Tropical Rain Forests: An Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison

by Richard B. Primack, Richard T. Corlett

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.

Genres: Environment

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Richard B. Primack is an American biologist and professor at Boston University. He is known for his work on climate change and conservation biology, and has authored several influential books, including Walden Warming and Essentials of Conservation Biology.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title is an apt description of the content of this text book, which is divided into chapters each focusing on a different group of animals and how they compare between the three rainforest regions of the world - Asia, South America and Central Africa. It starts with plants and ends with human impacts so the coverage is broad and adequate. As the authors note, there are few such comparative studies in existing literature and no broad conclusions or theories can be derived to date, such is the sheer variety of plant and animal life forms in the tropics. Most times the book is merely descriptive, highlighting the differences but failing to explain how those differences arose. Still it was very informative and an enjoyable romp all told.

[Sarah Salisbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most fascinating little textbook read for my March Renaissance Project study of the tropical rainforest :) highly recommended - not too technical and a very fun read for those of us with the nerd disease