Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology

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Yale University Press, Jan 1, 2000 - Science - 219 pages
Forest canopies have been characterized as one of the last biotic frontiers on Earth: tree crowns have been difficult to study scientifically because access to them has been so challenging. During the past two decades, however, methods for canopy access have greatly improved. In this book a pioneer canopy scientist describes the mysteries of the treetops--their inhabitants, flowers and fruits, growth and mortality, patterns of diversity, and plant and animal interactions. Margaret Lowman writes about different canopy access techniques in conjunction with the scientific hypotheses she was addressing while using each one. She also portrays the life of a field biologist from a woman's perspective: what it was like to juggle a demanding career with marriage, housewifery, motherhood, and single parenthood.
The chapters are organized chronologically, starting with Lowman's early days with ropes in Australia and progressing to the use of a cherry picker to access the canopies of eucalypt trees while she was pregnant, research by hot-air balloon in Africa, and building treetop walkways in the temperate forests of Massachusetts and in the tropical rain forests of Belize. The book also includes a lovely array of line drawings and halftones.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Foreword
ix
Timeline
xii
Preface
xv
Introduction
1
The RainForest Canopies of Australia
8
Life in the Outback
36
Canopies near the Ground
62
Research and Motherhood
80
On the Rooftop of the World
129
Construction Cranes in the Canopy
156
Our Treehouse in Belize
172
Canopy Research from the Bottom Up
193
Out on a Limb
203
Appendix
209
Glossary
211
Index
215

The Worlds Greatest Lottery
92
Highways to Heaven
110

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About the author (2000)

Margaret D. Lowman is director of research and conservation at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, where she also holds the Jessie B. Cox Chair in Tropical Botany. Robert Ballard is discoverer of the Titanic and director of The Jason Project.

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