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Summer Research Experience: Student Blog

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August 6, 2019, by Samantha Matson and Nathan Oalican

Signs of Summer: Keep Your Head Up

Two summer interns envision installation pieces to warn of the dangers of falling timber. Be careful out there!
July 26, 2019, by Audrey Kaiser and Jaymes Marburger

Signs of Summer: A Condiment from Hell

Garlic Mustard
Garlic Mustard may sound appetizing - but from an ecological perspective it is DISGUSTING!
January 24, 2019, by Julian Rauter, Harvard College '19

A New Forest Home

Harvard Forest road in winter - photo by Julian Rauter
A first for this blog: a dispatch from a winter 2019 intern.
July 20, 2018, by Annina Kennedy-Yoon

Sketches of New England Wildlife

Part of my work this summer involves setting up camera traps to show the diversity of wildlife within the area. This is part of a larger project that intends to convey the presence of these animals within the region. Within the first month of the cameras being set up, we have captured animals that some people have never seen during
July 6, 2018, by J. Marcos Rodriguez

The Keys to a Good Research Community

As an undergraduate researcher here at Harvard Forest my particular project involves sampling the smaller seedlings of the forest’s woody plants (trees and shrubs) within one of the station’s largest observational plots. In measuring these plants, my partner and I are working to not only provide a more complete picture of the distribution of woody plants, but also test unanswered
July 11, 2016, by Karina Agbisit

Climate Change Characters

Think of the most negative and dismissive response to the question of whether climate change is happening. Some things that come to mind are probably yelling, denying, references to private property rights, and bashing left-leaning politicians. Now think of the most positive and affirmative response to the same question—dedication to reducing reliance on fossil fuels, references to scientific studies, and
July 11, 2016, by Kate Rawson

I Dream of Gmail

Dreaming of email, surveys, and spreadsheets.
Which tool is the most important for ecological research? A. Plant identification sheet B. Soil corer C. Microscope D. Map and Compass E. Statistical analysis software What if I told you that the correct answer was F: none of the above and that really, the most important thing for ecological research was a properly functioning email account? Would you believe
July 6, 2016, by Anna Mayrand

Grazing Our Problems Away: How Cows Can Put New England’s Conservation Issues Out to Pasture

Looking at New England’s forests today, it’s almost hard to believe that at one point, most of the land was open fields. In the 1880’s, land was cleared out by settlers to make fields for grazing and farming. The land has since recovered from its deforestation with 80% of the land now being dominated by forest. However, this gives rise
August 2, 2015, by Mayra Rodríguez-González

How to roll your R’s like a scientist! / Aprendiendo la R científica

[The English version of this post is followed by a Spanish version, also written by Mayra.] In a world where both natural and human driven disturbances have caused an array of changes in the landscape, we would expect that land-use and land-cover change could become either an asset or a threat to our environment. Here at the Harvard Forest the
July 8, 2015, by Brittany Cavazos

Balancing Conservation and Agriculture at the Farm

This summer, my project is a bit different than most of the other students’ here. While the general idea of conservation is about saving the forest, my project involves protecting open areas, like pastures – or, in this case, an old golf course of the Petersham Country Club. The thing is, most of Massachusetts has been reforested over the last
July 15, 2013, by George Andrews

Land use cartography 101

George Andrews and Dave Kittredge
Polygons, polygons, and more polygons. These little and simple digital shapes may seem mundane, but to a geographer they contain a plethora of information when you place them on a map. I've been spending my summer creating these polygons, and have slowly turned into a budding cartographer. At first glance, spending nearly an entire summer nestled deep within the Harvard
July 11, 2012, by Laura Bartock and Emma Schnur

Conservation awareness

Massachusetts is the third most densely populated state, but it is also the eighth most forested with more than 60% of the commonwealth covered by woodland. Of all this vast forested land, private families own more than 75% of it. That means that the future of our forests is in the hands of families just like yours and mine. In
August 12, 2010, by Aleta Wiley

REUs ace summer symposium!

In the final week of the Summer Research Program in Ecology for Undergraduates at Harvard Forest, all 33 students participated in the Student Symposium on August 11-12 in the Fisher Museum. Over a day and a half, all the students presented 15 minute talks to an audience comprising program mentors, university professors, Harvard Forest researchers, family members, and of course,
August 9, 2010, by Maddy Case and Joe Horn

Vegetation sampling in wildlands and woodlands

We have spent most of the summer traveling across New England to do field work at sites in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. At each site, we have been establishing permanent vegetation sampling plots for a long-term study comparing forest dynamics in managed and unmanaged forests. We carry 2-foot pieces of steel pipe into the woods (3 lbs per pipe
July 26, 2010, by Carlyn Perovich and Mickey Drott

Tracking moose and deer

We have spent the summer happily crawling around in the forest, bruising ourselves under mountain laurel in pursuit of the holy Grail of our project, moose poop. We are studying the impact of deer and moose browsing on the regeneration of forests, specifically looking at hemlock and oak seedlings. This research is particularly important since the number of white tailed
June 24, 2010, by Autumn Alexandra Amici and Anthony Rivera

Woodpeckers and tree care

The overall goal of this project is to understand the effects of tree care practices on habitat for cavity nesting birds, primarily woodpeckers. Most cavity nesting birds seek out dead snags for creating a nest. As cavity excavators, these birds provide habitat elements for a suite of species and are therefore important for biodiversity. While the dead snags that are
June 21, 2010, by Megan Jones and Kristen Schipper

"It's the network" - How personal connections shape land use decisions

Megan Jones and Kristen Schipper
In the social science lab, conveniently located above the kitchen, we are working on the "It's the Network" project. Our goal is to assess - by means of a survey - how personal connections shape decisions about private forest use. We're interested in who people talk to (neighbors, foresters, loggers, friends, etc.), what they talk about (harvesting, conservation easement, selling
June 15, 2010, by Roxanne Ardeshiri

Community ecology of "sarracenia pupurea" pitcher plants

Pitcher Plant
My name is Roxanne Ardeshiri , I'm an undergraduate at the University of California-Berkeley, and I'm studying the community ecology of Sarracenia pupurea Pitcher Plants with Benjamin Baiser at the Harvard Forest. Because Pitcher Plants are essentially microecosystems, we are studying their community ecology to ultimately create model food webs for these systems.We will be measuring decomposition of prey (an