Audio Transcript:
As in most fields, it doesn't hurt for scientists to be extremely intelligent. But some need the skills of extreme athletes, too!
Imagine That!
In the rainforest canopy of Puerto Rico's Luquillo Forest, birds, frogs, and ecologists sway amid the leaves and pleasant breezes. Well, one ecologist anyway -- Nancy Harris of the State University of New York at Syracuse. She believes the best way to research the rainforest canopy is by climbing right up into the difficult-to-reach location. Cheaper and more feasible than building towers or setting up cranes in the remote sites, it takes only about an hour to prepare a tree for climbing.
Luquillo is one of twenty-six Long-Term Ecological Research sites where the impact of various factors on the environment and wildlife are studied. Harris measures photosynthesis and respiration rates in the canopy and lower leaves of many tree species. By combining these measurements with climate modeling techniques, she's able to determine how carbon cycles through the Luquillo Forest, and how this region affects, and is affected by, local and global climate changes.
The canopy is important to rainforests for regulating plant growth conditions and providing crucial protection from wind. Because it's so high, it's also the part of the forest that's most vulnerable to hurricanes, the impacts of which are studied at Luquillo as well. In this rainforest, scientists are leaving no leaf unturned. I'm Eric Phillips.
"Imagine That!" covers projects funded by the U.S. government's National Science Foundation. Federally-sponsored research -- brought to you by you! Learn more at www.nsf.gov.
