Biodiversity HotspotTropical Seasonal Dry Forests

A tropical mountain dry forest: Can it really match the requirements for a biodiversity
hotspot? On a cursory view rather not, at least not during the seven dry
months of the year. However, the more so during the rainy season when the forest
springs into life. From an ecosystem viewpoint, this two-faced habitat hides more
questions than its corresponding evergreen mountain rain forest in Ecuador, to
which a previous book was dedicated (Bogner, Bendix, Beck, 2016). This book
starts with a broad-brush introductory review of the literature, and then opens
the curtain to current research projects on climate, soils, vegetation, tree growth,
on seeds and their dispersal, and on plant-insect, as well as insect-insect interactions.
Moreover, it dedicates a special chapter to the character tree of the area: “El
Ceibo”. The lushly illustrated book provides a vivid impression of the transboundary
ecosystem “Tumbesian dry forest” in South Ecuador and North Peru.