Tree Top World: An Insider's Journey Through the Tropical Canopy

Author: Francis Ales et al. (French), translated by Xiao Min and Zhang Feng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-06-01
Features: Over the past two decades, Francis Ales, Dany Cleyre-Maillot, and Gilles Ebersole have embarked on a series of unique scientific expeditions in Madagascar, Guyana, Cameroon, the Congo, and other regions. They drift across the emerald seas using airships or hot air balloons equipped with specially designed rafts. This emerald sea is the top of the Earth's primordial forests—the canopy layer. With this astonishing equipment, scientists from various disciplines—botanists, entomologists, chemists—can move freely and conduct research, collect samples in the canopy layer, which is about 40 to 50 meters above the ground. Three-quarters of the world's insect species live in the canopy layer, where an incredibly diverse range of plants also thrive. This newly explored frontier holds abundant raw materials for medicine, chemistry, and spice production. For this reason, the authors of this book issue a call: Today, primordial forests are disappearing at a rate of 20 hectares per minute. We must protect these forests and the immense wealth they hold. This is a critical matter for maintaining the Earth's ecological balance. This book is a study of the tropical canopy layer. It presents the threats facing tropical forests in a vivid, illustrated format, revealing a series of little-known secrets of the canopy space.