From Book News, Inc.
A summary of contemporary understanding of the ecology of tropical rain-forest trees, with particular reference to comparative ecology as a way to help conceptually simplify the rain forest community and make it more amenable to analysis. Organized according to the life cycle of a tree, the reference discusses the characteristics and phenomena that are typical and rare at each stage, from the form and process of a mature tree through reproduction, including pollination and seed dispersal, and seed germination, seedling establishment, and growth. Turner (Singapore Botanic Gardens) concludes with a critical analysis of ecological classification systems for tree species.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Review
"The book is well written, organized clearly, and includes many excellent figures redrawn from the literature, as well as extensive tables compiled by the author.... This book should be an inpsiration to ecologists to pursue studies on comparative ecology of tropical trees, and the magnitude of the literature review will certainly provide tropical ecologists with considerable assistance in studying these issues. Perhaps this will help lead to a more synthetic understanding of tropical rainforest tree ecology in the future." The Quarterly Review of Biology

"[A]n informed analysis of the comparative ecology, physiology, and structure of tropical rain forest trees. Regardless of one's familiarity with the ecology of tropical rain forests, this book should prove informative and a useful addition to the library of forest ecologists working in any biome." Ronald L. Hendrick, Forest Science


Book Description
With detailed information available for perhaps only a few hundred of the many thousand of species that occur, our current knowledge of the ecology of tropical rainforest trees is limited. This book aims to summarize the contemporary understanding of the ecology of tropical rainforest trees. The emphasis is on comparative ecology, an approach that can help to identify possible adaptive trends and evolutionary constraints and that may also lead to a workable ecological classification for tree species, conceptually simplifying the rainforest community and making it more amenable to analysis.


Download Description
Current knowledge of the ecology of tropical rain-forest trees is limited, with detailed information available for perhaps only a few hundred of the many thousand of species that occur. Yet a good understanding of the trees is essential to unravelling the workings of the forest itself. This book aims to summarise contemporary understanding of the ecology of tropical rain-forest trees. The emphasis is on comparative ecology, an approach that can help to identify possible adaptive trends and evolutionary constraints and which may also lead to a workable ecological classification for tree species, conceptually simplifying the rain-forest community and making it more amenable to analysis.


Book Info
A summary of the contemporary understanding of the ecology of trees in tropical rainforests. Conceptually simplifies the rainforest community in order to facilitate understanding of the ecological classification of tree species, which is a current project of ecologists. DLC: Rain forest plants--Ecophysiology.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Current knowledge of the ecology of tropical rain-forest trees is limited, with detailed information available for perhaps only a few hundred of the many thousands of species that occur. Yet a good understanding of the trees is essential to unravelling the workings of the forest itself. This book aims to summarise contemporary understanding of the ecology of tropical rain-forest trees. The emphasis is on comparative ecology, an approach that can help to identify possible adaptive trends and evolutionary constraints and which may also lead to a workable ecological classification for tree species, conceptually simplifying the rain-forest community and making it more amenable to analysis." "The organisation of the book follows the life cycle of a tree, starting with the mature tree, moving on to reproduction and then considering seed germination and growth to maturity. Topics covered therefore include structure and physiology, population biology, reproductive biology and regeneration. The book concludes with a critical analysis of ecological classification systems for tree species in the tropical rain forest."--BOOK JACKET.

FROM THE CRITICS

Booknews