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending this new book to anyone who wants to understand rainforest biology; it is an excellent review of its field. And in the impoverished present and future world, it will, as the publisher claims, 'stand as a record of what the rainforest was like in the twentieth century': a sad, but all too accurate, recommendation for this masterly work.' Alan Tye, Malimbus '... a book to be read pleasurably by those who have any interest at all in the living environment of the humid tropics via their profession, recreation or conscience.' Jiro Kikkawa and Len Webb, Pacific Conservation Biology 'This new and completely rewritten version of the classic book ... provides a wide-ranging view of the tropical rainforest.' Quarterly Journal of Forestry 'A worthy testament to a gifted botanist.' M. R. D. Seaward, The Naturalist 'CUP are to be congratulated on the book ... all those with a love of trees should consider getting it.' Arboricultural Journal '... a book to be read pleasurably by those who have any interest at all in the living environment of the humid tropics via their profession, recreation or conscience.' Pacific Conservation Biology Journal 'Overall, this is a formidable reference work providing a substantial summary of vegetational research up to about 1990.' John Barkham, Geography