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The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World

The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World

by George O . Poinar (Author), RobertaPoinar (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 1999

    $8.30
Synopsis

In Jurassic Park , amber fossils provided the key to bringing dinosaurs back to life. Scientists in the movie extracted dinosaur blood from mosquitoes preserved for millions of years in amber - hardened tree resin - and used the blood's DNA to revive the creatures that terrified audiences around the globe. In this book, George and Roberta Poinar use amber for a similar act of revival - only they bring back an entire ecosystem. The Poinars have spent years examining the uniquely rich supply that has survived from the ancient forests of the Dominican Republic. They draw on their research here to reconstruct in words, drawings and colour photographs the ecosystem that existed on the island of Hispaniola between 15 and 45 million years ago. Samples analyzed and illustrated include a wide range of insects and plants - many now extinct - as well as such vertebrates as frogs, lizards, birds and small mammals. By examining these plants and animals and comparing them to related forms that exist today, the authors seek to shed light on the behaviour of these organisms as well as the environment and climate in which they lived and died.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 292
 Edition: 1
 Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 20 Aug 1999
ISBN 10: 0691028885
ISBN 13: 9780691028880

Media Reviews
Honorable Mention for the 1999 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Biological Science, Association of American Publishers
Conventional paleontologists know dinosaurs and clams far better than they know caterpillars and fleas. The glorious thing about amber [is that it] does gentle justice to bees, wasps, spiders, ants and other fragile, important beings. . . . The results can be so beautiful, so lapidary yet revealing, that amber science might be thought of as the field where paleontology crosses paths with jewelry. . . . [An] amazing jewel box. . . The most intriguing aspect of the book, though, is not its stop-motion portraits of the little things that ran the ancient world, but the questions it raises about what became of them.---David Quammen, The New York Times Book Review
Animal behavior is the high point of The Amber Forest. . . . Since ants, bees, termites and ticks in these fossils are almost always close relations of organisms alive today, the Poinars are able to say a great deal about the ecology of the long-vanished forest itself.---Jonathan Beard, New Scientist
The Amber Forest reconstructs [a] 20 million-year-old ecosystem. . . . With more than 200 photographs (most of them in colour) the authors walk the reader through this ancient rainforest.---S. Blair Hedges, Nature
The great strength of The Amber Forest lies in revealing and explaining the intimate moments in the lives of long-vanished tiny creatures. . . . The reader is constantly drawn to the tiny, the enigmatic, and the unexplained in these rich pages. . . . Even a reader barely interested in the wonder of lost worlds can hardly fail to be moved by such images.---Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books
With more than 200 photographs . . . the authors walk the reader through this ancient rainforest, describing a multitude of ecological interactions.---S. Blair Hedges, Nature
The Poinars are world leaders in the study of amber; their expertise and enthusiasm for amber are evident throughout the book. While very detailed, it is well written and a pleasure to read. The language is clear and scientific concepts are thoroughly explained so that all audiences can enjoy the book.---Sara Lubkin, American Paleontologist
The Amber Forest is a fine example of how growing numbers of professionals are making detailed scientific subjects interesting and understandable to lay readers. [It] reads like a novel and brings paleoentomolgy to life.---Steve Voynick, Rock & Gem
The book provides a clearly written summary of the biota of the Dominican Amber deposits, with a focus upon the insects. --Bruce H. Tiffney, University of California, Santa Barbara
The authors demonstrate great knowledge of many fascinating biological and socioeconomic aspects of amber. They write well and convey their enthusiasm for the subject with skill. The book is engaging and educational. --Peter Grant, Princeton University, author of Ecology and Evolution of Darwin's Finches
The Amber Forest is a stunning book that should appeal to anyone with an interest in entomology, paleobiology, or the ecology of past and present tropical forests.--Science Books and Films
Author Bio

George Poinar, Jr., is Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently on the faculty at Oregon State University, where he conducts research on amber deposits and biological inclusions in amber. He has written several books on amber, including, with Roberta Poinar, The Quest for Life in Amber.
Roberta Poinar is an electron microscopist with experience in entomology and amber research. She and George Poinar led the international research effort to extract DNA from insects encased in amber.