Second edition of this seminal tropical ecology text in which Meggers argues that the Amazon's luxurious vegetation concealed significant limitations for human exploitation. Recent biological and climatic data, along with ethnographic and archaeological evidence, is presented which reemphasizes the complexity of the ecosystem and broadens our understanding of past and present adaptations among indigenous groups.
From reviews of the previous edition: `An excellent, concise statement....The result is a demonstration that cultures are as surely subject to and moulded by natural selection and environmental characteristics as are species of plants and animals' - F.R. Fosberg, Ecology