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Borneo rainforest. (Photo by R. Butler)
Preface: The mission of mongabay.com
Lingering beside a small stream in the Malaysian rainforest
of Sabah, on the island of Borneo, I watch the water move swiftly over worn, round stones. The pace of the flow
quickens as the stream cascades over a short waterfall into a clear pool. Vibrantly colored butterflies in shades of
yellow, orange, and green flirt with columns of light that penetrate the dense canopy. The raucous calls of hornbills
challenge the melodic drone of cicadas. Though the forest is never silent or still, it brings a deep sense of calm.
I sit with my feet in the cool water, picking over my clothes in search of leaf leeches, who seek a feeding opportunity
in every crease of material. As I remove these brightly hued creatures, I am content to watch a lone male orangutan
silently make his way through the branches above the stream. The idyllic setting and the company of my red-bearded
simian companion provide the perfect end to my half-day trek.
Such wildlands provide me with an escape from the daily rigors and chaos of my profession,
and I have come to greatly appreciate places of natural wonder.
- - -
I have long had a fascination with the natural world and its creatures, but the idea for this book arose out of
deep sadness. Eight weeks after leaving the tract of Malaysian rainforest that had filled me with happiness, I
learned the forest was gone, logged for wood chips to supply a paper-pulp plant. This place of wonder and
beauty was lost forever. The orangutan, the hornbills, the butterflies, and even the leeches would now have to
make do in their dramatically changed environment.
Despite my few years in the forest, this was not the first time I had lost such a special place, nor would it be
the last.
These personal losses have long troubled me, but the loss of that small section of forest in Borneo created the
urgency to act upon a thought that had been nagging me. While environmental losses and degradation of the rainforests
have yet to reach the point of collapse, the continuing disappearance of wildlands and the loss of their species are disheartening.
I feel sorrow for those who have not yet had the privilege of experiencing the magnificence of these places, and I try to
picture how—should biodiversity losses continue to mount—I will explain to my grandchildren why these places that I enjoyed in my youth no longer exist.
The lesson of A Place Out of Time is that we may not have to accept this future. A lot can still be done. Using our
intelligence and ingenuity, the human species can preserve biodiversity and unique places for future generations,
without compromising the quality of life for present populations.
- - -
A Place Out of Time is written for those who have an interest in the natural world. It is scripted to appeal to
a broad audience, so that readers from grade-school students to stockbrokers to plumbers can enjoy and learn from it. I have sought to broaden the reach and horizons of this text by incorporating and bringing together
far-flung (and sometimes seemingly unrelated) information from a variety of sources not easily accessible to most
readers. In the process I have tried to simplify the sometimes complex subject matter and to provide some insight
into the current economic, political, and social climate for tropical rainforests.
The faster, fiercer, and always surprising sloth, an interview with Bryson Voirin
(10/25/2009) Sloths sleep all day; they are always slow; and they are gentle animals. These are just some of the popular misconceptions that sloth-scientist and expert tree-climber, Bryson Voirin, is overturning. After growing up among the wild creatures of Florida, spending his high school years in Germany, and earning a Bachelors degree in biology and environment at the New College of Florida, Voirin found his calling. At the New College of Florida, Voirin "met Meg Lowman, the famous canopy pioneer who invented many of the tree climbing techniques everyone uses today."
Will tropical trees survive climate change?, an interview with Kenneth J. Feeley
(09/24/2009) One of the most pressing issues in the conservation today is how climate change will affect tropical ecosystems. The short answer is: we don't know. Because of this, more and more scientists are looking at the probable impacts of a warmer world on the Earth's most vibrant and biodiverse ecosystems. Kenneth J. Feeley, tropical ecologist and new professor at Florida International University and the Center for Tropical Plant Conservation at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, is conducting groundbreaking research in the tropical forests of Peru on the migration of tree species due to climate change.
Working to save the 'living dead' in the Atlantic Forest, an interview with Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes
(09/23/2009) The Atlantic Forest may very well be the most imperiled tropical ecosystem in the world: it is estimated that seven percent (or less) of the original forest remains. Lining the coast of Brazil, what is left of the forest is largely patches and fragments that are hemmed in by metropolises and monocultures. Yet, some areas are worse than others, such as the Pernambuco Endemism Centre, a region in the northeast that has largely been ignored by scientists and conservation efforts. Here, 98 percent of the forest is gone, and 70 percent of what remains are patches measuring less than 10 hectares. Due to this fragmentation all large mammals have gone regionally extinct and the small mammals are described by Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes, a professor and researcher at the Federal University of Pernambuco, as the 'living dead'.
New species everywhere in Papua New Guinea's 'lost' volcano
(09/07/2009) A five week expedition into a remote extinct volcano has uncovered a treasure trove of new species in Papua New Guinea, including what may be the world's largest rat, a fanged frog, and a grunting fish. In all the expedition estimates it may have found around forty species unknown to science. The expedition was undertaken by a BBC film crew and scientists in January. Local trackers led them into the unexplored jungle, hidden beneath the Bosavi volcano's 2,800 meter summit. Six months prior to arrival, fields of spinach and sweet potato were planted to feed the expedition in such a remote area.
Newly discovered deep sea worms throw bioluminescent 'bombs'
(08/20/2009) Researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have announced in Science the discovery of seven new species of deep sea worms, five of which drop orb-like parts of their body which cause a brilliant green display of bioluminescence. For this reason researchers have nicknamed them the ‘green bombers’. The worms are not just new species, but a clade of animals entirely unknown to science until now.
