Cover -- Half-title -- Series-title -- Title -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- 1 Introduction -- The tropical rain forest -- Tropical trees -- Species -- Tropical rain-forest diversity -- Adaptation -- The importance of phylogeny -- The ecological classification of tropical rain-forest trees -- 2 The growing tree -- Trees: form, mechanics and hydraulics -- Tree stature -- Wood -- Tropical timber -- The mechanical design of trees -- Buttresses -- Leaning trees -- Tree fall -- Sap ascent -- Tree hydraulics -- Tree architecture -- Allometry -- Bark -- Roots -- Root hemi-parasites -- Mineral nutrition -- Mycorrhizas -- Nitrogen fixation -- Other methods of obtaining extra nutrients -- Comparative use of nutrients -- Element accumulation -- Leaf form and physiology -- Size, shape and other structural characteristics -- Leaf protection -- The defences of tropical forest trees -- Toughness/Fibre -- Spines -- Hairs -- Crystal inclusions -- Gums, latexes and resins -- Non-protein amino acids -- Alkaloids -- Cyanogenesis -- Phenolic compounds -- Terpenes -- Ants -- Mites -- Classification of plant defences -- Foliar bacterial nodules -- Leaf development: coloured young leaves -- Leaf longevity -- The influence of shade -- High light conditions -- Other factors influencing leaf performance -- Species groups based on leaf characteristics -- 3 Tree performance -- Age, size and growth in tropical rain-forest trees -- The dynamics of tree populations in the rain forest -- Mortality in trees -- Tree growth in the forest -- Tree performance in relation to light climate -- Mortality, growth and adult size -- The use of growth and mortality data to recognise species groups -- Relative performance of species of similar life history -- What limits tree growth? -- Herbivory -- 4 Reproductive biology -- Reproduction -- Vegetative reproduction.

Sexual systems -- Genetic diversity -- When to flower? -- Pollination -- Pollination syndromes -- Bats -- Non-volant mammals -- Birds -- Bees -- Moths -- Butterflies -- Beetles -- Various small flying insects -- Flies -- Wind -- Tropical flowers -- Relative importance of different pollinators -- Figs -- Dispersal mechanisms -- Autochory -- Anemochory -- Hydrochory -- Zoochory -- Dispersal syndromes -- Birds -- Bats -- Primates -- Scatter-hoarding mammals -- Secondary dispersal -- Efficacy of seed dispersal -- Clumped or scattered seed distributions -- Seed survival -- Tests of the escape hypothesis -- Other advantages of dispersal -- The search for the Janzen-Connell effect -- Co-evolution -- 5 Seeds and seedlings -- Seeds -- Seed size -- Seed rain and the soil seed bank -- Seed germination -- Other influences on seedling establishment -- Germination safe sites -- Seedlings -- Seedling and sapling form -- Seedling dependence on seed reserves -- Seedling mortality -- Growth and survival with respect to light -- Seedling responses to shade -- Seedling shade tolerance -- The traits of shade tolerance -- On being light-demanding -- The relevance of shade tolerance -- Sudden changes in light availability -- Water -- Mineral nutrients -- Defence in juveniles -- 6 Classificatory systems for tropical trees -- Height at maturity -- The pioneer-climax dichotomy -- Diagnostic characters -- Reproduction -- Demography -- Growth and form -- Physiology -- General -- Conclusion -- Combining the two axes -- Long-lived pioneers or late-secondary species -- Parallels between pioneers and shade-tolerant understorey species -- Where does this leave us? -- REFERENCES -- INDEX OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF PLANTS -- INDEX OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF ANIMALS -- GENERAL INDEX.