Immersed in the clouds [ 7:51 | 6.76 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3)

There is a world within the canopy of a tropical cloud forest that not many people get to see. In this unique ecosystem – maintained by the exceptionally wet microclimate of cloud cover—orchids, moss, lichens and other epiphytes grow in every crease and pocket of the supporting tree branches. Here, hundreds of species of birds, [...]

Considering canopy cover in Ecuador [ 10:46 | 9.85 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3)

Loss of canopy cover in rainforests—compared to the other fragmented habitats in Manabi in southwest Ecuador—leads to a region-wide loss of diversity in species interactions, said researchers from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. As Jason Tilianakis and Etienne Laliberté reported in the June issue of Ecology, the food webs and interactions between parasitoids [...]

The Sacrificial Sibling Hypothesis [ 10:45 | 4.92 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The success of an animal or plant is determined by how many offspring it produces. But in some cases, not all offspring are created equal. In the February edition of Field Talk, Jaboury Ghazoul of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, describes how some species of trees invest resources in seeds that [...]