Check out our Local Canopy Ecology Interns

The Center for Canopy Ecology is focused on canopy biodiversity and processes in plant communities and includes up-to-date access methods, research protocols, conferences and symposia, publications, curriculum development, and public education. The center’s motto is "Discovery and Opportunity in the Treetops" or "Inventio opportunitasque in summis arborum." 

Scientists have called the upper strata of temperate and tropical forests the high frontier, the roof of the world, and the eighth continent. Field-researchers have long craned their heads skyward and wondered about the vast mass of photosynthetically active foliage and biomass that make up the tree crowns. Treetop research has exploded in the last decade with the establishment of hundreds of field-sites and the development of canopy walkways, platforms, towers, cranes, rope systems, and airships that grant relatively easy access to researchers, educators, and students.

Although scientists are just beginning to comprehend the amazing complexity and richness of forest canopies, it is clear that forest canopies harbor the greatest biodiversity of any habitat in the world. In a sense, forests are great stands of lollipops with sugars and flavors high off the ground. Thus, most of the organisms that are dependent upon those nutrients are also high off the ground. All this leads us to a simple question: How can canopy research be used in the face of monumental ecological troubles facing our planet such as species declines, human overpopulation, and habitat fragmentation?

Canopy research is crucial for conservation. It is also crucial for the education of students young and old. Students are interested in treetop studies because important contributions can be made more easily than in already-established scientific fields, and the process of reaching the canopy is so exciting! The forest canopy is an ideal laboratory for collaboration among scientists, educators, and students desperate to make a difference. In short, canopy research - married to science education - provides an invaluable opportunity to further awareness of ecological issues and supports successful conservation efforts.

Center for Canopy Ecology News

The Center for Canopy Ecology is happy to announce re-location to the campus of New College of Florida. Watch for details -- office will be housed in the Keating Center for the New College Foundation.

TREE Foundation welcomes Colleen Mitchell as the Research Consultant for the Center for Canopy Ecology. Colleen received her Master in Science degree from Jacksonville State University and she enjoys educating people about Water Bears (Tardigrades).

Her immediate goals include:

• Walkways of the World
• Myakka River State Park Tardigrade Survey
• Canopy Training in Florida
• Canopy Newsletter

Instructions for Lowman's Leaf Lovers Club - How to measure quick-and-dirty herbivory levels