Paradise lost: can Earth's oldest rain forest be spared from total destruction?

Science World, April 26, 2004 by Mona Chiang

When ecologist Roman Dial first read about Borneo, he was one amazed middle-school student, eager to hop on a plane and explore the island. "It was portrayed as one of world's wildest jungles," says Dial. The Southeast Asian island houses Earth's oldest tropical rain forest--about 70 to 100 million years old. Like all rain forests, Borneo is wet--receiving about 5 meters (16.5 feet) of rain each year--and rich in biodiversity (the variety of living things in an area). More than 3,000 tree and 358 bird species call the island home!

When Dial, now a professor at Alaska Pacific University, first saw the island, the assortment of sights surpassed his wildest imagination. "I saw so many animals and plants found nowhere else in the world," he says. "I saw a bear the size of a pig and millipedes as long as my forearm!"

Today, the survival of many of these species is uncertain. Why? Parts of Borneo's rain forest are being deforested (cut down) at an alarming rate. Three countries claim the island. One, Indonesia, which is home to 10 percent of the world's tropical rain forests, has already lost 72 percent of its original forest. Half of what remains is threatened, leaving many animals homeless and hungry. Will the animals go extinct, or can they adapt to a new habitat? Here, Science World talks to Dial to learn how--and why--he's trying to save this endangered ecosystem, (system of interactions between forms of life).

What are you researching?

I'm studying Borneo's canopy [see diagram, p. 11] to figure out what lives there. There are probably 10 million species of animals and plants on Earth, and about half live in tropical rain forest canopies around the world. I want to learn what's living at the very top of the tree, where the temperature fluctuates because it's airy and closer to the sky. Or what's living closer to the ground, where it's more humid and shady, but with fewer leaves to eat.

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Sounds like a lot of tree climbing!

Yes, sometimes we even spend a few nights up there. We suspend hammocks from a rope in the trees and hang a little stove from the branches to cook our meals. But it's kind of hard to get the nerve to sleep up there. There are giant ants that live on the ground during the day and climb up the tree at night. They're huge--half as big as my pinky.

Besides jumbo ants, what animals live in the canopy?

A lot of unique arboreal [tree-dwelling] creatures. The canopy is home to the orangutan, the clouded leopard, and the greatest diversity of "flying" animals on Earth. Well, the animals don't really fly--they glide. There are flying snakes, lizards, frogs, and squirrels. The lizards have ribs that fold out into wings and they can jump out of a tree and sail around the air before landing on another tree.

Many of these endemic (found nowhere else) animals are threatened. Why?

The main threat is the loss of habitat. As the world's human population increases, there are fewer places for organisms to live or find food. We are literally crowding them out. We're turning their habitats into agricultural land. And industries extract many of the resources people depend on, like fruit for food and wood for paper, from the rain forest. Also, some creatures are illegally hunted: the clouded leopard for its skin, and the rhino for its horn.

How does your work help them?

If we learn where the animals are and understand their needs, then we can better manage the forest to preserve its diversity. Also, if people destroy a large section of the forest, we will know what plant species we need to replace it with, so that the animals can come back quickly.

Can't deforestation be banned?

It's complicated: A lot has to do with human survival. There are three countries in Borneo [see map, p. 9]. Brunei is oil-rich, but tiny. It has a small but well-protected park. Malaysia has a stable government, a big middle class, and it more or less tries to keep up with conservation. But the largest part of Borneo belongs to Indonesia. Indonesians living in Borneo are very poor, and many have no choice but to cut and sell trees, often illegally, to survive.

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Can rain forest organisms and people living in Borneo be helped at the same time?

Beyond strengthening Indonesia's economy, we can help people figure out which trees to select and how to cut them down carefully. Borneo's huge trees have interconnecting vines. Even if you only want to cut one tree, you often wind up bringing down five or six. Careful logging practices mean more of the forest can remain intact. That means more habitat for animals to live in.

Why do you go to such lengths to save a habitat from destruction?

Humans don't own Earth. We share the planet with many organisms, and we need to respect this diversity. You never know how a missing part may impact the ecosystem. Also, we can learn a lot from rain forest organisms. For example, many animals eat poisonous plants, but they don't get sick. If we can identify the chemistry in their bodies that fights plant toxins, we might learn how to cure people of some diseases.