Ghillean T. Prance

This book provides a comprehensive monograph of the family Humiraceae. It includes information on economic botany, conservation, phylogenetic relationships, taxonomic history, ecology, cytology, anatomy, and phytochemistry, among other topics. This volume is illustrated with line drawings, black and white photographs, and distribution maps. It was written by the world-leading authority on this plant group and contains a total of eight genera, 65 species, and 15 infraspecific taxa, with two new species described. This work is volume 123 in the Flora Neotropica book series (Lawrence M. Kelly, Editor-in-Chief). Flora Neotropica volumes provide taxonomic treatments of plant groups or families growing in the Americas between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

This book provides a comprehensive monograph of the family Humiraceae. It includes information on economic botany, conservation, phylogenetic relationships, taxonomic history, ecology, cytology, anatomy, and phytochemistry, among other topics. This volume is illustrated with line drawings, black and white photographs, and distribution maps. It was written by the world-leading authority on this plant group and contains a total of eight genera, 65 species, and 15 infraspecific taxa, with two new species described. This work is volume 123 in the Flora Neotropica book series (Lawrence M. Kelly, Editor-in-Chief). Flora Neotropica volumes provide taxonomic treatments of plant groups or families growing in the Americas between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

This book, the result of a AAAS symposium organized to explore the ramifications of tropical deforestation, emphasizes the relationship of biosphere to troposphere, aiming to set tropical forest ecology in the context of the global ecosystem.

This book, the result of a AAAS symposium organized to explore the ramifications of tropical deforestation, emphasizes the relationship of biosphere to troposphere, aiming to set tropical forest ecology in the context of the global ecosystem.

Christianity is often accused of asserting humanity's dominion over nature - an attitude that has led to so much environmental destruction - and of viewing it as somehow 'fallen', instead of teaching that we are merely a part of creation and that 'what we do to the earth, we do to ourselves'. In fact, the Bible is teeming with information about plants and biodiversity and different animals and their behaviour, revealing that its writers, like King Solomon and the oracle Agur, had intimate everyday knowledge of the natural world around them and learned from it. Likewise, Jesus was a close observer of nature and was earthed in the here and now, as his parables show. In this book of biblical reflections botanist Ghillean Prance draws richly from his experiences exploring the Amazon and many other regions - from the White Mountains of Turkey to the Hawaiian Archipelago. It is his hope that this book will move Christians to wonder at some of the marvels of nature, and so to treat God's creation with reverence and more respect. God's Word is to be read not only in the Bible, but in God's 'big book'.

Fifteen volumes and one supplement have now appeared in the series known as Evolutionary Biology. The editors continue to seek critical reviews, original papers, and commentaries on controversial topics. It is our aim to publish papers primarily of greater length and depth than those normally published by society journals and quarterlies. The editors make every attempt to solicit manuscripts on an international scale and to see that no facet of evolutionary biology-classical or modern-is slighted. Manuscripts should be sent to anyone of the following: Max K. Hecht, Department of Biology, Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York 11367; Bruce Wallace, Department of Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061; Ghillean T. Prance, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York 10458. The Editors vII Contents 1. Patterns of Neotropical Plant Species Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Alwyn H. Gentry Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I Sites and Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Sample Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Identifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Structural Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Community Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Floristic Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Dispersal Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Pollination Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Appendix. Sites and Communities Studied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 2. Evolution on a Petri Dish: The Evolved fJ-Galactosidase System as a Model for Studying Acquisitive Evolution in the Laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ••. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Barry G. Hall Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Approaches to Molecular Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 The Descriptive Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 The Experimental Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Mechanisms for the Acquisition of New Genetic Material. . . . . 97 The EBGSystem a s a Model for Acquisitive Evolution . . . . . . . 98 The Unevolved Enzyme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ghillean Prance, Director of Kew Gardens, applies his knowledge as botanist and scientist and his deeply held Christian beliefs to the basic questions that surround our destruction of the earth and what we can do to change course.