Includes bibliographical references (p. 573-638) and index.

Introduction -- Basic terminology and concepts -- Forests as part of the global ecosystem -- Major forest types and their climatic controls -- Local variation in community type: the landscape mosaic -- Change in time: an overview -- Disturbance in forest ecosystems -- Patterns and mechanisms of succession -- The structure of local ecosystems -- How biodiversity is created and maintained -- The biological web: interactions among species -- Interactions among conspecifics: the self-thinning rule -- Genetic and evolutionary aspects of interactions: coevolution, group selection, and genetic interfaces -- The soil ecosystem -- Primary productivity -- Forest nutrition -- Biogeochemical cycling: nutrient inputs to and losses from local ecosystems -- Biogeochemical cycling: the intrasystem cycle -- Herbivores in forest ecosystems -- Ecosystem stability I: introduction and case studies of pollution and management-related degradation -- Ecosystem stability II: the role of biodiversity -- Ecosystem stability III: conserving species -- The future.