Alice Grows up: Canopy Science in Transition from Wonderland to Reality

This paper gives, for the first time, a complete history of rain forest canopy access, from the early years to the present day. This review is primarily from the European perspective, and explores the development of canopy access techniques, from 'low-tech' methods such as single rope technique, to 'hi-tech' approaches such as canopy cranes. In recent years, canopy science has moved away from pure exploration (the 'Wonderland' phase) to tackling the practicalities of rigorous canopy research ('Reality'), and the underlying emphasis is now shifting from access to the upper canopy per se to conducting replicative and manipulative science. The paper concludes by advocating the integration of many access techniques (both hi-tech and low-tech) at selected research sites, and certain neglected key areas of research are highlighted, including the comparison of adjacent primary and logged forests.