Rapidly evolving devices can be used to offer unique insights into the forest as some are so small that they can be placed onto a single leaf.

Ulrike Wallrabe, a professor who specialises in micro-scale technology, told Wired magazine: "For developers of such devices, the forest presents a completely new challenge."

The tech must withstand ever-changing weather conditions and natural challenges but it could offer precious insight into why certain elements of nature are either thriving or floundering.

Wallrabe said: "Drones already monitor large areas of forest, but they cannot explain why one tree is thriving and another is struggling. We need to understand what's happening on a small scale and over time."

Wallrabe and her fellow researchers are working on a variety of devices that are to be deployed from the ground to the treetops – transmitting data from Germany's Black Forest to laboratories at the University of Freiburg.

Christiane Werner, an expert at the university, previously detailed how the technology would allow scientists to delve deeper into the impact climate change has on trees.

She said: "Climate change has a huge impact on forest ecosystems already. We see an increase in tree mortality worldwide.

"Currently, we have well-established models to predict overall ecosystem functioning under nonstressed conditions, but we do not understand when and why climate extremes like heat waves or droughts drive single trees or forest patches beyond their tipping points."