Since the first edition ofthis book was written, public awareness
oftropical rain forests has become so great that issues involving their
exploitation are the stuffofdaily newspapers, radio and television. The
plight offorest-living peoples has become an international issue;
concerns over the greenhouse effect and other climatic changes are often
linked to rain forest destruction. At the same time, there has been an
unparalleled scientific interest in the workings ofthe rain forest and
an increasingconcern by economists as to its potential in balancing the
books of many developing countries. The need for an advanced yet concise
and up-to-date synthesis ofrecent studies and a key to the increasingly
voluminous literature on rain forests is even greater than it was in
1983. There are now many highly illustrated popular books on rain
forests, as well as new editions of K.A. Longman and 1. Jenik Tropical
rain forest and its environment (2nd edition, 1987) and T.e. Whitmore
Tropical rainforests of the Far East (2nd edition, 1984, many of the
splendid illustrations from which are to be found in his rather less
ambitious Introduction to tropical rain forests, 1990). Other very
welcome regional accounts of rain forest biology in various parts of the
tropics have appeared, notable being D.H. Janzen (ed.), Costa Rican
natural history (1983); Earl of Cranbrook (ed.), Malaysia (1988); G.T.
Prance and T.E. Lovejoy (eds), Amazonia (1984); A.
