Measuring and monitoring biodiversity in tropical and temperate forests: proceedings of a IUFRO symposium held at Chiang Mai, Thailand August 27th-September 2nd 1994

Abstract

PrefaceThis book contains 24 papers selected from among those presented at an international symposium on Measuring and Monitoring Biodivcrsity in Tropical and Temperate Forests , held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, between the 27th of August and 2nd of September, 1994. The symposium was attended by over 240 scientists from more than 40 countries from around the world. In addition to four days of paper presentations, there was also a one-day field trip, and a continuous poster session, with more than 35 posters, as well as computer demonstrations of software packages for identifying and measuring biodiversity.Biodiversity is an immense subject, and as tropical and temperate forests are home to a large proportion of the earth s terrestrial biodiversity, it is obviously very difficult to cover the topic comprehensively in a single volume. The papers included in this book were selected to give as broad a coverage as possible of key topics under the general title, including Principles of Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity (8 papers), Genetic Diversity (6 papers), Species and Ecosystem Diversity (5 papers), and Methodology (5 papers). Inevitably, forest trees are the theme of many papers, but also included are papers dealing with diversity of arthropods, microfungi, birds and butterflies, and gibbons, as well as many papers dealing with the entire range of biodiversity.We would like to thank many people who helped to make the symposium and this book possible. Among these are the sponsors of the symposium, the Royal Forest Department of Thailand, the Commission of the European Communities, the Canadian International Development Agency (including the ASEAN Forest Tree Seed Centre and SADCC Tree Seed Centre Network), the Canadian Forest Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Center for International Forestry Research, and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.We would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the entire Organizing Committee in Thailand, and particularly the assistance of Ms. Rosita Go of CIFOR, for her work before, during, and after the symposium, especially in arranging financial support for developing country scientists, and preparing the manuscripts for publication. Professor Tern had been working on wild flowers and wild plants from the very beginning of his career until the end of his life. He acquired an enormous depth of experience in botany, on his own, by trekking through all the forests and regions of Thailand. His worldwide reputation meant that any visiting botanist or forest scientist were always recommended to see him when they visited Thailand.At the end of his life, he contributed actively to the debate on forest biodiversity. He was a member of the organizing committee for the IUFRO Symposium on Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity in Tropical and Temperate Forests , held in Chiang Mai, August 27 -September 2, 1994. He presented the keynote speech at the Symposium, which is included in these Proceedings, and led participants on a field trip to examine forest biodiversity at...