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

Margaret D. Lowman

Yale University Press, 2000 - Biography & Autobiography - 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.

What people are saying

LIFE IN THE TREETOPS: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology

User Review  - Jane Doe - Kirkus

An exuberant celebration of biology in the wild, far from labs, classrooms, and offices. Lowman is a tropical botanist, but, she explains disarmingly, what she really does is climb trees. "I did not ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - tjsjohanna - LibraryThing

All about the science of studying the topes of forests, especially rain forests. Very readable as well. However, it raises the question - how do women reconcile family life and careers? What do truly driven people do? They are the ones that discover significant things about this world.

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
• The Worlds Greatest Lottery: 92
• Highways to Heaven: 110
• 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

About the author

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.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology; Yale Nota Bene S
• Author: Margaret D. Lowman
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Yale University Press, 2000
• ISBN: 0300084641, 9780300084641
• Length: 219 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology; Biography & Autobiography / Women; Science / Life Sciences / Biology; Social Science / General; Social Science / Women's Studies