To keep costs down, brutal methods are sometimes employed. And so, in 2009, tree researcher Dr. Martin Gossner sprayed the oldest (six hundred years old) and mightiest (170 feet tall and 6 feet wide at chest height) tree in the Bavarian Forest National Park. The chemical he used, pyrethrum, is an insecticide, which brought any number of spiders and insects tumbling down to the forest floor—dead. The lethal results show how species-rich life is way up high. The scientist counted 2,041 animals belonging to 257 different species.48
