1. Paleo Environmental Reconstructions
Artist conceptions of ancient habitats based on scientific research.

2. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
A reconstruction of a part of the Dominican “amber” forest by G. Poinar. The emergent tree is the caoba tree (Swietenia) reaching 135 feet, the canopy layer is depicted by two algarrobo (Hymenaea protera) and a nazareno (Peltogyne), the subcanopy and understory by a Roystonea palm and fig (Ficus), the shrub layer by various palms and Acacia, and the forest floor by pega-pega (Pharus) and others. Epiphytes include orchids, bromeliads, and ferns. Vines and lianas are stretched between and among the vegetation.

3. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Reconstruction of the ancient Dominican amber forest by D. Grimaldi. The numerous life-forms preserved in this amber allow a detailed re-creation of what the forest probably looked like, including the inhabitants of the forest floor, living under bark and in the amber trees and on the plants growing near the amber trees. Everything in the reconstruction is either supported by actual fossils in Dominican amber or inferred on the basis of host plants for plant-feeding forms of insects.

4. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Drawing by G. Poinar

5. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Drawing by G. Poinar

6. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Drawing by G. Poinar

7. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Drawing by G. Poinar

8. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Fungus gardening ants conduct daily activities of collecting vegetative material for growing their fungi. Here some are ascending a tree in search of leaves, while descending workers carry leaf portions back to the nest. Based on Dominican amber fossils. Drawing by G. Poinar.

9. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Drawing by G. Poinar

10. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Drawing of the “litter zone” of a Dominican forest. Drawing by G. Poinar.

11. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Another drawing of the litter and log zone in a Dominican amber forest. Drawing by G. Poinar.

12. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Planthoppers come in a variety of shapes and wing types. Drawing by G. Poinar.

13. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
More planthoppers from Dominican amber forest fossils. Drawing by G. Poinar.

14. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
Close up of life on a tree trunk in a reconstructed Dominican amber forest. Drawing by G. Poinar.

15. Dominican amber Reconstructions.
A scene from the understory in a Dominican amber forest. Drawing by G. Poinar.

16. Baltic amber Reconstructions.
A plate from Hugo Conwentz’s 1890 monograph on Baltic amber flora, showing flower inclusions and leaf impressions in the amber.

17. Baltic amber Reconstructions.
A plate from H. R. Goeppert and G. C. Berendt’s 1845 monograph on the flora of the Baltic amber, depicting details of cones and flowers, with the actual size of the specimen by comparison.

18. Baltic amber Reconstructions.
Reconstruction drawing of a Cretaceous forest, similar to the forest where most Baltic ambers formed. From the American Museum of Natural History collection. (J. Sweimler)

19. Baltic amber Reconstructions.
Reconstruction of Baltic region conifer forest, showing resin seeping from a pine, with an ant and a fly becoming trapped in the seeping resin. Painting by. A. Petrucelli.