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(Image credit: Flickr member Jorge Orte Tudela)
by Martin Melchior
Stream Ecologist
Lake Mills, Wisconsin, USA
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Many have treated this as a philosophical question, with little to show for their efforts. I, on the other hand, see it as a practical question that can be answered by careful observation and measurement. With the help of an assistant and several sub-assistants, I have answered the question.
The research was conducted in the Chequamegon and Nicolet National Forests, in the state of Wisconsin.
My results show two things. First, that if a tree does fall in the forest, and no one hears it, it does indeed make a sound. Second, that while out-of-state recreationalists mispronounce the name “Chequamegon” in 75% of cases, Wisconsin residents mispronounce the word in only 62% of cases. I also learned the scores of some hockey games. Here are the details.
Large Woody Debris
Large woody debris (LWD) plays an important role in stream habitat, for fish, macroinvertebrates and other forest dwellers. A fairly thorough search of the scientific literature turned up no existing data concerning the sound of falling LWD in forests.
Gathering the Sounds
I used directional microphones, professional electronic audio recording equipment, personal observation, and some very inexpensive young assistants, to monitor the accumulation of large woody debris in old-growth forests of northern Wisconsin from June 1999 through July 2001.
I hired an impoverished undergraduate student to collect nearly 20,000 hours of audio/video tape in scenic areas in the Chequamegon and Nicolet National Forests. Video footage was collected with a Hitachi Z900 video camera and audio data was collected using a Shure SM58 microphone and three Shure DM 25 directional microphones with parabolic collector dishes. Recordings were made on a Tascam 850 8-track digital recorder and Yamaha 16-channel mixing board.
I made this impoverished undergraduate watch all of the tapes and make a record of every instance in which large woody debris fell to the forest floor.
(Image credit: Flickr member Gavin Golden)
One tree + four mirrors = an entire forest! Step into a small booth and experience an infinite number of trees. This installation by DUS Architects was shown to folks in Oosterdokskade, Amsterdam last month. Link -via Metafilter
(Image credits: Pieter Kers)
The Dancing Forest is an unusual natural wonder in the Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Its trees have grown into twisted shapes, as though they were dancing. More images at English Russia.
Link | Photo: Vaplakal.com
canopy rafts are extraordinary things. they’re basically enormous nets attached to an inflatable frame and are dropped onto trees from airships, resulting in a viewing platform like no other which can also be used as a base from which to hang using climbing gear. the raft above is the solvin bretzel, a new design by gilles ebersolt which due to its pretzel-inspired shape is both safer to use and more effective than older versions. researchers can spend days at a time on the raft (hence the tent) and due to its extremely light weight the trees are left unharmed.
deputy dog shows us several other ways scientists can get to the tops of forests to study the ecosystems that sustain the majority of our planet’s species. Link
(image credit: Pyot Laurent/Ocean Vert)
