The age of exploration conjures up myriad images: maritime discovery pioneering the major sea routes; geophysical prospecting; Internet exploration; and the modern age of exploration to frontiers in space. As we turn the corner into the new millennium one of the greatest ages of exploration – that of biological exploration – is undergoing a grand renaissance. Millions of years of evolution of life on Earth have left almost unfathomable biological riches – species, processes, structures, patterns – to explore and uncover.

Richard Archbold, biological explorer, was driven to seek out new species and ecosystems, and to understand how the natural world works. When he founded his non-profit corporation Biological Explorations in 1936 (later renamed Archbold Expeditions) it was for the "purpose of exploring scientifically and making biological, ethnological, geological and geographical investigations ... ." The discoveries on the early expeditions to Madagascar and Papua New Guinea are mentioned in Roger Morse’s (2000) book "Richard Archbold and the Archbold Biological Station" (see dust jacket image, this page, and page 42). After his expedition era Richard Archbold then focused his enthusiasm on the establishment of Archbold Biological Station in Florida. For the remainder of his life he embraced the value of biological exploration at a local scale. He understood that a field station dedicated to the exploration of the natural history and ecology of one rare ecosystem, the Florida scrub and its surrounding environs, could make as revealing and as important a contribution to our understanding of biology as expeditions to remoter areas. At the modern Archbold Biological Station and the MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center we realize his vision of biological exploration everyday. Each time we step outside we launch out on voyages of discovery epitomized by Mark Deyrup’s wonderful drawings of scrub invertebrates on this Biennial’s color cover.

Biological explorers benefit from chance observations, unusual occurrences, or extreme conditions that reveal findings never seen before. In these biennial years, 1999 was among the wettest summers on record (10 inches above normal) and 2000 was the driest year ever recorded at the Station (see Climate Information, page 27), providing ample opportunities to observe responses to unusual conditions. Over the period of the 1999 floods, Smithsonian visiting investigators Beth Norden and Karl Krombein observed the fate of Perdita floridensis bees under extremely wet conditions. Remarkably these bees survived the winter underground in seasonal ponds that were flooded for months. The bees overwintered as mature larvae and then pupated and completed timely emergence as adults when the ponds dried out. In contrast, in the year 2000, the drought severely set back recruitment for almost all 21 endemic herbs and shrubs studied by the Plant Ecology Lab. Long-term data that include unusual years such as 1999 and 2000, allow us to better capture how episodic events can markedly affect population structure and viability.

The cumulative decades of biological exploration at Archbold also continue to guide regional conservation decisions. The Lake Wales Ridge, with its extraordinary listed species and natural communities extensively catalogued by Archbold biologists, remains at the top of the state’s priorities for acquisition. Slowly, slowly the parcels, mostly now the small lots remaining in large subdivisions, are coming under public ownership and management. Archbold’s (1999) curriculum, "Discovering Florida Scrub," (see Environmental Education, page 36) now posted on the Internet, allows teachers and pupils to join us and explore the excitement of new scrub discoveries along the Lake Wales Ridge.

Thanks to all – staff, Trustees, students, volunteers, visitors, collaborators, donors and funding agencies – who have contributed to biological exploration at this wonderful institution, and especially to Dave Johnston who faithfully served Archbold Biological Station for 22 years from 1977 to 1999 (see Appendix M). Archbold Biological Station represents all that can be achieved with great science and great generosity.

— Hilary M. Swain