Seeds of Amazonian Plants is the first field guide to treat the extraordinary diversity of seeds and diaspores of plants commonly encountered in the Amazon and other lowland moist forests of the American tropics. This stunningly illustrated guide features an easy-to-use whole-plant approach to seed identification that provides detailed descriptions not only of the seeds but also of the habit, trunk, bark, leaves, infructescence, and fruit of Amazonian plants, as well as information about the known uses and distribution of each genus. Presenting these descriptions together with 750 full-color photos and a unique identification key, this premier field guide enables users to identify seeds of 544 genera and 131 families of plants. The most comprehensive field guide to Amazonian seeds Features 750 full-color photos that make identification easy Covers 544 genera and 131 families of Amazonian plants Describes seeds, habit, trunk, bark, leaves, infructescence, and fruit Includes unique seed identification key Compact, portable, and beautifully illustrated--the ideal field guide

Seeds of Amazonian Plants is the first field guide to treat the extraordinary diversity of seeds and diaspores of plants commonly encountered in the Amazon and other lowland moist forests of the American tropics. This stunningly illustrated guide features an easy-to-use whole-plant approach to seed identification that provides detailed descriptions not only of the seeds but also of the habit, trunk, bark, leaves, infructescence, and fruit of Amazonian plants, as well as information about the known uses and distribution of each genus. Presenting these descriptions together with 750 full-color photos and a unique identification key, this premier field guide enables users to identify seeds of 544 genera and 131 families of plants. The most comprehensive field guide to Amazonian seeds Features 750 full-color photos that make identification easy Covers 544 genera and 131 families of Amazonian plants Describes seeds, habit, trunk, bark, leaves, infructescence, and fruit Includes unique seed identification key Compact, portable, and beautifully illustrated--the ideal field guide

The taxonomic and ecological identification of individual seeds and fruits of wild and cultivated plants is not always straightforward. This book helps you to get started, and also serves as a basis for further identification. It describes the inflorescence(s) and infructescence(s) seen in each of a set of 30 plant families, as well as the morphology of the seeds and fruits (with special emphasis on typology), the dispersal units (diaspores), and, if present, heterodiaspory. The manual is richly illustrated with 640 color photos of inflorescences, infructescences, seeds, fruits, and diaspores. Technical terms are described in a glossary. Indices of scientific plant names and subject names are included. This book will be of interest not only to those engaged in the identification of seeds and fruits, such as those who work in seed testing, but also to taxonomists, ecologists, archaeobotanists, and florists who wonder what they are looking at. This handbook is a completely revised version of the first edition, which was published in 2013. An important adaptation relates to new developments in plant taxonomy and the classification of fruits and diaspores. The number of plant families has been extended from 19 to 30.

Plant Regeneration from Seeds: A Global Warming Perspective comprehensively reviews the effects caused by climate change on global plant regeneration, growth and seed germination. Initial chapters discuss specific geographical regions such as steppes, the artic, boreal and alpine zones, dry and tropical forests and deserts. Subsequent chapters explore special seed-related topics like fire, soil seed banks, crops, weed emergence, and invasive species Written by leaders in the field of seed germination and plant growth, this is an essential read for researchers and academics interested in plant growth, plant regeneration, seed germination and the effects of these in relation to climate change. - Guides readers through the global effects of climate change on plant growth and seed germination, including chapters on special seed-related topics - Provides fundamental research on plant regeneration - Includes detailed coverage on specific geographic regions

Rain forests represent the world's richest repository of terrestrial biodiversity, and play a major role in regulating the global climate. They support the livelihoods of a substantial proportion of the world's population and are the source of many internationally traded commodities. They remain (despite decades of conservation attention) increasingly vulnerable to degradation and clearance, with profound though often uncertain future costs to global society. Understanding the ecology of these diverse biomes, and peoples' dependencies on them, is fundamental to their future management and conservation. Tropical Rain Forest Ecology, Diversity, and Conservation introduces and explores what rain forests are, how they arose, what they contain, how they function, and how humans use and impact them. The book starts by introducing the variety of rain forest plants, fungi, microorganisms, and animals, emphasising the spectacular diversity that is the motivation for their conservation. The central chapters describe the origins of rain forest communities, the variety of rain forest formations, and their ecology and dynamics. The challenge of explaining the species richness of rain forest communities lies at the heart of ecological theory, and forms a common theme throughout. The book's final section considers historical and current interactions of humans and rain forests. It explores biodiversity conservation as well as livelihood security for the many communities that are dependent on rain forests - inextricable issues that represent urgent priorities for scientists, conservationists, and policy makers.

Winner of the Society for Economic Botany's Mary W. Klinger Book Award. Cultural Forests of the Amazon is a comprehensive and diverse account of how indigenous people transformed landscapes and managed resources in the most extensive region of tropical forests in the world. Until recently, most scholars and scientists, as well as the general public, thought indigenous people had a minimal impact on Amazon forests, once considered to be total wildernesses. William Balée’s research, conducted over a span of three decades, shows a more complicated truth. In Cultural Forests of the Amazon, he argues that indigenous people, past and present, have time and time again profoundly transformed nature into culture. Moreover, they have done so using their traditional knowledge and technology developed over thousands of years. Balée demonstrates the inestimable value of indigenous knowledge in providing guideposts for a potentially less destructive future for environments and biota in the Amazon. He shows that we can no longer think about species and landscape diversity in any tropical forest without taking into account the intricacies of human history and the impact of all forms of knowledge and technology. Balée describes the development of his historical ecology approach in Amazonia, along with important material on little-known forest dwellers and their habitats, current thinking in Amazonian historical ecology, and a narrative of his own dialogue with the Amazon and its people.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1980.

This study examines the socioeconomic and environmental implications of the new camu camu industry in Peru. Camu camu (Myrciaria dubia) is a small tree native to wetlands of the Amazon basin. It is especially abundant in Peruvian Amazonia. The high vitamin-C content of the fruit has generated interest in exporting camu camu products from Amazonia to more-developed countries. The government of Peru has been actively promoting this new extractive industry, as well as the planting of camu camu in rural areas. Non-governmental development organizations and private industry are now actively involved with camu camu projects and enterprises. In Peru, enthusiasm for this native species is high, because camu camu is expected to provide a much-needed and sustainable economic boost for the region. However, many questions about the environmental implications and socioeconomic impacts of the camu camu export industry need to be answered in order to understand its ecological and economic viability, and its effects on business and in rural communities. Winner of 2010 "Dissertation Excellence Award" Findings indicate that camu camu has provided significantly more income to rural residents than is provided by the traditional boom and bust economies of Amazonia. Households who adopted camu camu as a new crop in their floodplain agroforestry systems farmed significantly more floodplain land than non-adopters, and were especially adept at experimenting with new innovations. Lack of agricultural credit is a major constraint to adopting camu camu as a new crop in Peru. Geographic isolation and the location of processing facilities in relation to fruit harvests present major obstacles to the economic viability of the new industry. Camu camu was found to be cultivated with a higher diversity of annual crops than is typical in floodplain fields of the region. Extraction of camu camu fruits from the wild does not appear to have a negative environmental impact, at least in the initial years of the industry. This non-timber forest product in the process of domestication can support a viable industry in the Peruvian Amazon, if agricultural extension methods and marketing channels are improved.

Recent developments in the field of nutrition have led to increased interest in herbs and medicinal plants as phytochemical-rich sources for functional food, nutraceuticals, and drugs. As research sheds light on the therapeutic potential of various bioactive phytochemicals, the demand for plant extracts and oils has increased. Black cumin or black seeds (Nigella sativa) have particularly widespread nutritional and medicinal applications. In traditional medicine, black seeds are used to manage fatigue and chronic headache. Black seed oil is used as an antiseptic and analgesic remedy and for treatment of joint's pain and stiffness and can be mixed with sesame oil to treat dermatosis, abdominal disorders, cough, headache, fever, liver ailments, jaundice, sore eyes, and hemorrhoids. Thymoquinone, the main constituent in black seed volatile oil, has been shown to suppress carcinogenesis. Black cumin (Nigella sativa) seeds: Chemistry, Technology, Functionality, and Applications presents in detail the chemical composition, therapeutic properties, and functionality of high-value oils, phytochemicals, nutrients, and volatiles of the Nigella sativa seed. Organized by formulation (seeds, fixed oil, essential oil, and extracts), chapters break this seed down into its chemical constituents and explore their role in the development of pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, novel food, natural drugs, and feed. Following numerous reports on the health-promoting activities of Nigella sativa, this is the first comprehensive presentation of the functional, nutritional, and pharmacological traits of Nigella sativa seeds and seed oil constituents.

Central Amazonian floodplain forests are an unique and endangered ecosystem. The forests grow in areas that are annually flooded by large rivers during mean periods of up to 8 months and at depths of up to 10 m. Despite this severe stress, these forests consist of over 1,000 species and are by far the most species-rich floodplain forests worldwide. The trees show a broad range of morphological, anatomical, physiological, and phenological adaptations that enable them not only to survive the adverse environmental conditions, but also to produce large amounts of biomass when the nutrient levels in water and soils are sufficiently high. This is the case in the floodplains of white-water rivers, which are used for fisheries, agriculture, and cattle-ranching but which also have a high potential for the production of timber and non-timber products, when adequately managed. Latest research on ecophysiology gives insight how tree species adapt to the oscillating flood-pulse focusing on their photosynthesis, respiration, sap flow, biochemistry, phenology, wood and leave anatomy, root morphology and functioning, fruit chemistry, seed germination, seedling establishment, nitrogen fixation and genetic variability. Based on tree ages, lifetime growth rates and net primary production, new concepts are developed to improve the sustainability of traditional forest managements in the background of an integrated natural resource management. This is the first integrative book on the functioning and ecologically oriented use of floodplain forests in the tropics and sub-tropics.It provides fundamental knowledge for scientist, students, foresters and other professionals on their distribution, evolution and phytogeography. “This book is an excellent testimony to the interdisciplinary collaboration of a group of very dedicated scientists to unravel the functioning of the Amazonian Floodplain forests. They have brought together a highly valuable contribution on the distribution, ecology, primary production, ecophysiology, typology, biodiversity, and human use of these forests offering recommendations for sustainable management and future projects in science and development of these unique wetland ecosystems. It lays a solid scientific foundation for wetland ecologists, foresters, environmentalists, wetland managers, and all those interested in sustainable management in the tropics and subtropics.” Brij Gopal, Executive Vice President International Society for Limnology (SIL).