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INDEPENDENTLY of Charles Darwin, English naturalist Alfred Russel
Wallace developed the theory of natural selection. But Wallace’s work and
ideas have received far less attention than his famous contemporary. One of his
most important discoveries was the biological boundary between Bali and Lombok
in the Makassar Strait, although the islands are only 24 kilometres apart. On
the western side of the boundary the flora and fauna are Oriental and on the
eastern side they are Australian. Darwin author Penny van Oosterzee
explores this sharp biogeographical division and the naturalist who first
described it in Where Worlds Collide ($24.95, Reed Books).