An ecologist's eye
selectively within those circles. Dr. Reader hoped to obtain further funding to return and see how the plant species would change, whether certain selective cuts might improve the richness and health of the forest. Truth in adversity
We waded through biting insects and poison ivy. I grew to dread the silent clouds of blackflies and their tiny, swelling red bites. To the mosquitoes I became accustomed and indifferent. And after three months of hiking through floods of poison ivy, tossing our grid down in its midst, counting it, brushing our gloves and sleeves and boots against it day after day, none of the three of us had gotten a single rash. A minority of the human population does not exhibit the usual allergic reaction to this pernicious plant. It is an allergic response which some of us lack thanks to genetics. Our team was thrice blessed. Perhaps the forest knew our benevolent intention.
If we had wanted to look more closely, we could have scoured the canopy for nesting warblers and breeding insects. Or we might have delved into the earth, counting nematodes, springtails and the thousands of fungi and bacteria in a tablespoon of soil.
It is the wonder of ecology that one can always look closer, always find more questions to ask. Using a smaller or larger grid, the ecologist shifts his focus from insect to protozoan to giant white pine to deer, even to a whole population of deer. The connections and patterns are infinitesimal and infinite. With nature, one can get so lost in the truth it is hard to find reason.
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