November 12, 2014 - 18:59
This chapter was about an area in the center of the Amazon known as Reserve 1202. Reserve 1202 is a part of an archipelago of islands. One of the longest and biggest experiments exists in this area is an experiment known as the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project. The Amazon as a whole has experienced extreme deforestation due to the construction of roads.
The author travels to the reserve with Mario Cohn Haft, an American ornithologist who has identified thousands of different birds by the sounds they make. The Amazon has suffered losses in-terms of the number and diversity of birds that exist today due to deforestation.
The author then goes on to discuss “land-bridge islands.” These islands are created by changing sea levels. These islands do not have the range of species that the islands they were once apart of contained. They continue to lose species. This process is defined as “relaxation.”