Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth – its genes, species, populations and ecosystems. It is estimated that there are between six to fifteen million species on Earth of which only 1.5 million have been identified and given scientific names. Between 1995 and 2004 361 new species were identified in the inland rainforests of Borneo.
Tropical forest canopies sustain 40% of all life on earth and all subsequent ecosystem services are a function of interactions between this life, the soil and the atmosphere. Pollination services alone have been estimated to contribute US$12 billion per year to agriculture.
On a wing and a prayer...
The extinction of species or reductions in their populations and/or distributions degrades ecosystem services. The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services has been likened to the role of the rivets in an aeroplane’s wing. We may not need all the rivets in the wing for it to function, but we do not know how many could be removed before it breaks. Some rivets may be more critical than others, but likewise we do not know which these are. It is therefore sensible to insure against the wing breaking by maintaining as many rivets as possible. In the same way, we ought to maintain as much natural biodiversity as possible in order to insure against ecosystem service failure.
Given that tropical forests harbour so many species, some of these could have widespread economic or
medicinal uses that are still unknown to us. The conservation of these valuable genetic resources for future options that are yet undiscovered is thus a valuable service (termed ‘option value’) that forests provide to us and to future generations.
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Brazil nut trees can grow to 50 m or more and can live for 500-800 years. The species is found throughout the Amazon rainforest. The fruit is a large, round woody capsule or pod, about the size of a large grapefruit and weighing up to 2.2 kg. Inside each fruit pod, wedged in like orange segments, are 12 to 25 Brazil nuts, each within its own individual shell. Mature Brazil nut trees can produce approximately 300 or more fruit pods annually.
For centuries Amerindian peoples have relied on the oil and protein rich Brazil nut as an important staple in their diet - so important, that the nuts have even been used as a trade commodity, much like money.
Today, the monetary value of exporting Brazil nuts from the Amazon (which began in the 1600s with Dutch traders) is second only to that of rubber. Virtually all Brazil nut production comes from wild forest trees, since they require a specific species of bee to pollinate the flowers.
The Brazil nut tree is a good example of the intricate ecosystem of the Amazon. Not only is the pollination of this tree so specialized, requiring one particular insect species to produce the fruit, but only one species of animal is capable of chewing through the extremely tough fruit pod to disburse the seeds for new tree growth. The agouti, a large rodent, with extremely sharp front teeth, is solely responsible for reseeding the forest with Brazil nuts and ensuring the next generation of trees. In the Amazon rainforest, the tree, bee, and agouti are all dependent on one another for survival. Macaws - noisy, colourful denizens of the rainforest canopy - also feed on immature Brazil nuts.
With such a high oil content, fresh Brazil nuts will even burn like miniature candles when lit. The oil is extracted from the nuts and used by indigenous and rural people for cooking oil, lamps, soap, and livestock feed. The empty seed pods, often called "monkey's pots," are used to carry around small smoky fires to discourage attacks of black flies, as cups to collect rubber latex from tapped trees, and as drinking cups. The husks of these seed pods have also been used in Brazilian folk medicine to brew into tea to treat stomach aches, and the tree bark is brewed into tea to treat liver ailments. Brazil nuts and their oil are mainly used as a food in the United States and Europe, but the oil is increasingly used in soaps, creams and hair care products.
Although the harvesting of Brazil nuts can provide important revenues to local people, overharvesting could ultimately reduce the local abundance of the species and the animals that depend upon it.
Bibliography:
Mori, S.A. (2008) The Brazil Nut Industry – Past, Present, and Future. (http://www.nybg.org/bsci/braznut/). The New York Botanical Gardenm Bronx, New York.
Pimm, S.L., Alves, M.A.S., Chivian, E. & Bernstein, A. (2008) What is Biodiversity? In E. Chivian & A. Bernstein (Eds) Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity (pp. 117-161). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Raintree Nutrition Inc. (1996)Brazil Nut. (http://www.rain-tree.com/brazilnu.htm). Raintree Nutrition Inc, Carson City.
