Biogeography of the West Indies: Patterns and Perspectives, Second Edition

As a review of the status of biogeography in the West Indies in the 1980s, the first edition of Biogeography of the West Indies: Past, Present, and Future provided a synthesis of our current knowledge of the systematics and distribution of major plant and animal groups in the Caribbean basin. The totally new and revised Second Edition, Biogeography

Table of Contents:
Introduction. Biogeography of the West Indies. Climate Change in the Circum-Caribbean and Implications for Regional Biogeography. Functional Adaptations to Island Life. Phylogeny and Biogeorgraphy of Lyonia sect. Patterns of Endemism and Biogeography of Cuban Insects. The Caribbean's Contribution to the Spider Fauna of Florida. Rhysodine Beetles. New Perspectives on the Biogeography of Butterflies. Relationships and Divergence Times of Amphibians and Reptiles. The Historic and Prehistoric Distribution of Parrots. Early Tertiary Vertebrate Fossils from Seven Rivers. The Sloths. The Origin of the Greater Antillean Insectivorian. Systematics, Biogeography, and Conservation Strategies for Solenodons. Insular Patterns and Radiations of Rodents. Ecology of an Introduced Population of the Bahamian Hutia. Biogeography of Bats. Patterns of Extinction in Bats. The Mongoose. Status and Biogeography of the Manatee. Historical Biogeography in Cuba. Native American Use of Animals. The Prehistory and Early History of the Caribbean. Impact of Hunting on Jamaican Hutia Populations. Status of Conservation in Haiti.

About the Author :
Charles A. Woods is Curator Emeritus at the Florida Museum of Natural History and Adjunct Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida and Adjunct Professor of Biology at the University of Vermont. He is the editor of Biogeography of the West Indies: Past, Present, and Future (1989) and Biodiversity of Pakistan (1997), and the author of many publications on various aspects of systematics, evolution, ecology, and biogeography. His interests in the West Indies have involved work on many islands, and he is currently completing a book on the mammals of the West Indies. He is also interested in the biogeography of sky islands, and has made many extended expeditions into the Himalayas and Hindu Kush and Karakoram ranges. He is completing a book on the mammals of the Western Himalayas. Florence E. Sergile is a visiting scientist at the Florida Museum of Natural History and the University of Florida. She is an agronomist with expertise in the fields of natural resource management and environmental education. She has spent much of her career working on the management of natural sites in Haiti. She has taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in Haiti and has worked for USAID, the United Nations, and the World Bank. She was a consultant for the production of the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) for Haiti. During the past decade she also served as Director of Haiti-NET, a center for the conservation of the natural patrimony of Haiti.