Popular Science Magazine is doing an article on the 10 coolest college classes in the country. One of their selections was Canopy Ecology with CanopyMeg. Canopy ecology has been taught at New College (FL) for 7 years, but will be taught at North Carolina State University (NC) in the next few years. So, hopefully canopy students can take flight to all different types of forests in USA.
Photos of our demonstration — with students — in Myakka River State Park, FL are below.
Students in pictures include: Christine McCormick, Taylor Jamrok, Meghan McAvoy, Sun, Ling
Below is Molly Welsh’s account of her trip to the Amazon Rainforest with Dr. Lowman while conducting a herbivory study for her Independent Study Project at New College of Florida:
Amazon Rainforest Expedition: A Journal Molly Welsh, New College of Florida
I traveled to the Amazon Rainforest with Dr. Meg Lowman (www.canopymeg.com) near Iquitos, Peru from January 20-29, 2010 to conduct an herbivory study for my Independent Study Project at New College of Florida. The following is an account of my adventures, experiences, and thoughts concerning this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Dr. Lowman talks about her recent project involving the church forests of Ethiopia:
One of my most recent projects involved global conservation of African forests. During January, I traveled to Bahir Dar, Ethiopia,a center of the Coptic or Christian Orthodox churches in this proud country. Working with the one (and only!) forest conservationist in northern Ethiopia, I presented a workshop to the church clergy, explaining the value of the forests surrounding their churches. In Ethiopia, a church is not considered to be serving its mission unless it is surrounded by a forest. As a consequence, some forest patches are over 1500 years old (as are the churches…. some amazing architecture!). (When I think of our Florida churches, usually surrounded by cement parking lots, I am quite embarassed!) Ethiopia’s landscape is predominantly cleared for agriculture, and also deforested for fuel; so these church forests house their last remaining biodiversity. This includes pollinators (important for their crops), birds, animals, and trees many of which are already listed by the United Nations as endangered species. Even more important, springs of fresh water are often housed in these forest patches, providing the only clean water supply, thanks to the surrounding trees.
Together, my colleague and I asked for the blessing of the bishops for our conservation project. When I showed them photos of their church forests using Google Earth, they gasped. They had never seen Google Earth, much less a computer! They understood that NO OTHER forests existed within miles of their own sanctuary, and they could also see the rings of soil color changes, indicating rapid shrinking of their property due to encroaching agriculture. They fervently asked for our support, because maintaining these forests (not just the building itself) is part of the responsibility of the clergy.
One simple solution is barbed wire fences. For approximately $10,000 we can create perimeter delineation for at least 10 churches since labor is almost free. TREE Foundation generously funded this workshop for the bishops, and now we seek additional funding to help Ethiopia save its important biodiversity. Who knows if the cure for cancer exists in their unstudied vines or tree canopies! If anyone has any thoughts about philanthropy that supports religion and/or environmental issues, this project is a real win/win/win for the donors, the church, and the planet!
TREE Foundation is proud to announce a new project linking kids to nature for Southwest Florida. The TREE treehouse will be built at Crowley Nature Reserve (exit on Fruitville Road off Interstate 75) as soon as the fund-raising is completed. This “kids-dream-come-true” will feature natural materials, an eagle’s nest upper view spot, environmental educational hands-on activities inside and out, and construction amidst native Florida forest vegetation. TREE Foundation and Crowley Board of Directors are proud to co-sponsor the TREE treehouse, and encourage all local families, philanthropists, and businesses to become part of this special legacy to the next generation of Floridians. Our motto is “a treehouse for every child….” and if successful, this model may be replicated in other neighborhoods.
You can make a pledge and be part of this exciting project. Just click on the graphic above to view a printable PDF version of the pledge card. You can then fill it out and mail it, along with your check, to:
TREE Foundation
P.O. Box 48839
Sarasota, FL 34230-5839
or
donate online using PayPal:
As Meg Lowman explained in her Nature’s Secrets column, treehouses serve several important biological functions for children who are fortunate enough to experience them:
Treehouses exemplify biophilia, an important term coined by E.O. Wilson that reflects our innate human desire to connect with the natural world. In an evolutionary sense, humans descended from ancestors in the treetops. Anyone who pauses at the zoo to watch a monkey cavorting in the branches is amused, inspired and subtly reminded of something inside that tugs on our evolutionary memory banks.
Treehouses also bring kids into contact with the hotspots of the forest — flowers, new leaves, pollinators, birds, arboreal mammals and millions of beetles. The essence of energy from sunlight all converges in this region high above the forest floor.
Third, canopies undoubtedly produce the purest air on the planet, emanating fresh from greenery that transforms carbon dioxide into useful energy. Oxygen is just one of the byproducts of this important process of photosynthesis. Just as patients appreciate plants in hospitals, perhaps kids benefit from the clean, fresh atmosphere enveloping a treehouse.
Fourth, treehouses are safe sanctuaries in a world of chaos and technology, and elicit the creative energy of youth. (And don’t overlook the fact that they make cozy spots for sleep-overs with best friends!)
The data was collected from a single Eucalyptus tree in the early 80s by Margaret Lowman in conjunction with an Earthwatch expedition. The leaves were gathered from the top down with the aid of a cherry picker, bagged, weighed, and sorted. Since all of the leaves were removed at roughly the same period in the tree’s life this creates a snapshot of that tree’s foliage. Originally the data was used to determine the distribution of insect damage in its foliage, as well as the distribution of the that foliage over the whole of the tree. The current work we are doing with the data set, represented by the 3-D graph, is to determine how much of a tree’s canopy needs to be sampled in order to obtain an accurate picture of it’s health with the intent of harvesting only as much as is statistically needed. A recent analysis of the data shows that much of the insect damage is concentrated at the lowest heights of foliage and the areas close to the trunk. The damage shows a trend of becoming less severe out into the branches. From this graph, one can therefore determine that it would be an inaccurate sampling technique to gather only the most easily accessible leaves to represent that tree. They would have a higher probability of suffering from more damage as compared to the rest of the canopy. It is in our hopes that students can use this data set as a real world example to learn some of the principles of good sampling techniques and statistical analysis.
Lowman M.D., Burgess A.D., and Higgins W.D. 1987. The biomass of New England peppermint (Eucalyptus nova-anglica) in relation to insect damage associated with rural dieback. Australian Journal of Ecology (12): 361-371
New College of Florida students spent an afternoon tramping through the tall grass and undergrowth of Red Bug Slough Preserve on Wednesday, trying to figure out the best way to flush out monitor lizards and Burmese pythons.
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Public sightings of invasive reptiles have increased recently. Meg Lowman, director of environmental initiatives at the school, says the creatures are spreading into the northern half of the county after being seen for several years around Englewood and Venice.
