The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World

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)