The Cerrados of Brazil

While the imperiled Brazilian rainforest has been the focus of considerable international media attention and conservation efforts, the massive grasslands of Brazil -- known as the cerrados -- which cover roughly a quarter of its land surface and are among the most threatened regions in South America, have received little notice. This book brings together leading researchers on the area to produce the first detailed account in English of the natural history and ecology of the cerrado/savanna ecosystem. Given their extent and threatened status, the richness of their flora and fauna, and the lack of familiarity with their unique ecology at the international level, the cerrados are badly in need of this important and timely work.

Paulo S. Oliveira is professor of ecology at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil and was president of the Association for Tropical Biology in 1999. Robert J. Marquis is associate professor of biology at the University of Missouri in St. Louis and is currently editor of Biotropica, the journal of the Association for Tropical Biology.