The aerial roots growing into the mats aided the rain forest trees by providing the nourishment that they did not receive from the nutrient poor soil.

Nadkarni and her work in the Costa Rican rain forest were featured in the 1988 PBS series, The Second Voyage of the Mimi, starring a young Ben Affleck.

[3] She is the author of Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to Trees[4] and has delivered TED Talks on Conserving the Canopy[5] and Life Science in Prison.

[6] She also wrote some text (foreword and quotes) for a book for young explorers entitled, Kingfisher Voyages: Rain Forest, published in 2006.

Her work has included developing moss growing techniques with prisoners,[7] as well as bringing artists, like musician and biologist Duke G. Brady, into the forest canopy to write and perform.

[citation needed] She was a faculty member at The Evergreen State College for 20 years, and in 2011, joined the University of Utah as a Professor of Biology and Director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education.

Her approach is to directly link my research and conservation messages about forest canopies with activities and objects valued by non-traditional audiences.

Her work has been featured in Natural History, Glamour, Playboy, and others, and she has appeared in many television documentaries, including Bill Nye the Science Guy, Good Morning America, National Geographic, and CNN’s The Next List.