Nouragues is a tropical forest research station in French Guiana. It was established in 1986 for research on natural mechanisms of forest regeneration. Since then a lot of research has been done on this and related topics. This book provides an overview of the main research results, and focuses on plant communities, vertebrate communities and evolutionary ecology, frugivory and seed dispersal, and forest dynamics and recruitment. The appendices give (annoted) checklists of plants, birds, mammals, herpetofauna and fishes found in the same area.

1 The field station.- 2. Geography and climate.- 3. Scales of ambient light variation.- 4. The lowland high rainforest: structure and tree species diversity.- 5. The low forest (Nouragues Inselberg).- 6. Plant communities on a granitic outcrop.- 7. Palaeoclimates and their consequences on forest composition.- 8. Diet and population densities of the primate community in relation to fruit supplies.- 9. Comparative positional behaviour of five primates.- 10. The bat community.- 11. The marsupial community.- 12. The avian community: an overview of species composition and guild structure.- 13. The adaptive significance of flocking in tropical understorey forest birds: the field evidence.- 14. Habitat selection, ambient light and colour patterns in some lek-displaying birds.- 15. Distribution and life histories of amphibians and reptiles.- 16. Fishes of the Arataye river and their space-time organization.- 17. Relationships between seed dispersal and behavioural ecology.- 18. Frugivory and seed dispersal by three neotropical primates: impact on plant regeneration.- 19. Frugivory and seed dispersal by bats.- 20. Frugivory and seed dispersal by Kinkajous.- 21. Frugivory and seed dispersal by terrestrial mammals.- 22. Vegetarian species in the bird community with an emphasis on frugivory and seed dispersal.- 23. Tree-falls and canopy gaps: patterns of natural disturbance.- 24. The dispersal and recruitment of Cyclanthaceae and Philodendron (Araceae) understorey root-climbing vines.- 25. Post-dispersal seed removal in four frugivore-dispersed tree species.- 26. Scatterhoarding and tree regeneration.- 27. Effects of tree height and light availability on plant traits at different organisation levels.- Appendices.- References.