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    CHAPTER ONE: Storm over the Amazon

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    CHAPTER ONE

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    CHAPTER ONE: Storm over the Amazon

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    29 views9 pages

    Chapter One

    Uploaded by

    jimena4zu4iga4alama
    CHAPTER ONE: Storm over the Amazon

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 9
    ‘Storm over the Amazon x rit sstazow sasev che greatest volence somedmes begins as flcher of light beyond the hoz, There inthe parece bowl of the night sy, untouched Dy lgh fiom any human source, « thunderstorm sends te premenlioy signal and begins @ slow Joumey to the obeerrr, who thins: the world is ebout ro ‘euange, and 50 1 Was one night at the edge of rainforest nowh of Manaus, ‘where I st in the dank, wong my mind cough the labyrinths of fel tee and ambition, red, bore, and ready for any chance dstacton, (cheering far inna cael tn ret cing 3 cap ‘oe and snk of che camp r shred lin Real forest wotkes, place ‘called Fazenda Dimane, To the south most ofthe forest nad been cu and Dounclng off he yellow clay and at night animals and spits edged our onto the ruined land. To he north the ign rainforest began, one ofthe grec, suring wilcemessas of te woud, suetching 500 Klmetes before i o¥e ‘apa and dvindled ino gary woodland among the savannas of Reraina Enclosed in darkness co complet I ould not see beyond my oustetched huand, ts forced co think of the an forest a dough Tne seated Lamy bear at home, wth the lights tomes low, The forest a nihe ean exprtnce of cave Lifes ou he in xpered abundance. The jul tems, but la a anne mony beyond the rach of he omen senses. Nnetrnine percent of he amas Hin thei vay by chemical is never the sfoe, ps of or taleased no the alot wees, and scans fuse out of ine hidden glands and Imo the alr downwind. animals are masters of this chemical channel ‘where we at cio. Bur We are gentuses or te audonsulchanne, qualec ‘his modality only bys few od groups (whales, monkeys, bird) So we wale forthe dawn, while they wait forthe fal of darkness; and because sight and ound are the evolutionary prerequlte of inaligence, we slne have come to reflect on such mater as Amazon nights and sensory medals. {swept the ground withthe besm fom my heaclmp for sgns of We, and {ound—clsmends A gular ners of sets meters, intense pnpotns of ‘vnie Upht ved on and off ith each cuming of the lanip, They were reflections fom the exes of wolf spiders, membar ofthe fay cose, on ‘he pro fr Ines prey. Wen sporlighed the spders fog, allowlng me o sppreach on hands and imees and sey them almost at their own level. eould singh 2 wide variety of specie By in col, ad anaes. Wt souck me ow ie Iowa about these oats ofthe rin fret and how deeply sadfying ie would be to spend months, yer, terest of my fein the place unl 1 iew all the specie by name and every deal of thelr vet. Rom specimens beautifully frozen in amber we know that the Lycosidee heve sured atest since the begining ofthe Oligocene epoch, forty millon years go, and probably much longer. Today «oto vase forms occupy the whole ‘wot, of which this was only the minutes sample, yet even these species ‘uming about now ro watch me from dhe bare yellow clay coud give meaning to te eimesof many natura, “The moon was down, and ony stright etched the tops ofthe ees twas [Augurt inthe iy season. The air had cooled enough to make the humiiy pleasent, in the wopical manner, a5 much 2 state of mind as physical sencaon. The stom I guessed was about an hour aay. I thought of waking ck ino the erst with my heslamp to hunt fr new measures, But was too ted ffom the dey’ work. Anchored again to my char, forced into myself, 1 welcomed 2 reteo steak and the occasional courtship ach of luminescent click bees among the neaby but unseen shrubs, Even the passage of 2 Jetiner 10,000 meters up, 2 regular event each night around ten otlock 1 salted wih please. A weak inthe rain ftest had wansormes is aistant rumble from an urban inten int a comforting sgn ofthe consnuance of iv Bur {was glad tobe alone, The discipline of tho dark envelepe summon ‘hea images from dhe forest of how teal oxgantsms look and act. 1 needed vo concenaate for only 2 second and they came alive as eldetc images, bebind owed eyellas, moving aro fallen eaves and decaying humus. {src tie ‘memos thle way an satin hope of stumbling on some pate not ebedient to abenact heey of textbooks, I ould have been app with ype. The cextocls make ic seems Those come lar 1 apgsfech from a mace Bimitve mode of tought wherein the hunts mind weaves ides from old faci and fash mecaphors and the seamed cary innagee of wings ecenly Seen, To move forward is to concoct naw pettes of thought which fn cum Gicate the design ofthe modes and experiments. Ear to <3y, cilia © setieve, “Te subject engaged ha nic, the resson fortis esearch apr he Brian Aman, had infact become an obsession and, like all absecsons, ‘very Maly deed, Tc was che kind of favor pure hat hep forcing es ‘ay back becaos it very fnactabsy makes it paren pleseang ihe an ove fair malocyintrding int tho rlaced mind berate iloveyou ant wl not lnave you. 1 hoped thc some new lange ugh propel me past the faded pose tothe othe ie ose srange and compelling. ‘Bear with me for a moment while I expan this bit of personal ecorics: 1 fm sppiosching the subject of cenzal latest. Some Kinds of plants and snimal are dominant, prlferacing new spaces and spreading over large pars ofthe word. Other re driven bak unl they become ae and heated BY ecncon. 1 cher a slgle formula fr he biogeographic difecence, fr all, ‘nds of rgansms? the process if ariculated, would be a lw or 3 east 3 Ptncple of oynase succession in evoludan. {was inuiquec by me ‘@kcumstence that social insect, ce oup on which Ihave spent mos of my Iie, ae among the mest abundant ofall ozaisms, And mong the coial Inaeers, the donna subproup ede ants. Thy range 20,000 cr mote speci strong fom che Arte ice tothe tip of South america, nthe Amazon rin fever thoy compose more than 10 percent of tha bigmaes of ll nimab The ‘means tharif you were to collec, yout, sn weigh every animal ina plece of forest, fom monkess and birds down to mits and reundwoms, atleast 10 {nseer biomass overall and 70 petcent ofthe inlvidual insets found tn the ‘weet. They ae only sighs less abundant in grasslands, dese, and ‘temperate forss thoughout the eto the word 1 seemed 10 me that night, a5 IC as fo oters In varving depees of pesuasion many tines befor, that the prevalence of ans must have something t0 do wih thelr aévanced colonial organization. A colony 3 supergene an assembly of worker 20g kit sound te moner queen 4 fo ac te singe, el-ccerinatea env, A aep of eer slur insect, encountering 2 worker anton its mest faces more than ust anther inset t faces the wotker and ll her ers, united by inne wo protect the queen, selse conocl of tenitery, and further the growth of the colony. Workers ae Tide Kamihaes,prepared—eager—to die in order to defend the mst of gain contol af «food source. Tet deaths mater no more ro the clon than the loss of hair ora claw ip might solar animal “Theres another way roTeck at an ant colony. Workers foraging around the ‘nest ae not merely insects Setching for food. They are ating webcast ct by he superorganism,redy to congeal over ich food find o hrnk back rom ‘he most formidable enemies. Superogentsns can conceal and domlate he oun and meets in companiton wth ontnay, solar onguiens, and that prove Bar de reson for dt domaance? the comet jist enter shaky concion da because two evens occr gether, one eats the other? Something lee erry diferent might fe cae both Tin aout eater dal fgg bly? shaper sere? Wace such s he clemma of evolutionary bology. We have problems ro solve, we have clear ansrrs—too many car answers. The ficult aris picking out he ight answer. The solated mind moves Ip Slow ces and Dreakous ate rare. soltdef beer for weeding ou as than fr cresting them. Gens is the summed production ofthe many with the names ofthe few attached for” easy recall, Unfaly soto other Scents. My mind ded Into the howls right ne por of cal yet chosen. ‘he storm grew undl sheet Hohming spread scons che westem sky. The stundarhand reared up ike 2 tophaney monster in slow motion td forward, owing out de star. The fore erpced In simulation of stolen Ie “ighning bole broe othe ron and hen clove, othe ight an let, 10,000, counsuge skyward ten des faster, back and fo ina spl second, the ‘whole peceved as sale sh and rack of Sound. The wind freshened and ranean stalking through the forest. 1 the miget of chaos something to the ede caught my acenon, The ‘ighning bole were acing like sabe faces to iuminate the wal ofthe a {eves at incval I glimpsed che stole suuctue: top canopy 30 metas of the grouné, middle wees spread raggedy below that, and 2 lowermost sttrng of subs and srl woes. Te forest was Named er 2 ew momenss ‘dhs cheapteal seuing. ts image cumed sureal, projected Inco the unbounded wildness of the human imagination, crown back in tne 10,000 Yeas. Somevinare close Cinew spear-nese bats aw though the we crowns ‘in serch of fut, palm vipers coled im ambush in th oot of orchids, aguas ‘walked the svers dee; around them eight hunded species of wees stood, ‘more than ate native co all of North Ameo: and a thowsend species of buen, percent ofthe ence word fauna, wale fr the dawn, _About the orchids of tha place we knew very Hide. About les end beetles moet nothing fang nothing, most kinds of erpznims noting. Five thousand ‘nds of bata mighe be found ln plneh of sol, and about chem we lew absolutely nothing, Tals was wildemess in the shteenth-coneury cence, 2 ‘must have formed in the minds ofthe Pomugueae explores, fei st langely unexplored and fled widh suange, myhengendedng plans and ‘animals, From such a place the plows naualist woulé send long respec ‘ees to oy pauans about the wonders of the new Wotla restament ro the ‘Gory of God. And 1 thoughe char i sll ee so see this land in such 2 ‘The unsolved asueee ofthe ai forest ae formless and seductive. They te ke umamed islands hidden tn the Bank spaces of old maps, tke dak shapes gimpued descending the far wall of ret into the bys. They dra ut forward and sr suangeappréensios. The unknown and prodigious are cuss to the slene imagination, sing insadable hunge with single vaste. 2 four hear we hope Wwe wll never cover everyting. We pis tate wl ‘ways be a woul ke this one at whose age Tsar in dane. Thea ovest Ins sichness sen of the last reposteis on ea of tat enelss dream ‘Thats why kep going back to the frets forty years after began, whe 1 ‘hess down ro Cubs, graduate studene caught up In the Iden of te “bg” ‘wopes, fee at lst to look for something hidden, as Kipling had urged, someting los bebind tho Rangos. The chances re high, infact crain, of finding anew spéces ox phenomenon within dejo if you work bard hows fer anal. The hunt ls azo on fr are spctes already cscovered bur sll ffecvely unknown—reprezented by one or two specimens placed in a museum drawer Hy ex a hundred years ago, left wth nothing bu local and a haba note ancien ona try label Sanarém, Bra, nes onside cof re in samp fret) Unfold the ai yellowing piece of paper ant along aud blologs speaks: 1 was there, found this, now you knw, now move on. ‘Thee ssl mote to the smi of biologi nehnes. sa microcosm of scientific exploration a5 a whole, reacting handson experience cat higher lane of sbitacion, We starch in and around a subject fora concep, & pattem, chat imposes err. We ook fr a way of speaking about the rough ‘unmapped train, even just 2 name or a phrase that calls attention to the object af ou attention. We hope to be the fa o make & connection. Out gol {so captae and Tabs a process, pahaps « chemical reaction or behavior ster ng an ecological chang, 2 net wav lasing ener flo, = ‘ladon between predator and pey that prcerves them both, almost anything cal We will ste frst one good question that sas people chinkng and talking Why ase there 20 many species? Why have mammals elie more qld han reps? Why do bs sing at dann? ‘Tee whispering denizens of she mind are sensed but rarely seen They reste theftiag, leave bein a pur mak ling with water and ascent excite foram instant and vaneh. Mou ideas ae walng deeame that fade 1 an emotional residue. fscratesclanist can hope to ceprure and express only succes the equadons and places of selanee, no one har eaprued the ‘netaforla of slo reserch. The consesion isan art ake sete of ck minds st to receive them. We hunt autward and we ut ines, ad ‘he value of the quany on ne sie ofthat mental bare commensurate with ‘he val ofthe quary onthe oer side. OF tls dual quay he great chemist, Bere wrote 16]6 and for alte: Aon thay br x mene fens ones tt Dosa of pensions and premaleandadeute when ll emapeazason cin eqully well be lie anh anfransy ‘resmbly oo Sequel. Bro ough, atv cen pened be elope, oy mathe ppnow t+ Hae ‘story. aperence supened fc rear eh So nt ae ah no dood modes of concepulaton wl be aed tome aga ‘Speen boacee, nde compete uth me} perbps nee De ‘oe stom sned, racing fom she forests edge, suming fom scattered splashing é1ops aco sheets of waren by gusts of wind. forced ane back ‘othe heer ofthe comugated tom roof of the open a vng quarters, where ‘a and wated wei the maze Te men supped off Meir eoming and ‘vals out into the open coaping an sinsing thenclvs in heron ri, laughing an singing, In biare counterpoint, leptogacyi fogs struck up loud and monotonous honking on the forest oor ele by. They were al ‘mound ws. 1 wondered where they had been during the dey. 1 had never ncoumered single one wil siftng trough the vegetation and rotting desis ‘on suns das, in hablar hey ar supposed to prefer Farther ou a klometer o two aay, 2 woop of ed howler monkeys chimed {ny tht chorus one ofthe strangest sounds to be heard In all of nature, 35 ‘enalng ns way 95 me Songs of humpback whales. A male opened wth accelerating sere of eep guns expanding ino prolonged oars and was then Joined bythe higher pitched calls of te females. This far away filtered through ence foliage, the fll chores machine aep, croning, mera ‘soc ance calls are usually renitval averdsements, the meen By wich i an pes na al ghd te ge la. [orm tay rea celsnation ofthe forests tly efecel The powers of rae are within or compas te som spar of ow Bley! For that isthe way of the nonhuman werd. The grstt pies of the phys envonment sm inc dhe een ferces of Wf, and notlag much Dhappens, Fora very lng time, 130 mull years the species wth the rain foxes evolved 1 abso prectsly this fom and magne of Wolnce. They encoded the predictable oocumence of manure stonns inthe Jeers oftheir gene, Animals and plants have come to use heay rains and ods routinely to ‘Une eplsodes in thelr fe cele. They detente, mate, hunt pes ay gg {n-ne water pools and aig shelters nthe an softened earth, fon a lager scale, the storms dive change In the whole structure of the fovest. Toe natural dynam rss the cers of te By means of oes Gestuction and regenera. ‘Somewhere a large horizontal ee lim is weak and vulnerable, covered by @ enue garden of orchid, romain, and other Kis of plies thet gow on ‘wees. Thea ls up the caides enclosed by the al seats ofthe epphtes and soaks the hums and clotted dust around thelr rots, afer ear of growth ‘he welght has become ney unsupporabl, A gust of wind whips rough of lighening sees the wee cunk, and the mb breaks and plummets down, clauring a path tothe ground. Hzbthore the crown of 2 ant tee emargent shove the rst atchs the snd and the ee says above th ai-soahed el ‘he shallow rote cannot Bald, and che entke toe kas ott ez trunk and canopy ae downward lke ¢ bint ax shearing cuough smaller vees and burying understory bushes and herbs, Thlk ans colle trough the nbs are le slong. Those ha tech footer wees ac as Rswses 1 rag down st ‘mote vegetation, The massive r00r system hesves up co crate an instant ‘mound of tae sil. At yet another ste, close to the rivers edge, te ri water cus under an overhanging bank to dhe cael level of gai, and 2 20- eter front colapces, Behind i «small section of forest flor ses down, ‘pling tees and burying low vegetation, ‘Such evens of minor violence open gaps in the foes. The sky clears gsn snd sunlight floods ta round. The sta empertie ries ane the humsny fate The soll and ground liter dies out and warme up il more, cating 2 naw envionment fr elmals, Fung. and microorganisms of diferent Md from those int dak forest ner, he Felling months poner plant species ake aed. They ae very ifferet fom the young shade ving pings end understory shrubs ofthe prevaling oldstand forest Pastarowing small in stature, and shortlive, they form a single canopy hat matures far below the upper eis ofthe eer wees ll aroun. Tel ssue is sfc and vulnerable wo hapivoes. The palmateeaved wees of the genus Ceowpic, one of the g2p- Sing specnices of Canal and South Amerie, harbor vicious ants inlaw fnvemodes of the unk These insets, beating the appropiate slate mame wc ve In symbloss with thee hoss,proecing them from all predates excep lhe and a few oer heroes specialize to fed on Cecropa, The symbjons Ive among new assemblages of species no found tn the mature sexe, ‘All ound the second growth vegetation, the fallen wes and branches rot so cumble,olfering hiding pacer and food to avast ara of baisomsycate fang, slime mold, ponerne ants, scold bees, bark Ue, earls. cembloperan webspinars, 2orapterans, entomebryomerph spingtalls,japysid iparne,cchinomid srachnis, peozcorpons, ral sompons, and other forms that lve mos or exeusvely ln the ables. Thay a4 chouands of species othe dives ofthe primary forest. {mt ino the tangle of fallen vegetation, tear away plces of rting bak, val over logs, an You wil see ese creatures teeming everwhere. AS the loner vegetation grows denser, ce deepening shade and higher bundy again favor oldorest species, and thelr saplings spout and grow. Within 2 unciea years te gap spetalis wil bepse our Dy competion fr Hehe, sod heal scored foes wiles completly oes, tm the succession, ploncer species are the sprinters, clforest species the long-distance runners The volant changer and 3 clearing of pace ing ll the species brlefly co the same staring line. The spacers dash ahead. but the prolonged race gas tothe mrathoners. Togetar the two clases of specialists ‘reste x complex morse af wegetation per across the fret which, by gular ‘ee als and landslides, forever changing. square Klometas of space are mapped over decades of time, the mosaic rum ico rotous alldoscope whose patems come and go and come again. A new marathon f always eying somevsnae Inthe forest. The percentages of successional vegetation ‘ypes ae consaquentiy more or ltt i a steacy sat, tom ener poaser species though vatious mies of paneer an deep forest wes to stands of the most macue pylognomy. Walk randomly on any glen day for one ar v0 IMlomerers trough the fore, and you will cut tough many of these successional stages and sense the versity sustained bythe passage of storms sd he fal of fone sans Tei ven by whic fe buds and sant thera forest. And dvsley ‘hes eanied life beyond, to the harthest environments on earth. Rich marine habitats on car, Perchiike gototenfld fishes swim chae to temperetres jst above the frexng pont of sel weter but cold enough to hal sues as anceeoe and dve whee ober fish cannot go, Avound them flock dense populaons of acre bricdestas, all and other invertebrate sma, ach wim protective deviees of ts om. In a radially aiterenc sing, the deep unlghed zon of caves sound the ‘word, bind wie springs, mites, and beedes feed on fung and bacteria sowing on rotting vezeable mater washed dow trough round water, They fe een fn cum by in whice bees and spiders so epectallae for le ln perpenual datinass some of the hethert ese of the word are home to unig ensemble of Insees, lands, and flowering plants. 19 the Namib of southwestern Ata, eels use ley tips expanded inc cle sanéshoes to swim dow though the shifting nes in search of dried vepetabe mater. Otte, the hit runate of te inecr weed ace over the baling hot surface on Daan si es. ‘Achusbeccula, oneceled mlcrooreniims so aliferent tom ordlasy boctra a tobe candidates for a separate Kingdom of fe, occupy the boiling water of mineral not springs an volcanic ven inthe deep Sea The species, composing the newly discovered gemus Mechaupyrus gow in boing vents at ‘he botom ofthe Mecitenanean Sea in temperatures upto 110°C fei too wall adapted in such places, out to the ode of the phscal exveope vere bochenay fale, and too dvece co be broken by som snd other rdinan vagaries of narte, But ese, the propery tha makes pesurbadons, canbe eroded svg ager by fagment, and Inert) so {€ the sboormal sess is unelleved, This vulneabity stems from Hes composiion a5 swarms of spcies of tinted geogaptics!astibuion. Every habia. from srazlian ai forest ro Anta bay to thamal ent, harbor 2 ‘unique combination of plants and armas. Bach Kind of pant and animal ving ‘hate Is linked tn the food web to nly a small pare of the other species. ‘liminate one spies, and another increases in number to take Is place ‘ingen open i ne ocd ocyateen stats te dey wy Produedly rope asthe channels ofthe nuplenteyles ate clogged ore of ‘he biomass ts sequestered in the form of dead vegetation and slowiy rmecbolising,oxyenstaed mué, of simply washed away. Lass competent pollinators take over a the bescadepred bees, mots, birds, bas, and other specials drop out Fear stade fll, fewer ceedings

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