William F. Laurance

About the author: William F. Laurance is a senior research scientist at the National Institute for Research in the Amazon, located in Manaus, Brazil.

Logging, development, and farming in the rain forests leave the forests divided into fragments. Research shows that forest fragments under a certain size are unable to maintain the structure of the original forest. Fragmentation kills trees on a massive scale, and those within a few hundred yards of the forest edges are especially vulnerable. It is reported that up to 36 percent of the biomass in forest fragments will be lost soon after being isolated from surrounding forest. In order to help save the rain forest from further destruction, advocates need to educate the public about plant products, boycott corporations that exploit the rain forest, and...