Canopy Meg: a scientist's pioneering life in the treetops

In the 70s Meg Lowman was the first person to study trees while dangling in their canopy. It was her front row seat to climate changeIt was dark at the base of the Coachwood tree but sun began to flicker across Meg Lowman's face as she hoisted herself higher. It was 1978 and the 25-year-old borrowed some caving ropes to pull herself up into the canopy of the tree in the Royal national park in Sydney. When she reached 30 metres, she says, "mayhem broke loose around me".Hoisting herself took some doing and at first Lowman found herself "spinning in mid air on a half-inch-thick lifeline, like a tiny caterpillar ballooning on a silk strand through a huge expanse of green". Once she made it into the canopy, "all I could do is look around me in awe". Continue reading...