Hidden Forest

[LUXaerial]

When you think about biologically diverse areas, what places come to mind?

Often times, most people think about areas of dense, tropical rainforests, like that of the Amazon river delta, as having the greatest amount of biodiversity. That’s true, insomuch that all living things, both plant and animal, are part of your calculation.



But, if one considers biodiversity among particular phylum or class of organisms in a given region, things get more interesting. For example, where does the greatest amount of biodiversity exist among tree species in a naturally defined geographical zone?

The answer is surprising because it isn’t the dense equatorial rainforests. It’s actually the deciduous forests of Blue Ridge Mountains of North America which has the greatest number of different species of indigenous trees.



This subtle but curious notion lead me to create a small video which I’d like to share with you. Here is “Hidden Forest”:

 

[spudpie]

Really enjoyed that. Thanks!

 

[LUXaerial]

Really enjoyed that. Thanks!

Thanks, Spudpie! Happy to know you enjoyed it. It’s a pleasure to connect with you here.

 

[LowCountryFlyer]

Yeah that is awesome footage. Trying to build up the skill and confidence in my airmanship to fly my M2P down in the weeds like that.

 

[Wailuku]

Great videography skills, but believe that your info is off. Appalachian forests are the most speciose in terms of trees *in the US*.. but tropical forests *far exceed* any measure of biodiversity (trees, birds, butterflies, etc etc) on any scale, by any metric. The entire planet's biodiversity peaks around the equator (more or less) and diminishes with increasing latitude (or increasing elevation, which btw makes Ecuador (about the size of Arizona) an amazingly rich biological/ecological place).. a pattern recognized by the earliest of biogeographers. The entire Appalachian forest has ~160 tree species, one hectare of (natural) Amazon forest has ~40-100 tree species, and the hectare next to that one has ~40-100 species including many species not in the first plot with ~16,000 tree species in the Amazon itself (admittedly a much larger area than the Appalachians). I'm 100% in favor of promoting biodiversity (locally and globally) and if UAVs and great videography helps then I'm 100% in favor of that too.. but we should get the science right (insofar as we know it anyway).

 

[naiku]

Nice video, where in VA are you based? The Blue Ridge is right in my back yard.

 

[AMann]

Great landscape shots! Now get hiking and show some of that biodiversity up close!

 

[CJH92474]

View attachment 70937

When you think about biologically diverse areas, what places come to mind?

Often times, most people think about areas of dense, tropical rainforests, like that of the Amazon river delta, as having the greatest amount of biodiversity. That’s true, insomuch that all living things, both plant and animal, are part of your calculation.

View attachment 70938

But, if one considers biodiversity among particular phylum or class of organisms in a given region, things get more interesting. For example, where does the greatest amount of biodiversity exist among tree species in a naturally defined geographical zone?

The answer is surprising because it isn’t the dense equatorial rainforests. It’s actually the deciduous forests of Blue Ridge Mountains of North America which has the greatest number of different species of indigenous trees.

View attachment 70939

This subtle but curious notion lead me to create a small video which I’d like to share with you. Here is “Hidden Forest”:

Absolutely amazing!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!