An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests [Paperback]

T. C. Whitmore (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198501471 | ISBN-13: 978-0198501473 | Publication Date: June 4, 1998 | Edition: 2

This new edition of Whitmore's classic introduction to tropical rain forests has been comprehensively revised and updated, reflecting the changes which have taken place since it was first published in 1990. The sections on human impact have been extended to include a new global assessment of deforestation as well as details of new research on biodiversity and conservation. Discussion of the future of the rain forests and priorities for action is incorporated. The book remains unique in linking rain forest biology and ecology with silviculture, and with concerns over sustainable resource utilization and the future of the tropical rain forests. It includes sections on the diverse animal and plant life forms which are found in the rain forest, and the interconnections between them. Nutrient cycles and forest dynamics are fully explained, with new data on ecophysiology and forest microclimates. The geologic and climatic history of rain forests, and the wide-spread canopy disturbances now understood to have occurred in the past, are explored. Accessibly written, and illustrated throughout with line-drawings and photographs, this is a must for biology and geography students, and anyone else who seeks to know more about the nature and importance of the world's tropical rain forests.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A greater awareness has led to bolder initiatives emerging to promote sustainable management of these forests, such as the rapidly approaching Year 2000 Objective set by the ITTO. The most significant changes in this edition address these issues with an extra chapter added, focusing on management for sustainability. ... In the end this excellant book is positive that a sustainable balance might be struck before the forests disappear. Tim Baker/East African Wilde Life Society/Afr. Jr. Ecol.,38, 93-94

About the Author

Timothy Charles Whitmore, Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, England CB2 3EN.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (June 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198501471
• ISBN-13: 978-0198501473
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecosystems > Tropical
  • #8 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Rain Forests
  • #68 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Plants

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction to tropical rainforest, April 29, 2008

By 

Damon Andrew Ramsey (queensland, australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests (Paperback)

This book is a good general introduction to the tropical rainforest of the world. It includes sections on plants, ecology, convergent evolution, and human use. It has some black and white photographs and 'classic' diagrams and graphs. It's technical level is probably that of early university ecology. (It is obviously good, as someone has knocked my copy off!)
Damon Ramsey, author of "Rainforest of tropical Australia"

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book on tropical rainforests., May 3, 2011

By 

Isaac Ho (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests (Paperback)

I have a copy of this book. I known the author, the late Dr. Timothy Whitmore for more than three years in the 1970s. He was then a Colombo Plan Botanist assigned to the Forest Research Institute, Kepong, Malaysia. I was then the Institute's photographer. Whitmore would often ask me to accompany him to explore the forests to take photographs of trees and plants. I am experienced in available light photography in the dim and dense forests and this expertise have come to good use with Whitmore which he appreciated. Whitmore's classic introduction to the tropical rain forest has been unique and comprehensively revised and updated, reflecting the changes which have taken place since it was first published in 1990. His grasp of the uniqueness of the tropical rain forest is thorough and knowledgeable. I spent three years with him, on and off, exploring this fascinating region of forest in the tropics which is in the danger of being destroyed by commercial timber exploitation, especially in Sarawak and Sabah. Whitmore and myself explored the northern forested region of Malaysia in 1968, known as the Kemahang Storm Forest, in which the matured trees had a strange bend some 30 feet above the ground. Then our party proceeded to the Sg. Geolok River which serves as the international boundary between Thailand and Malaysia. There, we were surprised to find elephants hauling logs. I photographed the entire process. Later, Whitmore and myself, wrote an article concerning these working elephants in hauling logs and it appeared in an issue of the official Malaysian Forester journal. I highly recommend this book to students of nature as well as forestry.

7 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this book was very enriching and enlightening, spiritual, March 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests (Paperback)

It was a book that helped me gain knowledge but it also made me want to go out and explore it, it was fabulous Icould hardly put it down and it helped a lot with my research paper. Thanks