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Peer Review

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Notes

The canopy is one of the richest, if not the richest, in terms of biodiversity. It is thought that 40% of all species live in the canopy; 10% of all vascular plants are canopy dwellers and 20-25% of all invertebrate species may be unique to the canopy. Yet the canopy is most threatened and least explored habitat on the surface of the earth. Recent studies estimated that 70-80% of invertebrates captured in the upper canopy of tropical rainforests are not described by science. The canopy is also important as it influences global climate. Forest canopies intercept 25% of precipitation over 45 million hectares of the land surface globally and 90% of the earth’s biomass interfaces with the atmosphere through forest canopies.