A Magic Web
The Tropical Forest of Barro Colorado Island
Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
Published on 8. March 2016
304 pages
978-1-935623-93-9 (ISBN)
Description
The tropical forest of Panama's Barro Colorado Island is a luxuriant community of plants and animals, pulsating with life and offering an astonishing view of nature's myriad processes. What does the forest look like? How do the activities of the forest's plants and animals create a community?
In A Magic Web, photographer Christian Ziegler and evolutionary biologist Egbert Giles Leigh, Jr., invite readers to enter the marvelous world of Barro Colorado Island. This book is a unique combination of spectacular photography and clear, authoritative text written by an active scientist who has spent half a lifetime trying to understand the tropical forest. Luscious photographs of the forest reveal the wonderful diversity of its inhabitants and show many of the activities that give it its character and lend structure to its community. Drawing on decades of work on Barro Colorado Island, Egbert Leigh explains how the forest works: how plants and animals compete with but also depend on each other; how the solitary lives of cats contrast with the intricately organized lives of armies of ants; the variety of ways plants struggle for a place in the sun; and how these plants attract animals to pollenate their flowers. Finally, the book shows the importance of tropical forests to the people living near them, why they matter to the world at large, what we can learn from them, and how they differ from temperate-zone forests.
Full of stunning full-color photographs accompanied by clear and accessible text, A Magic Web is a must for anyone planning to visit a tropical forest and for all those who wish they could.
In A Magic Web, photographer Christian Ziegler and evolutionary biologist Egbert Giles Leigh, Jr., invite readers to enter the marvelous world of Barro Colorado Island. This book is a unique combination of spectacular photography and clear, authoritative text written by an active scientist who has spent half a lifetime trying to understand the tropical forest. Luscious photographs of the forest reveal the wonderful diversity of its inhabitants and show many of the activities that give it its character and lend structure to its community. Drawing on decades of work on Barro Colorado Island, Egbert Leigh explains how the forest works: how plants and animals compete with but also depend on each other; how the solitary lives of cats contrast with the intricately organized lives of armies of ants; the variety of ways plants struggle for a place in the sun; and how these plants attract animals to pollenate their flowers. Finally, the book shows the importance of tropical forests to the people living near them, why they matter to the world at large, what we can learn from them, and how they differ from temperate-zone forests.
Full of stunning full-color photographs accompanied by clear and accessible text, A Magic Web is a must for anyone planning to visit a tropical forest and for all those who wish they could.
More details
Person
Christian Ziegler is a biologist-turned-photographer specializing in tropical natural history. A frequent contributor to National Geographic, he has covered topics ranging from tree frogs to ocelots, tropical bats to African primates. He likes to think of his work as translating sciences such as ecology and natural history into images that make these subjects more accessible to a broad public.
Ziegler went to Panama as a grad student working on Barro Colorado Island and is now an associate for communication with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He is a founding fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and has received honors in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and Picture of the Year International competitions.
Egbert Giles Leigh, Jr. has been a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama since 1969. He has a keen interest in the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape tropical forest ecology. Leigh has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles, papers, and several books on topics ranging from the maintenance of tropical tree diversity to the evolution of mutualisms and social cooperation to the parallels between ecosystems and human economies. When not traveling to give lectures, he works from his office on Barro Colorado Island.
Ziegler went to Panama as a grad student working on Barro Colorado Island and is now an associate for communication with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He is a founding fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and has received honors in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and Picture of the Year International competitions.
Egbert Giles Leigh, Jr. has been a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama since 1969. He has a keen interest in the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape tropical forest ecology. Leigh has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles, papers, and several books on topics ranging from the maintenance of tropical tree diversity to the evolution of mutualisms and social cooperation to the parallels between ecosystems and human economies. When not traveling to give lectures, he works from his office on Barro Colorado Island.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Dedication
- Foreword by Eldredge Bermingham, Director, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
- Preface by Christian Ziegler, first and second editions
- Preface by Egbert Giles Leigh, Jr., first and second editions
- Introduction: A First Impression
- Chapter 1: What is Special about Tropical Forests?
- The Enormous Variety of Tropical Organisms
- Interdependence: The Many Ways Different Species Depend on Each Other
- Chapter 2: The Life of Plants
- Finding Light
- Procuring Nutrients and Water
- Seasonal Rhythms and Odd Years
- Chapter 3: Eating and Being Eaten
- Herbivory
- Predators!
- Chapter 4: Animals
- Why Diversify?
- The Forest at Night
- Why Live in Groups?
- Chapter 5: Why Tropical Forests Matter
- How Rain Forests Benefit Rich and Poor
- The Fragmentation and Destruction of Tropical Forests
- Preserving Tropical Forest
- Where to Learn More
- Notes on the Photography
- Acknowledgments
- About the Authors
