Rivers are recognized as major natural resources, not only as sources of domestic, industrial and agricultural water and hydro-electric power, but also for food production and increasingly for recreation and tourist promotion. This awareness has led to increased study of lotic limnology, particularly with respect to the development of the potentials of river systems. The concern over deterioration of watercourses as a result of poor land utilization and their use as repositories for man's rejectamenta has stimulated research into the basic dynamics of the river environment and its biotic communities. Before any assessment of pollution effects can be made, or rational remedial action suggested, there must be a sound, detailed knowledge of the 'natural' characteristics of regional water courses as a reference standard. This knowledge can result only from investigating the whole drainage area as a unit ecosystem (E VANS 1956) rather than just the specific conditions in the river itself (cf. SLACK 1955, HYNES 1969). Biotic data for any stream are of little value if divorced from consideration of the geology, hydrochemistry, land use and nutrient cycles of the watershed that generated them. The study of large rivers, potamobiology in the sense of I LLIES (1955, 1961 a), is a specialized area of research merging into lenitic ecology in many aspects and cannot be considered here.

Rivers are recognized as major natural resources, not only as sources of domestic, industrial and agricultural water and hydro-electric power, but also for food production and increasingly for recreation and tourist promotion. This awareness has led to increased study of lotic limnology, particularly with respect to the development of the potentials of river systems. The concern over deterioration of watercourses as a result of poor land utilization and their use as repositories for man's rejectamenta has stimulated research into the basic dynamics of the river environment and its biotic communities. Before any assessment of pollution effects can be made, or rational remedial action suggested, there must be a sound, detailed knowledge of the 'natural' characteristics of regional water courses as a reference standard. This knowledge can result only from investigating the whole drainage area as a unit ecosystem (E VANS 1956) rather than just the specific conditions in the river itself (cf. SLACK 1955, HYNES 1969). Biotic data for any stream are of little value if divorced from consideration of the geology, hydrochemistry, land use and nutrient cycles of the watershed that generated them. The study of large rivers, potamobiology in the sense of I LLIES (1955, 1961 a), is a specialized area of research merging into lenitic ecology in many aspects and cannot be considered here.

J. I. Furtado and S. Mori This volume, 'Tasek Bera, the ecology of a tropical freshwater swamp', is a monograph based on research at Tasek Bera, under the auspices of the International Biological Programme (lBP) involving Japanese and Malaysian scientists under the sponsorship of the Malaysian National Committee for the IBP (MNC-IBP) which was initiated by the Malaysian Scientific Association (MSA). This collaboration was initiated by one of us (S. Mori) in 1966 at the Scientific Committee for Freshwater Productivity (PF) of the International Biological Programme (SCIBP) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (lCSU). It involved discussions between the Japanese National Com mittee for the IBP (JIBP) and the Malaysian National Committee for the IBP (MNC-IBP) and their respe

Australia is the world's driest inhabited continent. Water is our limiting resource. It might therefore be thought that our water resources would be the subject of the most intensive study. Certain aspects, it must be conceded, have received much attention, notably the availability of water in terms of actual quantity. The size of the surface water and the groundwater resource is well understood and indeed receives about as much study as can reasonably be expected in a country with as sparse a population and level of scientific manpower as ours. Although the importance of understanding the water resource in terms of quantity is widely accepted, what has not been generally appreciated is that for this resource to be 'available' to human society for all the different uses to which it is put, it is not sufficient that there exists within easy reach of the end users a certain total volume of water. For that water to fulfil its functions-for agriculture, industry, the home, recreation, biological conservation-it must be in a certain state: it must conform to certain chemical, physical and biological criteria, and what has not been sufficiently appreciated in Australian society is that the condition a water is in depends very much on the ecology of the waterbody in which it resides. There are waterbodies in the world, for example high-altitude glacial lakes, which are naturally so pristine that their water could be used for any purpose without treatment.

Preface 1: The Rain Forest Setting Robert B. Waide, Douglas P. Reagan. 2: Plants: The Food Base William T. Lawrence, Jr 3: Microorganisms D. Jean Lodge 4: Termites Elizabeth A. McMahan 5: Litter Invertebrates William J. Pfeiffer 6: Arboreal Invertebrates Rosser W. Garrison, Michael R. Willig. 7: Arboreal Arachnids William J. Pfeiffer 8: Amphibians Margaret M. Stewart, Lawrence L. Woolbright. 9: Anoline Lizards Douglas P. Reagan 10: Nonanoline Reptiles Richard Thomas, Ava Gaa Kessler. 11: Birds Robert B. Waide 12: Mammals Michael R. Willig, Michael R. Gannon. 13: The Stream Community Alan P. Covich, William H. McDowell. 14: The Community Food Web: Major Properties and Patterns of Organization Douglas P. Reagan, Gerardo R. Camilo, Robert B. Waide. Glossary Contributors Bibliography Index Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Of the vast area of structurally similar vegetation that forms the Far Eastern tropical rain forest block, only the forests of peninsular Malaysia lie on the mainland of Asia. Although showing some influence from this source, the flora and fauna are distinctive and exceedingly rich in species. Among other factors, this richness reflects the complex structure of the vegetation, justly famous for the extensive stands of tall trees that create the conditions to which many smaller plants, fungi and a huge variety of animals are adapted. After a century of scientific investigation, it is now possible to understand peninsular Malaysia's complex ecosystem as an essential prerequisite to the successful management for conservation and long-term productivity in the area. Compiled by authors with personal experience of the region, this book constitutes the most authoritative account of this diverse and fragile region. It is essential reading for all those interested in Malaysia and its conservation.

In August of 1980, near the whistlestop of Maltby, Surely, we would plead, the U. S. A. , a wealthy Washington, Don Stewart and I met in my rented nation,can fund our proposal if only as a gesture of house trailer to sketch a proposal to the National support to foreign scientists. Somehow, however, Science Foundation. Our goal was simple: to re we seemed to miss deadlines, fall in-between the quest from the Foundation air fare and per diem for cracks, and miss the right connections. It was not approximately 20 Latin American scientists to at until May, 1982, several weeks before the proposed tend a workshop entitled the 'Systematics and workshop, that we realized we could not find any Evolutionary Ecology of Neotropical Freshwater funds for bringing Latin American scientists to the Fishes' that would follow the 1982 ASIH (Ameri U. S. The programs for the meeting had been can Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists) printed, the meal coupons, banquet tickets, and all meeting. We had presented an initial outline for our the other amenities that come with a professional proposal to a number ofcolleagues in . June of 1980 meeting were ready, but we had no Latin American at the ASIH meeting at Texas Christian University ichthyologists as participants. Some abstracts were in Fort Worth, Texas. The steering committee for being received by the program organizers, but the workshop, consisting of a dozen senior scien without U. S.