Drew Fulton Photography

Photographer | Filmmaker | Educator | Explorer

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Canopy in the Clouds

Canopy in the Clouds was a collaboration between biologist Greg Goldsmith, cinematographer Colin Witherill, and photographer Drew Fulton to bring the cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica, to classrooms around the world.  The bilingual project, funded by two National Geographic Young Explorer Grants, created an interactive tour of the canopy of the cloud forests with embedded hotspots and videos paired with a series of 25 lesson plans for easy integration into middle school classrooms.  View the tour at Canopy in the Clouds.

Backlit unidentified fern in canopy.  Bosque Eterno de los Niños, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Leucobryum giganteum. Epiphytic moss found in cloud forest canopy. Bosque Eterno de los Niños, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Unidentified frog found in leaf litter.  Elfin forest, Beyond La Ventana, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Witherill and Goldsmith hiking through the cloud forest to a study site in the elfin forest. Field work required long days in the field carrying heavy packs of camera and video gear on top of thirty to forty pounds of climbing equipment. Elfin Forest, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Greg with Arc'teryx jacket and Black Diamond pack in elfin cloud forest.  Elfin forest, Beyond La Ventana, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Unidentified beetle on palm. Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Unidentified flowering plant.  Sendero Pantanoso, The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Unidentified orchid in bloom.  Remnant Tree, Finca de Eric Rockwell, Monteverde, Punatrenas, Costa Rica.
Craugastor crassidigitus. We found this frog during a night walk in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Monteverde, Costa Rica. Monteverde is the epicenter of what is now understood to be a global amphibian decline. The forest is eerily silent in the evenings. Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Collared Redstart, Myioborus torquatus. This small songbird is one of many that are commonly found in Monteverde. Foraging behavior, especially within mixed species flocks, has been a focus for numerous researchers in the Monteverde area and has produced many important ornithological papers. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Collaborating ecologist Greg Goldsmith simulates cloud cover by exposing plant samples to a fog machine. Goldsmith then looks for evidence of decreased drought stress in the leaves. His work is the first to demonstrate that plants in tropical montane cloud forests are capable of taking water in directly through their leaf surfaces. Goldsmith's work combines laboratory experiments with field work in an attempt to understand the effects of global climate change on montane cloud forest plant functioning. Instituto de Monteverde, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
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