Cover Caption

Cover: Tropical pastures present multiple barriers to tree regeneration, but canopies of relict trees can serve as repositories of viable seeds deposited when the forest was intact. When mats of arboreal soil fall to the pasture floor, their seedbank can contribute to forest regeneration, their seeds serving as "time capsules" from the primary forest. The lush epiphytic ferns ( Polypodium spp. ) and accompanying arboreal soil on this mature live oak are viewed from above in a subtropical landscape of Florida. Photo by John T. Longino. See pages 1117–1126.