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Encyclopedia of Rainforests. By Diane Jukofsky. Westport, Conn.: Oryx, 2002. 384p. alkaline $79.50 (ISBN 1-57356259-9).
The author of this work is director of the Rainforest Alliance's (a nonprofit international organization dedicated to the conservation of tropical forests) Conservation Media Center and is also a member of the organization's board. Because of the sheer size of worldwide rainforest diversity, she limited the geographical scope of this encyclopedia to the land area found between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, also known as "the Tropics." Within this area, only the plants and animals that inhabit the actual forests are included.
The opening chapter, "An Introduction of Tropical Forests: Understanding a Mysterious Place on the Planet," is a fine essay describing where the forests are found, what they look like, what is found inside them,...