Hidden Forest: The Biography of an Ecosystem

A masterful work of natural history points the way to a new conservation model.

From the leaves at the top of the canopy to the insects living deep beneath the soil, a forest is a complete, unified ecosystem. Each event, from the growth of a single sapling to a cataclysmic fire, is critical to the life of the forest as organism.

Veteran science writer Luoma here chronicles the work of a unique and fascinating scientific research project that, over the course of several decades, w…