Guiana Shield offers hope for tropical forest conservation

摘要

The Guiana Shield, a key refuge for plant diversity in tropical South America, fails to attract the publicity and popular interest generated by Amazonia and the Andes. A new book provides a detailed holistic assessment of the geography, geology, ecology (including plant ecophysi-ology and pollination) and human history and development of this vast, sparsely populated upland region. Despite threats from unsus- tainable logging and mining, a substantial network of protected areas hold large areas of surviving tropical humid forest.