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Science 16 April 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5669, pp. 402 - 403
DOI: 10.1126/science.1093991
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Perspectives

ECOLOGY:
How "Virgin" Is Virgin Rainforest?

K. J. Willis, L. Gillson, T. M. Brncic

The three largest undisturbed rainforest blocks remaining worldwide are located in the Amazon basin, Congo basin, and the Indo-Malay region of Southeast Asia. In their Perspective, Willis, Gillson, and Brncic discuss a number of recent archaeological and paleoecological studies that reveal disturbance of these tropical rainforests by prehistoric human settlements and their subsequent regeneration once the human populations moved on or died out. The Perspective authors suggest that given sufficient time, tropical rainforests disturbed by modern human activities also may be able to regenerate.

The authors are in the Oxford Long-term Ecology Laboratory, Biodiversity Research Group, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK. E-mail: kathy.willis{at}geog.ox.ac.uk

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