[written by Ricardo Rocha]
In the mid-70s a heated debate over the applicability of E. O. Wilson & Robert MacArthur’s Theory of Island Biogeography to conservation planning puzzled ecologists around the globe. Some defended that the best approach to conserve biodiversity was to create large reserves whereas others argued that several smaller reserves would do a better job. This debate, which came to be known as SLOSS (Single Large or Several Small), eventually triggered the North American conservationist Thomas Lovejoy to design a large scale experiment to try to obtain much needed data to support the debate, which until then was mainly about ecological theory than actual data. The project, initially christened as Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystem Project came to be in the heart of the Amazonian rainforest, 80 km North of Manaus, Brazil. Continue reading