Tropical Forests of the Guiana Shield: Ancient Forests in a Modern World

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D. S. Hammond
CABI, 2005 - 528 pages
The Guiana Shield is an ancient geological formation located in the northern part of South America, covering an area of one million square kilometres. Despite its hostile environment, it is home to many unusual and highly specialized plants and animals, which constitute a rich area of biodiversity. Chapters in this book include hydrology, nutrient cycling, forest phenology, insect-plant interactions, forest microclimate, plant distributions, forest dynamics and conservation and management of flora and fauna. It provides a comprehensive and detailed review of the ecology, biology and natural history of the forests of the area.

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Contents

Ancient Land in a Modern World
1
Biophysical Features of the Guiana Shield
15
Ecophysiological Patterns in Guianan Forest Plants
195
Rainforest Vertebrates and Food Plant Diversity in the Guiana Shield
233
Folivorous Insects in the Rainforests of the Guianas
295
Flowervisiting Insects in Guianan Forests Pollinators Thieves Lovers and Their Foes
321
Guianan Forest Dynamics Geomorphographic Control and Tropical Forest Change Across Diverging Landscapes
343
Socioeconomic Aspects of Guiana Shield Forest Use
381
Forest Conservation and Management in the Guiana Shield
481
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Page 68 - It is never either spring, summer, or autumn, but each day is a combination of all three. With the day and night always of equal length, the atmospheric disturbances of each day neutralising themselves before each succeeding morn; with the sun in its course proceeding mid-way across the sky, and the daily temperature the same within two or three degrees throughout the year— how grand in its perfect equilibrium and simplicity is the march of Nature under the equator!
Page 14 - The Discoverie of the large, rich, and bevvtifvl empyre of Gviana, with a relation of the great and Golden Citie of Manoa (which the Spanyards call El Dorado) And of the Prouinces of Emeria, Arromaia, Amapaia, and other Countries, with their riuers, adioyning.
Page 68 - A little difference exists between the dry and wet seasons ; but generally, the dry season, which lasts from July to December, is varied with showers, and the wet, from January to June, with sunny days. It results from this, that the periodical phenomena of plants and animals do not take place at about the same time in all species, or in the individuals of any given species, as they do in temperate countries.
Page 68 - With the day and night always of equal length, the atmospheric disturbances of each day neutralizing themselves before each succeeding morn ; with the sun in its course proceeding mid-way across the sky and the daily temperature the same within two or three degrees throughout the year — how grand in its perfect equilibrium and simplicity is the march of Nature under the equator ! Our evenings were generally fully employed preserving our collections, and making notes.
Page 227 - Farquhar, GD, Ehleringer, JR, and Hubick, KT 1989. Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology Vol.
Page 226 - Allen and RS Loomis for helpful comments on the manuscript. References Ackerly, DD (1996). Canopy structure and dynamics: integration of growth processes in tropical pioneer trees. In Tropical Forest Plant Ecophysiology (Ed. by SS Mulkey, RD Chazdon & AP Smith), pp.
Page 227 - Naturalist, \27, 9-30. Chazdon, RL & Field, CB (1987). Determinants of photosynthetic capacity in six rainforest Piper species. Oecologia, 73, 222-230. Chazdon, RL, Williams, K. & Field, CB ( 1988). Interactions between crown structure and light environment in five rain forest Piper species.
Page 462 - Aborigines number on the schedules 7,463 or 3,917 male and 3,546 females. To the total population this is 4 per cent. The Registrar-General gives 10,000 more of this race as estimated to be wandering about the interior of the colony. The number on the schedule shows a decrease on the figures of 1881, when 7,762 were returned. This race is of little or no social value and their early extinction must be looked upon as inevitable in spite of the sentimental regret of Missionaries. At the same time it...
Page 226 - Park, Y.-I. (1995). The grand design of photosynthesis: acclimation of the photosynthetic apparatus to environmental cues. Photosynthesis Research, 46, 1 29-1 39.

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