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The Amazon -that name was given to the biggest river on earth and
is often used for the whole area of its basin too. This
geographical region is currently referred to as Amazonia, thus
emphasizing the peculiar character of its aquatic and terrestrial
reaches. The Amazon embodied the dream of many a naturalist to
explore what for a long time was a terra incognita. In recent
years, however, Amazonia has emerged as a main centre for
'development' by some of the countries in which it lies and by
foreign industrialized nations. The development projects and
enterprises have aroused woridwide interest and have given rise to
discussions on their aims and their consequences to the Amazonian
nature. Limnological and ecological investigations in Amazonia
started only about 40 years ago. The editor had the good fortune to
partake in them from the very beginning. He spent his decisive
years in Amazonia, and dedicated his life's work to that research
and to that country and the Amazonian people. Nearing the end of
his scicntific activities, hc is gratcful to bc ablc to summarizc
in this book most of the knowledge we possess at present of
Amazonian limnology and landscape ecology.
With 'Biogeography and Ecology in South America' as the general
theme, a total of twenty-nine contributions by thirty authors is
offered here in two volumes, being volumes 18 and 19 of the
Monographiae Biologicae. Most of these discussions deal with
decidedly specialist themes and the editors have been particularly
concerned to ensure that the authors enjoyed the greatest possible
freedom in the preparation of their work in order that different
points of view and interpretations, together with some questions of
controversy, may be clarified. This also applies, of course, to the
several chapters in which general themes (geographical substance,
climate, geology, vegetation, amongst others) are discussed. Since
the amount of material available is too great to enable one to
aspire to a presentation of the complete biogeographical and
ecological picture, this procedure seems expedient. However, these
two volumes could well be regarded as being a preparatory work for
just such a complete description. Each of the separate technical
contributions refers to the continent as a whole, in order to
characterise it as such from the viewpoint of the specialist. For
this reason it was necessary to forgo special discussions of
particular regions or types of landscape, although South America of
all places is remarkably rich in unique regional phenom- ena, the
altiplano of Peru and Bolivia, the relict forests of Fray Jorge,
the shrub formations of Tierra del Fuego, the lakes of the High
Andes, for example.
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