Critical Threshold

Dendra is a stable world, covered by a huge,
unchanging forest-except that nothing living can really be free of
change. The planet has no seasons, but its animal life still undergoes
life-cycles involving birth, maturation, metamorphosis, and death. The
Earth colony sent to tame the world has failed, at least in the terms
expected of it, and seems beyond redemption; but the crew of the
Daedalus still has to find out exactly why and how the program has gone
wrong. Provided, of course, that they can survive the investigation
itself!