Scope of the book and key contributions / Stefan A. Schnitzer and Walter P. Carson -- Spatial variation in tree species composition across tropical forests: pattern and process / Jérôme Chave -- The disparity in tree species richness among tropical, temperate, and boreal biomes: the geographic area and age hypothesis / Paul V.A. Fine, Richard H. Ree, and Robyn J. Burnham -- Explaining geographic range size by species age: a test using neotropical Piper species / John R. Paul and Stephen J. Tonsor -- Patterns of herbivory and defense in tropical dry and rainforests / Rodolfo Dirzo and Karina Boege -- Ecological organization, biogeography, and the phylogenetic structure of tropical forest tree communities / Campbell O. Webb, Charles H. Canon, and Stuart J. Davies -- Large tropical forest dynamics plots: testing explanations for the maintenance of species diversity / Jess K. Zimmerman, Jill Thompson, and Nicholas Brokaw -- Tropical forest ecology: sterile of virgin for theoreticians? / Egbert G. Leigh, Jr -- Approaching ecological complexity from the perspective of symmetric neutral theory / Stephen P. Hubbell -- Functional basis for resource niche partitioning by tropical trees / Kaoru Kitajima and Lourens Poorter -- Colonization-related trade-offs in tropical forests and their role in the maintenance of plant species diversity / Helene C. Muller-Landau -- Treefall gaps and the maintenance of plant species diversity in tropical forests / Stefan A. Schnitzer, Joseph Mascaro, and Walter P. Carson -- Challenges associated with testing and falsifying the Janzen-Connell hypothesis: a review and critique / Walter P. Carson [and others] -- Seed limitation and the coexistence of pioneer tree species / James W. Dalling and Robert John -- Endophytic fungi: hidden components of tropical community ecology / A. Elizabeh Arnold -- Tropical tritrophic interactions: nasty hosts and ubiquitous cascades / Lee A. Dyer -- Variation in tree seedling and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal spore responses to the exclusion of terrestrial vertebrates: implications for how vertebrates structure tropical communities / Tad C. Theimer and Catherine A. Gehring -- Ecosystem decay in closed forest fragments / John Terborgh and Kenneth Feeley -- Resource limitation of insular animals: causes and consequences / Gregory H. Adler -- Tropical arboreal ants: linking nutrition to roles in rainforest ecosystems / Diane W. Davidson and Steven C. Cook -- Soil fertility and arboreal mammal biomass in tropical forests / Carlos A. Peres -- Processes constraining woody species succession on abandoned pastures in the tropics: on the relevance of temperate models of succession / Chris J. Peterson and Walter P. Carson -- Chance and determinism in tropical forest succession / Robin L. Chazdon -- Exotic plant invasions in tropical forests: patterns and hypotheses / Julie S. Denslow and Saara J. DeWalt -- Linking insights from ecological research with bioprospecting to promote conservation, enhance research capacity, and provide economic uses of biodiversity / Thomas A. Kursar [and others] -- Tropical rainforest conservation: a global perspective / Richard T. Corlett and Richard B. Primack -- Environmental promise and peril in the Amazon / William F. Laurance -- Contributions of ecologists to tropical forest conservation / Francis E. Putz and Pieter A. Zuidema.