existential struggles in greater China and southeast Asia
Back in Chongzuo for my first pilot study. Â The day after I arrived, Typhoon Rammasun, the strongest typhoon to strike southern China in over four decades, was hot on my heels, but because Chongzuo is inland, we avoided the worst. Â All I can complain about is losing three days of field time to the rain.
Eucalyptus monoculture "forest" in Guangxi, China
All of you capitalist pigs out there may have noticed The Economist‘s issue on biodiversity last week. While I appreciate the attempt to present biodiversity conservation in a generally positive light to an audience that rarely prioritizes the issue, I think it is important to point out that The Economist misses its mark – by a wide margin.
Thanks to the leadership of one of my classmates (also a long-lost cousin), our grad student cohort recently submitted a collective Letter to the Editor. I’ll let you know if that gets printed. In the meantime, here’s my own initial, personal response.
A few baby langurs were born this year despite the instability of the family group. This one’s about a month old. Note that its face is not as dark as its mother’s, but also not as pale as a newborn’s would be.
If you’ve seen these pink globular clusters near lakes and ponds, then it’s already too late – you’ve been invaded by apple snails from South America.
This notorious species was introduced to China in 1981 and has since spread throughout the warmer parts of the country. It’s called ç¦å£½èžº in Chinese, and is believed by many to be poisonous if eaten. According to multiple sources on the internet, this appears to be untrue, although it is often a carrier of a frightening parasitic nematode.
