1 Introduction -- Part I: Forest and woodland biomes -- 2 White sand ecosystems in the Amazon basin: geographic distribution, distinctive features, and ecology. An overview -- 3 The forests of the Rio Negro basin in the north-western Amazon: a phytosociological classification -- 4 Amazon caatinga complex: sclerophyllous vegetation on nutrient-poor white sand soils -- Part II: Meadow biomes -- 5 Mapping white-sand ecosystems by integrating Global PALSAR-2 and SENTINEL-1 with NDVI (LANDSAT data) -- 6 The study areas: landscapes and soils -- 7 Soil properties, formation, distribution, and classification -- 8 Origin and sources of sand: from highlands to lowlands -- 9 Sand dynamics and distribution: a geo-sedimentological approach -- 10 Features and trends of meadow landscape evolution -- 11 Meadow phytodiversity: flora, endemism, vegetation types, and geographic distribution patterns -- 12 Synthesis: white-sand and meadow-vegetation relationships.

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