The Amazon rainforest of French Guiana constantly echoes and swings, but I keep my attention on the trees. In this photo taken in November 2020 – recently I was there – I am passing through dense forest at Parakau Research Station near the coastal town of Kouru. I’m looking at drone pictures of the canopy and working to make each trunk fit into the puzzle.
It sounds simple, but the forest is extremely complex. Despite further attention to detail with the telescope, it is difficult to operate that connects to a special patch of trunk green when you are viewing it from an aerial view.
My project is part of a larger effort to understand the productivity and rhythm of forest. Of the 750 or so wood tree species in the area, many are deciduous.
But unlike trees in the temperate tropics, which shed leaves in autumn, they follow their own schedule. With drones and LIDAR – a mapping system that uses ultraviolet lasers – we can track trees at a much larger scale than before. Observations from the ground help fill the picture.
The Amazon rainforest, the largest and most biodiversity forest in the world, stores large amounts of carbon.
There is great apprehension that climate change may turn ammonia into a drawer, savannah-like ecosystem, which can release incredible amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. Understanding the carbon flux of the forest can help us to predict how the entire system will react to climate change.
As you pass through the jungle, there is a continuous group of birds, with birds of parrots and birds of swarms, which violently swing around like a golden ditch, a fast ball at Quidditch, a game in the Harry Potter series .
I cover myself in insect repellent DEET to ward off mosquitoes, but some ticks still crawl on me. I sweat constantly in the heat and humidity and my clothes never dry completely. At night, I sleep in a hammock under a tin roof that swings in the rain.
Master your body language
Non-verbal communication is powerful and can make or break your interactions with others, as well as affect your perceptions. Whether you maintain eye contact or speak open or closed body language.
Open body language means opening your arms and legs and literally taking a large amount of physical space. It states that you are comfortable with yourself and your place, and expresses a sense of agreement or even openness to interact with others.
With closed body language, your hands and feet are closer to your body and your head is lower, and you take up less space physically. This posture can tell others that you feel defensive or polite and insecure, or that you disagree with the discussion.
Once you become more conscious of your body language, you can use it to feel how you feel. While in some instances it is important to use your body language to reflect your feelings – for example, to communicate effectively with loved ones – it is equally important to know when to use open body language , Even if it does not match your internal state.
Maintaining an open attitude ensures a positive and relaxed tone and flow of dialogue between you and others, whether it is in a lab meeting, poster session or in a conference to discuss questions and answers.
Developing your emotional intelligence can help you identify when you can prepare for an emotional abduction and how to reproduce strong emotions in rational and constructive responses.
You spend less time, which will not only reduce stress, but also more time to connect with you and continuously improve your relationships with the people around you.
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