botany

The Succession Rhapsody: from sand to Amazon rainforest

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The Succession Rhapsody: from sand to Amazon rainforest

  I step off a boat and set foot onto a beach, my feet sinking slightly into the soft, fine sand. I pause for a second and contemplate the smooth, featureless terrain in front of me…and then I look further beyond and notice the almost solid...

miniOct 24 aerobotany, Amazon, amazon wired, botany, Conservation, ecology, guest post, Peru No Comments

Strangler figs: Silent assassins, diversity engines, rainforest timekeepers

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Strangler figs: Silent assassins, diversity engines, rainforest timekeepers

  (Borrowing from a J&B whisky commercial from the 1990s…) Tradition says: “A tree must begin its life from the forest floor”. Tradition says:  “A tree shall form a relatively cylindrical trunk”. Tradition...

miniOct 20 aerobotany, AMA, Amazon, amazon wired, botany, Conservation, ecology, Peru No Comments

Ghosts of Megafauna Past

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Ghosts of Megafauna Past

    I distinctly remember the first time I accidentally stabbed my hand on the spine of an Astrocaryum palm, and thinking to myself, “Why on Earth does this plant possess such horrendously vicious spines?!”  Surely...

miniOct 16 Amazon, botany, Conservation, ecology, fossils, giant sloth, megaflora, Peru, seeds No Comments

Charismatic Megaflora of the Amazon Rainforest

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Charismatic Megaflora of the Amazon Rainforest

  Mention the words “Amazon rainforest” to the layperson, and it is likely that the first creatures that spring to their minds are jaguars, caimans, giant river otters, spider monkeys or scarlet macaws….large, colorful, striking animals,...

miniOct 12 aerobotany, Amazon, amazon wired, amazoncam, botany, ceiba, Conservation, ecology, guest post, megaflora, Peru, Seed Dispersal No Comments

The Boom and Bust Rainforest

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The Boom and Bust Rainforest

  With gusting winds and a sharp plunge in temperature, the first friaje of 2017 arrived earlier this week in Puerto Maldonado, signaling the official transition from wet to dry weather in Tambopata and across the Madre de Dios basin. Rainforest...

miniOct 08 AMA, Amazon, amazon wired, amazoncam, botany, Cebus apella, Conservation, ecology, Peru, Seed Dispersal, tropical biology, wildlife No Comments