In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Patrick Roberts about tropical forests and their impact on the planet and for humans. They begin with a historical overview of the earth’s periods and how tropical forests are seen in each period. They define tropical forests and describe their general composition. They talk about Pangaea and Gondwana and some of the angiosperm in the early periods that contributed to animals and life on earth. They discuss the importance of early mammals in the Jurassic period. They also talk about early Hominids in their environment and the early stages of agriculture. They talk about island forestation, human migration, and tropical forests with ancient civilizations. They discuss deforestation and reforestation and the human impact on climate change.
Patrick Roberts is the Research Group Leader and Director of the Stable Isotope Laboratory in the Department of Archaeology at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. He has a BA in Archaeology and Anthropology, a MSc in Archaeological Science, and a DPhil in Archaeological Science from the University of Oxford. His main research interests are studying tropical forests and how they impact human adaptations. Aside from his Archaeological and paleoenvironmental research, he has recently published his first book, Jungle: How Tropical Forests Shaped the World- and Us, which you can purchase here. You can find his research publications here. Twitter: @palaeotropics