The book constitutes a multidisciplinary approach to understand soil-landscape-vegetation relationships and ecophysiology of plant communities developing on sandy soils of very low fertility, submitted to seasonal flooding. It provides an overview of the white sand ecosystems within the Amazon basin, and focuses on forest and herbaceous (meadows) vegetation growing on dystrophic sandy soils of the upper Negro and Orinoco rivers basins. Several chapters describe physiographic aspects of the study area using integrated remote sensing and in situ sampling, attaining a comprehensive description of the origin and evolution of soils and landscapes, an advanced classification of soils, and mapping the geographic distribution of the psammophilous vegetation. Other main aspects are a phytosociological classification of extensive forested areas, and a detailed description of structure and diversity of little known herbaceous formations. The book targets professionals in the fields of ecology, ecophysiology, geomorphology, and environmental sciences. The information is also of significant use to researchers, protected area planners, and environmental policy makers.

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