It is important to have a crane in order to reach the rainforest canopy.

When you walk through a rainforest, you might feel like you’re missing out. From high up, you can hear the sounds of insects and birdsong. For decades, the rainforest canopy was called “the last biotic frontier,” due to the sheer difficulty of getting up there.

This all began to change just over 30 years ago. To allow scientists access, Smithsonian researchers installed an industrial crane in Panama’s rainforest. In the next ten years, ten more cranes were installed all over the globe.

Australia joined the fray in 1998 and built a canopy crane near Cape Tribulation in the Daintree rainforest. Our New researchThis article tells the story of how the canopy crane came to be installed and what research resulted from it.

While canopies can be difficult and time-consuming to reach, it is well worth the effort. The tree canopy is where the biosphere meets the atmosphere. As much as half of all biodiversity on Earth is found in tropical rainforests – and a large proportion of all these species are found in the canopy.

What’s it like riding a canopy crane?

The crane’s power source is offsite, so it is a quiet ride.

You step into a dangling gondola suspended from the crane’s rig. As you climb up, you notice how unevenly distributed the canopy. Some trees have higher crowns than others. Some trees are covered by vines or epiphyte air plant. Large insects and birds are common around flowers.

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The tower crane measures 45 metres high. But even if you’re not great with heights, you may well find yourself too distracted by the sights to be worried. The crane’s 55-metre jib can pivot to cover a larger area of forest than a soccer field. It also has more than 80 species of trees.

The canopy crane is so deep in World Heritage-listed rainforest that it is hard to imagine the enormous task of building a 70-tonne steel crane at the heart of the forest. The crane was being constructed when a heavy lift helicopter was available. This was a fortunate twist. Captured on film.

The crane was funded by Australia Research Council. It is a key component of a nationally unique research facility at the Daintree Rainforest Observatory. Here, students from both schools and universities can stay longer periods.

What knowledge has the crane uncovered?

This tireless workhorse has enabled more than 120 studies in a variety of fields, including entomology and plant phenology.

One important discovery has been the influence on ant communities by honeydew produced by bugs as well as nectar exuded from a plant’s glands other than flowers. Some ant species are skilled in extracting high-energy foods in order to be the dominant species of the canopy.

We have also learned that studies using cranes have shown that our assumptions about rainforest canopies being unusually rich in species may be incorrect. It has allowed us test The theoryTwo thirds of all insect species can be found in the canopy. In fact, intensive Beetles samplesIt was shown that both ground and canopy habitats are equally important in this large, diverse group.

What will reduced rainfall mean in the Daintree’s favor?

Australia’s canopy crane has given us a bird’s eye view of how rainforests cope with a drying climate and drought conditions, with a large scale experiment Below are the steps.

Our Daintree experiment includes two large areas of clear plastic roof panels that block almost all of the rain from reaching ground level.

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These areas are monitored by researchers. Plant productivity drops when there is less rain. To deal with reduced water availability, plants adapt the way their wood grows.

We see decreased rates of photosynthesis and higher levels in insect attack on leaves when saplings and shrubs are understorey. These saplings are more susceptible to wood-boring insects, while termites were more active in the drought experiment area.

Up on the crane, we’ve discovered that insects in the canopy may respond differently to drought stresses compared to those lower down in the forest.

We found more insects eating sap and fungi from drought-stressed trees lower in the understorey while little change was observed in the canopy insects. This suggests that insects higher up are more mobile than those in the canopy, and that drought is less severe for large trees.

More canopy cranes could be a boon for Australian research

We could use more cranes to answer important questions about how ecosystems will respond to climate change. Six cranes have proved vital to Western Sydney University’s large scale experiment on how Australian forests, animals and soils will fare at 550 parts per million of carbon dioxide (we’re currently at 400).

Canopy cranes will continue to be a popular choice for canopy cranes in the years ahead, even though drones are a new and exciting technology. That’s because drones cannot give humans direct access to the canopy.

As the Daintree crane ages, questions will arise over whether it’s worth replacing when the time comes. The fact that canopy and understorey plants respond to drought differently shows us that we cannot simply extrapolate the effects of drought at ground level to what occurs at height in the rainforest.

Canopy cranes provide us with vital access to whole forest ecosystems and allow us to conduct studies. Australia’s only tropical forest canopy crane has proven its worth.