Hispaniola: A Photographic Journey through Island Biodiversity, Biodiversidad a Través de un Recorrido Fotográfico - Hardcover

Fernández, Eladio

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674026284 ISBN 13: 9780674026285

Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2007

Synopsis

First, there is a soft rustle in the underbrush, then a low-slung, utterly bizarre-looking insectivore dashes in front of Eladio Fernández. With a reflexive click of digital shutter, he's captured the reclusive (Solenodon paradoxus--a living fossil. A Dominican-based conservationist and photographer, Fernandez is documenting the efforts of a distinguished team of international scientists as they unravel the workings of evolution being played out on the island of Hispaniola.

A short flight from the Florida coast, Hispaniola offers unique opportunities, not just to photographers like Fernández, but to evolutionary biologists as well. At 40 million years, Hispaniola is far older than the Galápagos. Its considerable age, along with a diversity of habitats--from mountains and cloud forests to savannahs and tropical lowlands--makes this island one of the most spectacular, if poorly understood, troves of biota on the planet. The extraordinary richness of species, much of it endangered and yet to be described, is showcased here in nearly 400 spectacular photographs. The photos are accompanied by essays--in both English and Spanish--that make known the Hispaniolan fungi, plants, and animals by the experts who know them best.

Insights gained from Hispaniola's unique flora and fauna, from its rare orchids to its stunningly beautiful bird life, may enrich our understanding of other, more complex, living systems worldwide. What Fernández captures here so vividly is not just the amazing variety of living creatures that have erupted in evolutionary isolation, but the urgency of scientists racing to give that variety a name before it vanishes.

About this title

About the Author:

Eladio Fernández is a naturalist and a conservation photographer specializing in the fauna and flora of the Greater Antilles. Based in his native Dominican Republic, he is president of Sociedad Ornitologica Hispaniola, a conservation organization that works to save critically endangered birds. Fernández is also active in Societé Audubon d'Haïti, a sister organization based in Port-au-Prince, which works towards the preservation of Haiti's two remaining national parks, Pic Macaya and La Visite. He is a contributor to the field guide Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Review:

Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the second largest island in the Caribbean. Hispaniola includes the region's lowest and highest points: the hypersaline Lago Enriquillo, 40 m below sea level, and Pico Duarte, 3087 m. This wide altitudinal range and the island's 40 million-year history have fostered the Caribbean's greatest variety of habitat types and a diverse insular flora and fauna. Despite the impacts of an accelerated degradation of natural resources, pollution, and the rapidly expanding human population, Hispaniola retains a number of wild places. Fernández, a Dominican-based conservationist and photographer, takes the reader on a circuit of protected areas and biodiversity hotspots. His images include dramatic landscapes (such as Parque Nacional Lago Enriquillo), closer views of habitats (from mountain forests to estuaries and coastal mangroves), and field portraits of animals, plants, and fungi. Researchers provide introductory essays (in Spanish and English) on the island's birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects, vegetation, and the "woefully understudied" macrofungi. In his foreword, Edward O. Wilson notes both the beauty and vulnerability of this island biota and hopes that more will be done to save it. (Science 2007-11-23)

With its numerous large color photographs, this oversized book would make a great coffee-table piece. However, it is hoped that it will bring attention to the overpopulated island of Hispaniola and aid in protecting the few remaining areas of natural habitat. (K. L. Williams Choice 2008-04-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0674026284
• ISBN 13: 9780674026285
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 396