Sometimes ecologists don’t look like they’re working very hard. I had a day where the major accomplishment was collecting three leaves from the forest. But what if I told you that each leaf was thirty-four feet long? The scourge of our research project is the giant Attalea butyracea. We are measuring the average area of…

It was a sunny morning late last week, and I had just ducked under a branch to reach our next transect. Standing up straight, I had a sudden feeling that there was something very large hanging off the back of my shirt, and walking up towards my neck. So I called over a friend on…

The rhythm of the forest changes as dusk approaches. The hot exhaustion of the late afternoon dissipates, and the forest comes alive again, loudening with the calls of birds and monkeys. A few mammals like the tamandua (ant-eater) and ocelot may make a brief appearance, and many insects begin to seek refuge for the night.…

One of my images from last summer was just featured in the journal BMC Ecology, and was almost chosen for the cover . It is an honor to have a photograph recognized by a broad pool of judges. They noted, we have selected a dazzling scene from Colorado of a subalpine flower meadow (Figure 2). Composing…