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The High Frontier: Exploring the Tropical Rainforest Canopy
Loaded with aerial plants and the millions of creatures dependent upon them, tropical tree crowns are the last and greatest ecological frontier. Hundreds of species - earthworms, frogs, flowers, shrubs - never descend to earth during their lifetimes. Eight out of ten remain unnamed and unclassified by science.
In The High Frontier, Mark W. Moffett does for the tropical rainforest canopy what Jacques Cousteau did thirty years ago for undersea life. Donning rock climbing gear to join researchers working 150 feet and more above the ground, Moffett photographed strangler trees in Borneo, giant squirrels in India, and canopy bears in Colombia. He entered the terrifying world of arboreal spiders and ants, photographing them under extreme magnification. His coverage of this new science is unparalleled in any other field.
Described as a "world-roving zoologist" by National Geographic magazine for his work on five continents, Moffett has documented virtually every major active canopy research site. The immediacy of his writing and the intelligence of his photography make the canopy's fantastic architecture and unearthly inhabitants accessible to the general reader. In the tradition of the great nineteenth-century explorers, he captures the struggles of the individual scientists and the passions that enable them to brave perilous situations in pursuit of their work. The High Frontier is a modern classic of scientific discovery.
In The High Frontier, Mark W. Moffett does for the tropical rainforest canopy what Jacques Cousteau did thirty years ago for undersea life. Donning rock climbing gear to join researchers working 150 feet and more above the ground, Moffett photographed strangler trees in Borneo, giant squirrels in India, and canopy bears in Colombia. He entered the terrifying world of arboreal spiders and ants, photographing them under extreme magnification. His coverage of this new science is unparalleled in any other field.
Described as a "world-roving zoologist" by National Geographic magazine for his work on five continents, Moffett has documented virtually every major active canopy research site. The immediacy of his writing and the intelligence of his photography make the canopy's fantastic architecture and unearthly inhabitants accessible to the general reader. In the tradition of the great nineteenth-century explorers, he captures the struggles of the individual scientists and the passions that enable them to brave perilous situations in pursuit of their work. The High Frontier is a modern classic of scientific discovery.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1994
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About the author
Mark W. Moffett
9 books17 followersMark Moffett (born 7 January 1958) is a tropical biologist who studies the ecology of tropical forest canopies and the social behavior of animals (especially ants) and humans. He is also the author of several popular science books and is noted for his macrophotography documenting ant biology.
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October 26, 2007
Well, hell, it looks like I'm the first. It's a slim volume, but totally packed. Moffett's an ant guy who has photographed for National Geo for years. He was also E.O. Wilson's grad student, so he knows his stuff. Curiously, although Moffett does explain his reasons, this is a plant book, and it's the plant book that launched me, as far as I've gotten, into tree canopy studies. Eye-popping pictures, and mind-bending statistics. Exempla gratia: there are more tree species in a 2-hectare plot on Borneo (nearly 1000) than all of the Eastern U.S. Yikes. Now go wipe off your glasses.
I think even non-plant people would enjoy this book. Good luck finding it, but savor it if you do.
I think even non-plant people would enjoy this book. Good luck finding it, but savor it if you do.
Displaying 1 of 1 review