Studying the anatomy of trees

So why is tree identification so critical to their career success? It's basically like a doctor taking human anatomy. And then down in the leaf scar, you know where I'm at, where the leaf breaks off? So the course is called Dendrology Lab, but what this is, is simply tree identification. This is like, what is the anatomy of the forest? And tree ID is a big part of that. It really comes right down to the buds. They're a tiny, tiny thing, but they are often more dramatically different than even the leaves are. The leaves are kind of charismatic, but the buds, they're dramatically different between a lot of species. I was really excited to take dendrology laboratory to really hone my tree ID skills and to see what all I could learn from Dr. Seiler, as he is really the most prominent voice in dendrology and forestry at Virginia Tech and really outside of that in the broader forestry community. I like working outside as a wildlife major. And, you know, if this is the weather, this is the weather. You've got to do it for science. I really enjoy it, though. It's nice getting some experience in my undergrad. Being outside, being able to identify trees and, like, what makes them different or what makes them similar might, like, help in my future career. Their whole grade is based on by the time the semester's over, can they identify all the trees in the surrounding forests here and you'll see at some point it all just clicks and I'll say to somebody like it's clicking for you and they're like yeah it's become easy you kind of got to assemble a bunch of critical thinking together quickly to be successful at it you can't memorize your way through this thing.