Overview
The mystique of the rainforest has captured the imaginations of generations of young people, explorers, authors, and biologists. It is a delicate ecosystem whose myriad sounds and smells, whose vibrancy of life, is balanced by constant cycles of death and decay. It is a place of fierce competition where unusual partnerships are forged and creative survival strategies are the norm. In this book, you will meet the scientific pioneers who first attempted to quantify and understand the vast diversity of these tropical forests, as well as their successors, who utilize modern tools and technologies to dissect the chemical nature of rainforest interactions.This book provides a general background on biodiversity and the study of chemical ecology before moving into specific chemical examples of insect defenses and microbial communication. It finishes with first-hand accounts of the trials and tribulations of a canopy biology pioneer and a rainforest research novice, while assessing the state of modern tropical research, its importance to humanity, and the ecological, political, and ethical issues that need to be tackled in order to move the field forward.
Full Product Details
Author: Jorge M. Vivanco ,
Tiffany Weir
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG
Imprint: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K
Edition: 2011 ed.
Volume: 8
Dimensions:
Width: 15.50cm
, Height: 1.30cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.366kg
ISBN: 9783642190797
ISBN 10: 3642190790
Pages: 118
Publication Date: 06 May 2011
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
From the reviews: This recent work in Springer's 'Signaling and Communication in Plants' series originated with an expedition of laboratory scientists to Peru's Tambopata National Reserve. ! The result is a mixture of general review articles together with some firsthand descriptions of the pleasures and perils of tropical research. ! should be required reading for graduate students in tropical biology. ! Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers/faculty. (B. E. Fleury, Choice, Vol. 49 (6), February, 2012)
From the reviews: This recent work in Springer's `Signaling and Communication in Plants' series originated with an expedition of laboratory scientists to Peru's Tambopata National Reserve. ... The result is a mixture of general review articles together with some firsthand descriptions of the pleasures and perils of tropical research. ... should be required reading for graduate students in tropical biology. ... Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers/faculty. (B. E. Fleury, Choice, Vol. 49 (6), February, 2012)
