Canopy science: exploring giant trees with Dr Robin Hayward
Welcome to Canopy Science, our mini-series on adventure and science in the rainforest canopy. We focus on scientists in the rainforest working in the tropics in areas of exceptionally high biodiversity. In these hotspots, localised levels of endemism can limit species to a single 10km area and no-where else in the world. Scientific research up in the forest canopy involves extra challenges as one of the most complex zones to access. With the nature of these challenges meaning there is so much still to discover, this is why canopy science legend Nalini Nadkarni describes it as "the last biotic frontier." Using innovative research, scientists reveal new discoveries within the canopy which we will explore over this series.
'“The last biotic frontier” - Nalini Nadkarni
Exploring giant trees with Dr Robin Hayward
Today we meet the fabulous Dr Robin Hayward, scaler of giant trees. As a tree scientist well known for communicating cool science, Dr Robin Hayward uses fab facts, physics demonstrations and great demos right in the home of science itself, the Royal Institution! Previously working in the tropical forests of Indonesia and Malaysia, Robin is now Communication and Engagement Officer for the Leeds Ecosystem, Atmosphere, and Forest group at the University of Leeds.
Working as technical safety crew on Dr Hayward’s innovative show, Climbing For Science at London’s Royal Institution involved facilitating a live tree climbing demo 8m up in the famous Faraday lecture theatre. I’ve always wanted to find out more about their time in the vast jungles of East Asia so we took time out for a deeper dive into their experiences as a canopy scientist.
Our conversation explored the mysteries of giant trees and the unique discoveries found among their heights. We also discussed the importance of canopy science, particularly in the context of today’s urgent climate crisis, Robin’s experience surviving storms in trees and presenting at the RI, and we finish discussing ways for others to get involved. Thanks to them for the gorgeous images and we hope you enjoy!
Interview with Dr Robin Hayward, Communication and Engagement Officer for the Leeds Ecosystem, Atmosphere, and Forest group at the University of Leeds.
TC: Hi Robin and welcome to this chat about your adventures in tall trees. It has been over ten years since we began our scientific journey during a specialist tree climbing course with Canopy Access. Those early days in the towering pines of Oxford Botanic Gardens laid the foundation for many diverse and adventurous excursions into the treetops, as we will discover. Let’s just start by asking what does it mean to you to present here at the RI?
RH: It is such an honour to present at the RI. It’s such a historic venue! I’m immensely privileged that this was not my first show at the RI.
Last year I performed a show here that was all about the woodland creation work we are doing in the north of England and which included lots of exciting demonstrations about how trees have evolved to spread themselves naturally around the world. It was very exciting and even included an explosion but getting to climb above the stage this time, to demonstrate canopy science techniques, was totally next level!
This is the same stage where the existence of sodium and electrons were first announced. Since the 1800s, the biggest names in scientific history, like Faraday and Darwin, have gathered in this room and I got to hang from the ceiling of it!
‘Climbing the canopy’ show at the RI
TC: Can you tell us about your journey into the trees and what you do now as Communication and Engagement Officer for the Leeds Ecosystem, Atmosphere? And what is the Forest group at the University of Leeds?
RH: Put simply, the Leeds Ecosystem, Atmosphere, and Forest centre are the folks at the University who study trees in any discipline. The first letters of each word spell out ‘LEAF’ because we love a good acronym! I came to the group via a lifelong interest in my local trees; a master’s degree in Environmental Science – climbing trees in Sulawesi, Indonesia; and a PhD in Ecology – working with the rainforest in Malaysian Borneo.
My role these days is working to blend all that tree experience with my skills as a designer and communicator to get people excited about the world of trees and the cutting edge research done in LEAF.
TC: Now, for those who are maybe not so familiar with the scale of the adventures involved, can I ask how do scientists climb some of the tallest trees?
RH: Hi Tim and thanks. Well, I have to say carefully! It sounds like a bit of a joke answer but it’s true, and it’s not just about all the equipment and training that goes into making sure we can climb safely. It’s also really important that we are careful to look after the trees themselves.
So, what we actually do is we climb on ropes, not on the surface of the tree. This means we disturb the plants and animals living there as little as possible, reduce the risk of damaging the tree’s bark or branches, and keep ourselves safe by being physically tied onto something instead of just clambering up. And of course we can use lots of extra kit to help us climb the rope safely and efficiently.
“I’ve had lizards glide over to me while climbing, huge birds circle my tree, and even shared shelter on a branch with a bear cuscus during a rain shower in Indonesia. Probably the most amazing experience I’ve had though is feeling the movement of the trees themselves.”
TC: That’s great, thanks. Where arethese giant trees?
RH: The tallest trees in the world are the coastal redwoods in North America. They can be up to 116 metres tall. Although I’ve yet to have a chance to visit them yet, the trees I work with are in fact some of the tallest in the tropics.
During my PhD on on a field site in Malaysia in 2018, my colleagues there discovered the new record holder for ‘the tallest tropical tree’. The tree a yellow Meranti, Richetia faguetiana, and measured a whopping 101 metres tall. Of course, it may be even taller now!
TC: That is amazing. I remember climbed together with you in a ‘little’ redwood at the Oxford Botanic Gardens that seemed tall, until I climbed in the coastal redwoods in California in an 800 year old tree, 80m tall. It really is something to be up at that height. What heights have you scaled?
RH: I think the tallest tree I’ve climbed personally was just over 60 metres tall and it felt like an absolute giant. That’s almost ten times the height of a two storey house! I can’t remember exactly which species it was but definitely a Dipterocarp (the most common tree family across South East Asia).
It’s not just about the height of the tree though. A lot of the taller trees are down in valleys so the view from the top is less impressive than a 40 m tree on the very top of a hill. Getting that moment when you emerge at the top of the canopy and are taller than absolutely everything else around you is absolutely breathtaking!
TC: Thinking about all your adventures into the canopy, what was your most amazing experience up in a giant tree?
RH: There are so many to choose from. Most of my favourites are with wildlife. Animals tend to be curious and less concerned about humans when they find you in unexpected places.
I’ve had lizards glide over to me while climbing, huge birds circle my tree, and even shared shelter on a branch with a bear cuscus during a rain shower in Indonesia. Probably the most amazing experience I’ve had though is feeling the movement of the trees themselves.
Robin’s friendly bear cuscus
Jungle epiphyte
TC: Can you tell me more about that, you mean when the tree is saying like in a storm?
RH: Absolutely! If you’ve ever looked outside on a windy day, you’ve probably seen trees swaying. They’re super flexible! It’s an adaptation that keeps them safe from damage so that they can bend instead of breaking. When you climb a tree, you can feel that flexibility all the time. A
t first, you’re mostly climbing on ropes which have their own stretchiness so most of the movement you feel is from them but, once you get close to the branches and start to manoeuvre through the canopy, you can really feel the flex in the wood around you.
Over time, you start to build up an understanding of how different tree species bend and at what point they’re most vulnerable to breaking. Normally though, the amount of force my body puts on a tree is absolutely tiny compared to the bending that happens during a big storm.
I’ve only climbed a couple of times in properly high winds and each time I’ve come down to the forest floor as soon as it started to feel unsafe. The scariest was up some 15 metre Scots Pines in Yorkshire. They were absolutely whipping about and I wasn’t convinced they would survive the storm unscathed so I got out of there pretty quickly!
“I was resting onto a good thick bough and I enjoyed that feeling of motion and swaying waves that comes with climbing a living thing... a really special connection to the forest.”
Up in a huge, 50 metre Dipterocarp in Indonesia, the feeling was totally different. The whole tree around me was swaying more than a metre from side to side in a high wind but I had no doubt that the tree would be totally fine and, in any case, I was nestled several metres from the nearest edge of my tree’s crown (the name for the canopy of a single tree). I just made sure my ropes were safe and I was resting onto a good thick bough and I enjoyed that feeling of motion and swaying waves that comes with climbing a living thing. It felt like a really special connection to the forest.
TC: Jungles can be challenging places and the tree canopy especially so. Have you ever had a scary encounters up there?
RH: Surprisingly few! A lot of work goes in to making sure that the tree is as safe as possible before we actually climb it, so we can keep unexpected problems to a minimum. We also make sure to be careful during the climb and have our equipment set up so we can come down again pretty quickly if we have to.
I think the scariest moments have actually been down to tiredness and dehydration, making mistakes more likely, than because of any wildlife. I was pretty much entirely covered with ants one time though and, because I’d needed to climb up through some thorny plants to reach the top, it was a bit of a struggle to get down again quickly. I’m glad I remembered to tuck in my socks and shirt to keep the ants outside my clothes!
Distant hornbills in the rainforest
TC: Sounds like a wise idea! As well as finding ants up there, what else do people study up in the canopy?
RH: Lots of things. The canopy is one of the least understood places on Earth because people so rarely look up and it can be quite hard to see what’s going on without specialist knowledge and tools to get us closer. This means that when scientists enter the canopy now, everything is exciting to learn more about!
My own area of interest is epiphytes, which are plants that live right at the top of trees. I’m interested in the ways that they can be affected by disturbances down on the forest floor. Other scientists study lots of different things there, from canopy wildlife to the chemistry of how trees affect the atmosphere.
TC: Can you tell us some of the amazing adaptations that the natural world has developed to create vibrant ecosystems so far from the forest floor?
RH: There are loads of really cool adaptations in nature and, just like the rope and harness technology that scientists use to climb around, it’s all about using as little energy as possible while remaining safe.
That means climbing efficiently, or maybe not even climbing at all. Lots of animals jump or glide between the trees to save themselves the effort of climbing all the way down and then all the way back up again when they want to change trees. They can do this using specialised flaps of skin that act a bit like wings to help them glide but the really cool adaptations are about how they land. Imagine you’re speeding towards a branch, fifty metres above the ground. You definitely don’t want to mess up that landing!
So animals have evolved quick and accurate special skills, as well as a strong grip reflex to catch themselves, in order to make sure they land safely. One of my favourite canopy adaptations is from a frog that lives its entire life up in the canopy and, when it needs to move, it can carry its tadpoles like a little backpack!
Tropical forests are sites of high biodiversity
TC: We’ve heard about how special it is up there. Can you tell us about your daily journey into the trees of Indonesia?
RH: I’ve worked in a few different forests across Europe, the Caribbean, and South East Asia, but the ones where I got to climb the trees most were in Indonesia. Each day, we would hike out to a new tree from our sampling strategy and set up ropes to climb it. It was important that we sampled from a range of sizes so sometimes the trees were absolutely huge but other times they were only just big enough to safely support our weight!
After checking the trees for safety hazards like dead wood and wild animals, we used a huge slingshot to catapult string liness up into the trees, which we could then use to fix our climbing ropes into place. Then, once all our equipment was sorted, we could slowly climb up into the amazing world of the canopy. It is always so beautiful to explore a new tree and to see the rainforest open up below you as the view begins to reveal itself.
In the trees, that’s where most of the science happens. Sometimes taking hours in the biggest trees, we would climb around every branch, searching for epiphytes to identify, photograph, and measure for data collection. We found some really cool stuff!
Each day, we managed to climb anywhere between one and four trees before returning back to camp, where I would process any specimens or photos we had needed to take to identify non-obvious species, and also to type up our data so that it wouldn’t be vulnerable as a single paper copy. This also meant that analysis could start right away. We’d also make sure to take our lunch up into the trees to enjoy with the view. It’s really important to keep your energy up when doing something as active as climbing!
Jungle as far as the eye can see
Dr Robin Hayward at the foot of a giant tree
TC: Sounds like hard work for sure. What new things to science have you discovered up there?
RH: This is a really tricky question because I have almost certainly seen things that have yet to be described by science but to ‘discover’ them officially means that I would have to actually recognise them as new and collect lots of data to convince other scientists that I had found a new thing.
My research focus has typically been much more about discovering or confirming connections between known species or activities. For example, climbing the rainforest in Indonesia, I discovered a connection between degradation of rainforest environments on the ground level and the biodiversity of plant species living at the tops of the trees, even though none of the same physical processes (like collecting firewood or vines) were happening up there.
TC: Was that a surprising result then and does it have some positive conservation implications?
RH: It was actually pretty much exactly what we would expect to see, although the mechanisms behind it are not always clear. Where my research was a real step forward was that the connection had never been shown previously in Asia. Because East Asian and American rainforests are actually quite different ecosystems, with different species, weather, and human contexts, it was really important to confirm that understanding in Indonesia to ensure that conservation activities were doing the right things.
TC: How do you see the importance of your canopy science work in the light of today’s current climate crisis?
RH: I think it’s vital that we continue to explore the canopy. It’s an environment we don’t really see much of without actively going out to explore it so we need constant research efforts to understand how it’s changing and how we can protect it from the pressures of climate change and forest degradation. Forest canopies influence both local and global climates, as well as being the homes of diverse and abundant wildlife. The more we can understand about them, the more we can understand about our world as a whole.
Rainforest vista
TC: How important is making the inspiring world of trees accessible to all?
RH: Incredibly! Because we see trees every day and most people don’t directly interact with them, it can be really easy for us to forget about them and let them fade into the background. This is especially true for those of us facing additional pressures, who feel uncomfortable in green spaces, or who might physically struggle to access green spaces due to uneven surfaces etc.
Sharing the cool science of trees as accessibly as possible brings them back to the front of everyone’s minds and helps us to remember the importance of these giant living organisms and how we might be able to conserve them and all the benefits they bring. I also just love sharing amazing facts with people!
TC: With that in mind, and in case people have been inspired by your demonstrations of climbing ropes hear in the heart of the RI, how can people get into canopy science and up into the trees?
RH: There are lots of ways to get involved in canopy science without ever leaving the ground. The easiest is to buy yourself a pair of binoculars and see what you can spot up in the canopy. If you’re in an area where it’s safe to do so, you may also be able to fly a small drone up to explore the canopy from above.
If you want to see what it’s like getting up into the treetops though then it’s important not to do it alone. You can climb small trees carefully without equipment a lot of the time but even small falls can be very dangerous so make sure to bring someone with you and don’t climb things you’re not 100% confident with.
To climb the big trees and get a taste of the true canopy, I’d recommend working with professionals. There are lots of taster experiences and high ropes courses around the UK, which can be a good way of seeing if it’s for you.
If you want to take it further, you can also sign up for a course in canopy access to learn the ropes of professional tree climbing. If accessibility is a concern, canopy science is increasingly open to all through canopy walkways and research cranes that can enable incredible science without the need to physically climb the trees. There are so many ways to get involved!
TC: What pathways can you recommend for young inspiring students if they want to get involved in canopy science?
RH: The canopy is an environment just like any other, with lots of scientific opportunities to study, from chemistry to ecology, so follow whatever subject pathway inspires you most! The main thing is to think about how it can be applied to the world of the canopy.
If you want to climb up into the canopy yourself, instead of using remote sensing with satellites and drones, consider booking onto a professional tree-climbing course.
Sunrise over the rainforest
