Abstract
This book is a comprehensive and detailed synthesis of the natural and human history of forests in the Guiana Shield, which is an ancient geological region located in northeastern South America (constitutes all or most of Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela), and the forces that have combined to shape their unique place in the modern tropical world. Chapters cover geology, climate, hydrology, soils, nutrient cycling, plant-animal interactions, archaeology, colonization and land use history, plant distributions and life history attributes, forest dynamics and conservation and management of flora and fauna.