The genesis of this book lies in the extensive and intensive surveys of vegetation carried out by the author over four decades, within the framework of vegetation mapping scheme of the French Institute, Pondicherry in collaboration with the ICAR and the State Forest Departments. Vegetation studies necessitated the knowledge of climatic conditions, palaeoclimates, soils and geology. Therefore, included in the book are sections on climate, soils, geological history and palaeoecology, reconstructing the climates and vegetation of the past. Special focus is on the influence of forests on the hydrological cycle. The bioclimatic classification would interest agroclimatologists. The approach to vegetation is on an eco-floristic basis and the concept of "Series of Vegetation" is the only alternative to H.G. Champion’s "Pre-liminary Forest Types" framed in 1936. Within the series are recognised physiognomic standardised at the Yangambi Conference of 1956, these are arranged in successive stages of degradation. Whereas, the National Remote Sensing Agency and the Forest Survey of India have published the statistics of forest cover on administrative basis (state-wise or district-wise), the book follows an ecological trend, giving percentages of forest and other degraded vegetation for each series or vegetation type. Information on types facing extinction would be of prime value to conservationists. The publication which terminates with a brief review of the environmental challenges of the approaching millenium will serve as a useful reference book for those interested in Ecology, Forestry, Agriculture, Life Sciences and Earth Sciences.
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