Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 76
A Curculonid weevil from the Mulu forest of Sarawak. These beetles use their
sensitive antennae to home in on chemical signals from other members of the same species.
They make holes in saplings to lay their eggs. The smaller the sapling, the more likely it is to
be badly damaged by the burrowing larvae.
Janzen and Connell proposed that this swarming zoo of pathogens has
its greatest ef ect when the tree is a tiny sapling. Most saplings die as a result
of their pathogens, but if a little sapling is lucky enough to survive their dep-
redations it will become bigger and hardier and more resistant to subsequent
attacks. As it reaches adulthood it is able to withstand the great crowds of
pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and insects that, along with the animal browsers
and seed-eaters, tend to accumulate around it.
When the tree reaches reproductive age, it begins to scatter seeds. If the
seeds fall nearby, they land in the midst of a dangerous world, fi lled with
pathogens waiting for them. If they fall further away, out of the range of this
nasty collection of predators and parasites, they have a higher chance of
surviving.
