A Naturalist's Guide to the Tropics

Text Boxes and Tables
Photographs and Color Plates
Foreword
Preface
Guide to Reading the Color Plates
Acknowledgments
Tropical Geography and Biogeography
Continents in Evolution
The Ice Ages
The Climate
Different Climates from the Equator to the Tropics
Scorching Sun and Pelting Rains
Seasonal Winds
The Soils
The Flora
Water, Heat, and Light: The Winning Formula in the Tropics
Analogies and Differences among Continents
The Richest Botany in the World
The Fauna
An Extraordinary Wealth
Great Diversity and Unexpected Look-Alikes
A Thousand Strategies for Survival
Homeland of the Great Fauna
Mangroves
The Nonexistent Mangrove Tree
Original Architecture and Adaptations
The Army of Specialist Crabs
A Fish out of Water . . . or In
The Strategy of Being Amphibian
An Exciting Habitat—An Important Resource
Forests
Virgin Forests and Secondary Jungles
Profile of a Tropical Forest
The Ecology of a Green Universe
The Collapse of Giants and the Feast of the Colonizers
A Universe of Fruits and Flowers
Climbers, Lianas, and Epiphytes
The Great Fauna of the Forests
A Fervid Aerial and Arboreal Life
Pollens and Pollinators
Coral Reefs
Reef-Building Corals
Geography of Coral Formations
Barriers, Fringes, and Atolls
Hard Corals, Soft Corals, and Still Others
The Structure of the Reef
Invisible but Indispensable Alage
A Universe of Life among the Corals
Change of Scene from Day to Night
Sands and Beaches
Savannas
Fire and Rain
Halfway between Desert and Forest
The Kingdom of Grasses and Herbivores
Characteristic, Specialized Fauna
Birds: Flying and Otherwise
Deserts
Hot and Cold Deserts, Arid and Semiarid Deserts
The Hydric Deficit
Sun, Heat, and Wind
Seas and Waves of Sand
The Difficult Contest for Those Living in the Desert
The Tropics in Peril
Tropical Dangers and Precautions
Caution without Obsession
Dangers with 'Small'' Beginnings
Dangers in the Sea
Suggested Reading
Index