Canopy science

When was the last time you climbed a tree?  I expect the last time for most of us was as children - climbing the biggest tree in our garden or in the local park.  So when I heard that some students from Plymouth University would be climbing up into the oak canopy at Yarner Wood to study the diversity of life there, I had to find out more.

I was intrigued to hear that students also use a hemispherical camera to take photos looking up into the canopy.  The photos are analysed in the lab to measure the light coming through the canopy at different heights in the tree.  The results are beautiful in themselves... Students use photos from a hemispherical camera to measure the light coming through the tree canopy. The finger is pointing north!It was fascinating to see the exciting and ingenious methods the students were using to study the rare Western oak woodland here in Yarner Wood.  After all the fun of tree climbing, inevitably there will be the challenging task of identifying, analysing and drawing conclusions from all the data they have collected.  Many hours in the lab and the library!  We hope to share some of their results on the blog...Words and pictures by Kate Smith, The Woodland TrustWith thanks to Plymouth University's Biological Science and Environmental Science courses for sharing this work and for the use of the hemispherical photo