"Exploring the Tapovan takes the reader on an expedition into the leafy, clammy, forested landscapes of tropical Asia. Peter Ashton and David Lee, two of the world's leading scholars on Asian tropical rain forests reveal the geology and climate that have produced these unique forests, the diversity of species that inhabit them, and the role of humans in modifying the landscapes over centuries. This work follows Peter Ashton's massive On the Forests of Tropical Asia, the first book to describe the forests of the entire tropical Asian region, from Sind to New Guinea. It provides a more condensed, accessible, and updated overview of tropical Asian forests aimed at students as well as tropical forest biologists, ecologists, and conservation biologists"--

This is the first book to describe the forests of the entire tropical Asian region, from Sind to New Guinea. Based on Peter Ashton s working field experience of over 55 years in every country, Burma and Laos excepted. Following a chapter on physical geography and geological history, seven chapters address forest and tree structure and dynamics, floristics, mountain forests, the other organisms on which the forests and trees depend, as well as genetics, evolutionary history, species diversity, and past and present human impact. A final chapter covers future policy and practice options for the sustainment of what remains. Each chapter focuses on the nature of forest variation, and attempts to provide an understanding of its causes based on the published literature, Peter s own experience, and his research collaborations. The author presents hypotheses to explain these patterns of variation as a stimulation for further research (especially by students within the region), and as a framework for policy makers, foresters and conservation biologists, as well as the serious naturalist/ecotourist."

An updated edition of the only book dedicated to the terrestrial ecology of the East Asian tropics, authored by a world-renowned tropical ecologist

"A Field Guide to Tropical Plants of Asia is an excellent companion for the traveler, backpacker, plant hobbyist, or botanist interested in learning about tropical plants, whether studying them in Indonesian rain forests or the glass houses of an American botanical garden. More than 300 color photos--both close-ups and habitat shots--accompany the listings and provide a key piece of the identification process.

The first edition of Tropical Rain Forests: an Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison exploded the myth of ‘the rain forest’ as a single, uniform entity. In reality, the major tropical rain forest regions, in tropical America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and New Guinea, have as many differences as similarities, as a result of their isolation from each other during the evolution of their floras and faunas. This new edition reinforces this message with new examples from recent and on-going research. After an introduction to the environments and geological histories of the major rain forest regions, subsequent chapters focus on plants, primates, carnivores and plant-eaters, birds, fruit bats and gliding animals, and insects, with an emphasis on the ecological and biogeographical differences between regions. This is followed by a new chapter on the unique tropical rain forests of oceanic islands. The final chapter, which has been completely rewritten, deals with the impacts of people on tropical rain forests and discusses possible conservation strategies that take into account the differences highlighted in the previous chapters. This exciting and very readable book, illustrated throughout with color photographs, will be invaluable reading for undergraduate students in a wide range of courses as well as an authoritative reference for graduate and professional ecologists, conservationists, and interested amateurs.