Josh at Thoughts from Kansas makes some good points today about the need for more systematists (scientists who describe new species), launching his musings from an article in today's New York Times about the remarkable Eastern Arc mountains by...d'oh! That was by me. Man, I have got to do a better job of staying ahead of the blogging curve.
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Nice piece, Carl. It's sad though that the work of these systematist seems to be one of post-catalogation. These patches of forest are encroached already by urban/rural development, so scientist are just going there to collect as many species to describe before they go extinct. It's true that some government in Africa and elsewhere are making some effforts at conservation, but they will only last until there's a financial incentive from us developed countries, either direct, or indirect from tourism. There is a global lack of culture reegarding the importance of preserving the forests 'per-se'. In europe people have the idea of forests as 'place where tourist can do trekking', or disney-fairytales environments; in africa they are dangerous places, or at the most valuable resources for export. I see this every day in the words of my african girlfriend, and my european work mates.
On another subject, I just started reading your "Parasite Rex" yesterday night, and I had to force myself to put it down around one o'clock. I'm going to be jet-lagged the whole day. But I don't regret it ;-)