NightSchool: Rainforests

Explore the tropical rainforests of the world with a session dedicated to these iconic and important ecosystems, which are home to nearly half of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and play a critical role in global weather. Learn how scientists are studying rainforest health—and get a bonus behind-the-scenes look into the Academy's own rainforest dome.

• Academy biologists like Kelsey Paulling start early in the morning to keep the Osher Rainforest thriving as a representative habitat for rainforests around the world. Kelsey talks about some of their daily tasks—collecting plant trimmings for the leafcutter ants, adding enrichment to the macaw perch, refilling nectar cups for the butterflies—and about how our rainforest mirrors and supports greater conservation efforts.

• Listen to the rainforest beat with biologist Tatiana Maeda, Graduate Researcher at the Sound Forest Lab. Learn how she uses cutting-edge technology to listen to rainforest animals, and how that data is helping her team monitor the impact of sustainable logging in Borneo.

• Amazon forests play a key role in cycling water and influencing the region’s rainfall, and store the equivalent of ten years of human-related carbon emissions. Paulo Brando, Assistant Professor at UC Irvine, talks about the recent increase in Amazon deforestation and discusses some of the paths forward that could reduce the chances of affecting primary, standing forests.

All NightLife virtual programming is intended for audiences 21+.

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The California Academy of Sciences is a renowned scientific and educational institution dedicated to exploring, explaining, and sustaining life on Earth. Based in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, it's the only place in the world to house an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum—plus cutting-edge research programs—all under one living roof.

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