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122 BLUMEA VOL. 36,No. 1, 1991 Review T.C.WHITMORE:Anintroductiontotropical rainforests. ClarendonPress, Oxford (Oxford University Press), 1990,reprint with corrections 1991,226 pp., photo- graphs, text figs. Price £ 16.95. ISBN 0-19-854274-7- ISBN0-19-854276-3 (paperback). Thisbook seems tobelong to- andcertainly shouldbeusedsideby sidewith- thelateMariusJacobs’“Thetropical rainforest- afirstencounter”(Dutch version 1981;English edition 1988,295pp.),as ithas muchthesame design and contents, andis similarlyrichly illustrated; it alsoaimsatabetterunderstanding oftheneces- sity insaving theforestforthefuture. Thepresentvolumesomewhatmorefocuses on ecology proper, triesto explain it, andtells whatis happening today with the forests, toabroadreading public whichsurely includespoliticians andallkinds of tropical scientists. There is a glossary, andforreaders furtherinteresteda listof references, anda general index. Thenicely executedbookcontains,as compared to Jacobs’,much additionalin- formation,recently discoveredfacts, newresultsofforestresearch,and itoffersnew opinions onforestecology, formulatedand seenfromasomewhatdifferentangle, as by aforester.Thereis apanoramaofmostitemsoftropicalrainforestecology, cov- ered by 10chapters, with thefollowing headings: An introductionto tropicalrain forests- Whataretropical rainforests?- Plantlife- Rainforestanimals- Intercon- nectionsbetweenplants andanimals/theweboflife- Tropical rainforeststhrough time - Forest dynamics - Nutrients andtheircycles - Speciesrichness - Tropical rainforests yesterday,today andtomorrow. Itappears thatnotalways allthenutrientsinarainforestecosystem are inaclose circuit, but that,undercertainconditions,they canbemadeup by mineralsfromthe weathering baserock andby aerosolandrain,andhencethatasustainableforestex- ploitation maybepossible. Welearnthatforestsnot always havebeenundisturbed forimmense geological periods and still have developed their incredible species diversity, andthus, thatsome degreeofdisturbanceby man couldbetolerated.Faint positive tidings for thesilent, waiting forests. But also theauthorknows and con- cludesaboutthegreat'ifs': theimmediatechange intheattitudeofman,andbring- ing to a stop the humanpopulation growth, bothrequirements not tobe touched upon.Jacobs madethesameappeal ten years before,but nothing happened. Mean- whilewetry thebest, andWhitmore'sbookis mostwelcometointroducethemany underlying problems. W.J.J.O. de Wilde
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