Understanding Tropical Forests

Tropical Forests

To understand where and why tropical forests exist, one must begin with some essential facts of geography and climatic systems. By definition, ‘the tropics’ lie between 238N and 238S latitude, the area within which the sun lies directly overhead at some point in its seasonal progression. Thefluxof solar energywithin this region is high, due to the fact that incoming sunlight is projected at a 9...

Tropical Rain Forests

Fragmentation and Tropical Forests

Model systems are needed to examine fragment area effects on food web structure where other factors are relatively constant. Human-induced fragmentation is typically associated with human activities, which may complicate interpretation of results from fragmentation studies. Forests on Hawai`i Island periodically experience a unique natural disturbance where lava flows into forests, leaving behi...

Insect Herbivory in Tropical Forests

In z.n address to inaugurate the invertebrate exhibit at the National Zoo, Washington, DC on Mav 7, 1987, E.O. Wilson called insects "the little things that run the world" (Wilson 1987a). In terris of their diversity, distribution, and abundance, insects are unrivaled as a global ecolo,gical and evolutionary force. "It needs to be repeatedly stressed that invertebrates as a whole are even more ...

Disturbing hypotheses in tropical forests

The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) is a controversial explanation for the maintenance of tropical forest tree diversity, but empirical tests of it are rare. Two data-intensive evaluations have recently yielded contradictory outcomes: one for and one against the IDH. We propose that the explanation for these results lies in the subtleties of divergent interpretations and approaches, a...