Margaret Lowman is a pioneer in canopy science, a subset of field biology, and the author of the best-selling Life in the Treetops. She also co-authored It is a Jungle Up There with her two sons. A professor at North Carolina State University and Director of the Nature Research Center in Raleigh, she is currently a Fulbright Senior Specialist Scholar to India.
Q Why is it so important to study life in the treetops?
A Forest canopies are the interface between atmosphere and earth — a critical place essential for life on earth. Also, canopies contain almost half of our land-based biodiversity — a huge genetic library of species — and are the source for many important services that provide life on earth: energy production from sunlight, hotspot for fruits and flowers, gas exchange, carbon storage, homes for millions of creatures, and climate control! We need to understand forests — especially, their canopies — because humans can not live without trees.
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