Editing Rainforest (section)

=== Canopy layer ===
{{Main|Canopy (biology)}}
[[File:FRIM canopy.JPG|thumb|The canopy at the [[Forest Research Institute Malaysia]] showing [[crown shyness]]]]
The '''canopy''' layer contains the majority of the largest trees, typically {{convert|30|m}} to {{convert|45|m}} tall. The densest areas of [[biodiversity]] are found in the forest canopy, a more or less continuous cover of foliage formed by adjacent treetops. The canopy, by some estimates, is home to 50 percent of all plant species. [[Epiphyte|Epiphytic plants]] attach to [[Trunk (botany)|trunks]] and [[branch]]es, and obtain water and minerals from rain and debris that collects on the supporting plants. The fauna is similar to that found in the emergent layer but more diverse. A quarter of all insect species are believed to exist in the rainforest canopy. Scientists have long suspected the richness of the canopy as a habitat, but have only recently developed practical methods of exploring it. As long ago as 1917, [[Natural history|naturalist]] [[William Beebe]] declared that "another continent of life remains to be discovered, not upon the Earth, but one to two hundred feet above it, extending over thousands of square miles." A true exploration of this habitat only began in the 1980s, when scientists developed methods to reach the canopy, such as firing ropes into the trees using [[crossbow]]s. [[Canopy research|Exploration of the canopy]] is still in its infancy, but other methods include the use of [[Balloon (aircraft)|balloons]] and [[airship]]s to float above the highest branches and the building of cranes and walkways planted on the forest floor. The science of accessing tropical forest canopy using airships or similar aerial platforms is called [[dendronautics]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dendronautics.org/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614070953/http://www.dendronautics.org/|url-status=usurped|title=dendronautics|archivedate=14 June 2006}}</ref>