J. Proctor

Tropical rain forest

There have been several recent regional accounts which partly or wholly deal with rain forest and its environment. These include three important syntheses for Amazonia (Hemming, 1985a; 1985b; Prance and Lovejoy, 1985; Sioli, 1984) and one for West Africa (Lawson, 1986). It is good to see a substantial monograph on the rain forests of the Western Ghats, southwest India (Pascal, 1984). These isolated Indian rain forests have until recently received little study although they are of much interest. They occur under a highly seasonal climate with a dry season of 4-8 months and in this respect they are probably unique amongst the world’s evergreen rain forests. In addition they endure low night-time temperatures which fall to below 10°C in screens in clearings at 575 m (Rai and Proctor, 1986a). Some examples of these forests (Rai and Proctor, 1986b) have the least fine litterfall (3.4-4.2 t ha-1 yr-1 ) for lowland evergreen rain forest. Pascal’s (1984) account complements the work of S.N. Rai on the biomass and production and other aspects of these forests. A summary of Rai’s work has been given by Proctor (1986). A descriptive paper dealing with an area of the little known and scarcely extant rain forest of Mauritius has been published by Lorence and Sussman (1986). They studied two stands of mature evergreen wet forest on Mascarene Island to assess the extent of invasion by weedy exotics. The stands were remnants of the indigenous Mauritian rain forest which is now reduced to a total area of 585 ha. It was found that

Ecological studies on a lowland evergreen rain forest on Maraca Island, Roraima, Brazil, II. Litter and nutrient cycling

1. The Maraca rain forest occurs on sandy soils which have very low concentrations of nutrients, but it has none of the structural features which are often held to be associated with forests on nutrient-poor soils. 2. The present paper reports tests of three hypotheses which were proposed to account for these unexpected features of the Maraca forest: (a) that the forest is unproductive and has a low nutrient demand; (b) that the trees are particularly efficient at withdrawing foliar nutrients before leaf abscission; and (c) that decomposition is rapid and the nutrients are quickly recycled

Tropical Ecology and Physical Edaphology.

The ecological consequences of agricultural development in the tropics are described in this book, emphasizing the effects upon tropical climate, soils and vegetation, and proposing schemes for resource management. The results of deforestation, intensive land use and the use of agrochemicals and farm machinery are considered in terms of the alteration to the physical and hydrological prospects of soil, microclimate and productivity. The important role of soil biota and macrofauna in maintaining favourable levels of soil physical properties is also examined. The quality of the management of tropical resources affects the level of agricultural production obtained so proposals are made for suitable farming systems and soil management strategies which will both preserve the resource and sustain economic production.

Mineral Nutrients in Tropical Forests and Savanna Ecosystems.

Tropical forest nutrients, where do we stand? Soil characteristics and classification in relation to the mineral nutrition of tropical wooded ecosystems Pedalogical processes and nutrient supply from parent material in tropical soils Variations in soil nutrients in relation to soil moisture status in a tropical forested ecosystem Nitrification and denitrification in humid tropical ecosystems: potential controls on nitrogen retention The effect of humus acids and soil heating on the availability of phosphate in oxide-rich tropical soils Factors affecting nutrient cycling in tropical soils Mineral nutrients in some Botswana savannah types.

Tropical rain forests

Biogeographie et histoire des forets ombrophiles; hydrologie et microclimatologie; description et phenologie; litiere et nutriments; trouees et dynamique de la vegetation; deboisement

The Ecology of Sumatra

Sumatra is the focus of a large number of agricultural, social and industrial developments and yet the possible biological impacts of these are largely only guessed at by local and foreign scientists working on those projects. One reason for this is that the biology of Sumatra and its surrounding islands is poorly known. Another reason is that the information that does exist is spread through a disparate array of Dutch, English, German and Indonesian journals and reports. The Ecology of Sumatra has brought together nearly 1500 references relevant to understanding the components and functioning of the wide range of natural and man-made ecosystems on Sumatra. It was originally written in 1983 by a team at the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) at the University of North Sumatra and the team members have conducted field work throughout Sumatra to supplement existing information. This new edition includes a commentary on the last 17 years of development on Sumatra, as well as an additional bibligraphy of recent publications. The Ecology of Sumatra will prove useful to resource managers, ecologists, environmental scientists and local government personnel, and will be enlightening to Sumatras inhabitants and visitors. It should also be of great interest to anyone wanting to learn about Southeast Asian Biology.

Ecology of Tropical Plants.

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