Species name: Homo sapien sapien
Humans are highly dependent on the canopy environment of temperate rain
forests. A healthy forest canopy that supports biodiversity also has the
ability to naturally maintain unwanted insect populations. Pileated
woodpeckers, Vaux’s swift, bats, and Scuzz are a few organisms that help
maintain destructive pest populations. Humans depend on a natural balance
of pest populations, for pest outbreaks can destroy houses and forests.
The forest canopy also contributes to the availability of resources on
which humans are dependent (medicine, food, timber). There are also multitudes
of canopy organisms that humans have not studied that may be important
medicines for the future of western medicine. It is important the Old-growth
forest canopies are preserved as research sites for future potential medicines.
