Table of Contents

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I. Characteristics of tropical rainforests

A. What is a Tropical Rainforest
B. Extent of Tropical Rainforests
C. Age of Tropical Rainforests
D. History of Human Interactions with Tropical Rainforests

1. Prehistoric Humans and Extinctions

2. Prehistoric Human Alterations of Tropical Rainforests
3. Examples of Tropical Rainforests Seriously Altered by Human Activities
   1. Polynesia
   2. Mexico
   3. South America
   4. Central America
4. European Discovery of Tropical Rainforests

E. Composition of Tropical Rainforests

1. Size and Age of the Vegetation
2. Distribution of Trees in the Forest
3. General Features of Tropical Plants
4. Analogous Nature of Tropical Species
5. The Three Major Tropical Rainforests
   1. Africa
   2. Indo-Malayan region (South and Southeast Asia)
   3. Neotropics

F. Forest Maintenance and Succession

G. Rainforest Ecology

1. Introduction
2. Rainforest Structure
3. Forest Niches
4. Productivity
5. Nutrient Cycling
6. Species Richness
7. Age of Vegetation

8. Forest Microclimates

   1. Light

   2. Moisture and Vapor Pressure

   3. Temperature

9. Symbiotic Interactions

   1. Ants and Epiphytes

   2. Ants and Macaranga Trees

   3. Azteca Ants and Cecropia Trees

   4. Leaf-cutter (attine) Ants and Fungi

   5. Plants and Butterflies

   6. Figs and Wasps

   7. Termites and Pitcher Plants

10. Roles of Fungi and other Microbes
    1. Nutrient Cycling
    2. Tree Dispersion and Other Ecological Effects
    3. Food Sources
    4. Regulators of Population Size
    5. Mycorrhizae
11. Reproduction in Tropical Rainforest Flora
12. Plant-soil Interactions
13. Rainforest Stability and Disturbance
    1. Fire
    2. Wind
    3. Flooding
    4. Geological Activity
    5. Invasions by "Exotic" (Non-native) Organisms
14. Roles of Pathogens

H. Rainforest Role in the Carbon Cycle

I. Rainforest Role in the Nitrogen Cycle

J. Rainforest Role in the Water Cycle

1. Precipitation
2. Water Regulation

K. Rainforest role in climate

1. Temperature
2. Air Currents
3. Moisture

L. Tropical Soils

1. Soil Formation
2. Soils of Tropical Rainforests

II. BIODIVERSITY

A. What do we mean by biodiversity?

B. How much biodiversity is found in tropical rainforests?

C. Biogeography of tropical regions

D. Why is there so much biodiversity in tropical rainforests?

1. Introduction
2. Explanations for tropical rainforest biodiversity

E. Plants

1. Trees
2. Other plants
3. Flowering and fruiting 
4. Endemism
5. Habitat specificity

F. Animals

1. Roles of animals in tropical rainforests
2. Distribution (population size in different areas)
3. Kinds of animals
   1. Invertebrates
   2. Vertebrates

G. Recent losses in biodiversity

1. Extent of losses
2. Biodiversity hotspots
3. Estimation of species extinctions
4. Consequences of biodiversity loss
5. Causes of recent declines in biodiversity
6. Endangered areas
7. Endangered organisms
8. Value of biodiversity
9. Conservation of biodiversity
10. How can the loss of biodiversity be halted?

III. TROPICAL RAINFORESTS IN PERIL:  DEFORESTATION

A. Current state of tropical rainforests

B. Synergism

1. Southeast Asian Dipterocarps
2. Fires

C. Human use of biological productivity: the diversion of net primary productivity

1. Agriculture
2. Timber
3. Habitations and recreation

D. Causes of tropical rainforest destruction

1. Human population growth
2. Land ownership patterns
3. Conversion for agriculture
4. Housing and urbanization
5. Commercial logging and the demand for wood
6. Use as a fuel source
7. Government policies
8. Subsidies from governments and international lending agencies
9. Inadequate valuation of tropical rainforests as resources
10. Inadequate protection of tropical rainforests
11. Establishment of transportation networks
12. Mining and other extractive activities
13. Inappropriate interventions
14. Dam construction
15. Poverty and wealth
16. Excessive extraction of forest resources
17. Philosophical and ethical attitudes
18. Economic attitudes
19. Tolerance for greed and corruption
20. Social structures
21. Wars and disruptive social change
22. Ecotourism
23. Distrust of government

E. Why preserve the tropical rainforests of the world?

1. Preservation of biodiversity
2. Renewable source of forest products
3. Reservoirs for genetic resources and centers for evolution
4. Regulation of hydrological functions
5. Regulation of air quality
6. Climate stabilization
7. Soil fertility and retention
8. Control of pests/parasites
9. Pollution services
10. Sources of education and knowledge
11. Sources of housing
12. Aesthetic factors and sources of recreation
13. Potential sources of insight
14. As wilderness
15. Ethical reasons

F. Consequences of deforestation

1. Damage to trees and other vegetation
2. Erosion and impoverishment of soils
3. Loss of biodiversity
4. Loss of genetic resources and evolutionary potential
5. Changes in water cycle
6. Changes in water levels and erosion
7. Changes in vegetation
8. Changes in climate and increase in greenhouse gases
9. Difficulty of reforestation
10. Increase in physical disturbances
11. Loss of ecosystem services
12. Disturbance of adjacent unlogged areas
13. Unintended consequences
14. Disruption of culture and livelihood of indigenous peoples
15. Exacerbation of social imbalances
16. Economic losses
17. Increase in pathogens
18. Loss of productivity
19. Creation of environmental refugees

IV. CASE STUDIES IN FOREST DESTRUCTION

A. The Neotropics

1. Puerto Rico
2. Brazil
3. Ecuador
4. Costa Rica
5. Peru

B. Africa

1. Madagascar
2. Central Africa

C. South and southeast Asia

1. India
2. Thailand
3. Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo
4. Indonesia

V. Who gains from deforestation?

VI. Conservation of tropical rainforests

A. Means of conserving tropical rainforests

1. Drastic reduction of human population growth
2. Improvement of land use
3. Improvement of forest management
4. Institution of changes in public policies toward forests
5. Protection of forest land
6. Improvement of agricultural methods and productivity
7. Modification of economic and legal systems
8. Reduction of social and economic imbalances
9. Reduction of anthropogenic effects on forests
10. Utilization of indigenous species for resources
11. Establishment of national centers for the conservation of threatened and endangered species
12. Increase in basic research on tropical rainforests
13. Regarding tropical rainforest preservation as an asset in economic calculations
14. Institution of economic measures favorable to rainforest preservation
15. Reformation of trade policies
16. Reduction of poverty
17. Community-based conservation
18. Promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples
19. Increasing international pressures
20. Improving environmental education
21. Reduction of waste
22. Reduction of demand
23. Market reform
24. Care of secondary forests
25. Thinking on a large scale

VII. Special topics

A. The global timber trade

1. Sources of timber
2. Timber concessions
3. Road construction and its relationship to deforestation
4. How it's done
5. Wastage
6. Wood-processing
7. Demand
8. Regulation
9. Profitability
10. Case study - Brazil

B. Agriculture

1. The scope of agricultural expansion
2. Slash-and-burn agriculture
3. Ranching
4. Differences between agricultural and forest land
5. Globalization
6. Crops
7. Mitigation

C. Some observations on the economics of tropical rainforest conservation

D. A final word

VIII.  BIBLIOGRAPHY