Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology (Nota Bene) [Paperback]

Margaret D. Lowman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300084641 | ISBN-13: 978-0300084641 | Publication Date: August 11, 2000

A pioneering tree canopy scientist for more than twenty years, Margaret D. Lowman here describes her challenges as a working wife, single parent, and field biologist studying forest treetops around the world.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Life in the Treetops reflects many of the difficulties faced by women scientists in all fields. Margaret Lowman, a field biologist specializing in forest-canopy research, shows how dealing with the emotional challenges is as tough as or tougher than dangling from a precarious perch counting beetles or facing down a deadly sea snake. This chronicle of her adventures (and misadventures) among the treetops encourages readers to understand both the science and the scientist. One can't help but sympathize with Lowman as she struggles to be a good researcher and a traditional rural housewife at the same time, and fails. Luckily, her kids and parents always remain supportive, taking care of the house during her long absences and accompanying her to faraway research stations when possible. Lowman studies small things--leaves and insects, mostly--and getting to them can be tricky. She chronicles the history of forest-canopy research techniques (which have grown apace with her career), starting with simple climbing gear and ending with treetop walkways and giant construction cranes. Life in the Treetops is an engaging look at one woman's struggle to find balance, whether she's high up in a tree or on the ground with her fellow humans. --Therese Littleton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The director of research and conservation at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Fla., offers a rare tour of the treetops in this lively and engaging memoir. From her first climb up a coachwood tree in Australia, using a slingshot rappel and a harness hand-sewn with seat-belt webbing, Lowman knew she wanted to devote her career to studying the mysteries of forest canopies, "one of the last biotic frontiers on Earth." In straightforward prose, she writes about a variety of canopy access techniques and the scientific hypotheses she explored while using each one. She details, for instance, using a single rope to climb giant stinging trees as a graduate student in Australia; squeezing into a cherry picker while pregnant to study that continent's failing eucalyptus trees; battling temperatures of over 100 degrees while suspended from a hot air balloon above the African tropics; and broadcasting, from a swaying canopy bridge in the Belizian rain forest, live via satellite to students thousands of miles away. Often the only woman on her jungle excursions, Lowman confronted challenges on the ground as well, such as the attentive group of African Pygmies who followed her each time she headed for the shower stalls. More serious was the pressure to abandon her fieldwork after she settled down with a grazier in the Australian outback, and the cultural differences that eventually led her to return to the U.S. with her two young sons. Readers will empathize with Lowman's struggles to balance family and career, but it is her fascinating research and amusing adventures in the jungle that will keep them turning pages. 30 illustrations.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (August 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300084641
• ISBN-13: 978-0300084641
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecosystems > Tropical
  • #22 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Rain Forests

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm Sorry, I've Made Other Plans, July 31, 2000

By 

Robert Derenthal "bucherwurm" (California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology (Hardcover)

That's what I intend to tell Margaret Lowman if she phones me wanting to know if I'd like to go on a field trip with her. This amazing woman botanist hauls herself up by rope or other devices into the 150-foot high canopies of forest trees to study herbivory (process by which animals consume plant leaves). She spends weeks in tropical forests in Cameroon, Peru, Belize, Australia, and Panama patiently counting leaves, and insect damage to them. She works in 100-degree humid heat, covered with mud, bitten by botflies, and chewed on by chiggers. How does she describe these arduous adventures? Well, try words like exciting and exhilarating. All this should come as quite a shock to folks who imagine botanists work in nice little greenhouses developing a new breed of chartreuse rose. It is indeed amazing and difficult work, and we are fortunate to have people eager to do it.

Normally I don't care for little biographies of this type because they are usually heavy on the personal life, and light on the science. Life In The Treetops presents a pleasant blend of the two. After receiving her Ph.D. in Sydney the author married a farmer and lived in the Australian outback. Women aren't expected to have careers there, and her story of that part of her life is fascinating.

You will also learn interesting informational morsels from the world of botany. Fig trees start life as an epiphyte, their seeds germinating high in the crown of a tree. They then send tendrils down the tree, and these become roots when they touch the ground. The tree essentially grows backwards. Touch a certain Australian tree, and it stings you with venom equal to a bee sting. Some ants bring a variety of seeds to the top of the tree, and let them germinate there to form an ant garden. Ants farming? Some trees in the dark forest grow to a five inch height, and then wait for as long as 35 years for a sunny opening to develop in the canopy. Then they shoot up.

Typical of most science books I read these days, this volume ends on a sad note regarding humans and the environment. Ms. Lowman wants more studies done as quickly as possible. Why? She's afraid the forests will soon be gone. An excellent book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely wonderful book., September 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology (Nota Bene) (Paperback)

Life in the Treetops is an absolutely wonderful book. Please take a look at the customer and press reviews for the hardcover edition of this book. They are far more eloquent reviewers that am I. This book was on the cover of the New York Times Book Review. It was an Editors Selection in Scientific American and in New Scientist(UK. Because of the book, Dr. Lowman has been featured in German GEO, in Sydney Morning Herald, in Italian Elle and in Seoul Korea's daily, all in their own languages. She has been interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air Living on Earth and the BBC. You are wondering if all of this is important? It is when the book is a memoir. I found Dr. Lowman to be a role model for me and for my child. Please read it. It will be important to you.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Combining motherhood and a scientific career: a page-turner., July 1, 1999

By 

Dr. Frank M. Sturtevant - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology (Hardcover)

Dr. Lowman traces her origins from the Australian outback, raising two boys, to the pursuit of a scientific career as a world-renowned biologist specializing in the plants and insects of the rain-forest canopy. A highly personalized recounting of the travails and joys of being a female scientist and mother. A can't put-down book