Beyond the rainforest: life flourishes on the margins OCEAN VERT/GAMMA
EVERYONE’S heard of the Amazon, but can you name the world’s second largest rainforest? It covers an area twice the size of France, contains 20 per cent of all known plant and animal species, and is the only place on Earth where you can find bonobos living in the wild. The Congo rainforest may be less familiar than its South American counterpart but it is no less endangered. Africa is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with its confluence of poverty, rapidly growing human populations and shortages of water and food. So you may be surprised to discover that this region of central Africa is at the cutting edge of conservation.
Three decades ago, ecologist Norman Myers argued that conservation efforts should focus on “biodiversity hotspots” – threatened areas such as rainforests that contain an exceptional richness of species. The idea has since been extended to recognise the value of rare, unusual species, too. But in central Africa, some conservationists have a radically different approach to identifying areas for preservation. They are looking beyond existing biodiversity, to the underlying processes that create and sustain it. And they are finding that evolution can flourish in surprising places.
“Species that inhabit the periphery face different selection pressures. To survive, they must adapt“
The first inkling of this came from a 1997 study of a small bird called the little greenbul that lives in and around the Congo rainforest. Thomas Smith, who now directs the Center for Tropical Research at the University of California,…
