Tree misting calls for an accurate aim and precise timing. The idea is to collect only a sample of the canopy insects. What's the value in studying insects? Well, insects are incredibly diverse. For example the beetles and the group that I'm studying, there are 4,000 species in the UK, and the flies that Erica's working on, there are 7,000. So altogether that's 11,000 species of insect, compared to just a few species of mammal or a few species of bird. And so when you've got that many species you can see much much more detail about the habitat. You're looking at much much better resolution. This improved resolution is like zooming in to the individual pixels of the habitat, helping us understand how it works. Max hopes the tree misting will uncover more of this fine detail. I've got no idea what's gonna be up here in the canopy. We could be finding something very very interesting that generations of entomologists haven't found here before. And that's pretty exciting, I think.


这种喷雾要求定位准，时间精准，目标是收集到树冠顶部昆虫的样本。 研究昆虫有什么意义呢？ 昆虫的种类及其繁多，就拿我研究的甲虫来说。在英国就有四千多种，艾瑞卡正在研究的飞虫，有七千种，加起来就一万一千种了。相比之下，鸟类和哺乳动物种类就少得多。研究这么多的物种，你就能发现它们栖息地的更多细节，能更精细地观察研究栖息地。借助昆虫信息，我们能够深入到栖息地的每个角落，了解栖息地的生态状况。 麦克斯希望借喷雾实验，发现更多细节。 我完全不知道上面是什么样子。幸运的话，我们会找到，几代昆虫学家都没发现的神奇信息，这令我非常兴奋。