Tropical Rain Forests: An Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison

Acknowledgments.

1. Many Tropical Rainforests.

What are tropical rainforests?.

Where are the tropical rainforests?.

Rainforest environments.

Rainforest histories.

The origns of the similarities and differences.

Main rainforests.

Conclusions.

Further Reading.

2. Plants: The Building Blocks of the Rainforest.

Plant distributions.

Rainforest structure.

How many plant species?.

Widespread plant families.

Neotropical rainforests.

Asian rainforests.

Rainforests in New Guinea and Australia.

African rainforests.

Madagascan rainforests.

Conclusions.

Further reading.

3. Primate Communities: A Key to Understanding Biogeography and Ecology.

What are primates?.

Old World versus New World primates.

Primate diets.

Primate communities.

Primates as seed dispersal agents.

Conclusions.

Further reading.

4. Carnivores and Plant Eaters.

Carnivores.

Herbivores of the forest floor.

Conclusions.

Further reading.

5. Birds: Linkages in the Rainforest Community.

Biogeography.

Little, brown, insect-eating birds.

Forest frugivores.

Fruit size and body size.

Flower visitors.

Ground dwellers.

Woodpeckers.

Birds of prey.

Scavengers.

Night birds.

Migration.

A comparison of bird communities across continents.

Conclusions.

Further reading.

6. Bats and Gliding Animals in the Tree Canopy.

Fruit- and nectar-feeding bats.

Feeding habits.

Flying behavior.

Foraging behavior.

Bats as pollinators and seed dispersal agents.

Fruit bat conservation.

Gliding vertebrates.

Conclusions.

Further reading.

7. Insects: Diverse, Abundant, and Ecologically Important.

Butterflies.

Ants.

Termites.

Social wasps.

Bees.

Conclusions.

Further reading.

8. The Future of Rainforests.

Different forests, different threats.

The major threats.

The forces behind the threats.

Global climate change.

How bad is it?.

Rainforest extinctions.

Solutions.

Conclusions.

Further reading.

Bibliography.

Index