This work has evolved, by a process of updating and expansion, from Ecology of Woodland Processes by Packham and Harding (1982). It is based on the factors which govern the composition of woodland communities, but goes on to explore the dynamics of interactions between various ecosystem components. Topics of particular current interest include root productivity, competitive foraging by plants, patch dynamics and regeneration, the significance of so-called defensive compounds, population dynamics of forest insects, and a re-think of conventional ideas on nutrient cycling in tropical forests and on succession.

This work has evolved, by a process of updating and expansion, from Ecology of Woodland Processes by Packham and Harding (1982). It is based on the factors which govern the composition of woodland communities, but goes on to explore the dynamics of interactions between various ecosystem components. Topics of particular current interest include root productivity, competitive foraging by plants, patch dynamics and regeneration, the significance of so-called defensive compounds, population dynamics of forest insects, and a re-think of conventional ideas on nutrient cycling in tropical forests and on succession.