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Research and Education in Ecology, Conservation and Forest Biology

Since 1907 research and education have been the mission of the Harvard Forest, one of the oldest and most intensively studied forests in North America. From a center comprised of 3000 acres of land, research facilities, and the Fisher Museum the scientists, students, and collaborators at the Forest explore topics ranging from conservation and environmental change to land-use history and the ways in which physical, biological and human systems interact to change our earth.

January Highlights

2012 Maple Syrup Forecast

For a long time, botanists have known that freeze-thaw cycles in spring determine sap flow in maple trees. Sugar content in the sap also varies from year to year, but less is known about why. One possibility is that plants only have so much sugar to go around, so years when trees make lots of seeds are followed by years with less sugar in the sap. If this hypothesis is true, a strong increase in sugar maple seeds in the Fall of 2011 means 2012 could be the lowest syrup harvest this century (see figure by HF post-doctoral fellow Josh Rapp and HF senior ecologist Elizabeth Crone).

Highlights from an International Research Collaboration

From September 2011 to January 2012, European graduate students Anne-Céline Granjon (France) and Nicky Lustenhouwer (Netherlands) conducted research at Harvard Forest as part of a collaboration between Harvard University and the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Evolutionary Biology (www.evobio.eu). Anne-Céline worked with HF ecologist Kristina Stinson, focusing on the response of common ragweed to climate change. She studied the effect of elevated carbon dioxide levels on ragweed biomass allocation and population-level phenology in a large greenhouse experiment. Nicky worked with HF senior ecologist Aaron Ellison, analyzing long-term microclimate data from the Harvard Forest Hemlock Removal Experiment, which was designed to study the response of a forest ecosystem to the loss of eastern hemlock, a foundation species.

Middle-Holocene Hemlock Dynamics in Northern New England

A new paleoecology study by Emerson College/HF scientist Wyatt Oswald and HF director David Foster describes multiple episodes of eastern hemlock population decline ~6,000 years ago in New England. These events precede a major and more often-studied hemlock population decline 5,500 years ago. All of the decline events coincide with indicators of abrupt climate change. The sensitivity of hemlock populations, and their ability to recover from these declines, corresponded to geographical differences. These findings can inform current investigations of hemlock sensitivity and recovery as the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid continues to move into the region. Read "Middle-Holocene dynamics of Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock) in northern New England, USA" in The Holocene.

2nd Annual Harvard Forest Winter Break Week a Success