Preface to the first edition.
Preface to the second edition.
Acknowledgments.
1 Many Tropical Rain Forests.
What are tropical rain forests?
Where are the tropical rain forests?
Rain forest environments.
Rain forest histories.
Origins of the similarities and differences among rain forests.
Many rain forests.
Conclusions.
2 Plants: Building Blocks of the Rain Forest.
Plant distributions.
Rain forest structure.
How many plant species?
Widespread plant families.
Neotropical rain forests.
Asian rain forests.
Rain forests in New Guinea and Australia.
African rain forests.
Madagascan rain forests.
Conclusions and future research directions.
3 Primate Communities: A Key to Understanding Biogeography and Ecology.
What are primates?
Old World versus New World primates.
Primate diets.
Primate communities.
Primates as seed dispersal agents.
Conclusions and future research directions.
4 Carnivores and Plant-eaters.
Carnivores.
Herbivores of the forest floor.
Conclusions and future research directions.
5 Birds: Linkages in the Rain Forest Community.
Biogeography.
Little, brown, insect-eating birds.
Forest frugivores.
Fruit size and body size.
Flower visitors.
Ground-dwellers.
Woodpeckers.
Birds of prey.
Scavengers.
Night birds.
Migration.
Comparison of bird communities across continents.
Conclusions and future research directions.
6 Fruit Bats and Gliding Animals in the Forest Canopy.
Fruit- and nectar-feeding bats.
Flying behavior.
Foraging behavior.
Bats as pollinators and seed dispersal agents.
Gliding vertebrates.
Conclusions and future research directions.
7 Insects: Diverse, Abundant, and Ecologically Important.
Butterflies.
Ants.
Termites.
Bees.
Conclusions and future research directions.
8 Island Rain Forests.
Pacific islands.
Evolution on islands.
Indian Ocean islands.
Atlantic islands.
Caribbean islands.
Natural disasters.
Human impacts.
Conclusions and future research directions.
9 The Future of Tropical Rain Forests.
Different forests, different threats.
The major threats.
The forces behind the threats.
Global climate change.
Saving the many rain forests.
Conclusions and future research directions.
References.
Index.
Richard Corlett, a Professor at the National University ofSingapore, has studied tropical rain forests in New Guinea,Southeast Asia, and southern China. His major current researchinterest is in how rain forest plants and animals survive inhuman-dominated landscapes. He has previously taught ecology at theUniversity of Chiang Mai, in Thailand, and the University of HongKong, in China, and is author or co-author of several books on theecology of the Asian tropics. Richard B. Primack, a Professor at Boston University, isthe author of two leading textbooks in conservation biology and isthe Editor in Chief of the journal, Biological Conservation.He has carried out research in Central America, Malaysia, andAustralia, and is currently studying the impact of climate changeon plant and animal communities. He is a former President ofthe Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.
This well-written, superbly illustrated, book should becompulsory reading for politicians and international bureaucrats,because, however good the ecological science conducted inrainforest, it will be a matter of preaching to the converted if itremains in scientific journals and does not reach the broaderpublic. (Austral Ecology, 11 July 2013)"In summary: this is a fascinating book. I enjoyed it, I learnedfrom it and I recommend it. It will be of value to academics,researchers and students, and, due to its accessible style andillustrations, it will appeal to many others too. Columbus wouldhave found it helpful-but over half a millennium later so might many of us." (Frontiers of biogeography, 3 January2011) "The non-technical text and colorful illustrations make itaccessible to introductory undergraduate courses and for generalreaders." (Booknews, 1 June 2011)
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