The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World. - Hardcover

Poinar Jr., George; Poinar, Roberta

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691028885 ISBN 13: 9780691028880

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1999

Synopsis

In Jurassic Park, amber fossils provided the key to bringing dinosaurs back to life. Scientists in the movie extracted dinosaur blood from mosquitoes preserved for millions of years in amber--hardened tree resin--and used the blood's DNA to revive the creatures that terrified audiences around the globe. In this book, George and Roberta Poinar use amber for a similar act of revival--only they bring back an entire ecosystem. The Poinars are world leaders in the study of amber fossils and have spent years examining the uniquely rich supply that has survived from the ancient forests of the Dominican Republic. They draw on their research here to reconstruct in words, drawings, and spectacular color photographs the ecosystem that existed on the island of Hispaniola between fifteen and forty-five million years ago. The result is the most accurate picture scientists have yet produced of any tropical forest of the past.


The specimens examined by the Poinars reflect amber's extraordinary qualities as a medium for preservation. Millions of years ago, countless plants, invertebrates, and small vertebrates were trapped in the sticky resin that flowed from the trees of ancient forests and, as that resin hardened into translucent, golden amber, they were preserved in almost perfect condition. Samples analyzed and illustrated here include a wide range of insects and plants--many now extinct--as well as such vertebrates as frogs, lizards, birds, and small mammals. There are even frozen scenes of combat: an assassin bug grappling with a stingless bee, for example, and a spider attacking a termite. By examining these plants and animals and comparing them to related forms that exist today, the authors shed new light on the behavior of these organisms as well as the environment and climate in which they lived and died.


The Poinars present richly detailed drawings of how the forests once appeared. They discuss how and when life colonized Hispaniola and what caused some forms to become extinct. Along the way, they describe how amber is formed, how and where it has been preserved, and how it is mined, sold, and occasionally forged for profit today. The book is a beautifully written and produced homage to a remarkable, vanished world.

About this title

About the Author

George Poinar, Jr., is Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently on the faculty at Oregon State University, where he conducts research on amber deposits and biological inclusions in amber. He has written several books on amber, including, with Roberta Poinar, The Quest for Life in Amber.
Roberta Poinar is an electron microscopist with experience in entomology and amber research. She and George Poinar led the international research effort to extract DNA from insects encased in amber.

Reviews

Millions of years ago, entire insects, small animals and plants were trapped within the resin produced by ancient tropical algaroba trees. As the millennia passed, the resin solidified, perfectly fossilizing all ensnared within it. This fossilized resin, also known as amber, provides a unique opportunity to examine extinct organisms. The husband-and-wife Poinars (The Quest for Life in Amber; he's an entomologist at Oregon State University; she's an electron microscopist) specialize in studying the extinct organisms trapped in amber. Using data gathered by surveying a large collection of amber-embedded fossils from the Dominican Republic, they have been able to reconstruct the tropical forest ecosystem that dominated the island of Hispaniola 15 million to 45 million years ago. The Poinars' research proves "the long-term stability of host-parasite, predatory-prey and symbiotic associations" and "demonstrates how important past climactic patterns are in determining the present distribution of plants and animals." Though their prose can be overly academic (with the exception of the imaginative prologue), their descriptions of the interactions among the ancient biota are captivating. The text is richly complemented by 190 photographs and drawings by the authors, many depicting insects frozen in time. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"[The Poinars] have adroitly used the evidence provided by many small, fossilized objects to peice together a picture of the forest. Their specimens, trapped during life in resin from the forest's dominant algarrobo trees, are preserved in exquisite detail. THey buttress their tale with an abundance of riveting photographs of denizens of that ancient forest."

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691028885
• ISBN 13: 9780691028880
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 292