Springer Chemical Biology of the Tropics: An Interdisciplinary Approach: 8 (Signaling and Communication in Plants, 8)

This book introduces the scientific pioneers who first attempted to quantify and understand the vast diversity of tropical forests, along with their successors, who wield modern tools and technologies to dissect the chemical nature of rainforest interactions. Review From the reviews:“This recent work in Springer’s ‘Signaling and Communication in Plants’ series originated with an expedition of laboratory scientists to Peru’s Tambopata National Reserve. … The result is a mixture of general review articles together with some firsthand descriptions of the pleasures and perils of tropical research. … should be required reading for graduate students in tropical biology. … Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers/faculty.” (B. E. Fleury, Choice, Vol. 49 (6), February, 2012) From the Back Cover The mystique of the rainforest has captured the imaginations of generations of young people, explorers, authors, and biologists. It is a delicate ecosystem whose myriad sounds and smells, whose vibrancy of life, is balanced by constant cycles of death and decay. It is a place of fierce competition where unusual partnerships are forged and creative survival strategies are the norm. In this book, you will meet the scientific pioneers who first attempted to quantify and understand the vast diversity of these tropical forests, as well as their successors, who utilize modern tools and technologies to dissect the chemical nature of rainforest interactions. This book provides a general background on biodiversity and the study of chemical ecology before moving into specific chemical examples of insect defenses and microbial communication. It finishes with first-hand accounts of the trials and tribulations of a canopy biology pioneer and a rainforest research novice, while assessing the state of modern tropical research, its importance to humanity, and the ecological, political, and ethical issues that need to be tackled in order to move the field forward.