Reef and Rainforest by McCoy Michael;

Author:McCoy, Michael;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Above: Bird’s Nest Ferns Asplenium nidus are common epiphytes in the rainforests of the South Pacific. The plants frequently grow in the forks of trees where the collected detritus provides them with nutrients. The fronds on a mature fern, like the one in this photograph, can reach lengths of a metre and make an ideal perch for small arboreal lizards such as this Solomon Blue-tailed Skink Emoia pseudocyanura warming itself in the early morning sun. The thick dark lines on the leaf are sori, structures which contain the reproductive spores of the fern. Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Right: From the 40 m-long cantilevered platform of the Mamu Rainforest Canopy Walkway the view down into the North Johnstone River gorge is spectacular. The 350 m-long elevated walkway and its 37 m-high observation tower afford an opportunity to experience the otherwise inaccessible upper reaches of the rainforest environment and make for easy observation of birds that are difficult to see from the ground. Interestingly, rainforest birds appear to be less wary of human intrusion when bird and human share the same elevation. From the walkway I watched a Brown Cuckoo-dove Macropygia amboinensis eating Pandanus fruit only a couple of metres away, oblivious, or at least uncaring, of my presence.

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