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Tables of Contents for A Naturalist's Guide to the Tropics
Chapter/Section Title
Page #
Page Count
Text Boxes and Tables
ix
Photographs and Color Plates
xii
Foreword
xvii
Preface
xxi
Guide to Reading the Color Plates
xxiii
Acknowledgments
xxiii
Tropical Geography and Biogeography
1
16
Continents in Evolution
2
5
The Ice Ages
7
10
The Climate
17
12
Different Climates from the Equator to the Tropics
17
3
Scorching Sun and Pelting Rains
20
5
Seasonal Winds
25
4
The Soils
29
4
The Flora
33
22
Water, Heat, and Light: The Winning Formula in the Tropics
33
3
Analogies and Differences among Continents
36
5
The Richest Botany in the World
41
14
The Fauna
55
36
An Extraordinary Wealth
56
1
Great Diversity and Unexpected Look-Alikes
57
6
A Thousand Strategies for Survival
63
19
Homeland of the Great Fauna
82
9
Mangroves
91
22
The Nonexistent Mangrove Tree
92
3
Original Architecture and Adaptations
95
5
The Army of Specialist Crabs
100
2
A Fish out of Water...or In
102
3
The Strategy of Being Amphibian
105
6
An Exciting Habitat---An Important Resource
111
2
Forests
113
38
Virgin Forests and Secondary Jungles
114
1
Profile of a Tropical Forest
115
3
The Ecology of a Green Universe
118
8
The Collapse of Giants and the Feast of the Colonizers
126
4
A Universe of Fruits and Flowers
130
3
Climbers, Lianas, and Epiphytes
133
4
The Great Fauna of the Forests
137
4
A Fervid Aerial and Arboreal Life
141
4
Pollens and Pollinators
145
6
Coral Reefs
151
34
Reef-Building Corals
151
2
Geography of Coral Formations
153
2
Barriers, Fringes, and Atolls
155
4
Hard Corals, Soft Corals, and Still Others
159
2
The Structure of the Reef
161
7
Invisible but Indispensable Alage
168
4
A Universe of Life among the Corals
172
4
Change of Scene from Day to Night
176
1
Sands and Beaches
177
8
Savannas
185
28
Fire and Rain
185
3
Halfway between Desert and Forest
188
8
The Kingdom of Grasses and Herbivores
196
7
Characteristic, Specialized Fauna
203
3
Birds: Flying and Otherwise
206
7
Deserts
213
22
Hot and Cold Deserts, Arid and Semiarid Deserts
213
1
The Hydric Deficit
214
5
Sun, Heat, and Wind
219
4
Seas and Waves of Sand
223
3
The Difficult Contest for Those Living in the Desert
226
9
The Tropics in Peril
235
32
Tropical Dangers and Precautions
267
26
Caution without Obsession
267
4
Dangers with ``Small'' Beginnings
271
3
Dangers in the Sea
274
19
Suggested Reading
293
10
Index
303