This book, the magnum opus of one of the most highly regarded tropical ecologists, is a synoptic comparison of tropical forests, based on a detailed understanding of one particular tropical forest, Barro Colorado Island, and illuminated by a lively interest in natural history and a sound theoretical understanding of ecological and evolutionary process. It covers various aspects of tropical forest biology including natural history, tree architecture and forest physiognomy, ecosystem dynamics, community ecology, niche differentiation and species diversity, evolutionary biology, and the role of mutualism in the ecological organization of tropical forest.

Attempts to halt the destruction of rain forests and other natural habitats in the tropics have met with little success. In particular, national parks, like those found in wealthy nations, have proven difficult to establish in Africa, Asia, and South and Central America. More often than not, people inhabiting areas designated for protection resist being told by outsiders that they must change how and where they live. Alternative approaches, frequently embodied in integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs), are now being pursued. The goal is to address local communities' desires for improved standards of living while simultaneously meeting conservation objectives. Nature-based tourism and sustainable harvesting of forest products are the centerpieces of ICDPs and related initiatives. This book assesses the viability of conservation strategies predicated on the adoption of environmentally sound enterprises in and around threatened habitats. Drawing on research in Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru and on his extensive experience working in South and Central America and the Caribbean, the author demonstrates that it is rare for forest dwellers to derive much benefit from ecotourism, the extraction of timber and other commodities, or the collection of samples used in pharmaceutical research. Often these activities are simply unprofitable. Even when they are profitable, the benefits tend not to accrue locally, but instead are captured by outside firms and individuals who can provide important services like safe and reliable transportation. The author contends that human capital formation and related productivity-enhancing investment is the only sure path to economic progress and habitat conservation.

British Plant Communities is the first systematic and comprehensive account of the vegetation types of this country. It covers all natural, semi-natural and major artificial habitats in Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland), representing the fruits of fifteen years of research by leading plant ecologists. The book breaks new ground in wedding the rigorous interest in the classification of plant communities that has characterized Continental phytosociology with the deep concern traditional in Great Britain to understand how vegetation works. The published volumes have been greeted with universal acclaim, and the series has become firmly established as a framework for a wide variety of teaching, research and management activities in ecology, conservation and land-use planning.

Eucalypts are being brought into cultivation as wood-producing crops throughout the warmer parts of the world. This practical bookshows how to breed improved varieties, and how to select appropriate sites, with an emphasis on making the best use of the genetic resources of eucalypts. It shows how well-planned and recurrent selection and mating can ensure long-term genetic gain after suitable base populations have been assembled, affecting both the quality and quantity of the wood produced. This will be the essential reference for practising foresters of eucalypt plantations, and will also be of great interest to foresters in general and for planners and administrators in aid agencies.

A Zona Tropical Publication"The words 'tropical rainforest' may conjure up vistas populated by jaguars, brilliant macaws, and flowers amid the grandeur of towering buttressed trees. But the eager, expectant visitor is not regaled with the sight of charismatic vertebrates, gaudy birds, and luminous orchids. In the rainforest, close encounters with life that moves are usually rare but brilliant episodes; one is bedazzled for an instant and then left alone in the quiet greenery. Under such conditions, one must see the episode as part of a process; tracing the connections between organisms is the essence of rainforest appreciation." Nature of the RainforestNature of the Rainforest is a breathtaking tour of an environment that is the pinnacle of biodiversity and evolutionary sophistication by an award-winning author and two photographers who love the rainforest, understand its intricacies, and have spent considerable time there documenting its wildlife and complexity. Adrian Forsyth draws on four decades of personal encounters with the animals of the rainforest including poison-dart frogs, three-toed sloths, bushmasters, and umbrellabirds as a starting point to communicate key ecological topics such as biodiversity, coevolution, rarity, chemical defense, nutrient cycling, and camouflage. The luminous photographs capture stunning and rare creatures in action, including the now- extinct golden toad mating, a jaguar on the prowl, and the hermit hummingbird feeding. The behaviors and characteristics of the rainforest inhabitants featured here not only illustrate the text but also advance the scientific narrative and exemplify the critical importance of conservation. Thematic chapters are interspersed with four chapters devoted to specific habitats and regions of Costa Rica and Peru, areas with some of the most diverse arrays of plant and animal species in the world. The result is an exuberant celebration of the rainforest in text and images."

Canada's Forests provides an overall description of Canada's forests, their historical uses, and their current condition. The ten forest regions of Canada are examined, looking at how the human use of these forests has changed from the end of the last glacial period (10,000 years ago) to the present. detailing the rise of the late 19th-century conservation movement and its subsequent decline after World War I, the interplay between industry and government in the development of policy, the adoption of sustained yield policies after World War II, and the recent adoption of sustainable forest management in response to environmental concerns. Drushka argues that, despite the centuries of use, the Canadian forest retains a good deal of its vitality and integrity. Written in accessible language and aimed at a general readership, Canada's Forests is for anyone interested in the debate about the current and future uses of this precious natural resource.

A CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE On May 18, 1980, people all over the world watched with awe and horror as Mount St. Helens erupted. Fifty-seven people were killed and hundreds of square miles of what had been lush forests and wild rivers were to all appearances destroyed. Ecologists thought they would have to wait years, or even decades, for life to return to the mountain, but when forest scientist Jerry Franklin helicoptered into the blast area a couple of weeks after the eruption, he found small plants bursting through the ash and animals skittering over the ground. Stunned, he realized he and his colleagues had been thinking of the volcano in completely the wrong way. Rather than being a dead zone, the mountain was very much alive. Mount St. Helens has been surprising ecologists ever since, and in After the Blast Eric Wagner takes readers on a fascinating journey through the blast area and beyond. From fireweed to elk, the plants and animals Franklin saw would not just change how ecologists approached the eruption and its landscape, but also prompt them to think in new ways about how life responds in the face of seemingly total devastation.

How do you dig up a 13,000 year-old footprint? Why do kelp forests need sea otters? How do you measure a shrinking glacier from an airplane? What is a 'zombie urchin'? Heart of the Coast brings these questions to life in a deep exploration of the beauty, mystery and biodiversity of the Pacific coast. Join Hakai Institute researchers in the field-archaeologists, oceanographers, marine biologists and beyond-as they journey from the ice fields of Klinaklini Glacier to the dazzling undersea reefs of a place called Crazy Town. British Columbia's Central Coast is a rich landscape called "a biologist's dream" and "the Amazon of the north." Since launching its Calvert Island ecological observatory there in 2009, the Hakai Institute has become a renowned centre of science and exploration. Collaborations with the Smithsonian Institution, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and several First Nations on the BC coast--along with a wide array of scientists hailing from other agencies and universities across North America-have uncovered new species, advanced our knowledge of marine food webs, and helped track the effects of climate change on watersheds and coastal ecosystems. Stunning photography illuminates the institute's journey of discovery over the past decade. This unforgettable book will inspire you with wonder and awe for the natural world, but be careful-you may learn something along the way.

Our attachment to the tropical rain forest has grown over the past hundred years from a minority colonial pursuit to mainstream environmental obsession. The tropical rain forest has variously been assumed to be the world's most important repository of biological diversity and 'the lungs of the planet'. As Philip Stott shows in this magnificent monograph, neither claim has any basis in fact. The Northern environmentalist conception of the tropical rain forest is far removed from the ecological realities of the places it purports to denote. Most of the 'million year old forest' to which environmentalists sentimentally refer turns out to have existed for less than 20,000 years. During the last ice age the tropics were colder and drier than today and probably more closely resembled the savanna grasslands of East Africa. Most of the abundant plants and insects of the so-called tropical rain forest are equally novel, having co-evolved with the trees. Claims regarding the fragility of the ecosystems in tropical areas are similarly awry. Recent research suggests that a clear-cut area will return to forest with a similar level of biological diversity to the original within twenty years. Ironically, the mythical 'climax rain forest' would be a barren place: no new species would evolve because there would be no new environmental niches to be filled. The myth of the tropical rain forest suits the purposes of Northern environmentalists, who are able to justify demands for restrictions on the conversion of 'virgin forest' to other uses. Yet the history of the world has been one of evolutionary change. If we attempt to maintain stasis, we risk limiting our ability to adapt to change when it inevitably comes. Calls for the tropical rain forest to be preserved are founded on the implied presumption that the people living in tropical regions are merely there to protect a western construct. This denigrates their rights and dehumanises them. If people in developing countries are to escape from the mire of poverty in which so many continue to live, it is essential that they have secure rights of tenure and are free to do with their land what they will. Some may make mistakes, some may fail in their attempts to manage the land, but many will be successful and those successes will be emulated. Through a process of experimentation -- trial, error and emulation -- people will come to learn how best to manage the land. The environment will then be managed in ways that are best for humanity as a whole, not according to the whims of a minority of eco-imperialists. Giving rights to people, not to the environment, is not only best for the people, but is also best for the environment. Philip Stott, Professor of Biogeography at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, provides an eloquent deconstruction of the ideas that have led to the mythical western idea of the tropical rain forest, which has constrained our ability to understand the environments of developing countries and has enabled the eco-imperialist vision to flourish.

'The single most influential spokesperson for organic psychedelics' The Independent With a new foreword from Dennis McKenna. From renowned ethnobotanist and psychonaut Terence McKenna comes this surreally mind-bending adventure into the depths of the human experience. True Hallucinations is a mesmerising odyssey of McKenna's travels in the Amazon with a band of friends during the 1970s. From mushrooms and flying saucers to pirates and James Joyce, McKenna uncovers the limitless potential of organic psychedelics to open our minds, bodies and spirits to higher states of being.

Where mountains meet ocean in Alaska's Alexander Archipelago, white skeletons of dead yellow cedar trees stand prominently amidst a verdant landscape of old-growth forests. Researchers spent nearly three decades deciphering the cause of the majestic species' death and uncovering climate change as the culprit. Lauren E. Oakes, a young scientist at Stanford University, was one of them. But even as she set to record the demise of a species, she soon found herself immersed in an even bigger, and totally unexpected, story: how the people of Alaska were adapting to the tree's disappearance, and how the tree itself, seemingly doomed, was adapting to a changing world. In Search of the Canary Tree is the story of six years that Oakes and her team spent in the Alaskan wilds, studying thousands of trees and saplings along the archipelago of southeast Alaska. Far from losing faith in the survival of our woodlands, she discovered the resiliency of forgotten forests, flourishing again after years of destruction and decomposition. And, through deep encounters with loggers, naturalists, Native weavers, and enthusiasts of the yellow cedar, Oakes discovered how the people of Alaska were determined to develop new relationships with the emerging environment. Where many scientists and commentators have found in climate change an unmitigated disaster, Oakes found beacons of hope even in the disorienting death of a species. Above all else, Oakes shows us that, although we can respond to climate change with either fear or denial, we can also find in it a new world, and one that doesn't necessarily have to be for the worst. Eloquent, insightful, and deeply heartening, In Search of the Canary Tree shows how human and natural resilience can help preserve ourselves, even in our rapidly changing world.

Deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate in many parts of the world, causing destruction of natural habitat and fragmentation of what remains. Nowhere is this problem more pressing than in the Amazon rainforest, which is rapidly vanishing in the face of enormous pressure from humans to exploit it. This book presents the results of the longest-running and most comprehensive study of forest fragmentation ever undertaken, the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) in central Amazonia, the only experimental study of tropical forest fragmentation in which baseline data are available before isolation from continuous forest took place.

A joint project of Brazil's National Institute for Research in Amazonia and the U.S. Smithsonian Institution, the BDFFP has investigated the many effects that habitat fragmentation has on plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. The book provides an overview of the BDFFP, reports on its case studies, looks at forest ecology and tree genetics, and considers what issues are involved in establishing conservation and management guidelines.

This is a practical manual to managing woodland. It includes a Foreword written by HRH Prince Charles. It comes from conservation expert Charles Flower, author of highly acclaimed Where Have all the Flowers Gone? Charles Flower is passionate about restoring the countryside. He has spent many years working on and writing about the restoration of wild flowers to grasslands and has now turned his attention to ancient woodlands, many of which, though derelict, are treasure houses of diversity, an asset unrecognised by almost everyone including those in Government. Yet with a little effort glades and rides, which may represent less than ten per cent of the wood, can be opened up with remarkable results. Once light penetrates some wild flowers will reappear and all will thrive attracting back the insects, birds and animals that once flourished there. This book is not only a beautiful record of the ancient woodlands that, thanks to good management, have continued to thrive, it also constitutes a practical manual and provides inspiration for those working to preserve our existing ancient woodlands and those managing recently planted woods and planting the trees that will constitute our future woodland heritage.

This book investigates the economic, strategic, and political importance of forests in early modern and modern Europe and shows how struggles over this vital natural resource both shaped and reflected the ideologies and outcomes of France's long revolutionary period. Until the mid-nineteenth century, wood was the principal fuel for cooking and heating and the primary material for manufacturing worldwide and comprised every imaginable element of industrial, domestic, military, and maritime activity. Forests also provided essential pasturage. These multifaceted values made forests the subject of ongoing battles for control between the crown, landowning elites, and peasantry, for whom liberty meant preserving their rights to woodland commons. Focusing on Franche-Comte, France's easternmost province, the book explores the fiercely contested development of state-centered conservation and management from 1669 to 1848. In emphasizing the environmental underpinnings of France's seismic sociopolitical upheavals, it appeals to readers interested in revolution, rural life, and common-pool-resource governance.

Forests provide vital ecosystem services crucial to human well-being and sustainable development, and have an important role to play in achieving the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Little attention, however, has yet focused on how efforts to achieve the SDGs will impact forests and forest-related livelihoods, and how these impacts may, in turn, enhance or undermine the contributions of forests to climate and development. This book discusses the conditions that influence how SDGs are implemented and prioritised, and provides a systematic, multidisciplinary global assessment of interlinkages among the SDGs and their targets, increasing understanding of potential synergies and unavoidable trade-offs between goals. Ideal for academic researchers, students and decision-makers interested in sustainable development in the context of forests, this book will provide invaluable knowledge for efforts undertaken to reach the SDGs. This title is available as Open Access via Cambridge Core.

Boreal ecosystems contain one-third of the world's forests and stored carbon, but these regions are under increasing threat from both natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Written by leaders from the forefront of private, public and academic sectors, Restoration and Reclamation of Boreal Ecosystems emphasises a broad, conceptual approach to the specific application of empirical research into development planning, restoration and modelling of these ecosystems. The importance of this is highlighted at a time of global climate change, as these ecosystems act as carbon sinks. There is a focus on the reclamation of exploited ecosystems from a holistic standpoint, ranging from environmental and edaphic variables to the restoration of keystone flora. Recent advances in quantification of ecosystem services, such as habitat suitability and carbon storage modelling, are also detailed. The book contains case-studies which address how both historical and novel assemblages can provide ecosystem stability under projected climatic and land-use scenarios.

Widespread human alteration of the planet has led many scholars to claim that we have entered a new epoch in geological time: the Anthropocene, an age dominated by humanity. This ethnography is the first to directly engage the Anthropocene, tackling its problems and paradoxes from the vantage point of the world's largest tropical rainforest. Drawing from extensive ethnographic research, Nicholas Kawa examines how pre-Columbian Amerindians and contemporary rural Amazonians have shaped their environment, describing in vivid detail their use and management of the region's soils, plants, and forests. At the same time, he highlights the ways in which the Amazonian environment resists human manipulation and control-a vital reminder in this time of perceived human dominance. Written in engaging, accessible prose, Amazonia in the Anthropocene offers an innovative contribution to debates about humanity's place on the planet, encouraging deeper ecocentric thinking and a more inclusive vision of ecology for the future.

Despite a century of study by ecologists, recovery following disturbances (succession) is not fully understood. This book provides the first global synthesis that compares plant succession in all major terrestrial biomes and after all major terrestrial disturbances. It asks critical questions such as: Does succession follow general patterns across biomes and disturbance types? Do factors that control succession differ from biome to biome? If common drivers exist, what are they? Are they abiotic or biotic, or both? The authors provide insights on broad, generalizable patterns that go beyond site-specific studies, and present discussions on factors such as varying temporal dynamics, latitudinal differences, human-caused vs. natural disturbances, and the role of invasive alien species. This book is a must-read for researchers and students in ecology, plant ecology, restoration ecology and conservation biology. It also provides a valuable framework to aid land managers attempting to manipulate successional recovery following increasingly intense and widespread human-made disturbances.

Maintaining forest biodiversity by combining protection, management and restoration of forest and woodland landscapes is a central component of sustainable development.
Evidence that there are threshold levels for how much habitat loss may be tolerated for viable populations of specialised species to be maintained.
Policy-makers, businesses and managers pose questions about how to balance use of renewable forest resources and conserve biodiversity.
Examples are presented on how biodiversity assessments can be made.
Proposes how the critical gaps in our knowledge identified throughout the book could be filled through macroecological research and international co-operation.

Rain forests represent the world's richest repository of terrestrial biodiversity, and play a major role in regulating the global climate. They support the livelihoods of a substantial proportion of the world's population and are the source of many internationally traded commodities. They remain (despite decades of conservation attention) increasingly vulnerable to degradation and clearance, with profound though often uncertain future costs to global society. Understanding the ecology of these diverse biomes, and peoples' dependencies on them, is fundamental to their future management and conservation.
Tropical Rain Forest Ecology, Diversity, and Conservation introduces and explores what rain forests are, how they arose, what they contain, how they function, and how humans use and impact them. The book starts by introducing the variety of rain forest plants, fungi, microorganisms, and animals, emphasising the spectacular diversity that is the motivation for their conservation. The central chapters describe the origins of rain forest communities, the variety of rain forest formations, and their ecology and dynamics. The challenge of explaining the species richness of rain forest communities lies at the heart of ecological theory, and forms a common theme throughout. The book's final section considers historical and current interactions of humans and rain forests. It explores biodiversity conservation as well as livelihood security for the many communities that are dependent on rain forests - inextricable issues that represent urgent priorities for scientists, conservationists, and policy makers.

The first book of a major new trilogy from artist-naturalist Obi Kaufmann From the author of The California Field Atlas (#1 San Francisco Chronicle Best Seller) comes a major work that not only guides readers through the Golden State's forested lands, but also presents a profoundly original vision of nature in the twenty-first century. The Forests of California features an abundance of Obi Kaufmann's signature watercolor maps and trail paintings, weaving them into an expansive and accessible exploration of the biodiversity that defines California in the global imagination. Expanding on the style of the Field Atlas, Kaufmann tells an epic story that spans millions of years, nearly one hundred species of trees, and an astonishing richness of ecosystems. The Forests of California is the first volume in a planned trilogy of field atlases, with The Coasts of California and The Deserts of California to follow, and Kaufmann seeks to create nothing less than a new understanding of the more-than-human world. The lessons in this book extend well beyond California's borders. If Peter Wohlleben's The Hidden Life of Trees and Richard Powers's The Overstory opened readers' eyes to the awesome power of arboreal life, The Forests of California gives readers a unique and unprecedented immersion in that power.

Cyril Hart's seminal work on woodland management and practices is back in this fourth edition, which covers a wealth of material including financial management, taxation, the integration of forestry and agriculture, silvicultural operations, grading of timber, valuations marketing, utilisation, non-wood benefits, saw-milling and nursery practice. A modern classic that has been a trusted companion to forestry students and experts for decades, Practical Forestry is a must-have for anyone interested in working in, managing or preserving Britain's lush and vital woodland areas.

Forest mensuration the science of measurement applied to forest vegetation and forest products holds value for basic ecology as well as sustainable forest management. As demands on the world s forests have grown, scientists and professionals are increasingly called on to quantify forest composition, structure, and the goods and services forests provide. Grounded in geometry, sampling theory, and ecology as well as practical field experience, forest mensuration offers opportunities for creative problem solving and critical thinking. This fifth edition of the classic volume, Forest Mensuration, includes coverage of traditional and emerging topics, with attention to SI and Imperial units throughout. The book has been reorganised from the fourth edition to better integrate non-timber and ecological aspects of forest mensuration at the tree, stand, forest, and landscape scales throughout. The new edition includes new chapters that specifically address the integration of remotely sensed data in the forest inventory process, and inventory methods for dead and downed wood. One unifying theme, not only for traditional forestry but for the non-timber inventory and for remote sensing, is the use of covariates to make sampling more efficient and spatially explicit. This is introduced in the introductory chapter on statistics and the chapter on sampling designs has been restructured to highlight this approach and lay the foundation for further learning. New examples will be developed throughout the textbook with an emphasis on current issues and international practice. Students in applied forestry programs will find ample coverage of forest products and timber inventory, while expanded material on biodiversity, biomass and carbon inventory, downed dead wood, and the growing role of remote sensing in forest assessment will be valuable to a broader audience in applied ecology. About the Authors John A. Kershaw, Jr. Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Canada Mark J. Ducey, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, USA Thomas W. Beers, Emeritus Professor of Forestry, Purdue University, USA Bertram Husch, former Forestry Consultant at INFORA Estudios Ltda. in Santiago, Chile, and former Forest Mensurationist, FAO

The destruction of tropical forests is intimately intertwined with the fate of the rural poor who rely on this resource for their livelihood. "Conservation of Neotropical Forests" provides important information for understanding the interactions of forest peoples and forest resources in the lowland tropics of Central and South America. This interdisciplinary study features experts from both the natural and social sciences to illuminate the present dilemma of conserving neotropical resources. These contributors -- who are responsible for some of the most promising work in cultural and biodiversity conservation -- investigate the patterns of traditional resource use, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing research, and explore innovative directions for furthering the interdisciplinary conservationist agenda.

Since the dawn of human civilization, forests have provided us with food, resources, and energy. The history of human development is also one of forest loss and transformation, and yet even in our increasingly urbanized societies we remain surprisingly dependent on forests for a wide range of goods and services. Moreover, forests still retain a remarkable hold on our environmental values. In an era of continuing tropical deforestation and temperate forest resurgence, and in the midst of uncertainties of climate and land use changes, it is more important than ever to understand what forests are, how they contribute to our livelihoods, and how they underpin our cultural histories and futures. In this Very Short Introduction Jaboury Ghazoul explores our contrasting interactions with forests, as well as their origins, dynamics, and the range of goods and services they provide to human society. Ghazoul concludes with an examination of the recent history of deforestation, transitions to reforestation, and the future outlook for forests particularly in the context of expected climate change. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.