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Tropical forests

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Introduction to World Vegetation

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Abstract

With the advent of remote-sensing techniques, estimates of the land surface of the world occupied by tropical moist forests have generally been revised upwards from earlier estimates. Estimates of biomass, however, have generally been revised downwards from earlier figures. Figures using data from Lanly (1982) prepared for the FAO suggest that the total extent is around 1081 × 106 ha, which represents about 65% of its original extent prior to the Neolithic farming ‘revolution’. The more recent figures are generally higher than those accepted earlier, but there is no disagreement that these forests represent the most species-rich environments on Earth, containing between 20% and 40% of all the world’s plant and animal species (Myers 1983). Although understanding of tropical rainforests has increased in the last three decades and a number of major studies have been published (Golley 1983, Leigh et al. 1983, Sutton et al. 1983), there are still major areas of disagreement on fundamental aspects of the ecology. This is not surprising as they represent the most complex biocoenosis that life has evolved, with a high order of dynamic organization and many unique features of morphology, life-history and community interaction.

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© 1988 A. S. Collinson

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Collinson, A.S. (1988). Tropical forests. In: Introduction to World Vegetation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-3935-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-3935-7_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-04-581031-4

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