#rain forest

[cottageaesthetic]

[pnw-forest-side]

Old growth trees on the Olympic Peninsula

[nocturnal-stims]

Margays are small felines that spend most of their lives in the trees. Margays can rotate their ankles 180 degrees, allowing them to climb down trees headfirst. They have been observed jumping up to 12 feet horizontally and have been known to mimic the voices of infant monkeys so they can eat the parents.

🐾 1minuteanimals on IG

[rebeccathenaturalist]

This is why I live here. (Structurally complex mixed conifer forest, Alder Ridge, Oxbow Regional Park near Troutdale, Oregon.)

[keepingitneutral]

"A Lodge in the Pigüe"

“El Calvario” community, Pastaza province, Ecuador, 

Mestizo Estudio Arquitectura

[nemfrog]

Tropical forest. Chapters in modern botany. 1893.

Internet Archive

[stillwater67]

cypress

[m4movies]

Positively Caffeinated

[thesaurushouseofdesign]

Stamp House, Cape Tribulation, Australia,

Charles Wright Architects

[givememtnspls]

Olympic National Park - Second Beach

[whereifindsanity]

Elliot Hawkey

Northern Pygmy Owl

[luthoniel]

.🌿🌱

[fishbphotography]

In the thick of it

Zamami Island, Okinawa, Japan

[juluia]

Wet dogs

[rebeccathenaturalist]

This is a really cool study! In short, researchers have been exploring the biodiversity in Ecuadorian rain forests at different stages of succession, from second-growth forests recovering from cattle ranching or intensive cacao farming, to old growth forests. Moreover, they're studying over ten thousand taxa of animals, plants, and other living beings--an unprecedented number.

All of this is helping scientists get a better idea of how tropical rain forests may recover from the immense, repeated human disturbances they've been subjected to in recent centuries. The great news is that a clearcut forest regains almost 80% of its old growth biodiversity and other characteristics in just two decades. The warm, wet climate helps to speed the recovery of an ecosystem, from buildup of the soil to return of biomass.

This shouldn't, of course, be seen as an excuse to continue destroying rain forests. True old growth is still needed, and a species can become more imperiled and even extinct in the twenty years it takes a clearcut to recover--look at the golden toad (Incilius periglenes), which disappeared a scant 25 years after western science first discovered it. However, the findings of the study offer hope for those supporting the restoration of tropical rain forest habitat, and right now we can use all the hope we can get.

[indigenouscr]