Arthropods Of Tropical Forests

About this book

Arthropods are the most diverse group of organisms on our planet and the tropical rainforests represent the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems.

This book, written by 79 authors contributing to 35 chapters, aims to provide an overview of data collected during recent studies in Australia, Africa, Asia, and South America. The book focuses on the distribution of arthropods and their use of resources in the rainforest canopies, providing a basis for comparison between the forest ecosystems of the main biogeographical regions. Topics covered include the distribution of arthropods along vertical gradients and the relationship between the soil/litter habitat and the forest canopy. The temporal dynamics of arthropod communities, habitats and food selection are examined within and among tropical tree crowns, as are the effects of forest disturbance.

This important book is a valuable addition to the literature used by community ecologists, conservation biologists entomologists, botanists and forestry experts.

Paperback re-issue; originally published in 2003.

Contents

Foreword
Preface

Part I. Arthropods of Tropical Canopies: Current Themes of Research:
1. Canopy entomology, an expanding field of natural science
2. Methodological advances and limitations in canopy entomology
3. Vertical stratification of arthropod assemblages
4. Determinants of temporal variation in community structure
5. Herbivore assemblages and their food resources

Part II. Vertical Stratification in Tropical Forests:
6. Distribution of ants and bark-beetles in crowns of tropical oaks
7. Vertical and temporal diversity of a species-rich moth taxon in Borneo
8. Canopy foliage structure and flight density of butterflies and birds in Sarawak
9. Stratification of the spider fauna in a Tanzanian forest
10. Fauna of suspended soils in an Ongokea gore tree in Gabon
11. Vertical stratification of flying insects in a Surinam lowland rainforest

Part III. Temporal Patterns in Tropical Canopies:
12. Insect responses to general flowering in Sarawak
13. Arthropod assemblages across a long chronosequence in the Hawaiian islands
14. Seasonality of canopy beetles in Uganda
15. Seasonality and community composition of springtails in Mexican forests
16. Seasonal variation of canopy arthropods in Central Amazon
17. Arthropod seasonality in tree crowns with different epiphyte loads

Part IV. Resource Use and Host Specificity in Tropical Canopies:
18. How do beetle assemblages respond to anthropogenic disturbance?
19. Organization of arthropod assemblages in African savanna trees
20. Flower ecology in the Neotropics: a flower-ant love-hate relationship
21. Taxonomic composition and host specificity of phytophagous beetles in a dry forest in Panama
22. Microhabit distribution of forest grasshoppers in the Amazon
23. Flowering events and beetle diversity in Venezuela

Part V. Synthesis: Spatio-Temporal Dynamics and Resource Use in Tropical Canopies:
24. Habitat use and stratification of Collembola and oribatid mites
25. Insect herbivores feeding on conspecific seedlings and trees
26. Hallowed hideaways: basal mites in tree hollows and allied habitats
27. Arthropod diel activity and stratification
28. Diel, seasonal and disturbance-induced variation in invertebrate assemblages
29. Tree relatedness and the similarity of insect assemblages: pushing the limits?
30. A review of mosaics of dominant ants in rainforests and plantations
31. Insect herbivores in the canopies of savannas and rainforests
32. Canopy flowers and certainty: loose niches revisited
33. How polyphagous are Costa Rican dry forest saturniid caterpillars?
34. Influences of forest management on insects
35. Conclusion: arthropods, canopies and interpretable patterns

Part VI. References

Index

Biography

Yves Basset is a Tupper Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the Republic of Panama. Roger Kitching is Professor of Ecology in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.