Overview
- An invaluable documentation of an extraordinary natural heritage
- Provides a wealth of data and solid knowledge
- Richly illustrated with numerous color illustrations
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Ecological Studies (ECOLSTUD, volume 217)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
The Guayana Highlands in northeastern tropical America, rising from lowland rain forests and savannas up to 3000 m elevation, are characterized by ancient tablelands called tepuis. The peatlands that developed on the tepuis constitute unique and fascinating ecosystems and are the focus of this volume, which starts with an overview of tropical and subtropical peats, followed by an introduction to the geo-ecological features of the Guayana region as a whole, with special emphasis on the diversity of the vegetation cover from lowlands to uplands to highlands. The core subject centers on the properties and dating of the peat deposits and the interpretation of the chronological record in terms of past environmental changes. The well illustrated book will appeal to a broad range of scientists interested in tropical highland peats, including quaternarists, soil scientists, geomorphologists, geographers, geologists, ecologists, botanists, hydrologists, conservationists, and land use planners.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“This book presents the results of fieldwork carried out in the western section of the Guayana Highlands between 1992 and 1996. … The book has 9 chapters covering geology, geomorphology, vegetation and soils of the tepui summits (table mountains) of the Guayana Highlands of southern Venezuela … . this book is a fascinating read and is recommended as a major source of information on a little known and hardly understood peatland ecosystem.” (Jack Rieley, Erdkunde, Vol. 66 (4), 2012)
Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Peatlands of the Western Guayana Highlands, Venezuela
Book Subtitle: Properties and Paleogeographic Significance of Peats
Editors: Joseph Alfred Zinck, Otto Huber
Series Title: Ecological Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20138-7
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-642-20137-0Published: 04 August 2011
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-27051-2Published: 26 November 2013
eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-20138-7Published: 04 August 2011
Series ISSN: 0070-8356
Series E-ISSN: 2196-971X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 295
Number of Illustrations: 75 b/w illustrations, 45 illustrations in colour
Topics: Ecosystems, Geomorphology, Conservation Biology/Ecology, Plant Ecology, Biogeosciences, Soil Science & Conservation