Portraits of the Rainforest

A tiny rufous-tailed hummingbird hovers before the bright inflorescence of a heliconia. Undetected by the foraging bird a golden eyelash viper is curled motionless around the plant. An instant later, this subtle configuration of flora and fauna is shattered by the snake's sudden strike.

Portraits of the Rainforest explores the precarious contingencies that determine the nature of tropical life, and award-winning Adrian Forsyth approaches his subject with a "mixture of hope and trepidation." A biologist who has spent 20 years working in the rainforest, Forsyth has observed firsthand the ravaging effects of agricultural, economic and environmental policies on an ecosystem under siege.

Yet in this collection of essays, he has chosen to celebrate the rainforest rather than to lament its loss. The rainforest plays a variety of roles -- as a genetic reservoir, a pharmacy of natural products and a carbon dioxide exchange system -- but for Forsyth, its true value rests with something less functional. The rainforest, he argues, represents the pinnacle of biological diversity and evolutionary sophistication on this planet.

Forsyth draws on his own extensive experience in the rainforest to make this fascinating habitat tangible for his readers. The result is a creative, anecdotal text that in each chapter follows a thread of adaptive Darwinian logic through some part of the rainforest. The exquisite photography of Michael and Patricia Fogden helps to make Portraits of the Rainforest an unforgettable journey.