Chapter 3 Opener

Figure 3.1 The current extent of tropical forests and the areas that have been cleared of tropical forests

Figure 3.2 Coral reefs are built up from the skeletons of billions of tiny individual animals

Figure 3.3 Species richness for vertebrates is greatest in tropical regions with abundant rainfall

Figure 3.4 Cone snails are an indicator group for marine biodiversity

Table 3.1 Number of native mammal species in selected tropical and temperate countries paired for comparable size

Figure 3.5 Approximately 1.5 million species have been identified and described by scientists; the majority of these are insects and plants

Figure 3.5 Approximately 1.5 million species have been identified and described by scientists; the majority of these are insects and plants (Part 1)

Figure 3.5 Approximately 1.5 million species have been identified and described by scientists; the majority of these are insects and plants (Part 2)

Figure 3.6 In addition to the 1.5 million species already described, scientists are describing about 16,000 new species each year

Figure 3.7 Researchers first encountered Laonastes aenigmamus being sold as a delicacy in Laotian food markets

Figure 3.8 Investigating the rainforest

Figure 3.8 An entomologist checks a suspended sheet containing fallen insects and leaves from a rainforest tree (Part 1)

Figure 3.8 A dirigible lowers its inflatable platform base into the dense Guiana rainforest canopy (Part 2)

Box 3.1 Conserving a world unknown: hydrothermal vents and oil plumes

Box 3.2 Humans as habitat: the incredible diversity of the human microbiome

Figure 3.9 Sampling, sorting, describing, and identifying insects taken from the tree canopy

Figure 3.9 Sampling, sorting, describing, and identifying insects taken from the tree canopy (Part 1)

Figure 3.9 Sampling, sorting, describing, and identifying insects taken from the tree canopy (Part 2)