that is just one of the many rainforests around the world being studied by tropical biologist bill laurance. dr. bill laurance: the focus of our research is, essentially, how do humans affect tropical rainforests? about 40 million acres of tropical forest are being destroyed every year. that's about 80 football fields a minute, and as a consequence, we are seeing vast landscapes being denuded of forests. we are also seeing the original rainforest being chopped up into isolated islands or parcels. and this might seem like an ironic place to talk about it here because it seems like such a beautiful area. we are in the heart of panama in soberania national park, but this is probably the future of much of tropical biology, because although it seems like a large area of rainforest, over here we have bulldozers knocking down the forest. over in this direction we have slash-and-burn farming going on. we have hunters encroaching from all sides of the forest, having major impacts on the wildlife communities. this is an island of forest, and it's shrinking over time. and so really this is the heart of t

that is just one of the many rainforests around the world being studied by tropical biologist bill laurance. drautiful area. we are in the heart of panama in soberania national park, but this is probably the future of much of tropical biology, because although it seems like a large area of rainforest, over here we have bulldozers knocking down the forest. over in this direction we have slash-and-burn farming going on. we have hunters encroaching from all sides of the forest, having major impacts on the wildlife communities. this is an island of forest, and it's shrinking over time. and so really this is the heart of t question we are trying to get out here. are these going to be islands of survival or islands of extinction? yes, you're very cute. arose from a lifelong lovee, e importof animals.ainforest very pretty little bird. dr. bill laurance: i was one of those kids at just loved animals. and i raised mountain lions and bear cubs, and i was a falconer. i had birds of prey and owls and ferrets and flying squirrels -- just a whole menagerie that my long-suffering parents put up with. i starte