THE suicide tree grows in ancient forests between Costa Rica and Colombia. Blooming only once, it sheds its fruit and dies abruptly, crashing to the forest floor within the year. In dying so spectacularly, the suicidal Tachigalia versicolor creates a clearing with space and light to give its seedlings the best chance of maturing amid intense competition from its companion species, all of which have their own fascinating stories. In this enlightening, entertaining and impassioned book, Hank Shugart鈥檚 intriguing stories give insights into the hidden, intertwined lives of the plants and animals that populate our landscapes.
Understand the complexity of relationships involving competition and dependency between plants and animals, argues Shugart, and we may begin to comprehend the ever-changing nature of the landscapes that we mistakenly think of being permanent.
We do have to grasp the extent of the changes we ourselves bring. Without exception, the presence of humans, with our domesticated animals and our habit of introducing exotic species, has led to the demise of creatures we can now only dream about. Furthermore, because climate is also dependent on the ecosystem it fosters, once we destroy a community of plants and animals, it has probably gone forever.
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Almost without our knowing, and backed up with extensive notes and references, Shugart gives us an education in the ecological principles that we must understand if we are to fulfil our self-appointed managerial role over the planet. He warns that our growing understanding merely highlights just how much more we need to learn about the complex interrelationships that sustain the Earth鈥檚 ecosystems if we are to avoid our own unintentional suicide.
How the Earthquake Bird Got its Name and Other Tales of an Unbalanced Nature
Yale University Press
