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Canopy Research
Canopy research is the field of scientific research based upon data collected in the canopy of trees. Objects * Description of plant and animal species residing in the tree-summits. Mainly ancient forests and tropical forests are studied. * Study of forest ecosystem dynamics, change drivers and other factors that shape forest systems. * Collection of meteorological data. Meteorological studies can help researchers measure the efficacy of forest canopies in offsetting global climate change. Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service have calibrated a model for forest canopies that measures and estimates the amount of carbon a forest canopy absorbs/releases due to photosynthesis/ respiration. The research found that the forest canopy shifted from a carbon “sink” (of net carbon absorption due to photosynthesis) to a carbon “source” (of net carbon respiration) following the defoliation of the canopy due to the gypsy moth. This research helps scientists determine the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientific Research
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and medieval world. The scientific method involves careful observation coupled with rigorous skepticism, because cognitive assumptions can distort the interpretation of the observation. Scientific inquiry includes creating a testable hypothesis through inductive reasoning, testing it through experiments and statistical analysis, and adjusting or discarding the hypothesis based on the results. Although procedures vary across fields, the underlying process is often similar. In more detail: the scientific method involves making conjectures (hypothetical explanations), predicting the logical consequences of hypothesis, then carrying out experiments or empirical observations based on those predictions. with added notes. Reprinted with previously unpublished part, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles, middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which their ancestors Genetic divergence, diverged in the Carboniferous Period over 300 million years ago. Around 6,640 Neontology#Extant taxon, extant species of mammals have been described and divided into 27 Order (biology), orders. The study of mammals is called mammalogy. The largest orders of mammals, by number of species, are the rodents, bats, and eulipotyphlans (including hedgehogs, Mole (animal), moles and shrews). The next three are the primates (including humans, monkeys and lemurs), the Artiodactyl, even-toed ungulates (including pigs, camels, and whales), and the Carnivora (including Felidae, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The White Diamond
''The White Diamond'' is a 2004 documentary film by Werner Herzog. It illustrates the history of aviation and depicts the struggles and triumphs of Graham Dorrington, an aeronautical engineer, who has designed and built a teardrop-shaped airship which he plans to fly over the forest canopies of Guyana. It features music composed by Ernst Reijseger, which was re-used in Herzog's 2005 film '' The Wild Blue Yonder''. Most of the film focuses on Dorrington's flights near Kaieteur Falls, in Guyana. Dorrington discusses the mechanics of his flight, as well as his own struggles with uncertainty and the "heaviness" he feels after the death of the cinematographer Dieter Plage. The film also explores the Kaieteur Falls themselves, a local man named Marc Anthony Yhap, a diamond miner, and the white-tipped swifts (''Aeronautes montivagus'') which roost in an inaccessible cave behind the falls. The film holds a score of 83 (based on 12 reviews) on the film review aggregator website Meta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humboldt State University
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt or Humboldt) is a public university in Arcata, California. It is one of Cal Poly (other), three polytechnic universities in the California State University (CSU) system and the northernmost campus in the system. The main campus, situated hillside at the edge of a Sequoia sempervirens, coast redwood forest, overlooks Arcata, much of Humboldt Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. The college town setting on the North Coast, California, California North Coast, north of Eureka, California, Eureka, north of San Francisco, California, San Francisco, and 654 miles (1053 km) north of Los Angeles, is notable for its natural beauty. It is the most westerly four-year university in the contiguous United States. Humboldt is a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI). The university is divided into three colleges: the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; the College of Natural Resources and Sciences; and the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen C
Stephen or Steven is an English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the first martyr (or " protomartyr") of the Christian Church. The name, in both the forms Stephen and Steven, is often shortened to Steve or Stevie. In English, the female version of the name is Stephanie. Many surnames are derived from the first name, including Stephens, Stevens, Stephenson, and Stevenson, all of which mean "Stephen's (son)". In modern times the name has sometimes been given with intentionally non-standard spelling, such as Stevan or Stevon. A common variant of the name used in English is Stephan ( ); related names that have found some currency or significance in English include Stefan (pronounced or in English), Esteban (often pronounced ), and the Shakespearean Stephano ( ). Origins The name "Stephen" ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nalini Nadkarni
Nalini Nadkarni (1954) is an American forest ecologist who pioneered the study of Costa Rican rain forest canopy (biology), canopies. Using mountaineering, mountain climbing equipment to make her ascent, Nadkarni first took an inventory of the canopy in 1981, followed by two more inventories in 1984. She is also known with a characteristic nickname, ''«the queen of the forest canopy»''. First years Nadkarni was born in Bethesda, Maryland in 1954, where she grew up. Her father was a Hindu and her mother was orthodox Jewish. Career Nadkarni's interest was first drawn to forest ecology, rain forest ecology due to the contradiction offered by its plant life. There was a great abundance and variety of plant life within the rain forest despite its nutrient poor soil, and her goal was to discover how the plant life was sustained. Her studies within the canopy revealed that the epiphytes, which are non-parasitic plants such as orchids and ferns that live on the branches and trunks of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leaf Area Index
Leaf area index (LAI) is a dimensionless quantity that characterizes plant Canopy (forest), canopies. It is defined as the one-sided green leaf area per unit ground surface area (''LAI = leaf area / ground area, m2 / m2'') in Broad-leaved tree, broadleaf Canopy (forest), canopies. In conifers, three definitions for LAI have been used: *Half of the total needle surface area per unit ground surface area *Projected (or one-sided, in accordance the definition for broadleaf canopies) needle area per unit ground area *Total needle surface area per unit ground area The definition “half the total leaf area” pertains to biological processes, such as gas exchange, whereas the definition “projected leaf area” was disregarded because the projection of a given area in one direction may differ in another direction when leaves are not flat, thick, or 3D-shaped. Moreover, “ground surface area” is specifically defined as “horizontal ground surface area” to clarify LAI on a sloping ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canopy (biology)
In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community, plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual Crown (botany), plant crowns. In forest ecology, the canopy is the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms (epiphytes, lianas, Arboreal, arboreal animals, etc.). The communities that inhabit the canopy layer are thought to be involved in maintaining forest diversity, Ecological resilience, resilience, and functioning. Shade trees normally have a dense canopy that blocks light from lower growing plants. Early observations of canopies were made from the ground using binoculars or by examining fallen material. Researchers would sometimes erroneously rely on extrapolation by using more reachable samples taken from the understory. In some cases, they would use unconventional methods such as chairs suspended on vines or hot-air dirigibles, among others. Modern technology, including adapted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree House
A tree house, tree fort or treeshed, is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a hangout space and observation. People occasionally connect ladders or staircases to get up to the platforms. History Prehistoric hypotheses All great apes build tree platforms or nests as shelter from dangers on the ground, and the habit may have been inherited by humans. While no evidence of prehistoric human-made tree houses has been found, wooden structures would not have survived over time. In contrast, evidence of cave dwellings, rock shelters, and bonfires is detectable, but is notably scarce from before 40,000 years ago. This has led to the speculative hypothesis that archaic humans may have lived in trees until then. The skeletal changes due to the evolution of human bipedalism started at least four million years ago, but earl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airship
An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air to achieve the lift (physics), lift needed to stay airborne. In early dirigibles, the lifting gas used was hydrogen gas, hydrogen, due to its high lifting capacity and ready availability, but the inherent flammability led to several fatal accidents that rendered hydrogen airships obsolete. The alternative lifting gas, helium gas is not flammable, but is rare and relatively expensive. Significant amounts were first discovered in the United States and for a while helium was only available for airship usage in North America. Most airships built since the 1960s have used helium, though some have used thermal airship, hot air. The envelope of an airship may form the gasbag, or it may contain a number of gas-filled cells. An air ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crane (machine)
A crane is a machine used to move materials both vertically and horizontally, utilizing a system of a boom, hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves for lifting and relocating heavy objects within the swing of its boom. The device uses one or more simple machines, such as the lever and pulley, to create mechanical advantage to do its work. Cranes are commonly employed in transportation for the loading and unloading of freight, in construction for the movement of materials, and in manufacturing for the assembling of heavy equipment. The first known crane machine was the shaduf, a water-lifting device that was invented in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and then appeared in ancient Egyptian technology. Construction cranes later appeared in ancient Greece, where they were powered by men or animals (such as donkeys), and used for the construction of buildings. Larger cranes were later developed in the Roman Empire, employing the use of human treadwheels, permitting the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canopy Walkway
Canopy walkways – also called canopy walks, treetop walks or treetop walkways – provide pedestrian access to a forest canopy. Early walkways consisted of bridges between trees in the canopy of a forest; mostly linked up with platforms inside or around the trees. They were originally intended as access to the upper regions of ancient forests for scientists conducting canopy research. Eventually, because they provided only limited, one-dimensional access to the trees, they were abandoned for canopy cranes. Today they serve as ecotourism attractions in places such as Dhlinza Forest, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia, Sedim River, Kulim, Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda and Kakum National Park, Ghana. Australia Canopy or treetop walkways are especially popular attractions in Australia. They can be found in most states and a variety of environments. Tasmania The Tahune AirWalk is located in state forest near Geeveston in southern Tasmania. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
