Monthly Highlights
2009-2010 Harvard Forest Bullard Fellows in Forest Research
Harvard Forest is pleased to announce the 2009-2010 Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research. The purpose of this fellowship program, established in 1962, is to support advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making important contributions, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use and study of forested environments. This year six distinguished practitioners and academics from across the United States and the globe will spend one to two semesters conducting research based in Cambridge or at the Harvard Forest in Petersham.
Learn more about this years' fellowship recipients.
"Discover" Carnivorous plants
The recent paper published in American Journal of Botany by former post-doc Jim Karagatzides and Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison (see September highlights) was featered in a slide show on Discovery News, the website of the Discovery Channel.
New Publications from Harvard Forest
Effect of observers on estimates of infestation of invasive species
The growing threat posed by invasive species has focused increased attention on the importance of documenting the spread of introduced organisms. However, labor-intensive surveys are often required to monitor populations of invasive species and thus methods have been developed to estimate the true extent of an invasion using a sample of sites. In a new publication, postdoctoral fellow Matt Fitzpatrick and colleagues including Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison, use surveys for the hemlock woolly adelgid to show that estimates of infestation rates can be highly sensitive to, and biased by, how much experience individuals have in surveying sites for the organism of interest, particularly when populations are small and easiest to eradicate. Taken together, the study underscores the importance of adequate training of individuals taking part in monitoring programs and the need to document and account for interobserver variation in estimates of infestation rates.
Fitzpatrick, M.C., E.L., Preisser, A.M. Ellison and J.S. Elkinton (2009) Observer bias and the detection of low-density populations. Ecological Applications 19(7): 1673-1679.
Climate change shown in paleo record in southwestern, CT
Records of past environmental variability provide insights into how ecosystems respond to climate change. In a study published in the Journal of Quaternary Science, Harvard Forest researchers Wyatt Oswald, David Foster, Elaine Doughty, and Ed Faison analyze a lake-sediment record from southwestern Connecticut to reconstruct changes in climate, hydrology, and vegetation at the beginning and end of the Younger Dryas event (13,000-11,600 years ago). Pollen and sedimentary evidence suggest that New England climate became warmer and drier at the onset of the Holocene.
Oswald, W.W., D.R. Foster, E.D. Doughty, and E.K. Faison (2009) A record of lateglacial and early- Holocene environmental and ecological change from southwestern Connecticut, USA. Journal of Quaternary Science 24: 553-556.
September 2009 Highlights
Prospect Hill Wireless Network
The Harvard Forest has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to build a wireless network across the 400-ha Prospect Hill Tract, providing high-speed network access to a wide range of short and long-term experimental sites. The network will make it possible to monitor and control instruments and to collect and analyze data in real time, effectively creating an “outdoor laboratory and classroom” for researchers and students at Harvard, in the LTER Network, and in the larger scientific and educational community. Design and installation of the network will be completed this year in partnership with Harvard University FAS Network Operations and Silvian Technology Services, a local wireless engineering firm.
Ants as ecological indicators
Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison spent a week at the beach, working with Parks Canada and the staff of Prince Edward Island (PEI) National Park on developing a monitoring protocol for using ant diversity as an indicator of ecological integrity of this coastal national park. The absence of exotic ants on PEI, but their presence in nearby Nova Scotia, suggested monitoring for the future occurrence of two exotic species - the pavement ant Tetramorium caespitum and the European fire ant Myrmica rubra. In New England, T. caespitum nests not only in sidewalks and driveways but also on sand dunes (at the base of dune grass or marram grass (Ammophila breviligulata) and beaches. But on PEI, the native Lasius neoniger still occurs in these habitats. Myrmica rubra is a wetland and coastal species not yet recorded from PEI, but that already is a pest throughout eastern Maine and has recently been found in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Both ants are most likely to colonize PEI on the cars and feet of tourists who flock to the island to visit the home of Anne of Green Gables.
Listen to an interview on this topic that Aaron gave to the CBC.
Harvard Forest to study impacts of Asian Longhorned beetle.
Harvard Forest scientists David Orwig and David Foster were recently awarded a USDA Forest Health Management Cooperative Agreement to study vegetation data and associated tree cores from a forested area that was recently infested with an invasive pest, the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB; Anoplophora glabripennis). This invasive insect was recently discovered in Worcester, MA and is a serious threat to forest ecosystems in North America. The ALB is quite large (up to 1.5 inches long) and feeds on a variety of hardwood trees including maple, willow, elm, ash, poplar and birch. Trees infested with ALB typically survive from 2- 10 years. Since its discovery in August 2008, over 20,000 trees have been removed from a 64 square mile regulated area to prevent further infestation of this beetle. While previous ALB infestations have been primarily in urban settings, the Worcester infestation is adjacent to and includes large blocks of forest land. Collaborating with USDA scientists, Dave Orwig will focus on a wooded Conservation area in the northern portion of Worcester, one of the only known forested areas in North America that has been infested with this serious pest. Within the conservation area, they will determine the forest stand structure and composition, the impact of ALB and eradication measures, and the tree growth patterns of trees with and without ALB.
Pitcher plants in the presses and on the road
Recent Harvard Forest post-doc Jim Karagatzides has published two papers based on his research with Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison. In the first, using stable isotope tracers in the field, Jim showed that Sarracenia purpurea can acquire nitrogen directly from amino acids, bypassing the inorganic nitrogen cycle on which most plants depend for their primary nutrient. In the second, Jim used greenhouse-grown plants and a micro-bomb calorimeter to demonstrate that carnivorous plant traps are less "costly" for plants to produce than was expected by the classical cost-benefit model for the evolution of botanical carnivory. Rather than being "fast and juicy", carnivorous plant traps are at the "slow and tough" end of the universal spectrum of leaf traits.
Aaron's research on pitcher plants as model systems for studying food web dynamics and impacts of nitrogen deposition on ecosystems was profiled in the Science section of Wired magazine.
And pitcher-plants cut a wide swath through the August ESA meetings, where graduate student Sydne Record, Schoolyard LTER participant and 5th-grade teacher extraordinaire Katie Bennett, and new Outreach & Development Manager Clarisse Hart each presented well-attended posters on their research with these most excellent plants.
Citations, papers, web-links:
Karagatzides, J. D., J. L. Butler, and A. M. Ellison. 2009. The pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea can directly acquire organic nitrogen and short-circuit the inorganic nitrogen cycle. PLoS One 4: e6164.
Karagatzides, J. D., and A. M. Ellison. 2009. Construction costs, payback times and the leaf economics of carnivorous plants. American Journal of Botany 96: 1612-1619.
Keim, B. 2009. In the bowels of carnivorous plants, a tiny model of the world. Wired.
ESA posters:
Bennet, K. F., and A. M. Ellison. 2009. Nectar, not color, may lure insects to their death.
Hart, C., J. Mejia, N. J. Gotelli, and A. M. Ellison. 2009. Competition between spiders and pitcher plants? Prey availability and intraguild interactions in bogs.
Record, S., A. M. Ellison, and N. J. Gotelli. 2009. The influence of informed versus uninformed priors on forecasts of growth rates and extinction risks of a New England population of northern pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea L.).
August 2009 Highlights
Orchid Added to Harvard Forest Flora
After even the most careful botanical survey, the woods reveal new and lovely surprises. Purple-fringed orchid, first observed in the Simes Tract of Harvard Forest in July 2008, was tentatively identified this season as a species never-before recorded at the Harvard Forest: Platanthera grandiflora, the greater purple fringed orchid. While its congener, the lesser purple fringed orchid (Platanthera psycodes) was observed elsewhere on the Forest in 1933 and 1947, this species is a new addition to the flora. While widespread throughout much of the Northeast, it is not particularly common.
The Harvard Forest Flora: An Inventory, Analysis, and Ecological History, by Jerry Jenkins (Bullard Fellow), Glenn Motzkin (HF Ecologist) and Kirsten Ward (REU Student) received the the 2009 Cooper Award from the Ecological Society of America. The William Skinner Cooper Award is given to honor an outstanding contributor to the fields of geobotany, physiographic ecology, plant succession, or the distribution of plants along environmental gradients.
Harvard Forest Studies Rare Pitch Pine Communities
Harvard Forest scientists Glenn Motzkin, David Orwig, and David Foster recently used a combination of dendroecological, historical, and field studies to examine the long-term history, development, and vegetation dynamics of 3 dwarf P. rigida (pitch pine) locations in the southern Taconic mountains of southwest Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut. All three sites supported communities dominated (80 to 98% relative importance) by stunted P. rigida, which apparently persisted in the absence of frequent fire because of the harsh site conditions, especially shallow soils and frequent damage from winter storms. Cone serotiny, which is characteristic of dwarf P. rigida communities elsewhere in the eastern U.S., was not observed on any of the summits, consistent with the lack of frequent fire. Of the three areas studied, Race Mountain had the highest density of dwarf P. rigida (1482 stems ha-1 ), approximately three times the density on Bear Mountain. Hill 1914 had the highest P. rigida basal area (18 m2 ha-1 ), ~ four times the basal area on Bear Mountain. Interestingly, Bear Mountain had substantially lower densities of dead P. rigida than the other summits, and supported higher P. rigida seedling and sapling densities and contained more upright stems with well-defined leaders. Understory vegetation among the three sites was quite similar. Average age of P. rigida was greater on Hill 1914 (111 years) than on Race Mountain (93 years). Although none of the sites was characterized by old-growth P. rigida, Hill 1914 supported the oldest known P. rigida in Massachusetts (228 years old).
Motzkin, G., D.A. Orwig and D.R. Foster 2009. Dwarf Pitch Pine Communities in the Southern Taconics: Race Mountain, Bear Mountain and "Hill 1914". Harvard Forest Paper 29. 42 pages.
Graphing Data from Schoolyard Research
Dr. Betsy Colburn Harvard Forest Schoolyard Science Program has completed Show Me a Picture, Tell Me a Story: An Introduction to Graphs for the Analysis of Ecological Data from Schoolyard Science Research Studies. This guide for teachers discusses the use of graphs to interpret ecological data collected in schoolyard research studies. The manual covers ways of organizing data, the kinds of data manipulations that may be needed before graphs can be produced, and a variety of different types of graphs. Examples are provided from research conducted by HF scientists involved in the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Program, and from schoolyard research studies conducted by participating classrooms. The manual is available for download.
Butterflies and Climate Change
In this study, which was part of Shannon Pellini's (Harvard Forest Postdoctoral fellow) dissertation work under the advisement of Jessica Hellmann at the University of Notre Dame, Shannon and colleagues performed field and laboratory reciprocal translocation experiments with skipper (Erynnis propertius) and swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) butterfly populations from Oregon and Vancouver Island. The aim of the study was to determine if butterfly populations from different locations respond favorably to warmer temperatures and colonize new locales as predicted under climate change. However, Shannon and her collaborators found that the butterfly species did not always respond favorably to warmer conditions because of local adaptaion (that is, individuals performed best in their home environment) to cooler conditions in the skipper and food plant limitations in both species. Skipper populations on Vancouver Island currently have no suitable food plants to use in new locales and the suitabuluty of the swallowtail's food plants changes in different temperatures. This study sheds light on the importance of interactions between organisms and their resources as well as adaptation to historical conditions in limiting species' abilities to respond favorably to climate change.
Pelini, S.L., J.D.K. Dzurisin, K.M. Prior, C.M. Williams, T.D. Marsico, B.J. Sinclair, and J.J. Hellmann, 2009. Translocation experiments with butterflies reveal limits to enhancement of poleward populations under climate change. PNAS. 106:11160-11165.
July 2009 Highlights
Ragweed and Future Climate Change: Putting the Where and When on Wheezing
Harvard Forest ecologists Kristina Stinson and David Foster, in collaboration with Dr. Chris Rogers from the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health, have been awarded $1M from the US Environmental Protection Agency to study the effect of global change on ragweed and human health. The researchers’ primary objective will be to determine where and when ragweed pollen production changes with major shifts in atmospheric carbon dioxide and seasonal precipitation. Common ragweed, the main cause of hay fever nationwide, dramatically increases its pollen production when exposed to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. This new research project will assess the response among different ragweed ecotypes from NY to Maine to a host of climate-related changes. The researchers will install a series of pollen traps near study populations of ragweed to determine how geographic variation in plant growth, abundance and peak flowering time relate to volume of pollen output and allergic potency. In addition, a large experiment will be installed at the Harvard Forest to test ecotype responses to simulated increases in carbon dioxide and changes in seasonal rainfall. Using these data, Stinson and her colleagues will generate regional models and maps of ragweed “hotspots” across a spectrum of future climate change scenarios. These data draw upon the researchers' collective expertise in plant-climate interactions, population biology, and air quality to advance our theoretical understanding of population-level responses of plants to climate change. At the same time, the resulting data and maps will contribute the most accurate predictions to date for allergen hotspots in this region or elsewhere - a boon for public health officials and allergy sufferers who hope to strategize for the long term.
Director, David Foster, Appointed to Massachusetts Climate Change Committee
David R. Foster was appointed by Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Ian Bowles to the newly formed Climate Change Adaptation Advisory Committe. The Committee will advise the Commonwealth on strategies for adapting to sea level rise, warming temperatures, increased incidence of flood and drought and other predicted effects of climate change. Members are experts from business, academia, and nonprofit organizations, who will meet periodically and report their findings to the Legislature by December 31, 2009.
Harvard Forest Schoolyard Teachers Honored
Two Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Teachers received Awards for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education from The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEA). Secretary Ian Bowles presented the awards to Lisa Shluger of the Fuller Middle School in Framingham and Tiffany Davis of the J.R. Briggs Elementary School in Ashburnham in the Great Hall at the Massachusetts State House. According to the EOEA, these awards honor individual schools, teachers and students across the Commonwealth who have distinguished themselves in energy and environmental education initiatives.
Earth Day Lecture at Harvard Center for the Environment
Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison gave the Earth Day lecture at the Harvard University Center for the Environment in their Biodiversity, Ecology, and Global Change Lecture Series on the topic of "Assembling and restoring ecosystems in a rapidly changing world." If you couldn't make it to Cambridge for Earth Day, you can listen to the lecture online: http://www.environment.harvard.edu/video/oeb/ellison/presentation.html
New Publications focus on American Beech
Fagus grandifolia (American Beech) is uncommon along the coast of southern New England, but occasionally forms unusual monodominant stands with higher beech abundance than is typical for inland areas. In this new publication, Posy Busby (former HF MFS student) and HF collaborators document the distribution of beech on Cape Cod and nearby coastal islands, and evaluate environmental and historical factors that influence its distribution. They found beech is most common and abundant on moraines and in areas that are close to water bodies, presumably as a result of reduced drought stress and increased protection from wildfire. The largest monodominant beech forest (approximately 1000 ha) known from the eastern US occurs on Naushon Island, but few stands elsewhere in the region exceed 5 ha. In the six intensively studied forests, increased beech dominance in the 20th century corresponds with episodic beech establishment and growth release after several hurricanes in the 1920s–1950s. Thus, unlike the small-scale gap dynamics characteristic of beech in the extensive northern hardwood forests of northern New England and New York, large-scale wind disturbances apparently contribute to local beech dominance in coastal New England where beech is otherwise uncommon
Busby, P. E., G. Motzkin, and B.R. Hall (2009). Distribution and Dynamics of American Beech in Coastal Southern New England. Northeastern Naturalist 16(2): 159-176.
In a second publication, Posy Busby and collaborators examine 150 years of forest response to frequent hurricane disturbance in coastal Massachusetts. They show that only a single storm (1944 hurricane) over this time period caused dramatic changes in growth and establishment for the dominant species – American beech. This result underscores the importance of individual disturbance events for long-term forest dynamics, even in an area characterized by frequent disturbance. Given the overriding importance of severe disturbances, anticipated increases in the intensity of hurricanes in the North Atlantic may be expected to result in significant impacts on forest conditions and long-term dynamics.
Busby, P. E., Canham, C. D., Motzkin, G., Foster, D. R. 2009. Forest response to chronic hurricane disturbance in coastal New England. Journal of Vegetation Science 20: 487-497.
June 2009 Highlights
Interns Arrive for Summer Program in Ecology
Twenty-four summer students have arrived as part of the Harvard Forest summer research program in ecology. Students come from all over the United States to participate in on-going research projects investigating atmospheric pollution, global warming, invasive plants, watershed ecology, and insect outbreaks. Researchers come from many disciplines and institutions. Specific projects center on population and community ecology, plant physiology, insect ecology, land-use history, aquatic ecology, biogeochemistry, and atmosphere-biosphere exchanges.
Ecological Society of America Cooper Award Received
The 2009 Cooper Award from the Ecological Society of America was received for the paper: Jenkins, Jerry, Motzkin, Glenn, and Ward, Kirsten. 2008. The Harvard Forest Flora: An Inventory, Analysis, and Ecological History. Harvard Forest, Harvard University, Petersham, Massachusetts. Harvard Forest Paper No. 28. The William Skinner Cooper Award is given to honor an outstanding contributor to the fields of geobotany, physiographic ecology, plant succession, or the distribution of plants along environmental gradients.
The nominating committee wrote: "The Harvard Forest Flora is a resurvey of a central New England woodland, following on 100 years of botanical work, including several complete surveys dating back to 1911. Consistent with the work of W.S. Cooper, The study documents the community impacts of centennial-scale environmental change and places this local change in the context of a regional environmental gradient. The work is exceptional in its power communicate ideas central to our discipline with clarity and simple elegance. A significant contribution of this work is its careful articulation of how the nuances of species identity represent the biotic processes we seek to understand in assessments of biodiversity. In clear prose and with simple elegant figures, descriptions in The Flora of biological variation within species and in species diversity over space create a convincing picture of how the biodiversity of a typical place has weathered the many changes of the 20th century."
Grant Received for Harvard Forest Book: Twentieth-Century New England Land Conservation
The Cabot-Wellington Foundation has made a generous grant in memory of Tom Cabot (1897-1995), a lifelong conservationist and CEO of the Cabot Corporation, which allows Harvard Forest (the publisher) to distribute 100 copies free of charge to public libraries in each New England state. Distribution has already been completed in RI, MA, and NH; the remaining states will see their copies by June, 2009.
Read or purchase this book at http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/FOSTWE.html.
Harvard Forest on the Radio
May 14, 2009 - Diane Rehm show on NPR and WAMU talks about the health of the United States forests, trends in forest managment and protection of wilderness areas. Dr. David Foster, Director of Harvard Forest, was on the panel of this show. Listen to the show.
Harvard Forest Schoolyard LTER Publication
Katie Bennett, a fifth-grade teacher at Ashburnham's J.R.Briggs Elementary School, a long-time participant in the Harvard Forest Schoolyard LTER Program and an NSF Research Experience for Teachers (RET) collaborator on ant and pitcher-plant research, has published her first paper in Biology Letters, the rapid communication journal of the Royal Society of London. In this paper, Katie, along with Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison, used a creative field experiment to distinguish between competing hypotheses about how carnivorous pitcher plants attract prey. Their work shows clearly that prey are attracted to pitcher plants by nectar, not color, settling a long-standing debate about mechanisms underlying prey capture by pitcher plants. This research was supported by an NSF RET supplement award to Katie Bennett, who has also received a second RET supplement to continue her research on pitcher plants this summer.
Bennett, K. F., and A. M. Ellison. 2009. Nectar, not colour, may lure insects to their death. Biology Letters. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0161
New Harvard Forest Journal Article
Brooks Mathewson (Masters of Forest Science, 2006) published his work on study of salamanders as effected by the anticipated of the loss of Eastern Hemlock dominated forests due to infestation by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. This study assessed the relative abundance of the ecologically important terrestrial salamander, Plethodon cinereus Green (Eastern Red-backed Salamander), in five Eastern Hemlock-dominated stands and four mixed deciduous stands at Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA. Pooling data from four seasons (fall 2003- fall 2004; excluding winter), the relative abundance of P. cinereus as measured by artificial cover objects (ACOs) was significantly higher in Eastern Hemlock-dominated stands than in mixed deciduous stands (n = 444 P. cinereus observations). The relative abundance of P. cinereus was not significantly different in the two forest20types as measured by natural cover object searches over two seasons (fall 2003 and spring 2004), although sample sizes were small (n = 45 P. cinereus observations). This evidence that Eastern Hemlock-dominated forests provide equal or greater quality habitat for P. cinereus as mixed deciduous forests at Harvard Forest contrasts with studies from other areas of Eastern Hemlock’s range, which have found the abundance of P. cinereus to be lower in this forest type. The conversion of Eastern Hemlock-dominated forest to mixed deciduous forest will have either have a negative impact or no impact on the relative abundance of P. cinereus at Harvard Forest.
Mathewson, B. 2009. The relative abundance of Eastern Red-backed Salamanders in eastern hemlock-dominated and mixed deciduous forests at Harvard Forest. Northeastern Naturalist 16: 1-12.
May 2009 Highlights
Harvard Forest Summer Institute for Teachers
Summer Institute for Teachers August 10, 2009- The Harvard Forest offers a Forest Ecology training institute for teachers of grades 2-12. Learn how to implement field studies related to local ecosystems with your students right in your schoolyard.
Harvard Forest Hosts Workshop with an Eye to the Future
A diverse group of social and ecological scientists recently gathered at the Harvard Forest to ponder potential ecological futures around Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. They were participants in the “Scenarios of Future Landscape Change Workshop,” which was designed to encourage prescient thinking in coupled human-natural systems where true prediction is not possible. The workshop was funded by the National Science Foundation and organized by Harvard Forest Landscape Ecologist, Jonathan Thompson and Director, David Foster. The participants represented sixteen LTER sites and all were involved in some stage of scenario planning for the region surrounding their site. Their scenarios focused on a diverse range of potential drivers and responses: from scenarios of homeowner lawn-care decisions and the impact on water quality around the Plum Island site in Massachusetts, to scenarios of changing fire regimes and the impact on moose habitat around the Bonanza site in Alaska. Yet, despite the range of viewpoints, participants found plenty of common ground. For example, all sites are trying to understand how different suites of assumptions about the future would play-out along logical trajectories. In addition, they all struggle with crafting scenarios that bound the range of plausible futures. 
More practically, most sites expect that climate and land use change will be the dominant drivers of future landscape dynamics and are interested in scenarios that describe how these drivers might affect carbon storage and water quality. After a couple days of spirited discussion in Harvard's Fisher Museum, surrounded by dioramas depicting past landscape change, two points were made clear: first, the LTER network, with its focus on long term ecological change, is uniquely suited to this line of research, and second, Yogi Berra was on to something when he said: “The future ain't what it used to be.”
Fisher Museum opens for Summer Hours
The Fisher Museum will be open on the weekends from 12pm-4pm from May - October, in addition to the weekday hours of 9am - 4pm. The Fisher Museum's main exhibit displays twenty-three internationally acclaimed models (dioramas) portraying the history, conservation and management of central New England forests. Other exhibits at the museum represent the range of Harvard Forest's research. While you are here, take advantage of the nature trails that connect the exhibit to the surrounding landscape.
Partners in conservation
In the April issue of Mass Audubon's magazine Connections, Chris Leahy describes the partnership between MassAudubon and the Harvard Forest's Ants of Massachusetts project. Begun in 2007 by Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison, Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology ant systematists Stefan Cover and Gary Alpert, and University of Vermont Biologist Nick Gotelli, the Ants of Massachusetts project is working to develop ants as indicator species of environmental change in southern New England. Read the cover story
Forest Landowners to Sell Carbon Credits: a pilot study
Managing forests to sequester carbon is often mentioned as a strategy to address concerns about increasing levels of carbon dioxide and climate change. In Massachusetts and many other eastern states, most forest is owned by private families and individuals. Consequently, it is important to understand the factors that influence the likelihood of landowners choosing to sell sequestered carbon and participate in the carbon marketplace. Results from a recent small pilot study suggest landowners significantly favor higher payments, no withdrawal penalty, and, unexpectedly, longer time commitments. Importantly, at the current carbon price very few participants (less than 7 percent) would be willing to sell. Additional studies are being conducted with a larger sample to better understand how socioeconomic variables and ownership attitudes influence forest owners' willingness to enroll in carbon markets.
Fletcher, L., Kittredge, D. B., Stevens, T. H. 2008. Forestland Owners Willingness to Sell Carbon Credits: A Preliminary Study. Northern Journal of Applied Forestry: 35-37.
Finally, a Nature paper!
Long-time friends and collaborators Elizabeth Farnsworth (Bullard Fellow 2004-2005), Aaron Ellison (Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist), and Nick Gotelli (University of Vermont Professor of Biology) achieved their long-time goal of publishing a paper in Nature. Like the regular articles and letters published in Nature, their story about EvoSoap is science-fiction. But unlike the regular articles and letters, it's not masquerading as real science. Read EvoSoap, published in the Futures section of Nature
Harvard in the News
Over the past several months, the Harvard Forest, staff and former students have been highlighted in the news.
- The Working Forest: New York Times Magazine
- The Fire in the East: Journal of Forestry
- Land Baron: Boston Globe
- Environmental clues sought from ants: Northern Arizona University
April 2009 Highlights
Harvard Forest in the News: The Forest is Back
The April 19, 2009 New York Times article "The Working Forest" features David Foster, Director and his on-going effort to promote forest conservation in a responsible, scientific and historical context. This vision has been adopted and furthered by other scientists, conservation and environmental organizations and this partnership is working together to move this vision to the all of New England. For details of this plan, please see: Wildlands and Woodlands.
Forest Ecology and Management training for Landowners
On April 23rd-26th, Harvard Forest will be hosting the annual Keystone Project training. Keystone, an effort of UMass Amherst, is an intensive three day seminar on forest ecology and management, wildlife management, land protection, and community outreach. It is designed to train landowners and community leaders in forest conservation. The goal of Keystone is to put into place in each community the people that can be a local source of information to landowners, communities, and organizations. In exchange for the training and take-home resources, graduates of the program, called Cooperators, agree to return to their communities and volunteer their time towards projects that promote forest conservation. For more information about the Keystone Project, visit: http://masskeystone.net/.
New Species Added to Research with Grant
Sydne Record, a Ph.D. student in the Plant Biology program at the University of Massachusetts whose dissertation research is being supervised by Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison, has received a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG) from the National Science Foundation. The DDIG will enable Sydne to expand her research on forecasting demography and population viability of the regionally rare hemiparasitic plant Pedicularis lanceolata to include two other rare species. The focus of her DDIG research will be to reduce uncertainty in forecasts of population sizes and extiction risks of rare species by using Bayesian population viability analyses (PVA). Sydne will construct Bayesian models for two rare plant species originally studied in the 1980s, Calochortus tiburonensis and Pedicularis furbishiae. The models will be parameterized using independent data from closely related congeners, and the originally studied populations of C. tiburonensis and P. furbishiae will be re-censused. Estimates of the extinction risks and 2009 population sizes of the different models will be compared with information on the populations from contemporary censuses. This signicant extension of Sydne's research will provide one of the first tests of whether or not it is appropriate to use "informed" prior information in Bayesian PVA and will direcly inform and improve the conservation and recovery plans for these two rare species.
Harvard Forest Seeks Rememdy for Illegal Cutting and Environmental Destruction
In January 2008, in conjunction with tree harvesting on abutting Petersham Country Club property, Harvard Forest experienced illegal cutting of nearly 100 trees on its property and significant environmental damage to the surrounding forest, including a fragile vernal pool . This Fact Sheet and the accompanying map/photographs describe and illustrate the damage, outline Harvard Forest's goals, and provide substantial background regarding the cutting. It was our hope that the overtures made to the Country Club and their contrator, Forward Enterprises, in efforts to find a mutually beneficial remediation would be successful, but unfortunately Harvard Forest has been forced to seek a legal remedy to this trespass and environmental destruction.
New Harvard Forest LTER Brochure
Since 1988 Harvard Forest has been a National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. This group of more than 25 sites studies and compares ecological processes, which typically take many years to understand, in ecosystems ranging from the arctic to the Everglades and from coral reefs to desserts. We have just produced a new brochure that reviews many of our activities within this program.
New Harvard Forest Publication
Former Harvard Forest student Raphael Contamin and Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison analyzed the classic lake model of Steve Carpenter and William Brock to determine how much advance warning indicators of regime shifts provide to managers interested in preventing dramatic ecosystem changes. Their analysis suggests that an indicator based on the high-frequency signal in the spectral density of the time-series of a process or parameter of interest provides reasonable advance warning (greater than simulated 20 years) of a regime shift. However, under realistic scenarios of management actions, actual intervention must occur at least 25-40 years in advance to reduce the probability of a regime shift to below 50%.
Contamin, R. and A. M. Ellison. 2009. Indicators of regime shifts in ecological systems: what do we need to know and when do we need to know it? Ecological Applications 19: 799-816.
March 2009 Highlights
Twentieth Annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium
The twentieth annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium will be held March 17, 2009 from 9:00am - 5:00pm at the Harvard Forest. This year's symposium will feature talks and discussion on synthesizing Harvard Forest LTER research. Learn more, RSVP and/or submit abstracts.
Harvard Forest Seeks Rememdy for Illegal Cutting and Environmental Destruction
In January 2008, in conjunction with tree harvesting on abutting Petersham Country Club property, Harvard Forest experienced illegal cutting of nearly 100 trees on its property and significant environmental damage to the surrounding forest, including a fragile vernal pool . This Fact Sheet and the accompanying map/photographs describe and illustrate the damage, outline Harvard Forest's goals, and provide substantial background regarding the cutting. It was our hope that the overtures made to the Country Club and their contrator, Forward Enterprises, in efforts to find a mutually beneficial remediation would be successful, but unfortunately Harvard Forest has been forced to seek a legal remedy to this trespass and environmental destruction.
Harvard Forest collaborates to help protect 1865 acres through the Quabbin Corridor Connection Forest legacy project
A partnership led by Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust working with Harvard Forest, Massachusetts Audubon Society, many landowners, the towns of Petersham and Phillipston, state agencies (DCR and DFG) and the U.S. Forest Service has completed the Quabbin Corridor Connection Forest Legacy project, which protects 1865 acres and provides critical links to protected corridors in the North Quabbin region.
New Harvard Forest Publications
In Honor of Charles Darwin, A Review of Carnivorous Plants
As part of the festivities surrounding the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of his book On the origin of species by means of natural selection, the Journal of Experimental Botany commissioned a series of review articles on topics about which Darwin wrote books. Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison was invited to contribute a review on carnivorous plants and reflecting on progress in the field since Darwin published his book Insectivorous plants in 1875. In the review, Ellison and co-author Nicholas Gotelli (University of Vermont) explore progress in systematics, ecophysiology, prey capture, and nutrient dynamics of carnivorous plants, four topics central to Darwin's (1875) book. Their paper leads off the series of Darwin Reviews in the journal, and is accomapnies by cover photographs by Ellison and illustrations by former Harvard Forest Bullard Fellow Elizabeth Farnsworth.
Ellison, A. M., and N. J. Gotelli. 2009. Energetics and the evolution of carnivorous plants - Darwin's "most wonderful plants in the world". Journal of Experimental Botany 60: 19-42.
Climate Change Effects on Invasive Species and Their Impact on Northeastern Forests
Climate models predict that by 2100, the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada will warm approximately 3-5°C, with increased winter precipitation. These changes will affect trees directly and indirectly through effects on "nuisance" species, such as insect pests, pathogens, and invasive plants. Harvard Forest Ecologist Dave Orwig and Population Ecologist Kristina Stinson recently joined a team of colleagues to review how basic ecological principles can be used to predict nuisance species' responses to climate change and how this is likely to impact northeastern forests. The team examined in detail the potential responses of two insect pest species [hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) and forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria)], two pathogens [armillaria root rot (Armillaria spp.) and beech bark disease (Cryptococcus fagisuga + Neonectria spp.)], and two invasive plant species [glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus) and oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)]. Several of these species are likely to have stronger or more widespread effects on forest composition and structure under the projected climate. However, uncertainty pervades the predictions for many of these species because we lack adequate data on species ranges, tolerances, and life history, and because some species depend on complex, incompletely understood, unstable relationships. While target research will increase our confidence in making predictions, some uncertainty will always persist. Therefore, the team encourages policies that allow for this uncertainty by considering a wide range of possible scenarios.
Dukes, J.S., Et al., 2009. Responses of insect pests, pathogens, and invasive plant species to climate change in forests of northeastern North America: What can we predict? Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 39: 231-248.
February 2009 Highlights
Twentieth Annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium
The twentieth annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium will be held March 17, 2009 from 9:00am - 5:00pm at the Harvard Forest. This year's symposium will feature talks and discussion on synthesizing Harvard Forest LTER research. Learn more, RSVP and/or submit abstracts.
Pitcher plants on TV!
Research on pitcher plant food webs conducted at Harvard Forest's Tom Swamp and at the University of Vermont's Molly Bog by University of Vermont ecologist Nick Gotelli and Harvard Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison are the focus of a 30-minute long Vermont Public Television show on Food Webs in their Emerging Science series. The show broadcasts on Tuesday Feb. 3, but can be watched in streaming video:
http://www3.vpt.org/flvs/emergingscience/season2/episodes/202/
VPT's Emerging Science series is supported by NSF through the Vermont EPSCoR program.
HF Schoolyard Ecology Teacher Receives Award
The New England Environmental Education Alliance (NEEEA) presented the NEEA 2008 Formal Educator Award to Katherine Bennett, a teacher at J.R. Briggs Elementary School in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. Kate has integrated real world science and out of doors study into her classes by working with researchers at the Harvard Forest on a variety of projects focused on forest environments, the hemlock woolly adelgid, and ant ecology. In one project, Kate involved each of her students in a hands-on ecological field research project called 'Hemlock Trees and the Pesky Pest, the Woolly Adelgid' as part of Harvard Forest's Schoolyard and Ecology Program. Kate's students collected data on the presence of the woolly adelgid on the school's nature trail, and then used a variety of technology tools, including digital cameras, spreadsheets, and the web to draw conclusions and make recommendations about protecting the school's hemlock trees. Through their involvement in Harvard Forest research on this project and subsequent projects, Kate's students will be prepared to mature into scientifically literate and environmentally aware and responsible citizens.
New grant for climate change research
The Department of Energy's National Center for Climate Change Research has awarded $160,000 to Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison and Postdoctoral Fellow Matt Fitzpatrick for a two-year study to develop models that forecast changes in the distribution and abundance of tree species in eastern North American forests under historic and future climate change. Changes in tree species distributions coincident with climatic warming during the Ice Age, as recorded in fossil pollen, and simulations of global climate during this period will be used to assess how well models developed using current tree distributions can forecast observed range shifts under historic climate change. Models will then be used to forecast potential changes in tree species distributions and abundance under climate change expected by year 2100.
New Publication from Harvard Forest
Former REU (2000) and Ph.D. student (2007) Tony D'Amato along with HF ecologists David Orwig and David Foster recently compared the understory communities (herbs, shrubs, and tree seedlings and saplings) of old-growth and second-growth eastern hemlock forests (Tsuga canadensis) in western Massachusetts, USA. Second-growth hemlock forests originated following clearcut logging in the late 1800s and were 108 to 136 years old at the time of sampling. Old-growth hemlock forests contained total ground cover of herbaceous and shrub species that was approximately 4 times greater than in second growth forests (4.02 ± 0.41 versus 1.06 ± 0.47 %m2 ) and supported greater overall species richness and diversity. In addition, seedling and sapling densities were greater in old-growth stands compared to second-growth stands and the composition of these layers was positively correlated with overstory species composition (Mantel tests, r > 0.26, P < 0.05) highlighting the strong positive neighborhood effects in these systems. Ordination of study site understory species composition identified a strong gradient in community composition from second-growth to old-growth stands, related to differences in overstory tree density, nitrogen availability, and coarse woody debris characteristics among hemlock stands. These relationships suggests that differences in resource availability (e.g., light, moisture, and nutrients) and microhabitat heterogeneity between old-growth and second-growth stands were likely driving these compositional patterns. Interestingly, several common forest understory plants, including Aralia nudicaulis, Dryopteris intermedia, and Viburnum alnifolia, were significant indicator species for old-growth hemlock stands, highlighting the lasting legacy of past land use on the reestablishment and growth of these common species within second-growth areas.
D’Amato, A.W., D. A. Orwig, D. R. Foster. 2009. Understory vegetation in old-growth and second-growth Tsuga canadensis forests in western Massachusetts. Forest Ecology and Management 257: 1043–1052.
January 2009 Highlights
Harvard Forest launches Moose and Deer Study
Harvard Forest has erected a series of exclosures in recently harvested conifer plantations on the Prospect Hill Tract to measure the long-term effects of moose and deer browsing on forest regeneration and development in the region. After being extirpated from Massachusetts for almost 200 years, moose have reestablished breeding populations in the past 15-20 years, and along with an expanding deer population represent an important and largely undocumented forest disturbance in the region. Harvard Forest and Highstead researcher, Ed Faison is collaborating with researchers from the University of Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation on this endeavor, as similar exclosures have been built in the Quabbin and Ware River Watersheds.
2009 Harvard Forest Summer Program in Ecology for Undergraduates
We are now accepting applications for the 2009 Summer Program from undergraduates and recent graduates who are interested in an intensive research and education experience in ecology. Deadline: Feb. 6, 2009. Learn more
2009 Charles Bullard Fellowships in Forestry
We are now accepting applications for 6-12 months fellowships for advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use of forested environments. Deadline: Feb. 1, 2009. Learn more
Jim Levitt and Program on Conservation Innovation Honored at the Yale School of Management
Jim Levitt, Director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest was recently selected as one of five Donaldson Fellows at Yale University's School of Management, where he received his masters degree in 1980. The Donaldson Fellowship Program recognizes accomplished graduates and brings them to Yale to impart their work and life experiences on current students and faculty through lectures, seminars and workshops.
Jim was recognized for his work in conservation finance at Harvard University, which seeks "to bring together people across the public, private, nonprofit, and academic/research sectors to find innovative ways to preserve land and wildlife habitat". Jim, who is on the boards of the Quebec-Labrador Foundation and Massachusetts Audubon Society, will be organizing a conference of conservation finance innovators in Chile in January 2009 to discuss the most promising tools and techniques in the field and to advance conservation activities across the Americas.
Twentieth-Century New England Land Conservation
The new book, Twentieth-Century New England Land Conservation - A Heritage of Civic Engagement edited by Harvard Forest Associate Charles H.W. Foster will be available March 2009. Written by and about New Englanders, this book is relevant to others attempting to address conservation problems on a regional basis. These are the stories of people acting the New England way—recognizing a need, taking on a responsibility without being asked, and applying the Yankee attitude in order to bring about tangible conservation gains. But above all, the account is one of hope for the future for, as the authors document, conditions at the turn of the 20th century were of a nature we would not tolerate today: cut and burned over forests, eroded topsoil, depleted farmlands, streams choked with refuse and pollution, and species at the very brink of extinction. The stories told here are of people using what they had, setting to work to remedy these conditions, and doing so successfully. At a time of growing concern for the environment both locally and globally, theirs is a story certain to inform and inspire the next generation of conservation leaders.
Read more or purchase this book after March 2009 at www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/FOSTWE.html
New Publication
Xiao, J., Et. Al. 2008. Estimation of net ecosystem carbon exchange for the conterminous United States by combining MODIS and AmeriFlux data. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 148: 1827–1847.
December 2008 Highlights
2009 Harvard Forest Summer Program in Ecology for Undergraduates
We are now accepting applications for the 2009 Summer Program from undergraduates and recent graduates who are interested in an intensive research and education experience in ecology. Deadline: Feb. 6, 2009. Learn more
2009 Charles Bullard Fellowships in Forestry
We are now accepting applications for 6-12 months fellowships for advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use of forested environments. Deadline: Feb. 1, 2009. Learn more
Complete set of Harvard Forest Bulletins and Papers available on-line
Since its inception, Harvard Forest has published a series of lengthy bulletins and papers describing the results from major studies and research. As part of Harvard Forest's on-going effort to increase the accessibility of our research materials, we have made the 30 Bulletins and 28 Papers and 1 pamphlet of the Harvard Forest Dioramas available on-line in a PDF format.
Harvard Forest Ecologist appointed Editor in Chief
Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison has been appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Ecological Monographs, one of four journals published by the Ecological Society of America. He will be the first independent Editor-in-Chief of Ecological Monographs in nearly 40 years (the editorial boards of Ecology and Ecological Monographs were consolidated in 1972). As part of this shift in editorial oversight, Ecological Monographs' scope will change. Beginning in 2009, Ecological Monographs not only will publish monographic papers that describe complex, multifaceted ecological studies but also will publish comprehensive reviews that establish new benchmarks in the field, define directions for future research, contribute to fundamental understanding of ecological principles, and derive principles for ecological management in its broadest sense.
New Harvard Forest Publications
Forest response to hurricane disturbance across a storm track
In this paper, former MFS student Posy Busby and HF ecologists Glenn Motzkin and Emery Boose show spatial patterns of forest response to a severe hurricane in 1944 varied predictably with respect to location relative to the storm track - sites closest to the storm track experienced lesser wind damage and exhibited minimal growth responses, whereas sites farther east of the storm track and closer to the area of maximum estimated wind speed were characterized by greater wind damage and growth changes. Variation in estimated wind speed among study sites (5–10 m/s) is not much greater than anticipated increases in hurricane intensity predicted under future climate scenarios (3–7 m/s). Thus, results of this study suggest that the magnitude of anticipated increases in wind speeds associated with Atlantic hurricanes may be sufficient to cause changes in forest response.
Busby,P.E., G. Motzkin, and E. R. Boose. 2008. Landscape-level variation in forest response to hurricane disturbance across a storm track. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 38: 2942–2950.
Bog research reveals useful indicators of atmospheric deposition
Geographic trends in surface water chemistry and leaf tissue nutrients may reflect gradients of nutrient limitation and broad-scale anthropogenic inputs. Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison and his colleagues at the University of Vermont measured nutrient and metal concentrations in pore-water and in leaf tissues of three common bog plant genera - leather-leaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), northern pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea), and peat moss (Sphagnum spp. in 24 bogs in Massachusetts and Vermont. Macronutrient and trace heavy metal concentrations were very low. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), Cu, Mg, NO3 Al and K in pore-water increased from the northwest (northwestern Vermont) to the southeast (Cape Cod and eastern Massachusetts near Boston), a gradient of increasing human population density and urbanization. In contrast, pore-water concentrations of SO4 and Al were highest in the western sites, and SO4 concentrations increased with elevations, reflecting atmospheric inputs from the Ohio River Valley leading to increased acidic eposition and causing Al to be leached from soils. Because bogs are naturally low in nutrients and do not receive substantial inputs from surrounding groundwater, the chemical signatures and nutrient stoichiometry of specific bog plants may provide useful indicators for assessing spatiotemporal changes in atmospheric deposition. This work provides baseline information for developing such indicators.
Gotelli, N. J., P. J. Mouser, S. Hudman, S. E. Morales, D. Ross, and A. M. Ellison. 2008. Geographic variation in nutrient availability, stoichiometry, and metal concentrations of plants in ombrotrophic bogs in New England, USA. Wetlands 28: 827-840.
November 2008 Highlights
Harvard Forest Hosts SEEDS Field Trip
The Harvard Forest hosted an undergraduate field trip of ESA-SEEDS October 16-19. Nineteen students and two faculty advisors from colleges and universities across the United States participated in the visit, which included a field research tour, mini-investigation from field work to data analysis, career panel, and writing workshop. The opportunity for students and Harvard Forest staff to interact was informative and inspiring.
SEEDS is an education program of the Ecological Society of America. Its mission is to diversify and advance the profession of ecology through opportunities that stimulate and nurture the interest of underrepresented students.
Fisher Museum Volunteers
On Thursday evening, November 20th, the Fisher Museum will host the 17th annual Museum Volunteers Recognition Dinner. This dinner recognizes the time and effort this group of dedicated volunteers donates to allow the Museum to be open on weekends from May through October and to assist visiting school groups throughout the year. If you would like to learn more about the opportunities available at the Museum please contact John O'Keefe, Museum Coordinator, at 978/724-3302 or jokeefe@fas.harvard.edu.
2008-2009 Harvard Forest Bullard Fellows in Forest Research
Harvard Forest is pleased to announce the 2008-2009 Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research. The purpose of this fellowship program, established in 1962 by an endowment named after the benefactor Charles Bullard, is to support advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making important contributions, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use and study of forested environments.
This year's Bullard Fellows were selected from a large pool of international applicants and cover a broad array of forest-related subjects. These nine distinguished practitioners and academics from across the United States and the globe will spend one to two semesters conducting research based in Cambridge or at the Harvard Forest in Petersham. While in residence at Harvard, Fellows interact with faculty and students, give seminars, participate in conferences and symposia and avail themselves of the University's great research resources.
Learn More about this years Fellows.Harvard Forest on the 'T'
A recent ad for the Harvard University Extension School's environmental courses, seen on the 'T', in the Globe and other media, shows Mark Leighton's class 'Conservation Biology and Sustainable Use of Forested Landscapes' (ENVR E-142/W) on a field trip to the Harvard Forest with Mark and Museum Coordinator, John O'Keefe. See the Ad.
New Publication
Disturbance dynamics in Massachusetts Old-growth forests
Natural disturbances strongly influence the dynamics and developmental patterns of forest ecosystems; however, relatively little is known about the historic patterns of natural disturbance for many portions of eastern North America, such as southern New England, where human disturbance has predominated for centuries. Former REU (2000) and Ph.D. student (2007) Tony D'Amato along with HF forest ecologist David Orwig analyzed dendroecological data from the eighteen largest remaining old-growth stands in western Massachusetts ranging in proximity from 1-60 km apart to characterize the historic stand and landscape-level patterns of natural disturbance. Results indicate that disturbance regimes for these systems were dominated by relatively frequent, low intensity disturbances (average 5.0 ± 0.2 % canopy area disturbed per decade)operating somewhat randomly on the landscape. Across the study areas, most decadal disturbances (86.2%) involved less than 10 % canopy loss. There was no evidence of stand-replacing disturbances during the period examined (1700-1989) and the maximum canopy area disturbed in any given decade was 26.3%. Comparisons of these decadal patterns with model simulations of past hurricane events and historical documents suggest that broad-scale disturbances, such as hurricanes and ice storms, resulted in common disturbance peaks and subsequent recruitment peaks at spatially disparate areas in the 1790s, 1870s, 1900s and 1920s. Conversely, the lack of synchrony in proximate areas during these events highlights the patchy nature of these disturbances on the landscape.
D'Amato, A.W. and D.A. Orwig. 2008. Stand and Landscape-level Disturbance Dynamics in Old-Growth Forests in Western Massachusetts. Ecological Monographs, 78(4), 2008, pp. 507–522.
October 2008 Highlights
Fall Foliage - Climate Change
In the October issue of National Geographic magazine, the leaf pigmentation work of former Bullard Fellow David Lee and the fall phenology observations of Museum Coordinator and ecologist John O'Keefe are highlighted in a brief piece on fall color. You can view today's fall foliage color at Harvard Forest at the webcam view of Prospect Hill. View a sequence of images tracking color change to date through this season. You can also see the fall foliage season unfold in previous years as shown from the pasture near the Harvard Forest headquarters. Learn more about the science behind leaf color change at a site developed by David Lee.
Acting Locally - A Working Model
David Foster, Director of Harvard Forest and Bill Labich, Regional Conservationist of Highstead lay out the arguments and successes of creating a working model to think globally while acting locally. For New England and most of the eastern United States, there is a direct link between effective forest protection and management and the global environment. As a consequence of sub-continental reforestation and growth since the 19th Century, residents across this region have a second chance to determine the fate of their natural landscape. The forests that blanket this region are young and growing rapidly, storing globally important amounts of carbon and thereby thwarting global climate change. Protecting these forests and managing them to produce products and store additional carbon will bring immense benefits to local communities and the world. The Wildlands and Woodlands proposal to protect and manage 50% of southern New England in forests provides a mechanism for achieving such ambitious local and global goals. See the entire chapter below.
Foster, D.R. and W. Labich. 2008. A Wildland and Woodland Vision for the New England Landscape: Local Conservation, Biodiversity and the Global Environment. Pp 155-175. In R.A. Askins et al. (eds.), Saving Biological Diversity. Springer.
Harvard Forest Featured in Gazette
Harvard University's Gazette featured the Harvard Forest in its September, 25th edition. The article highlights Harvard Forest's vast history, landscape, research history and current and future endeavors. Read the article on-line, view it as a PDF or pick up a copy to see the accompanying photographs.
Recent Students Publications
Coastal Ecology
Busby, P.E., G. Motzkin, and D.R. Foster. 2008. Multiple and interacting disturbances lead to Fagus grandifolia dominance in coastal New England. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 135(3), pp. 346–359.
Bob Marshall and Harvard Forest Ecology
Ireland, A.W., B.J. Mew, and D.R. Foster. 2008. Bob Marshall’s forest reconstruction study: three centuries of ecological resilience to disturbance. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 135(3), pp. 411–422.
September 2008 Highlights
Talk and Book Signing with Dr. Eric Chivian - September 19th
You are invited to special talk and book signing
with Dr. Eric Chivian, Director of Harvard University
Center for Health and the Global Environment.
Talk: Sustaining Life: How Human Health
Depends on Biodiversity
Location: Fisher Museum, Harvard Forest, 324 North Main Street. Petersham, Massachusetts 01366
Time: 7:00 p.m. Friday, September 19th
All Welcome!
Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served at 6:30 p.m.
Harvard Forest Artist in Residence
Debby Cotter Kaspari
These works were created on location in Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA, by Debby Kaspari, Artist-in Residence in spring and summer of 2008. During five months of drawing and painting from life in the woods Kaspari recorded natural forms, seasonal changes, birds and animals in mixed media on paper. These artworks were begun plein air and finished in-studio at Benson House. Kaspari was inspired by Harvard Forest's natural elements as well as slab quarries, old foundations and other historical artifacts scattered around the forest. "I concentrated on intimate scenes within the forest, and tried to show how the remains of earlier settlement eventually becomes part of the forest itself".
Read Debby's Bio and catch up on her current events through her blog.
Help Harvard Forest protect the Ernie Gould woodlot!
Harvard Forest still needs to raise $50,000 to cover costs associated with protecting the Ernie Gould woodlot with a conservation easement and then purchasing the property. Harvard Forest does not receive financial support fromHarvard University for this type of project.
The woodlot, owned and managed by forest economist Ernie Gould until his death in 1988, will become the focal area for the Gould Woodland Center for Conservation, a demonstration area for our Wildlands and Woodlands vision in action.
Donations toward the Gould Woodlot project can be sent to:
HARVARD FOREST
GOULD WOODLOT PROJECT
324 NORTH MAIN STREET
PETERSHAM, MA 01366
Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Teacher, Katherine Bennett, wins New England Environmental Education Association Award
Kate has been actively leading her students in participating in a hands-on long term field ecology project monitoring the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in a woodland near their school. This work is part of Harvard Forest’s Schoolyard Ecology program, Woolly Bully, which connects students with Forest Ecologist, David Orwig’s studies. Kate has also worked closely with Forest Ecologist, Aaron Ellison as a field research assistant. We are thrilled that she is being recognized for her amazing work in connecting students with the natural world using authentic scientific studies.
The Formal Environmental Educator Award is designed to recognize a public or private school classroom teacher who:
- promotes individual and societal environmental responsibility;
- encourages students to make informed decisions about environmental issues;
- inspires student involvement and action through individual or group projects to effect positive environmental change at school or within the local community;
- links student learning to the appropriate state or national science benchmarks, curriculum frameworks, or standards.
The award ceremony will be held at the NEEEA conference in Hancock, New Hampshire on October 5th.
New Publications
Eastern Hemlock: Irreplaceable Habitat
If you have ever ventured into the midst of an eastern hemlock-dominated forest, you may sense that you entered a special place. The stately, long-lived conifers with drooping, dark green branches aligned in a pyramidal shape, create an environment that is deeply shaded and cooler than surrounding woodlands. These conditions strongly influence wildlife and nearby streams. Harvard Forest Forest Ecologist, David Orwig discusses the importance and influence of the Eastern Hemlock in the Massachusett's Chapter of the Sierra Club newsletter.
Orwig, D.A., 2008. Eastern Hemlock: Irreplaceable Habitat. Sierran. pp. 3,5.
August 2008 Highlights
Scientist featured in Science Magazine
Harvard Forest Scientist Kristina Stinson recently talked with Science Magazine about her career path and her work on invasive plants at Harvard Forest. The profile was part of journalist Elisabeth Pain's series on forest ecology. Read the entire article
Climate Change: a Retrospective Look
The National Science Foundation has awarded $465,000 for a collaborative research project involving scientists from Harvard Forest, Emerson College, Brown University, and the University of Wyoming. The research will explore the potential for abrupt shifts in species abundances and assemblages to result from interactions between gradual, long-term changes in climate and episodic drought, fire, or human activities. The retrospective project involves the use of complementary approaches to reconstruct past climate-ecosystem dynamics. High-resolution analyses of lake-sediment records from southern New England will reveal past changes in climate, vegetation, and disturbance for the past 15,000 years, thus improving our knowledge of the mechanisms by which climate change interacts with environmental extremes and disturbance to control the pace and patterns of ecological change.
Harvard Forest on the Radio
Research by Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison on pitcher plants and nitrogen deposition ("acid rain") was featured on WFCR's weekly "Field Notes" column. Field Notes is produced by Laurie Sanders; WFCR is Western Massachusetts' NPR affiliate station. Listen to the interview.
New Publications
New Book Examines the History of Agriculture, Ecological Change and Conservation across the U.S.
The introduction, spread, and abandonment of agriculture represents the most pervasive alteration of the earth's environment in recorded history. This new volume edited by Charles Redman from Arizona State University and David Foster from Harvard Forest, draws on research at six U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research sites, to describe what happens when humans alter natural ecological regimes through agricultural practices. Although each research site has its own unique agricultural history, patterns emerge that help us understand the impact of our actions on the earth, and how the earth pushes back.
Learn more and/or purchase the book.
Structural Comparisons Among Old Growth and Second Growth Hemlock Forests
Old-growth forests are valuable sources of ecological, conservation, and management information, yet these ecosystems have received little study in New England, due in large part to their regional scarcity. To increase our understanding of the structures and processes common in these rare forests, former REU (2000) and Ph.D. student (2007) Tony D'Amato along with HF ecologists David Orwig and David Foster studied the abundance of downed coarse woody debris (CWD) and snags and live-tree size-class distributions in 16 old-growth hemlock forests in western Massachusetts. Old-growth stands were compared with eight adjacent second growth hemlock forests to gain a better understanding of the structural differences between these two classes of forests resulting from contrasting histories. The variation in structural attributes among old growth stands, particularly the abundance of downed CWD, was closely related to disturbance history. In particular, old-growth stands experiencing moderate levels of canopy disturbance during the last century (1930s and 1980s) had greater accumulations of CWD, highlighting the importance of gap-scale disturbances in shaping the long-term development and structural characteristics of old-growth forests. These findings are important for the development of natural disturbance-based silvicultural systems that may be used to restore important forest characteristics lacking in New England second-growth stands by integrating structural legacies of disturbance (e.g., downed CWD) and resultant tree-size distribution patterns. This silvicultural approach would emulate the often episodic nature of CWD recruitment within old-growth forests.
D'Amato, A. W., D. A. Orwig and D. R. Foster. 2008. The Influence of Successional Processes and Disturbance on the Structure of Tsuga Canadensis Forest. Ecological Applications, 18(5), pp. 1182-1199.
July 2008 Highlights
Harvard Forest Schoolyard Program Featured in the News
HF Ecologist,David Orwig's work with the Schoolyard Ecology project "Hemlock Trees and the Pesky Pest, the Woolly Adelgid" was featured on the front page of the Greenfield Recorder recently. See the article about Greenfield High School students and teacher Christine Perham's experience in doing ecological field research in Greenfield.
Harvard Forest Receives Safe Drinking Water Award
Harvard Forest recently was awarded the Massachusetts Public Drinking Water Award, which recognizes public water systems for outstanding performance. In a ceremony at the State House, MassDEP Commissioner Laurie Burt presented the award to Michael Scott, Edythe Ellin, and Ronald May. Winning systems were determined based on their compliance with state drinking water regulations. The 32 award winners (out of 1,736 systems state-wide) had no monitoring enforcements or violations, submitted all required reports on time, adhered to good water management procedures and have excellent source protection standards.
New Publications
New Book Examines the History of Agriculture, Ecological Change and Conservation across the U.S.
The introduction, spread, and abandonment of agriculture represents the most pervasive alteration of the earth's environment in recorded history. This new volume edited by Charles Redman from Arizona State University and David Foster from Harvard Forest, draws on research at six U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research sites, to describe what happens when humans alter natural ecological regimes through agricultural practices. Although each research site has its own unique agricultural history, patterns emerge that help us understand the impact of our actions on the earth, and how the earth pushes back.
Learn more and/or purchase the book.
Invasive Plant Studies
Previous work at the Harvard Forest has shown that mycorrhizal fungi of herbaceous plants are inhibited by the invasion of garlic mustard. In this paper, researchers at the Harvard Forest, the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, and at Boston University demonstrate that ectomycorrhizal fungal communities in conifer dominated forests are also inhibited by the invasion of garlic mustard in multiple forest types throughout New England. The decline of ectomycorrhizal fungi due to garlic mustard invasion may have implications for tree seedling establishment and biogeochemical cycling in forest soils.
Wolfe, B.E., V.L. Rodgers, K.A. Stinson and A. Pringle. 2008. The invasive plant Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) inhibits ectomycorrhizal fungi in its introduced range. Journal of Ecology 96: 777-783.
The Effect of Logging in Western Massachusetts
Forest harvesting is one of the most significant disturbances affecting forest plant composition and structure in eastern North American forests, yet few studies have quantified the landscape-scale effects of widespread, low-intensity harvests by non-industrial private forest owners. Using spatially explicit data on all harvests over the last 20 years, we sampled the vegetation at 126 sites throughout central and western Massachusetts, one-third of which had not been harvested, and two-thirds of which had been harvested once since 1984. Seedling and sapling densities increased with increasing harvest intensity, but decreased to levels similar to unharvested sites by year 20 for all but the most intensive harvests. The composition of understory trees appears to be only slightly changed by harvesting, and was strongly correlated with adult tree composition. Overall, the compositional impacts of harvesting were minor, perhaps because of the low-intensity of harvesting. However, our results support observations from elsewhere in the northeastern U.S. of limited oak regeneration on both harvested and unharvested sites. In addition, our results suggest that increased harvest intensity may be expected to alter forest composition, particularly on rich sites where invasive species may increase as a result of harvesting.
McDonald, R.I., G. Motzkin, D.R. Foster. 2008. The effect of logging on vegetation composition in Western Massachusetts. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 4021–4031.
June 2008 Highlights
Interns Arrive for Summer Program in Ecology
Twenty-three summer students have arrived as part of the Harvard Forest summer research program in ecology. Students come from all over the United States to participate in on-going research projects investigating atmospheric pollution, global warming, invasive plants, watershed ecology, and insect outbreaks. Researchers come from many disciplines and institutions. Specific projects center on population and community ecology, plant physiology, insect ecology, land-use history, aquatic ecology, biogeochemistry, and atmosphere-biosphere exchanges.
Harvard Forest On The Air
Schoolyard Ecology Program Honored
The Schoolyard Ecology program at Harvard Forest was featured on WBZ-TV in Boston and 3 of our Schoolyard Ecology teachers were honored at the State House for Excellence in Environmental Education. Tewksbury High School teacher,Elaine Senechal and her students along with Harvard Forest Ecologist John O'Keefe made an appearance on WBZ-TV with reporter Mish Michaels. See the clip.
The Boston Globe covered the story of teachers being honored for Excellence in Environmental Education at State House. Teachers and students from West Springfield, Amherst and Athol were awarded. Harvard Forest participants were the first 2 awardees listed and the West Springfield award. View the story.
Tropical Coastal Research at Harvard Forest
Harvard Forest has been fortunate to be one of the world's centers for research in the ecology of tropical coastal forests. Professor Emeritus Barry Tomlinson wrote the book on mangroves (The Botany of Mangroves, published in 1986 by Cambridge University Press). Recent Bullard Fellow Elizabeth Farnsworth and Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison have collaborated on mangrove research since the mid-1980s. Just over 3 years after the Asian Tsunami raised global awareness about the importance of mangroves for coastal protection, mangroves are in the news again. Coastal areas of Myanmar (the country formerly known as Burma) from which mangroves have been cut extensively appeared to have suffered far more damage from Cyclone Nargis on May 2, 2008. Ellison was interviewed about the relationship between mangroves and coastal protection on Here and Now. Listen to the 8-minute interview
Harvard Undergraduate Thesis on Garlic Mustard, an Invasive Plant
Dunbar Nathan Carpenter '08 completed his Senior Thesis in Biology (OEB) "Regional and Historical Influences on Exotic Plant Invasions - The Ecological Drivers of Garlic Mustrard (Alliaria petiolata) Invasion in Western Massachusetts". This work draws upon research initiated in the Harvard Forest Summer Program investigating the ecological and historical factors driving the distribution of garlic mustard, a highly invasive plant. Dunbar completed his analyses and writing with oversight from Kathleen Donohue, Kristina Stinson, Missy Holbrook and David Foster while enrolled in the ecology research seminar OEB 198. The data show a higher occurrence of garlic mustard in the Berkshire Valley than in the Connecticut River Valley that is most likely related to the history of invasion rather than climate or environmental differences between the regions. Different factors appeared to influence the plant’s establishment at open sites, its invasion into adjacent forests, and its abundance in the understory. These findings broadly suggest that history and geography, in addition to environment, are important to consider in interpreting or anticipating plant invasions at the regional scale. Dunbar has also contributed to recommendations for invasive species control at the Harvard Forest.
New Harvard Forest Publications
In April's Ecology, former research assistant Jess Butler and her co-authors Nick Gotelli (University of Vermont) and Aaron Ellison (Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist) reported the surprising finding that the complex food web of macroinvertebrates inhabiting leaves of the pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea contribute little to the nutrient budget of this carnivorous plant. Rather, bacteria provide the key link between the detritus-based ("brown") food web living in the pitchers and the producer-based ("green") food web that depends on the plant for food. In a follow-up publication to appear in Environmental Microbiology, Harvard post-doc Celeste Peterson and a group of co-authors from Harvard's Departments of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, Harvard Forest, and Howard University describe the diversity of these bacteria in three bogs in Massachusetts. Peterson et al. show that the presence of the top predator in the pitcher plant's brown food web, larvae of the mosquito Wyeomyia smithii increases bacterial species richness in the pitchers. So although the food web may not directly provide nitrogen to the plant, the food web does control the diversity of the species that do provide that nitrogen.
Butler, J. L., N. J. Gotelli, and Ellison, A. M. 2008. Linking the brown and green: nutrient transformation and fate in the Sarracenia microecosystem. Ecology 89: 898-904.
Peterson, C. N., S. Day, B. E. Wolfe, A. M. Ellison, R. Kolter, and A. Pringle. 2008. A keystone predator controls bacterial diversity in the pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) microecosystem. Environmental Microbiology (in press)
May 2008 Highlights
Harvard Forest Forest Canopy Camera Installed
In April Harvard Forest's webcam went online, thanks to a grant to our collaborator, Andrew Richardson, at the University of New Hampshire. The camera, which is mounted at the top of the Environmental Measurement Station (EMS) deep in our Prospect Hill tract, records an image every 15 minutes. The view looks north from the EMS toward Prospect Hill and the fire tower at the top of Propect Hill can easily be seen. The webcam images will be used to track tree phenology, leaf emergence and development (greenup) in the spring and leaf color and drop in the fall. These data will fill a gap between individual tree observations made from the ground and satellite observations that integrate over a large area and can only be made when the sky is not cloudy. The timing of these events, which are sensitive to climate change, determines the length of the growing season and hence influences carbon exchange, which is being measured at the EMS.
2008-2009 Bullard Fellow Recipients Announced
The Charles Bullard fellowship program is to support advanced research and study by individuals who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry and forest-related subjects from biology to earth sciences, economics, politics, administration or law. See the complete listing of Bullard Scholars from 1962 - 2008
| Recipient | Home Institution | Field of Research |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Blackmer | Forest conservation and policy | |
| Xiaojun Du | Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences | Forest Ecology |
| Serita Frey | University of New Hampshire | Soil microbial ecology |
| Carlos Garcia | Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Ecológicas (ICAE), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Los Ande | Plant Physiological Ecology |
| Matts Lindbladh | Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences | Forest History and Conservation |
| Nophea Sasaki | University of Hyogo, Japan | Tropical Forestry and Climate Policy |
| Bill Sobczak | College of the Holy Cross | Stream Biogeochemistry and Ecology |
| Debabrata Swain | Indian Forest Service | Understanding past and present human impacts on tropical deciduous forests |
| Jonathan Thompson | Oregon State University | Forest Simulation Modeling |
Bryant Farm
Harvard Forest recently purchased the farm house, 3 outbuildings and about 8 acres of land from the estate of Richard Bryant, a long time friend of the Harvard Forest. The house is a beautiful ca. 1840 vintage historic cape, with slate roof, barn, garage and other outbuildings. Over time, the goal is to reopen up the adjacent pastures to allow small scale farming to return to this historic homestead.
Forest Publications
Impact of Climate Change on Terrestrial Over-Wintering Birds
Romemary Balfour completed her Master of Liberal Arts at the Harvard Extension School with the thesis "The Impact of Changes in Average Winter Temperatures and Habitat Modification on Populations of Terrestrial Birds Over-wintering in Inland Areas of Massachusetts". David Foster, Director of Harvard Forest, served as a member on her thesis committee.
This study investigates the impact of the increasing average winter temperatures and habitat modification on winter populations of terrestrial birds in Massachusetts, based on Christmas Bird Count (CBC) data recorded annually by volunteers for the National Audubon Society. The large archival database of records for birds' species in their winter range was used to examine whether bird species are extending their winter ranges into more northerly regions. The ratio of southern to northern for bird populations in eight CBC across within four ecologically diverse regions of Massachusetts were shown to have increased significantly from the winter of 1980/1 to 2004/5, but there was a weak correlation when the ratios were compared to average winter temperatures. Examination of the changes in land-use in the CBC areas, over the same time period showed a correlation with the area of residential use, and the length of edge between forested and developed areas, which is increasing as a result of forest fragmentation. Separation of the bird species into habitat preferences of edge, woods, and grassland, showed a preferential distribution of birds in the edge habitat. Additionally, analysis of the feeding preferences of the bird species showed a predominance of seed-eating birds. Examination of individual species that use bird feeders as a supplementary winter food resource showed they are increasing in abundance and/or expanding their winter ranges. The increasing popularity of feeding wild birds may be improving the winter survival of some species at the expense of species diversity. The results suggest that the increasing numbers of winter populations of southern species in Massachusetts are occurring in response to a complex interaction of factors that include climate change, habitat modification, and supplementary winter food resources.
Ecosystem Response to Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Infestation
Forest ecologist David Orwig, along with several former and current Harvard Forest collaborators, examined the magnitude of ecosystem response associated with 3 years of hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) infestation in southern New England hemlock forests. The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, shows that infested forests had significantly higher HWA-induced foliar loss and significantly lower forest floor C:N ratios and percent soil organic matter than uninfested forests. There were no significant soil temperature differences among stand types, although infested stands did have lower forest floor moisture and higher mineral soil moisture than uninfested stands. Net-nitrogen (N) mineralization and net nitrification rates did not differ between stand types, although net nitrification rates were an order of magnitude higher in infested versus uninfested forests by the third year of this study. In addition, total N pools and NH4 and NO3 captured on resin bags were significantly higher in infested versus uninfested forests throughout this study. These increases in N were likely due to a combination of factors including enhanced decomposition, reduced uptake of both water and nitrogen by declining trees, the absence of understory vegetation, and N-enriched throughfall from infested canopies. These results confirm that invasive pests can initiate substantial changes in ecosystem function soon after infestation occurs, and prior to substantial overstory mortality or understory re-organization.
Orwig, D.A., R.C. Cobb, A.W. D'Amato, M.L. Kizlinzki and D.R. Foster. 2008. Multi-year ecosystem response to hemlock woolly adelgid infestation in southern New England forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 38: 834-843.
April 2008 Highlights
Harvard Forest Biodiversity Studies: The Vascular Flora
Jerry Jenkins, former Bullard Fellow and researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society, Glenn Motzkin, ecologist at Harvard Forest, and Kirsten Ward, a former summer student at the Harvard Forest, have completed a study of the vascular plants of the Harvard Forest. The study compares the results of field studies that the authors conducted between 2004 and 2007 with previous three previous field studies in the 20th century. It documents the present and historical floras, gives a quantitative analysis of their structure and dynamics, and relates their changes to disturbance and environmental change.
Jenkins, J., G. Motzkin, and K. Ward. 2008. The Harvard Forest Flora. An Inventory, Analysis and Ecological History. Harvard Forest Paper no.28. pp. 266. Note this download is very large
Summer Institute for Teachers
The Harvard Forest offers a Forest Ecology training institute for teachers of grades 2-12. Learn from professional Ecologists how to implement field studies with your students, right in your schoolyard.
Teachers from all districts are encouraged to participate in this orientation on August 6th, 2008 to our year long Schoolyard Ecology program which includes two Schoolyear Seminars in addition to the summer institute. PDPs awarded to all participants. Registration flyer and forms are now available.
Wildlands and Woodlands: Gaining Ground
The 2008 Update has been released. In this issue, it describes momentum with a diverse constituency which has banded together in the Wildlands and Woodlands Partnership to promote the larger W & W vision. This group has encouraged the formation of regional partnerships focused on land protection and forest stewardship, promoted new policy initiatives to fund broad scale land protection and has worked with a large group of landowners in western Massachusetts to develop a regional forest protection effort. Read the update
Harvard Forest Publication
Harvard Forest Ecologist Kristina Stinson, along with former Bullard Fellow John Klironomos (University of Guelph) and researchers at University of Montana and Wright State University, followed up recent work on the antimicrobial properties of the invasive plant, Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard). Their forthcoming paper in the journal Ecology provides new evidence for a novel mechanism by which garlic mustard disrupts below-ground mutalisms between plants and their beneficial microbes. As one of North America’s most aggressive invaders of undisturbed forests, garlic mustard is known to inhibit mycorrhizal fungal mutualists of North American native plants. The authors tested whether these inhibitory effects on mycorrhizas in invaded North American soils are stronger than on mycorrhizas in European soils where A. petiolata is native. They found that suppression of North American mycorrhizal fungi by A. petiolata corresponds with severe inhibition of North American plant species that rely on these fungi, whereas congeneric European plants are only weakly affected. The chemicals involved were identified as a combination of flavinoids and glucosinolates. These results indicate that antifungal phytochemicals, benign to resistant mycorrhizal symbionts in the home range, impose a novel threat to native North American plant species.
Callaway, R.M., D. Cipollini, K. Barto, G.C. Thelen, S.G. Hallett, D Prati, K. Stinson and J. Klironomos. 2008. Novel Weapons: Invasive Plant Suppresses Fungal Mutualists in America but not in Its Native Europe. Ecology.
March 2008 Highlights
Annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium
The nineteenth annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium will be held March 18, 2008 from 9:00am - 5:00pm at the Harvard Forest. This year's symposium will feature talks and discussion on: New England Landscape Response to Climate Change and Disturbance: Ecosystem Science Addressing Policy Concerns and The Future of Microbial Ecology at Harvard Forest. Learn more, RSVP and/or submit abstracts.
Harvard Forest Ecologist and Former REU Student Receive Award
Haley Smith, an undergraduate student at Oklahoma State University and REU student from the summer of 2007, and forest ecologist David Orwig recently won an award for their poster, "Influence of hemlock woolly adelgid and elongate hemlock scale on leaf-level physiological performance of eastern hemlock." The poster was presented at the 2008 USDA-sponsored Fourth Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Symposium in Hartford, CT.
Dean Establishes Fund to Support FAS Courses Taught at Harvard Forest
The Forest is pleased to announce that FAS Dean Michael Smith has established a fund to support courses being taught at the Forest by FAS faculty. "The intent of the course is to reimburse the Forest for meals and lodging, thereby removing that financial constraint from department budgets so Cambridge-based courses will be encouraged to take advantage of educational opportunities at the Forest. Faculty anticipating activities at the Forest may apply to the fund during preparation of the FY2009 budget." For more information, please contact Edythe Ellin at ellin@fas.harvard.edu
Harvard Forest Publications
Spread and Distribution of Two Invasive Species across Southern New England
Forest ecologist David Orwig along with collaborators Evan Preisser (University of Rhode Island), Alexandra Lodge (Summer 2005 REU student- Kenyon College), and Joe Elkinton (Umass, Amherst) report on the spread and distribution of 2 invasive species (hemlock woolly adelgid-HWA and elongate hemlock scale-EHS) across southern New England. This paper is a follow-up study that resampled 142 eastern hemlock stands originally sampled in the late 1990s (CT stands) or 2002-2004 (MA stands). The number of HWA-infested stands increased but the per-stand HWA density substantially decreased. In contrast, EHS distribution and density increased dramatically since 1997-98. Hemlock mortality was much more strongly related to HWA density than EHS density, and many stands remained relatively healthy despite an overall increase in hemlock mortality. There was a positive correlation between HWA and EHS densities in stands with low mean HWA densities, suggesting the potential for host-plant-mediated facilitation of EHS by HWA. Results suggest that interactions between invasive species may not have outcomes similar to those interactions occurring between native-native or invasive-native species pairs.
Preisser, E.L, A. G. Lodge, D. A. Orwig and J. S. Elkinton. 2008. Range expansion and population dynamics of co-occurring invasive herbivores. Biol Invasions 10:201–213
Water Use by Oak versus Hemlock. Implications for Ecosystem-level Effects of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
The major significance of this paper is that it shows a red oak-dominated forest, common in many areas of southern New England, uses more water in summer than an old-growth hemlock forest. As a result, if hemlocks that are killed by the hemlock woolly adelgid are eventually replaced by a deciduous forest with oak as the dominant species (or any other species with similarly high water use), forest water use will increase and the amount of water available for streamflow, lakes and reservoirs will be reduced.
The paper also shows that although summer carbon storage in the hemlock forest between July 2004 and June 2006 was much less than in the oak-dominated deciduous forest, the hemlock forest stored enough carbon during relatively mild weather (without freezing nights) in spring and fall, that annual carbon storage in the hemlock forest was comparable to the oak-dominated forest. Climate warming appears likely to increase carbon storage during these spring and fall periods.
Hadley, J.L, P.S. Kuzeja, M.T. Mulcahy and S. Singh. 2008. Water use and carbon exchange of red hemlock dominated forests in the northeastern ecosystem-level effects of hemlock woolly. Tree Physiology 28, 615–627.
February 2008 Highlights
Annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium
The nineteenth annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium will be held March 18, 2008 from 9:00am - 5:00pm at the Harvard Forest. This year's symposium will feature talks and discussion on: New England Landscape Response to Climate Change and Disturbance: Ecosystem Science Addressing Policy Concerns and The Future of Microbial Ecology at Harvard Forest. Learn more and/or submit abstracts.
Harvard Forest on NPR's Climate Connections
Dan Charles of National Public Radio produced a program aired on December 31, 2007. He captures the work being done here at Harvard forest and helps reveal to the listener the importance of the research. Listen to the story and watch the audio photo show at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17332316
Harvard Forest Schoolyard Students Give Presentation to the Mass. Secretary of Energy and the Environment
Three sixth-grade students who participated in Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology projects in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades, gave a presentation to Ian Bowles, Secretary of Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA. The students from the JR Briggs Elementary School in Ashburnham shared their experiences in the field-based ecological research projects related to Vernal Pools, Leaf Phenology and the Hemlock Woolly Adeldgid. Fifth grade teacher, Kate Bennett, introduced the presentation along with Mary Marro of the Nashua River Watershed Association. All three of HF's protocols were presented in an impressive powerpoint presentation that the students prepared and presented.
Sampling New Hampshire Forest Vegetation
The Harvard Forest is seeking two college students/recent grads with field experience in sampling forest vegetation as part of its 2008 Summer Research Program in Ecology. The two interns will work together with minimal supervision, laying out plots, sampling vegetation (trees, shrubs, herbs), soils and environmental conditions, and entering data into spreadsheets. This summer’s work will serve as the first census of a long-term ecological monitoring program for the more than 4000 acres of forest protected and managed by the Blue Hills Foundation in southern New Hampshire. Learn More.
Harvard Forest Publications
Invasive Species Distribution
Despite the recognized importance of historical factors in controlling many native species distributions, few studies have incorporated historical landscape changes into models of invasive species distribution and abundance. We surveyed 159 currently forested sites for the occurrence and abundance of Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry), an invasive, non-native shrub in forests of the northeastern U.S., relative to modern environmental conditions, contemporary logging activity, and two periods of historical land use. Modern edaphic characteristics explained a significant portion of the variation in B. thunbergii occurrence, whereas site history considerably improved predictions of population density and helped evaluate potential invasion mechanisms. Our results indicate that interpretations of both native community composition and modern plant invasions must consider the importance of historical landscape changes and the timing of species introduction along with current environmental conditions.
DeGasperis, B.G. and G. Motzkin. 2007. Windows of Opportunity: Historical and Ecological Controls on Berberis thunbergii invasions. Ecology, 88(12), pp. 3115–3125.
Mangrove Management Activities
In June 2006, Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison delivered the keynote address at the 2nd Meeting on the Mangrove Macrobenthos. Selected papers from this meeting have just been published in the Journal of Sea Research. In the lead paper, Ellison addresses mangrove management activities in the broader context of the diversity of animals such as crabs and prawns that depend on mangroves for substrate, food, and shelter and that also are exploited as human food sources. Exploitation of mangrove-associated prawns, crabs, and molluscs has a total economic value exceeding US $4 Billion each year, but world-wide patterns of exploitation fit the process described by economists as "roving banditry". Roving bandits are people and multinational corporations who move from location to location, rapidly exploiting and depleting local resources before moving on to other, as-yet unprotected areas. Ellison argues that to effectively manage mangrove fauna that management for ecosystem services, not immediate profit, is the only way to preserve the total biodiversity of this threatened ecosystem.
Ellison, A. M. 2008. Managing mangroves with benthic biodiversity in mind: moving beyond roving banditry. Journal of Sea Research 59: 2-15.
Read all the papers in this issue
January 2008 Highlights
Harvard Forest Policy Analyst Receives Award from the Society of American Foresters
The New England section of the Society of American Foresters (SAF) has announced that David Kittredge has been elected Fellow to the Society for 2007. SAF recognizes members who have provided outstanding contributions to the Society over a sustained period and have distinguished themselves in the forestry profession with the title Fellow. There are only 38 Fellows in New England (out of a membership of 1,100) and this includes notably Dave’s major professor at Yale University, Dr. David M. Smith.
2008 Harvard Forest Summer Program in Ecology for Undergraduates
We are now accepting applications for the 2008 Summer Program from undergraduates and recent graduates who are interested in an intensive research and education experience in ecology. Deadline: Feb. 1, 2008. Learn more
2008 Charles Bullard Fellowships in Forestry
We are now accepting applications for 6-12 months fellowships for advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use of forested environments. Deadline: Feb. 1, 2008. Learn more
Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Participants win 2007 Teachers of the Year Awards
We are proud to announce that both the Massachusetts Audubon Society's and the Nashua River Watershed Association's 2007 Teacher of the Year awards were given to Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology participants!
Tewksbury High School teacher, Elaine Senechal(photo on left) won the Massachusetts Audubon Conservation Teacher of the Year award. Nashua River Watershed Association Education Coordinator, Mary Marro (center) presents the NRWA 2007 Education Award to J.R. Briggs Elementary School Teachers, Mary Gagnon (left) and Kate Bennett (right)
All three of these teachers are involved in their 3rd year of implementing field ecology projects coordinated by the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology program. Elaine Senechal is leading her High School students in a field ecology project called "Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming", which is a phenological study done in coordination with Harvard Forest Ecologist, Dr. John O'Keefe. Mary Gagnon's third grade students are immersed in the "Water in the Landscape: Vernal Pools" project done in coordination with Freshwater Ecologist, Dr. Betsy Colburn. Kate Bennett's 5th grade students are implementing the "Hemlock Trees and the Pesky Pest, the Woolly Adelgid project in cooperation with Forest Ecologist, Dr. David Orwig.
LTER releases Decadal Science Plan
The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, www.lternet.edu, has released its new Decadal Science Plan, which maps out the Network's science agenda for the next 10 years. Titled "Integrative Science for Society and the Environment(ISSE): A Plan for Research, Education, and Cyberinfrastructure in the U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research Network," the plan makes an ambitious call for research that extends the Network's foundational strength in ecology and environmental biology to also embrace the sociological sciences relevant to human-environment interactions. David Foster, Harvard Forest Director, participated in the writing team for the Plan and the ISSE. Read the entire press release.
New Harvard Forest Publication
Former Harvard Forest Bullard Fellow Elizabeth Farnsworth and Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison examine scaling relationships among leaf traits of 10 species of pitcher plants (Sarracenia species) fed different quantities of insect prey. Increased prey availability increased photosystem efficiencey (as expressed by the ratio of Fv/Fm), chlorophyll content, and photosynthetic rate. It also led to a shift from P- to N-limitation in subsequently produced pitchers. Increased prey also shifted leaf-trait scaling relationships, bringing them more in line with those found for a wide range of non-carnivorous plant species. The results support a general hypothesis published in 2006 by Bill Shipley and his colleagues that suggested that observed scaling relationships amongst leaf traits derive from trade-offs in allocation to structural tissues versus liquid-phase (e.g., photosynthetic) processes. These trade-offs appear to be especially constraining for plants growing in extremely nutrient-poor habitats such as bogs and other wetlands.
Farnsworth, E. J., and A. M. Ellison. 2008. Prey availability directly affects physiology, growth, nutrient allocation, and scaling relationships among leaf traits in ten carnivorous plant species. Journal of Ecology 96: 213-221.
December 2007 Highlights
2008 Harvard Forest Summer Program in Ecology for Undergraduates
We are now accepting applications for the 2008 Summer Program from undergraduates and recent graduates who are interested in an intensive research and education experience in ecology. Deadline: Feb. 1, 2008. Learn more
2008 Charles Bullard Fellowships in Forestry
We are now accepting applications for 6-12 months fellowships for advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use of forested environments. Deadline: Feb. 1, 2008. Learn more
Centennial Edition - New England Forests Through Time
The Harvard Forest Centennial Edition (1907-2007) reprinting of New England Forests Through Time: Insights from the Harvard Forest Dioramas is now available. Along with the diorama illustrations and interpretations that made the first printing so popular, this edition contains a new preface, "Forests Past, Present, and Future", and updated "Suggested Further Readings." Copies can be purchased.
New grant for climate change research
The Department of Energy has awarded $3.4 Million to a four-university consortium that includes Harvard University's Harvard Forest, North Carolina State, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Vermont for a four-year study of the effects of climate change on the ecological dynamics of ants and other soil invertebrates. In early 2008, ten 5-meter (16-foot) diameter open-top chambers will be installed at Harvard Forest and in North Carolina. The air and soil in these chambers will be warmed to between 1 and 7 degrees C above current conditions to simulate climatic conditions expected to occur in the eastern United States in the next century. The study will examine changes in the number of species of soil-dwelling invertebrates and changes in the size and activity of ants. We are particularly interested to see if northern species are excluded from our experimental chambers by increasing temperature, and if southern species colonize these "hot-spots" in the landscape.
New Journal Articles
The Analytic Web project, a long-term collaboration between ecologists at Harvard Forest and computer scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is developing methods to ensure that scientific data analyses are sound and reproducible. This paper considers how such methods might be applied to a complex, real-time system for measuring the movement of water through a small forested watershed at the Harvard Forest.
Boose, E. R., A. M. Ellison, L. J. Osterweil, L. A. Clarke, R. Podorozhny, J. L. Hadley, A. Wise, and D. R. Foster. 2007. Ensuring reliable datasets for environmental models and forecasts. Ecological Informatics 2: 237-247.
What effect do protected lands have on land conservation or development nearby in the surrounding landscape? Using information on land cover and land protection over time for three sites (western North Carolina, central Massachusetts, and central Arizona), this paper aimed to answer this question. At all sites, newly protected conservation areas tended to cluster close to preexisting protected areas. Land protection breeds more land protection. On the other hand, on two of our three sites the development rate was significantly greater in regions with more protected land. Protected lands appear to be an amenity that increases nearby development. These twin trends- increased land protection and increased development nearby previously protected lands- suggest that each conservation action should be justified and valued largely for what is protected on the targeted land, without much hope of broader conservation leverage effects on the surrounding landowners.
McDonald, R.I., C. Yuan-Farrell, C. Fievet, M. Moeller, P. Kareiva, D. Foster, T. Gragson, A. Kinzig, L. Kuby, and C. Redman (2007) Estimating the Effect of Protected Lands on the Development and Conservation of Their Surroundings. Conservation Biology.
Old Growth Publications
Tony D'Amato, former REU and recent Ph.D. graduate, produced an outreach pamphlet with Paul Catanzaro that introduces the habitat features of old-growth forests, outlines management options and resources for restoring these features to woodlands, and discusses the opportunities to obtain economic and ecological benefits from second-growth forests. Management strategies range from hands-off approaches to active management practices and can be implemented in a variety of intensities, stages, and combinations to fit within landowner objectives.
D'Amato, Anthony and P. Catanzaro. 2007. Restoring old-growth characteristics. Outreach pamphlet, Umass Extension, Amherst, MA.
Havard Forest Ecologist David Orwig and Tony D'Amato recently contributed to the New England Society of American Forester's News Quarterly (Oct. 2007). This issues features old growth in the northeastern U.S. as the quarterly theme. They provide an overview of Tony's recently completed Ph.D. work and focus on the old-growth forest remaining in southern New England and how can it help inform management decisions. Findings suggest that relatively frequent, small-scale disturbances were common in the hemlock dominated old-growth forests of western Massachusetts. Structural, compositional, and historical development comparisons between old-growth and second growth hemlock forests are provided as guides to help restore old-growth elements and aid disturbance-based silviculture strategies for forests in this region.
Orwig, D.A. and A. D'Amato. 2007. Southern New England old-growth forests: how much is left and can they help inform management decisions? pp. 10-11 in Old Growth in the Northeast. New England Society of American Foresters Quarterly
November 2007 Highlights
Renewable Energy at Harvard Forest
A new renewable energy source was recently commissioned at Harvard Forest. In mid-July 2007, Moss Hollow, LLC (Lunenburg, MA) completed installation of a 10KW solar array next to the new Facilities Barn. Support for this $100,000 project included grants from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Small Renewables Initiative and Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean's Fund; the balance was covered by the HU Green Campus Loan Fund. In the three months since the array began functioning, the system has generated more than 4,000 kWh of electricity. The solar array is part of the electrical system providing energy for all long-term experiments on the Prospect Hill Tract. These experiments, which explore the impact of global warming on the environment, now receive approximately 8% of their power needs from this renewable energy source. View energy output online.
Richard Hale Goodwin - Memorial Reflection
My first reflection on Dick's accomplishments is that his career and life were so diverse, so wide-reaching and so darn long that few people came to know more than even a small percentage of his greatness. an excerpt by David Foster, Director of Harvard Forest, former student and friend. Read the entire memorial reflection.
Harvard Forest 2007-2008 Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research.
Applications for 2008-2009 now being accepted
Harvard Forest is pleased to announce the 2007-2008 Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research. The purpose of this fellowship program, established in 1962, is to support advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making important contributions, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use and study of forested environments.
This year's Bullard Fellows were selected from a large pool of international applicants and cover a broad array of forest-related subjects. These seven distinguished practitioners and academics from across the United States and the globe will spend one to two semesters conducting research based in Cambridge or at the Harvard Forest in Petersham. The breadth of research encompassed by this year's class of scholars is vast, ranging from ecosystem, historical and avian ecology to ant biology and biogeography to social analysis of forest landowners to long-term, continental scale climate patterns.
The Charles Bullard Fellows for the 2007-2008 Academic year are:
Elisabeth Almgren, a paleoecologist and anthropologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, will be collaborating with David Foster, Wyatt Oswald, Matts Lindbladh and other scientists on a comparative study of cultural landscape development and conservation in Scandinavia and the Northeastern U.S. During her 12-month fellowship Almgren will also be developing and implementing interpretive public exhibits based on past, present and future research from the Harvard Forest. The project will expand the present educational options for the general public visiting Harvard Forest by providing additional popular presentations of scientific results and may lead to further collaboration with the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
Charles Cogbill, a forest ecologist at the Hubbard Brook Long Term Ecological Research site in New Hampshire, will incorporate a historical perspective, especially archival data, in investigations of the floristics, development, and biogeography of northeastern forests. His activities will revolve around assembly, organization, and analysis of a comprehensive database of northeastern vegetation before European settlement. He will be extending early surveyors' witness tree records westward across New York and northern Pennsylvania, creating an archived digital database of township witness-tree composition from across the Northeast, analyzing these data using geographic information systems and geo-spatial statistics, and assessing the historical biogeography of dominant trees and background disturbance processes in forests. He will work extensively with scientists at the Harvard Forest, the Harvard University Herbaria, and the Arnold Arboretum.
Todd Crowl, a quantitative ecologist at Utah State University, has worked on research projects dealing with detrital processing and food web dynamics, particularly within streams draining the Luquillo Mountains in Puerto Rico. Crowl is currently part of a large integrated project collecting data on hurricane impacts to forests. The focus of Crowl's six-month work as a Charles Bullard Fellow will be interactions with Aaron Ellison and David Foster to explore ways to analyze and synthesize large experimental data sets; host a number of short analysis and writing sessions with Puerto Rican colleagues; and host a NSF funded National Ecological Observatory Network workshop after site selection.
Rebecca Holberton is an avian ecologist from the biology department at the University of Maine. Holberton's work focuses on the interaction between environmental factors such as weather, food availability and habitat quality and physiological constraints during the migratory period. During her fellowship, she will be conducting a study emphasizing Blackpoll warbler (Dendroica striata) physiological state and key forest community characteristics over time and space during migration. This research will explore how an individual's condition can relate to variation in community structure, particularly during the period of fall migration when communities may be undergoing rapid seasonal changes.
Michael Kaspari studies community ecology and biogeography at the University of Oklahoma. Kaspari's research centers on the behavior, function, and biogeography of soil arthropods in tropical forests, which has prompted the interest of E.O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor, emeritus, in collaborative work. As a Charles Bullard Fellow, Kaspari's work will extend to the eastern forests of North America and in collaboration with Aaron Ellison and other researchers, he will explore how metabolic and stoichiometric theories predict patterns of decomposition and abundance in detrital food webs.
Mark Rickenbach investigates social networks and private forest policy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. During his time as a Charles Bullard Fellow, Rickenbach will study social networks to better understand forest landowners' decisions. This expanded view of forest landowners will lead toward the creation of novel research and meaningful policy and practice change. Through this study, which will complement research undertaken by David Kittredge in the Harvard Forest LTER program, he will formulate new research and outreach objectives that will advance the thoughtful stewardship and conservation of natural and managed ecosystems.
During his six-month Charles Bullard Fellowship, Nicholas Rodenhouse will focus his studies on quantifying the indirect effects of climate change on a forest bird population by using structural equation modeling. He also aims to organize a cross-site comparison of northern temperate forest patterns and processes among three regions: northeastern North America, northeastern Poland (exemplified by the Bialoweiza Forest) and far eastern Russia (represented by Kedrovaya Pad). Rodenhouse teaches and studies population ecology at Wellesley University.
October 2007 Highlights
Fall Foliage - 2007
The photographs below show foliage color at the end of September in 2005, 2006, and 2007 at the edge of the pasture adjacent to the headquarters of the Harvard Forest. The following presentation shows the progression of foliage from 2005 thru 2007.
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|
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Based on observations of leaf color and leaf drop on the same trees over the past 18 years by John O'Keefe, 2005 was a rather late fall and 2006 was an early fall, about a week ahead of 2005. It is still to soon to say where 2007 will wind up, but the very dry weather in August and early September led to some drought stress and color/drop of leaves, most noticeable on the birches and maples.
The bright sunny days this September have led to good anthocyanin (red pigment) production. Unlike the yellow carotenoid pigments, which are present through the growing season and then unmasked as chlorophyll breaks down in the fall, these red anthocyanins are produced by sunlight during leaf senescence. Learn more about leaf color.
New Large-scale Experiment at the Harvard Forest:
Early Successional Habitat Dynamics in Former Plantations
The Harvard Forest plans to harvest about 100 acres of mature plantation forests in Winter 2007-2008 in order to terminate these long term experiments, to regenerate a diversity of native tree species and restore native forests to these sites, and to initiate a new suite of long term experiments. For the next 10-15 years, the harvested areas will provide early successional habitat for a variety of wildlife species. Learn more about this experiment.
New Journal Articles
The analysis of stomata in lake-sediment cores is increasingly used as a paleoecological tool. Stomata are less likely than pollen grains to be dispersed over long distances, and thus stomate records supplement and enhance interpretations based on pollen data by providing information about patterns and composition of local vegetation. We have conducted the first study of this type in New England, analyzing conifer stomata in the late-glacial and early-Holocene sediments of Berry Pond, Massachusetts. Comparison of the stomate record with pollen data tests the ability of both approaches to reflect the history of vegetation at the study site.
W.W. Oswald, B.C.S. Hansen, D.R. Foster. 2007. New England Note: Comparison of Pollen and Stomata in Late-glacial and early-holocen lake sediments from Eastern Massachusetts. Rhodora, Vol. 109, No. 938, pp. 225–229.
Harvard Forest Senior Research Fellow Aaron Ellison, along with Ph.D. student Sydne Record, 2006 REU student Alex Arguello, and Nick Gotelli (University of Vermont) inventoried the ant assemblage at Black Rock Forest in Cornwall, New York. The inventory was conducted as part of Black Rock's oak removal experiment, which parallels Harvard Forest's Hemlock removal experiment. The study also assessed the utility of different methods of sampling for ant diversity studies in the north temperate zone. Our results suggest that hand sampling and litter collection alone are adequate to identify at least 95% of the ant diversity at the site; that ant species richness in these oak forests ranges at a minimum from 38-58 taxa; and that loss of oak will likely result in an increased aboundance of Camponotus and Lasius species.
Ellison, A.M., S. Record, A. Arguello, and N.J. Gotelli. 2007. Rapid inventory of the ant assemblage in a temperate hardwood forest: species composition and sampling methods. Environmental Entomology 36: 766-775.
Aaron Ellison and his research assistant Jess Butler completed a 2-year study of nitrogen cycling dynamics in the pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea. Their results show that most nitrogen is stored aboveground (in developing pitchers), and that root storage accounted for < 3% of the plant's overall nitrogen budget. The results suggest why this carnivorous plant has such a low photosynthetic rate, given its tissue nitrogen content. Excess nitrogen is stored for future use rather than being used immediately for enhancing photosynthesis.
Butler, J. L. and A. M. Ellison. 2007. Nitrogen cycling dynamics in the carnivorous northern pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea. Functional Ecology 21: 835-843.
September 2007 Highlights
Plant Physiology Lab Renovated
Harvard Forest, with the assistance of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and an anonymous donor, recently completed renovation of a plant physiology lab in Shaler Hall. The renovated lab will be used by undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and Harvard Forest and visiting researchers. N. Michelle (Missy) Holbrook, Charles Bullard Professor of Forestry, (OEB) and P. Barry Tomlinson, E. C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology, (Emeritus) both will be using the lab as a core part of their on-going research and education efforts.
Advanced Undergraduate Research Course Offered
David Foster, Missy Holbrook, Kathleen Donohue and Kristina Stinson will offer a new, advanced research course for Harvard undergraduates this fall. This unique peer learning/workshop format provides formal training to students actively engaged in the research process. Students will develop publications, presentations, senior theses, and/or interdisciplinary collaborations from current or recent field research activities. OEB 193 includes focused reading and discussion of student work and relevant literature, plus hands-on training and workshops at the Harvard Forest in scientific writing/presentations, mapping/graphics, and experimental design/analysis. Small class size will allow content to be tailored to the individual research needs of enrollees. Visit the course website for more information.
Harvard Forest Researcher Interviewed
Harvard Forest senior research fellow Aaron Ellison was interviewed for BBC Wildlife Magazine about his research on carnivorous plants. Read the interview.
Harvard Forest Summer Institute for Teachers Attendance Doubles
36 Teachers and Environmental Educators participated in this year's Harvard Forest Summer in Ecology - Summer Institute for Teachers. Thirty-three K-12 teachers from throughout Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire came to HF to learn directly from Forest Ecologists, Dr. David Orwig and Dr. John O'Keefe. Staff from Massachusetts Audubon Society, Plum Island LTER, the Nashua River Watershed Association, and the Boston Science Museum attended the training in order to find ways to integrate ecological field research into their work with children as well. These participants will in turn lead their students in implementing field research beginning this fall. Research topics include: Buds, Leaves and Global Warming and Hemlock Trees and the Pesky Pest, the Woolly Adelgid.
New publications
Natural History from Rarely Studied Hardwood Trees
Tree-ring research has made significant contributions to the understanding of environmental change and forest stand dynamics. Its application to understanding natural history, however, has been limited. Recent tree-ring data from several rarely studied hardwood species collected by Niel Pederson, Tony D'Amato, and David Orwig has yielded ages well beyond maximum expectations. For example, a sampling of 20 cucumbertrees (Magnolia acuminata) included two individuals 315 and 348 years, respectively, which are nearly two centuries more than the average life expectancy reported for this species. Also, research in recently discovered old-growth stands in western Massachusetts has illustrated the common occurrence of black birch (B. lenta) in eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) dominated old-growth forests with individuals often living beyond 320 years in these systems. These studies have illustrated the importance of utilizing tree-ring research to expand our knowledge of previously overlooked central hardwood species.
Pederson, N., A. W. D’Amato, and D. A. Orwig. 2007. Natural History from Dendrochronology: Maximum Ages and Canopy Persistence of Rarely Studied Hardwood Species. In: Proceedings of the 15th Central Hardwood Forest Conference. Knoxville, TN.
Fire Impact on Ant Communities
Harvard Forest Senior Research Fellow Aaron Ellison and colleagues at the University of Tennessee, University of Vermont, and Humbold State University examined patterns of co-occurrence of ant species in forests and wetlands in the Siskiyou Mountains of Oregon and California that were burned by the Biscuit Fire in 2001. They found that the "assembly rules" acting on these ant communities varied with scale and across years, but there were no long-lasting effects of this large fire.
Sanders, N. J., N. J. Gotelli, S. E. Wittman, J. S. Ratchford, A. M. Ellison, and E. S. Jules. 2007. Assembly rules of ground-foraging ant assemblages are contingent on disturbance, habitat, and spatial scale. Journal of Biogeography 34: 1632-1641.
August 2007 Highlights
Richard Goodwin - Botanist, Conservationist and Friend
Dick Goodwin was many things: a dedicated professor of botany who inspired generations of Connecticut College students and guided them into the world of plants, people and their ecology; a conservation visionary who helped to found The Nature Conservancy and who for more than five decades served as president of the Conservation Research Foundation, which provides "seed monies" for new conservation studies and projects worldwide; and an inspirational individual who lived life fully and gracefully with his wife Esther and committed his energies to applying what he preached.
Among Dick's legacies are two of the most important conservation landscapes in Connecticut: the Burnham Brook Preserve, whose more than 1000 acres were assembled largely by Dick and Esther around their home at Dolbia Farm and are now owned by The Nature Conservancy and the Connecticut College Arboretum , which is now more than 750 acres of natural and research areas, plant collections, and the entire Connecticut College campus in the towns of New London and Waterford. Dick served for many years as Director of the Arboretum, he helped to assemble and document its lands and he oversaw its long-term development with his colleague of four decades Bill Niering.
Dick was also a dedicated friend of the Harvard Forest and botany at Harvard University, where he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees. Inspired by his example and always informed by his advice and perspectives, one of our great pleasures in recent years was to work with Dick to publish his autobiography A Botanist's Window on the Twentieth Century. Dick was 96 years old.
Read his obituary from the New York Times News Service.
65 year-old Fingerprints from 1938 Hurricane found in Remotely-Sensed Data
Analyzing airborne LiDAR (i.e., laser remote sensing) data acquired by NASA in 2003, researchers found differences in measures of canopy structure in stands across the Prospect Hill tract at Harvard Forest. Canopy height and vertical diversity were related to the predominant species present and the intensity of wind disturbance from the 1938 hurricane and associated timber extraction efforts. Given the importance of canopy structure to habitat and ecosystem functions, such as gas exchange, this disturbance legacy probably continues to influence the ecology of impacted New England forests.
Weishampel, J.F., J. B. Drake, A. Cooper, J. B. Blair, M. Hofton. Forest canopy recovery from the 1938 hurricane and subsequent salvage damage measured with airborne LiDAR. 2007. Remote Sensing of Environment 109. pp. 142–153.
July 2007 Highlights
Bob Marshall's Research Plots Recovered and Resampled
In the summer of 1924, Bob Marshall, future founder of the Wilderness Society and career forester and ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service and Department of Indian Affairs came to Petersham to join four other graduate students for studies with Professor Richard Fisher and instructors Albert Cline and Rupe Gast. The group developed a large new experiment on the Tom Swamp tract to examine forest regeneration and dynamics following different logging treatments. Marshall analyzed the land-use history of the tract, extensively sampled tree rings to determine long-term growth trends and established a 80 x 200 foot plot for intensive study. His work is documented in Harvard Forest Bulletin 11: The Growth of Hemlock Before and After Release from Suppression. Following Marshall's departure in 1925, the 1938 hurricane and subsequent harvesting the plot was lost.
This summer, as part of a long-term study of forest dynamics, land use history and conservation coordinated by David Foster, students Alex Ireland (Clarion University) and Ben Mew (Oberlin College) are exploring the experimental tract in detail and reconstructing Marshall's study. Through a painstaking process they have relocated and permanently marked Bob Marshall's plot. Sampling of the current forest on the site confirms Marshall's prediction, based on his own historical work, that hemlock and white pine would predominate across the area, regardless of treatment.
Bird Populations Respond to Climate Change, Land Use and Winter Feeding
Rosemary Balfour completed her Masters of Liberal Arts degree at Harvard in June working with thesis advisors David Foster and Wayne Petersen of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Rosemary's study utilized Christmas Bird Count data to examine the long-term trends in the abundance and composition of the bird populations that overwinter across the inland regions of Massachusetts. Her research concluded that there were major increases in the ratio of southern to northern ranging bird species and that these could be tied to a number of factors including: warming temperatures, changes in land use, and the greatly increased use of bird feeders. In her work Rosemary received considerable assistance form Harvard Forest scientists: Aaron Ellison, Glenn Motzkin and Brian Hall.
Balfour, R. P. 2007. The Impact of Changes in Average Winter Temperatures and Habitat Modification on Populations of Terrestrial Birds Over-wintering in Inland Areas of Massachusetts. Master's Thesis. Harvard University.
The Connecticut River Boating Guide: Source to Sea
Elizabeth Farnsworth (Bullard Fellow, 2005-6) has published The Connecticut River Boating Guide: Source to Sea, with co-authors, John and Wendy Sinton. The Bullard Fellowship supported much of the research and writing for this book. For all those who enjoy appreciating and recreating on New Englands largest river, this guide is packed with practical information on accessing the river, as well as extensive notes on the history and ecology of the region. Available in bookstores or direct from the web. All royalties benefit the Connecticut River Watershed Council, a regional organization that collaborates, educates, organizes, restores, and intervenes to preserve the health of the whole river for generations to come.
A New Understanding of Subsurface Flow in Headwater Streams
In many headwater streams in stony north-central Massachusetts, much of the water flows below the surface of the ground instead of in an open channel. Harvard Forest researchers, including summer students working through the NSF-funded Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program, compared water temperatures, chemistry, and aquatic life in surface and subsurface-flowing sections of Bigelow Brook-west, a small, hemlock-dominated headwater stream on the west side of Prospect Hill in Petersham, MA. Subsurface reaches support aquatic insects and other freshwater animals and are similar to surface reaches. Better understanding of so-called "intermittent" streams that actually flow continuously may contribute to changes in state and local regulations affecting these headwater habitats.
Collins, B. M., W. V. Sobczak, and E. A. Colburn. 2007. Subsurface Flowpaths in a Forested Headwater Stream Harbor. A Diverse Macroinvertebrate Community. Wetlands. 27(2): 319-325.
A Guide for Interpreting Historical Materials
Emery Boose, Information Manager at Harvard Forest, co-authored Scholastic Sanskrit: A Manual for Students. This volume gives a complete introduction to the techniques and procedures of Sanskrit commentaries, including detailed information on the overall structure of running commentaries, the standard formulas of analysis of complex grammatical forms, and the most important elements of commentarial style.
June 2007 Highlights
Interns Arrive for Summer Program in Ecology
Twenty-one summer students have arrived as part of the Harvard Forest summer research program in ecology. Students come from all over the United States to participate in on-going research projects investigating atmospheric pollution, global warming, invasive plants, watershed ecology, and insect outbreaks. Researchers come from many disciplines and institutions. Specific projects center on population and community ecology, plant physiology, insect ecology, land-use history, aquatic ecology, biogeochemistry, and atmosphere-biosphere exchanges.
New Elemental Analyzer for John G. Torrey Laboratory
Harvard Forest has just acquired a new elemental analyzer for the John G. Torrey Nutrient Laboratory. Purchased with National Science Foundation LTER funding, the Elementar vario MICRO analyzer can be used for measurements of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. The new, user-friendly equipment is a nice complement to the Lachat 8500 autoanalyzer in the laboratory and is being used for a variety of ongoing projects requiring soil, plant tissue and foliar analyses. In addition, this machine will be used by faculty, staff and students from several Harvard University Departments, as well as outside institutions.
New Journal Articles Published
Land-use History Effect on Forest Ecosystems
We used stable N isotopes in tree rings and lake sediments to demonstrate that N availability in a northeastern forest has declined over the past 75 years, likely because of ecosystem recovery from Euro-American land use. Forest N availability has only recently returned to levels forecast from presettlement trajectories, rendering the trajectory of future forest N cycling uncertain. Our results suggest that chronic disturbance caused by humans, especially logging and agriculture, are major drivers of terrestrial N cycling in forest ecosystems today, even a century after cessation.
McLauchlan, K. K., J. M. Craine, W. W. Oswald, P. R. Leavitt, and G. E. Likens. 2007. Changes in nitrogen cycling during the past century in a northern hardwood forest. PNAS 104:18. pp. 7466–7470.
Wildlife in an urban environment
Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum, located in Jamaica Plain in Boston, Massachusetts provides critical wildlife habitat within an urban landscape. One especially unique area of the Arboretum, Hemlock Hill, is currently undergoing extensive vegetative changes. A very large percentage of the hemlock trees located here have been infested with hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) and are being removed. This study establishes baseline data on terrestrial salamander species composition, relative abundance, and distribution on Hemlock Hill, and assesses the impact of logging on terrestrial salamander abundance
B. Mathewson. 2007 Salamanders in a Changing Environment on Hemlock Hill. Arnoldia 65/1 pp. 19 - 25.
May 2007 Highlights
2007-2008 Bullard Fellow Recipients Announced
The Charles Bullard fellowship program is to support advanced research and study by individuals who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry and forest-related subjects from biology to earth sciences, economics, politics, administration or law. See the complete listing of Bullard Scholars from 1962 - 2006.
| Recipient | Home Institution | Field of Research |
|---|---|---|
| Elisabeth Almgren | University of Uppsala | Interpretive planning, paleoecology |
| Charles Cogbill | Hubbard Brook LTER | Historical Ecology |
| Todd Crowl | Utah State University | Quantitative Ecology |
| Rebecca Holberton | University of Maine | Avian Ecology |
| Michael Kaspari | University of Oklahoma | Community Ecology and Biogeography |
| Mark Rickenbach | University of Wisconsin - Madison | Social networks and private forest policy |
| Nicholas Rodenhouse | Wellesley College | Population ecology |
Harvard Forest's 100 year old records made available with a Library Digital Initiative grant
For nearly a century, detailed records for all research and forestry operations on the Harvard Forest properties have been maintained in the form of extensive research files, maps, photographs, and other materials. This information allows researchers to interpret the landscape history of research sites, and analyze how past natural and anthropogenic factors influence current ecological patterns. The Harvard Forest is the best documented research forest in the world and is an irreplaceable asset.
Harvard University's Library Digital Initiative (LDI) has provided funding to digitize a number of these archival materials. The LDI grant will provide a great start to populating a central repository for digital resources related to the 3000 acre Harvard Forest lab and classroom. Students, scientists and collaborators have used the land and its associated research facilities to 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.
Materials to be digitized as part of the LDI project include:
- 1000 digitally born high resolution images
- 175 historical black and white photographic prints
- 150 Lantern and 35mm slides
- 33,000 pages of stand records and forest inventory from original paper resources
- and the creation of a searchable metadata catalog for all research records stored in the archives.
The first products of this initiative have been digitized and are available for viewing. At the completion of the project a comprehesive webpage will provide a new gateway to the Harvard Forest digital resources.
Fisher Museum Open on Weekends
Starting May 5th, the Fisher Museum will be open 12 - 4 on Saturdays and Sundays. The Fisher Museum features twenty-three internationally acclaimed models (dioramas) portraying the history, conservation and management of central New England forests. Other exhibits at the museum represent the range of Harvard Forest's research.
Undergraduate Thesis Investigates the Effect of Harvesting on the Carbon-cycle
Harvard College senior Frances C. O'Donnell completed her thesis Carbon Dynamics of a New England Temperate Forest Five Years After Selective Logging. The thesis quantifies how the carbon source-sink dynamics of the forest was modified due to harvesting activities based on field work conducted at the Harvard Forest. Frances' advisor is Professor Steven Wofsy of the Harvard University Department of Earth and Planetary Science. She participated in the 2006 Summer Research Program in Ecology for Undergraduates at the Harvard Forest. Next fall, Frances will begin a masters program at the University of Indiana.
Two New Journal Articles
Oswald, W. W., E. K. Faison, D. R. Foster, E. D. Doughty, B. R. Hall and B. C. S. Hansen. 2007. Post-glacial changes in spatial patterns of vegetation across southern New England. Journal of Biogeography 34, 900–913.
Lindbladh, M., W. W. Oswald, D. R. Foster, E. K. Faison, J. Hou, Y. Huang. 2007. A late-glacial transition from Picea glauca to Picea mariana in southern New England. Quaternary Research. 67 502–508.
April 2007 Highlights
Harvard Forest Nominated as Core Site for NEON
The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON, Inc.) announced a group of 20 candidate Core Sites across the United States that will be included in the NEON Project Execution Plan. Harvard Forest was identified as the core site for the Northeastern Domain. The NEON Core Sites will be in wildlands (i.e, largely natural vegetation, not intensively managed) and will form the stable, fixed elements of the design, which also includes relocatable gradient sites and mobile (truck mounted) laboratories. The Core Sites will be in place for 30 or more years, have extensive sampling and instrumentation, and serve as a base for staff operating the site and associated gradient and mobile laboratories. The Core Site backbone hopes to observe national-scale impacts of highly “connected” phenomena across the entire country. Examples include impacts of invasion or disease, climate change, large-scale modes of variability such as El Niño, and large-scale transport phenomena, such as inputs of Asiatic dust and pollution.
Summer Institute for Teachers
The Harvard Forest offers a Forest Ecology training institute for teachers of grades 2-12. Learn how to implement field studies related to local ecosystems with your students right in your schoolyard. Registration flyer and forms are now available.
Previous participants have recently posted 4 new Data Analysis lesson plans developed by experienced Schoolyard Ecology teachers: Nichole Ruggles, Kellie Robichaud, Kathleen Bennett, and Mary Gagnon along with support from Harvard Forest Ecologists: Elizabeth Colburn, John O'Keefe, and David Orwig. Lesson plan development was funded by the Massachusetts Environmental Trust.
Harvard Forest in the News
Christian Science Monitor highlights the return of moose to Massachusetts due to landscape change and return of forest. As land was cleared for farms in the Northeast, moose and other wildlife fled. Now that the trees are back, the moose are, too. Read the article.
New Article from Harvard Forest
Coastal sandplain grasslands of New England harbor a number of rare plant species, but few systematic management techniques have been developed to help foster or restore these critical habitats. Farnsworth (2007) applied a comparative, functional group approach to coastal sandplain grassland taxa in order to examine whether rare plant species share certain aspects of rarity and life history characters that are distinct from their more common, co-occurring relatives in these habitats. The paired comparisons revealed that infrequent species are intrinsically rarer range-wide, occupy a narrower range and a more specialized habitat than their common relatives; they also produce larger seeds, are smaller, rely less on vegetative (colonial) reproduction, and tend toward an annual or biennial life history. Management steps to reduce competition from larger-statured, colonial, perennial species are recommended for these infrequent species.
Farnsworth, E.J. 2007. Plant life history traits of rare versus frequent plant taxa of sandplains: Implications for research and management trials. Biological Conservation. 136. pp 44-52
March 2007 Highlights
Annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium
The eighteenth annual symposium will be held March 27, 2007 at the Harvard Forest. The symposium will focus on the expanding horizons in long-term ecological research: synthesis across the New England region and disciplinary boundaries. Learn more or submit abstract.
Harvard Forest teams with local land trust and land owners to protect adjacent forest land.
The Harvard Forest has partnered with Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, Keith Ross of LandVest, state conservation agencies and local land owners to permanently protect nearly 170 acres of forest in two large parcels adjacent to the Prospect Hill tract. This project advances our goal of maintaining the integrity of Harvard Forest studies and contributes significantly to the broader conservation effort in central Massachusetts. The 100-acre Wilson Lot was owned by Don Wilson, a long-time volunteer in the Fisher Museum and his nephew Bill, and the 68-acre Bryant Lot was owned by Richard Bryant, a retired carpenter who worked on many of the buildings at the Harvard Forest.
Both lots were initially purchased by Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust which worked with the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Department of Conservation and Recreation to sell conservation restrictions over each property with funding from the US Forest Service Forest Legacy Program before selling the restricted properties to the Harvard Forest. These were the first of 19 tracts, totaling over 2,000 acres to be protected by a $2.5 million grant from the Forest Legacy Program in the North Quabbin Region. The Harvard Forest received contributions from foundations and individuals to purchase the restricted forest lands.
These parcels are valuable additions to natural open space of the North Quabbin Region as they connect many blocks of protected land in this beautiful, forested part of the region and provide additional protection for the long term climate change research underway at the Harvard Forest.
New Publications from Harvard Forest
Von Holle & Motzkin (2007) examined how previous land use and current biotic and environmental properties influence the abundance and distribution of non-native plant species across coastal upland habitats of southern New England and adjacent New York. They found that the modern distribution of nonnative plants is influenced by multiple, interdependent current and historical factors. Open-canopy communities, such as grasslands, heath barrens and old fields had significantly greater numbers of nonindigenous plants. Additionally, soil calcium levels and native species richness were positively associated with nonnative species richness. Sites that were cultivated historically or experienced other soil disturbance had higher nonnative species richness than areas without soil disturbance. Last, glaciolacustrine landforms had greater nonnative species richness and cover than beach-dune, moraine, and glacial outwash sand plain landforms. Because many rare coastal sandplain plants reach their greatest abundance on extant open-canopied habitats that have historically been disturbed, efforts to restore rare native plants will involve tradeoffs between the benefits of expanded habitat for these species and increased risk of invasion by nonnative species.
Von Holle. B. and G. Motzkin. 2007. Historical land use and environmental determinants of nonnative plant distribution in coastal southern New England. Biological Conservation 136:33-43.
Neill et al. (2007) investigated the role of previous land use, disturbance, and overstory vegetation in controlling soil chemistry and native versus nonnative species composition. They found large differences in soil chemistry and a much higher proportion of nonindigenous species in agricultural grasslands compared with a variety of other sandplain vegetation types that had historically experienced different land uses. This suggests that restoring sandplain shrubland and grassland communities on agricultural lands might be a challenge, given their artificially high levels of soil nutrients and disturbed soils.
Neill, C. M., B. Von Holle, K. Kleese, K. Ivy, A. R. Colllins, C. Treat, and M. Dean. 2007. Historical influences on the vegetation and soils of the Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts coastal sandplain: Implications for conservation and restoration. Biological Conservation 136:17-32.
February 2007 Highlights
Harvard Forest Announces New Research Course
In response to a University-wide call to expand small group, experiential study in the sciences, the Harvard Forest will launch a new course and expand its summer research opportunities for Harvard Undergraduates this Spring. The new course, OEB 122 - Field Research in Ecology and Conservation, features hands-on field training and student research activities. Course highlights include:
- Participation in small discussion groups in Ecology and Conservation Biology while developing projects with individual members of the Harvard faculty.
- On-campus classes, field trips, and workshops at the Harvard Forest
- Readings of the scientific literature, formal training in field and lab techniques, and workshops on data analysis, presentation, and scientific writing.
- Multi-disciplinary topics and project in areas as varied as population and community ecology, paleoecology, land-use history, aquatic ecology, biochemistry, soil science, ecophysiology, and atmosphere-biosphere exchanges.
- Participating research mentors include from the Harvard Forest Director Dr. David Foster, researchers Dr. Aaron Ellison and Dr. Kristina Stinson, Faculty in the department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology: Drs. Missy Holbrook, Kathleen Donohue, and Paul Moorcroft and Earth and Planetary Sciences Dr. Steve Wofsy.
- The course runs both semesters. The spring course, OEB 122a, emphasizes field research methods and the fall course, OEB 122b, provides a formal structure and workshop setting for advanced data analysis, scientific writing, and presentation skills.
2007 Harvard Forest Summer Program in Ecology for Undergraduates
We are now accepting applications for the 2007 Summer Program from undergraduates and recent graduates who are interested in an intensive research and education experience in ecology. Applications Due March 7th. Learn more
Harvard Forest in the Media
WBUR Radio recently visited Petersham and interviewed two Harvard Forest scientists to discus the infestation of hemlock trees by the insect called hemlock woolly adelgid.
Listen to the Report: http://www.wbur.org/news/2007/63760_20070116.asp
The Harvard University Alumni Quarterly Colloquy highlights Harvard Forest as a living laboratory.
Read the article: http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/images/stories/pdfs/colloquy_winter07.pdf
New Journal Articles from the Harvard Forest
Climate Change affected major forest ecosystems dynamics
The mid-Holocene decline of eastern hemlock is widely viewed as the sole prehistorical example of an insect- or pathogen-mediated collapse of a North American tree species and has been extensively studied for insights into pest–host dynamics and the consequences to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of dominant-species removal. We report paleoecological evidence implicating climate as a major driver of this episode. Data drawn from sites across a gradient in hemlock abundance from dominant to absent demonstrate: a synchronous, dramatic decline in a contrasting taxon (oak); changes in lake sediments and aquatic taxa indicating low water levels; and one or more intervals of intense drought at regional to continental scales. These results, which accord well with emerging climate reconstructions, challenge the interpretation of a biotically driven hemlock decline and highlight the potential for climate change to generate major, abrupt dynamics in forest ecosystems.
Foster, D.R., W.W. Oswald, E.K. Faison, E.D. Doughty, B.C.S. Hansen. 2006. A Climatic Driver for Abrupt Mid-Holocene Vegetation Dynamics and the Hemlock Decline in New England. Ecology, 87(12), 2959–2966.
Old Growth Estimate in Massachusetts Revised
Old-growth forests are currently identified as core components of regional conservation and forest reserve planning efforts by agencies and organizations across the northeastern United States. Despite the importance of these ecosystems from an ecological and conservation standpoint, major questions remain concerning their actual extent, location, and configuration in many states. This paper reports a substantially revised estimate for individual tracts and the total area of old-growth forests in Massachusetts based on analysis of historical documents and extensive field research and mapping.
D’Amato, A.W., D. A. Orwig, and D. R. Foster. 2006. New Estimates of Massachusetts Old-growth Forests: Useful Data for Regional Conservation and Forest Reserve Planning. New England Naturalist. 13(4):495–506
Limits to Reproductive Success of Pitcher Plants
In this first experimental study of the relative contributions of resource and pollinator availability to reproductive success of the northern pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, 2005 Bullard Fellow Gidi Ne'eman, his wife and high school biology teacher Rina Ne'eman, and Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison showed that resource supply dominates reproductive success in this plant. They also provided strong photographic evidence that the fly Fletcherimyia fletcheri pollinates the plant; its larvae is the top predator in the food web that inhabits the plant's water-filled pitchers. The results of this work point to an additional cost of carnivory for plants - reduced reproductive output - that needs to be considered along with reduced photosynthetic activity in determining the evolutionary history of carnivorous plants.
Ne'eman, G., R. Ne'eman, and A. M. Ellison. 2006. Limits to reproductive success of Sarracenia purpurea (Sarraceniaceae). American Journal of Botany 93: 1660-1666.
Cost-benefit model for evolution of carnivorous plants
The cost-benefit model for the evolution of carnivorous plants posits a trade-off between photosynthetic costs associated with carnivorous structures and photosynthetic benefits accrued through additional nutrient acquisition. The model predicts that carnivory is expected to evolve if its marginal benefits exceed its marginal costs. At the 2005 International Botanical Congress, Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison reviewed published data and results of ongoing research related to evaluating this cost-benefit model. His analysis shows that nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium often (co)-limit growth of carnivorous plants and that photosynthetic nutrient use efficiency is 20-50% of that of non-carnivorous plants. Assessments of stoichiometric relationships among limiting nutrients, scaling of leaf mass with photosynthesis and nutrient content, and photosynthetic nutrient use efficiency all suggest that carnivorous plants are at an energetic disadvantage relative to non-carnivorous plants in similar habitats. Overall, current data support some of the predictions of the cost-benefit model, fail to support others, and still others remain untested and merit future research. Rather than being an optimal solution to an adaptive problem, botanical carnivory may represent a set of limited responses constrained by both phylogenetic history and environmental stress.
Ellison, A.M. 2006. Nutrient limitation and stoichiometry of carnivorous plants. Plant Biology 8: 740-747.
January 2007 Highlights
New Funding for Global Change and Carbon Dynamics Research
The Terrestrial Carbon Program of the U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded approximately 1.5 million dollars for continued measurements of forest-atmosphere carbon exchange at Harvard Forest. A team of researchers from several departments at Harvard and from the State University of New York at Albany's Atmospheric Sciences Research Center (SUNY-ASRC), led by Bill Munger of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) at Harvard, will conduct the research. The award will support continuation of the world's longest-running continuous eddy flux measurements of carbon exchange (15 years so far) at Harvard Forest's Environmental Measurement Site (EMS). The new funding will also enable researchers to augment the current three-to-four year record of carbon exchange at the Hemlock and Little Prospect Hill tower sites. Continued work at these sites will increase the opportunity to discern influences of climate variability and forest growth on the carbon budgets of a relatively old (100-230 years) coniferous forest and a relatively young (< 60 years) deciduous forest.
The eddy flux technique estimates absorption or release of gases by terrestrial ecosystems, using movements of air between ecosystems and the atmosphere above them. However, the technique can only measure vertical gas exchange, or convection. A long-standing source of uncertainty is movement of gases through horizontal air motion, or advection. In tall-statured ecosystems such as forests, under calm conditions, movement of carbon dioxide (CO2) through advection can be much greater than CO2 movement via convection.
David Fitzjarrald of SUNY-ASRC will quantify movement of CO2 through advection, in order to improve carbon exchange estimates for the three flux tower sites. Bill Munger of Harvard EPS and Julian Hadley of Harvard Forest will derive the initial estimates from continuously-collected eddy flux data. Paul Moorcroft of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard will incorporate the data into the Ecosystem Demography model, which simulates forest growth and forest-atmosphere carbon exchange over long time intervals. Steve Wofsy of Harvard EPS will help to link forest carbon exchange estimates to changes in the atmosphere using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System. Through the North American Carbon Program, data from all three sites will contribute to more accurate estimates of current annual carbon storage in North American forests, as well as better models for future forest carbon storage.
Harvard Forest Accepting Applications for Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research.
Applications for 2007-2008 now being accepted
The Charles Bullard Fellowship program, established in 1962, is to support advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use of forested environments. Between five to eight distinguished practitioners and academics from across the United States and from around the globe spend one to two semesters based in Cambridge or at the Harvard Forest in Petersham conducting research on a particular field. While in residence at Harvard, Fellows, who are supported by an endowment named after the benefactor Charles Bullard, interact with faculty and students, give seminars, participate in conferences and symposia and avail themselves of the University's great research resources.
2007 Harvard Forest Summer Program in Ecology for Undergraduates
We are now accepting applications for the 2007 Summer Program from undergraduates and recent graduates who are interested in an intensive research and education experience in ecology. Learn more
Harvard Forest New Publication
Soil seed banks are especially important for forest regeneration in stands with few understory species and individuals. The understory of hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)-dominated stands in New England primarily consists of hemlock seedlings and saplings, but all size classes of hemlock are attacked by the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae). Prior to the initiation of the Hemlock Removal Experiment at the Simes Tract, Harvard Extension student Kelley Sullivan (M.L.S. 2005) and Harvard Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison examined the seed bank composition of all eight 0.81 ha experimental plots. The seed bank samples from the hemlock-dominated plots contained 24 species (95% confidence interval = 20-28), significantly fewer than the 30 found in the hardwood-dominated plots. Seed banks from all plots were dominated by black birch, raspberry, and sedges Among plots, there was little compositional relationship between the forest overstory and its understory on the one hand, and its seed bank on the other hand. Because seeds of hemlock and birch persist for only a few years in the seed bank, and because hemlock seedlings are readily attacked and killed by the adelgid, damaged hemlock stands are more likely to be replaced by stands of black birch and other hardwoods than by hemlock.
Sullivan, K.A., and A.M. Ellison. 2006. The seed bank of hemlock forests: implications for forest regeneration following hemlock decline. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 133: 393-402.
December 2006 Highlights
Director Receives New England Wild Flower Society Conservation Award
David Foster, Director of Harvard Forest, received the 2006 New England Wild Flower Society Massachusetts State Conservation Award. He was honored for guiding the development of Harvard Forest from a small academic outpost to a major research site and for changing the way biologists interpret landscape patterns and ecological processes. The award emphasized Dr. Foster's committment to revitalizing Harvard Forest to become a major site of long term ecological research activity, and for promoting conservation of hatibitats through Wildands and Woodlands project.
2007 Harvard Forest Summer Program in Ecology for Undergraduates
We are now accepting applications for the 2007 Summer Program from undergraduates and recent graduates who are interested in an intensive research and education experience in ecology. Learn more
"Green" Garage designed and built at Harvard Forest
The building was designed and built entirely by the Harvard Forest woods crew using Harvard Forest wood products wherever possible. It is also, at the initiative of the crew, a "green building". This includes the composting toilet, a dual fuel wood/oil burner, and reusing materials from previous renovations. They also took the lead in submitting a grant to the state for a solar power system to provide about 8% of the electrical needs for all the Prospect Hill research projects which will be installed in the spring. Finally, the auto repair bay was also moved to this new location removing it from the proximity of the water supply for the Forest. There are many other features such as secured hazardous waste storage and a loft for research materials storage, and numerous others. The integration and understanding of the woods crew for the mission of the Harvard Forest is reflected in the design and intended use of the new building.
Report Outlines Funding to Conserve Half of Massachusetts’s Land
Harvard Forest’s “Wildlands and Woodlands” proposal to conserve roughly half of Massachusetts as protected lands has received a boost from a new report detailing seven strategies to finance the ambitious proposal. The new report is the product of a recent Wildlands and Woodlands Conservation Finance Roundtable. View the full press release. An eight page summary of the report is also available.
New Journal Article from Harvard Forest
The environmental drivers behind abundant ragweed pollen in sediments of four southern New England lakes 10,000-8000 years ago were investigated. They found strong evidence that high levels of ragweed pollen were associated with warmer, drier conditions. This conclusion is corroborated by independent lake level and climate reconstructions. Together, these results have implications for future ragweed distribution and abundance, and suggest that more ragweed pollen could accompany rising temperature and CO2 levels in New England.
Faison, E.K., D.R. Foster, W.W. Oswald, C.S. Hansen, and E. Doughty. Early Holocene Openlands in Southern New England. Ecology, 87(10), 2006, pp. 2537–2547
November 2006 Highlights
Harvard Forest on the Radio
Dr. David Orwig, Harvard Forest Ecologist, can be heard on WFCR describing the effect the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid is having on New England Forests. Listen to the broadcast.
New Report Outlines Funding to Conserve Half of Massachusetts’s Land
Harvard Forest’s “Wildlands and Woodlands” proposal to conserve roughly half of Massachusetts as protected lands has received a boost from a new report detailing seven strategies to finance the ambitious proposal. The new report is the product of a recent Wildlands and Woodlands Conservation Finance Roundtable. View the full press release. An eight page summary of the report is also available.
Harvard Forest Announces 2006-2007 Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research.
Applications for 2007-2008 now being accepted
Harvard Forest is pleased to announce the 2006-2007 incoming Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research. The purpose of this fellowship program, established in 1962 is to support advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use of forested environments. Between five to eight distinguished practitioners and academics from across the United States and from around the globe spend one to two semesters based in Cambridge or at the Harvard Forest in Petersham conducting research on a particular field. While in residence at Harvard, Fellows, who are supported by an endowment named after the benefactor Charles Bullard, interact with faculty and students, give seminars, participate in conferences and symposia and avail themselves of the University's great research resources.
The 2006-2007 Fellows were selected from a large pool of international applicants. "The Harvard community benefits immensely from the presence of the outstanding scholars and fellows supported by the Bullard program. The breadth of research encompassed by this year's class of scholars is quite vast, ranging from fine root function to long-term, continental scale climate patterns. In addition, three of our visitors will be based in Cambridge, working with FAS faculty in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB) and Engineering and Applied Sciences (DEAS)."
The Charles Bullard Fellows for the 2006-2007 Academic year are:
Dr. Hormoz BassiriRad is a plant physiological ecologist who explores the responses of portions of below-ground plants and ecosystems to global climate change. At Harvard, he will work with Missy Holbrook, Professor of Biology and Charles Bullard Professor of Forestry in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. This work will focus on the impact of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on root water and nutrient transport. Dr. BassiriRad is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Department of Biological Sciences and received his PhD from the University of Arizona at Tucson. He began his ten month Fellowship in October 2006.
Dr. James Bever has pioneered the study of feedbacks between plants and the soil community which has changed the way ecologist think about maintaining plant diversity. He is a professor at Indiana University at Bloomington in the Department of Biology. Dr. Bever received his PhD from Duke University. At Harvard, he will work with Professor Anne Pringle in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology on the synthesis and meta-analysis of data relating to mycorrhizal fungi community structure and dynamics in plant invasions. He began his six month Fellowship in September 2006.
Dr. Adrien Finzi's primary research focus is on the response of forest ecosystems to rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide. During his fellowship, he will focus on the role of N as a constraint to the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide in temperate forests. Dr. Finzi is Associate Director of the Stable Isotope Laboratory and an Associate Professor of Biology at Boston University. He received his PhD in Ecology from the University of Connecticut and was formerly a Distinguished Hollaender Fellow for Global Change at the US Dept. of Energy. Dr. Finzi began his six month fellowship in July 2006.
Dr. Sherilyn Fritz investigates long-term environmental change, particularly use of the fossil record to reconstruct natural patterns of climate variation and to evaluate human impacts on ecosystems. She will be in residence at the Harvard Forest working closely with David Foster on the impacts of mid-Holocene and Little Ice Age changes in climate on forest and lake ecosystems and human society. She will also work on a paper comparing Holocene dynamics in North and South America. Dr. Fritz is the Willa Cather Professor at the University of Nebraska, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and School of Biological Sciences. Fritz is a member of the U.S. National Committee of the International Quaternary Union (INQUA), under the auspices of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and also serves as a councilor on the Commission for Paleoecology and Human Evolution in INQUA. Dr. Fritz received her PhD in Ecology from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Fritz began her six month fellowship in September 2006.
Jerry Jenkins has spent over 30 years conducting major botanical surveys throughout North America and is the author of several books, including the Adirondack Atlas, a series of volumes on natural resources geography of Vermont, an illustrated history of acid rain research, and a soon to be published guide to the mosses of eastern North America. During his time at Harvard, he will complete ongoing work on the vascular flora of Harvard Forest, inventory the bryophytes of Harvard Forest, and write and illustrate a book on the major forest communities of the northeastern United States. Mr. Jenkins is a researcher with the North American Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Adirondack Nature Conservancy.
Dr. John McDonald has worked as a management-oriented wildlife biologist with state agencies, as an academic researcher, and as a state and federal regulatory administrator. His primary research interest is in wildlife, particularly on how large animals interactive in the Northeast habitat, particularly white-tail deer, black bear, moose and Canada lynx. In 2006, he was elected a Fellow of The Wildlife Society. He currently is a wildlife research specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He received his PhD from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He will work closely with ecologists at the Harvard Forest to investigate the history of white-tailed deer populations in Massachusetts and the limiting factors of distribution of the geographic range of moose in North America during his seven month fellowship beginning November 2006.
Dr. Scott Pearson's research focus is on effect of landscape change on terrestrial biodiversity. During his Bullard Fellowship, he will study the influence of land-use history in New England and the Southern Appalachians on present-day diversity in temperate forest ecosystems and develop methods to model biodiversity responses to future landscape change in these two regions. Dr. Pearson is a Professor and the Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences at Mars Hill College in NC and serves as co-Principal Investigator at the NSF Coweeta Long Term Ecological Site. He received his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Georgia-Athens. He will be a Fellow for nine months beginning in September 2006.
October 2006 Highlights
NSF Awards Harvard Forest $4.9 Million to Study Landscape Change
The National Science Foundation has awarded Harvard University's Harvard Forest $4.9 million to study drivers, dynamics, and consequences of landscape change in New England. The six-year grant, the largest in the Harvard Forest's 99-year history, will support research on forest responses to natural and human disturbances across the northeastern U.S. Led by Harvard Forest Director David Foster, Harvard researchers and students will collaborate with scientists from the Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory, the Woods Hole Research Center, Brandeis University, Michigan State University, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Massachusetts.
For more information, read the press release.
Regional Forest Responses to Environmental Change
International Union of Forest Research Organizations, Canopy Processes Working Group
A traveling workshop in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York, USA.
October 6-13, 2006
Information: http://people.bu.edu/nathan/iufro_info.htm
Sponsors: Bartlett Experimental Forest, Black Rock Forest Consortium, Boston University, Harvard Forest, National Science Foundation, Northeastern Ecosystem Research Cooperative, University of New Hampshire, USDA Forest Service
Within forest ecosystems, forest canopies – defined as the upper layer of forests, including leaves and branches – play a central role in regulating exchanges of carbon, water, and energy between the land surface and atmosphere. Approaches and tools for measuring and translating information from canopy processes to the level of landscapes and regions lack consensus, coordination, and standardization, and hinder our understanding of how and why biogeographic regions show different responses to environmental change. Advances in modeling and monitoring of forest structure and function, including stable isotopes, remote sensing, ecohydrological monitoring, and environmental sensor networks, provide powerful new ways to link canopy processes to regional forest function. The goal of the meeting is to compare, contrast, and synthesize approaches and research findings to assess regional forest responses to environmental change, with a specific focus on emerging tools, methods and standards the international forest canopy science research community uses to measure, model, and translate forest ecosystem information across scales from as small as leaves up to entire landscapes and biomes.
More than 60 contributors to this workshop represent the countries of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Estonia, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
New Harvard Forest Publication
How to predict species abundance in the face of habitat loss
Plant and animal population sizes inevitably change following habitat loss, but the mechanisms underlying these changes are poorly understood. In a new study published in PLoS Biology, University of Vermont biology professor Nicholas Gotelli and Harvard Forest senior ecologist Aaron Ellison provide the first experimental confirmation that trophic structure can determine species abundances in the face of habitat loss. In a carefully constructed field experiment Gotelli and Ellison altered habitat volume and eliminated top trophic levels of the food web of invertebrates that inhabit rain-filled leaves of the carnivorous pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea. Path models that incorporated food-web structure better predicted population sizes of food-web constituents than did simple keystone species models, models that included only single-species responses to habitat volume, or models including both food-web structure and habitat volume. In sum, the incorporation of trophic structure into ecological models may yield more accurate predictions of species abundance in a world where available habitats are shrinking and becoming increasingly framented.
Gotelli, N. J. and A. M. Ellison. 2006. Food-web models predict species abundances in response to habitat change. PLoS Biology 4(10): e324.
Open-access link to: PLOS Biology
September 2006 Highlights
Six New Harvard Forest Articles Published
Preemptive and Salvage Harvesting of New England Forest
One unexpected consequence of natural disturbances in forested areas is that managers often initiate activities that may impose greater ecosystem impacts than the disturbances themselves. By salvage logging areas affected by windstorms or other impacts, by harvesting host trees in advance of insect infestation or disease, or by preemptively harvesting forests in an attempt to improve their resilience to future disturbances and stresses, managers initiate substantial changes in the ecosystem structure and function. Much of this activity is undertaken in the absence of information on the qualitative and quantitative differences between disturbance impacts and harvesting. To provide insight for such decisions we evaluated the ecosystem consequences of two major disturbance processes in New England (U.S.A.)—intense windstorms and invasive pests and pathogens—and contrasted them with impacts from preemptive and salvage harvesting. Despite dramatic physical changes in forest structure resulting from hurricane impacts and insect infestation, little disruption of biogeochemical processes or other ecosystem functions typically follows these disturbances. Indeed, the physical and organic structures produced by these disturbances are important natural features providing habitat and landscape heterogeneity that are often missing due to centuries of land use. From an ecosystem perspective there are strong arguments against preemptive and salvage logging or the attempt through silvicultural means to improve the resistance or resilience of forests to disturbance and stress. There are often valid motivations for salvage or preemptive logging including financial considerations, human safety, and a desire to shape the long-term composition and resource-production characteristics of forests. Nonetheless, there are many ecological benefits derived from leaving forests alone when they are affected or threatened by disturbances and pest and pathogen outbreaks.
Foster, D.R. and D.A. Orwig, 2006. Preemptive and Salvage Harvesting of New England Forests: When Doing Nothing Is a Viable Alternative. Conservation Biology Volume 20, No. 4, 959–970.
Modeling Tree Regeneration After an Experimental Hurricane
The hurricane manipulation at Harvard Forest is one of our original LTER (long-term ecological research) experiments contrasting ecosystem response to natural and anthropogenic disturbance. In 1990, canopy trees were pulled over with a winch in a 0.8 ha experimental area, resulting in 80% canopy damage. Detailed height growth measurements of tree seedlings were tracked following the manipulation, and height growth models based on these measurements allow us to understand changes in tree species dominance. After ten years, black and yellow birch, and red maple are the most numerous species and compose the majority of the tallest regeneration. Red oaks, which dominated the original stand, are few and unlikely to emerge to the canopy of the new cohort.
Fajvan, M., A. Barker Plotkin and D.R. Foster. 2006. Modeling tree regeneration height growth after an experimental hurricane. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 36:2003-2014.
Sustaining Long-Term Research through Changing Times
Well-documental permanent plots form a living legacy of research that continues to grow and change, and provide an excellent base to answer new questions. They can be use to answer questions unanticipated when a study began, prompt shifts in scientific thinking and contribute to our understanding that forests are dynamic and constantly responding to a suite of disturbances and stresses. They are a vivid illustration of the concept of forest change over time.
Barker Plotkin, A. and D. Foster. 2006. Sustaining long-term research through changing times at the Harvard Forest. Pages 41-53 in Irland, L.C., A.E. Camp, J.C. Brissette and Z.R. Donohew. Long-term Silvicultural & Ecological Studies: Results for Science and Management. GISF Research Paper 005, Yale University.
Decline of Rare Plants in New England
Recent Bullard Fellow Elizabeth Farnsworth and her colleague Danielle Ogurcak (University of Florida) explore how to detect and accurately document the ever-shifting and contracting ranges of rare plant species in order to identify species most in need of conservation and prioritize protection efforts with limited resources. Using herbarium records and Natural Heritage data, Farnsworth and Ogurcak estimated temporal changes in the town-level distributions of 71 rare plant species in the six New England states. They used three different statistical estimators to determine the probability that a given population of a rare species is still extant, given historical data on their occurrences. These methods account for the lack of precise information on locations and habitats, and targeted searching for rare species that may present a biased picture of biogeographic distributions and presumed habitat preferences. Current ranges of these 71 species were 67% smaller on average than their historical ranges and distances among occurrences decreased. In New England five "hotspots of diversity" contain >35% of known rare plant populations. Extant populations occurred more frequently at the periphery of their historical range than would be expected by chance. This detailed study illustrates that available coarse-grained data on current and historical occurrences can be used to examine large suites of species to prioritize taxa and sites for conservation.
Farnsworth, E. J. and D. E. Ogurcak. 2006. Biogeography and decline of rare plants in New England: historical evidence and contemporary monitoring. Ecological Applications 16: 1327-1337.
Energy and Nutrient Fluxes in Hemlock Forest Invaded by HWA
A recent study by former Bullard Fellow Bernhard Stadler, from the University of Bayreuth in Germany along with collaborators including Harvard Forest Ecologist David Orwig, examined the ecology of energy and nutrient fluxes in hemlock forests invaded by the introduced pest, the hemlock woolly adelgid. This study adds to previous work by the same authors by examining litter microcosms, canopy throughfall and litter lysimeter chemical composition under uninfested and lightly infested trees at a forested site in central Massachusetts. During the early spring, when low densities of adelgid were actively producing wax wool, throughfall fluxes of dissolved organic carbon, dissolved organic nitrogen, potassium, and total organic carbon were significantly higher under infested compared to uninfested trees. Results also suggested that a disturbance to the canopy cascades down to the forest floor, as throughfall fluxes strongly affected litter fluxes. After HWA entered summer aestivation, differences in matter fluxes often became less pronounced. We used results from this study and previous work to construct a nonlinear conceptual model for the temporal and vertical transition of energy and nutrient fluxes associated with chronic HWA infestation. Varying levels of HWA abundance lead to opposing effects on energy and nutrient flows in these systems. Therefore, stands in transition from pure hemlock to pure hardwood stands are likely to contain non-linear nutrient fluxes associated with changes in needle chemistry and progressive needle loss. These findings highlight the need to understand the biology and specific physiological and trophic effects of exotic pests on their hosts and associated ecosystem processes.
Stadler, B, T. Müller and D. Orwig. 2006. The Ecology of Energy and Nutrient Fluxes in Hemlock Forest Invaded by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. Ecology, 87(7) pp. 1792–1804.
Facilitations between Black Locust and Non-Native Plant Species on Cape Cod
A recent three-year study at Cape Cod National Seashore (Massachusetts) has found that the presence of some invasive species, in this case black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), appears to support the existence of other nonnative species. Robinia pseudoacacia, a nitrogen-fixing tree to the central Appalachian and Ozark Mountains, is considered to be one of the top 100 worldwide woody plant invaders. This project was initiated to determine the impact of introduced black locust on an upland coastal ecosystem and to estimate the spread of this species within Cape Cod National Seashore. In field research conducted in the summers of 2003 through 2005 Betsy Von Holle and her students in the Harvard Forest Summer Program studied the introduced nitrogen-fixing black locust tree and its understory. They found that black locust had an average of 10 times the number of nonnative species under its canopy as did the native species, primarily pitch pine (Pinus rigida), white oak (Quercus alba) and black oak (Quercus velutina). They also found that nitrogen levels are significantly higher under locust than under native forest approximately 66 feet (20 m) away from the locust stand. Thus, the introduction of a novel functional type (nitrogen-fixing tree) into this sandy, nutrient-poor, upland forested ecosystem resulted in "islands of invasion" within this otherwise invasion-resistant system. However, total land cover of black locust in the outer Cape has significantly declined in this system over the past three decades, as revealed by historical aerial photographs. The authors suggest that managers consider the complex interaction between soil composition, the nonnative species that exist within the invaded ecosystem, and the degree of fragmentation of the landscape when making management decisions regarding this species.
Von Holle, B., K. A. Joseph, E. F. Largay, and R. G. Lohnes. 2006. Facilitations between the introduced nitrogen-fixing tree, Robinia pseudoacacia, and nonnative plant species in the glacial outwash upland ecosystem of Cape Cod, MA. Biodiversity and Conservation 15:2197-2215.
August 2006 Highlights
Donations for The Harvard Forest Ecology K-12 Teacher Training Received
The "Friends of Harvard Forest" and an anonymous donor have provided generous support to our Schoolyard Ecology program. This funding will allow us to provide scientific consultation and training to local K-12 teachers who are implementing field ecology studies related to Harvard Forest ecologist's research. In addition to providing students with hands-on experience using scientific methods this program provides students and teachers with a means of connecting to the natural world. See our schoolyard webpages or contact Pamela Snow, Schoolyard Coordinator at psnow@fas.harvard.edu (978) 724-3302 x246 for more information on this unique program.
New Harvard Forest Publication
One unexpected consequence of natural disturbances in forested areas is that managers often initiate activities that may impose greater ecosystem impacts than the disturbances themselves. By salvage logging areas affected by windstorms or other impacts, by harvesting host trees in advance of insect infestation or disease, or by preemptively harvesting forests in an attempt to improve their resilience to future disturbances and stresses, managers initiate substantial changes in the ecosystem structure and function. Much of this activity is undertaken in the absence of information on the qualitative and quantitative differences between disturbance impacts and harvesting. To provide insight for such decisions we evaluated the ecosystem consequences of two major disturbance processes in New England (U.S.A.)—intense windstorms and invasive pests and pathogens—and contrasted them with impacts from preemptive and salvage harvesting. Despite dramatic physical changes in forest structure resulting from hurricane impacts and insect infestation, little disruption of biogeochemical processes or other ecosystem functions typically follows these disturbances. Indeed, the physical and organic structures produced by these disturbances are important natural features providing habitat and landscape heterogeneity that are often missing due to centuries of land use. From an ecosystem perspective there are strong arguments against preemptive and salvage logging or the attempt through silvicultural means to improve the resistance or resilience of forests to disturbance and stress. There are often valid motivations for salvage or preemptive logging including financial considerations, human safety, and a desire to shape the long-term composition and resource-production characteristics of forests. Nonetheless, there are many ecological benefits derived from leaving forests alone when they are affected or threatened by disturbances and pest and pathogen outbreaks.
Foster, D.R. and D.A. Orwig, 2006. Preemptive and Salvage Harvesting of New England Forests: When Doing Nothing Is a Viable Alternative. Conservation Biology Volume 20, No. 4, 959–970.
July 2006 Highlights
Professor Emeritus Receives Centennial Medallion Award
Harvard Forest Professor Emeritus P. Barry Tomlinson received the Botany Society of America's Centennial Medallion Award. The award honors those who have make significant contributions to the advancement of the botanical sciences as well as contributions to the Botanical Society of America.
Ph.D. student Sydne Record receives Gilgut Fellowship.
Sydne Record, a Ph.D. student in the Plant Biology program at the University of Massachusetts who is doing her dissertation research at the Harvard Forest with Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison, has received the 2006-2007 Gilgut Fellowship from the Plant Biology program. This fellowship provides a full year of stipend support and release from teaching so that Sydne can focus full-time on her disseration research on understory plants, ants, and ecosystem dynamics.
New Harvard Forest Publications
A.M. Ellison, L.J. Osterweil, L. Clarke, J.L. Hadley, A. Wise, E. Boose, D.R. Foster, A. Hanson, D. Jensen, P. Kuzeja, E. Riseman, and H. Schultz. 2006. Analytic webs support the synthesis of ecological data sets. Ecology 87(6): 1345-1358.
Ecologists are interested in synthesizing a diverse array of complex datasets to address novel ecological questions, but actually synthesizing datasets to produce reliable and reproducible results is a challenging task. A team of ecologists from the Harvard Forest and computer scientists from the University of Massachusetts have developed formal representations, known as analytic webs, that provide both producers and consumers of datasets complete and precise definitions of the scientific processes that are used to process scientific datasets. Analytic webs are created and data can be synthesized with a prototype software tool called SciWalker. We have successfully applied analytic webs to the analysis and synthesis of forest CO2 exchange data from eddy flux towers located on Prospect Hill. This work was supported by NSF grant CCR-0205575.
Atwater, D.Z., J.L. Butler, and A.M. Ellison. 2006. Spatial distribution and impacts of moth herbivory on northern pitcher plants. Northeastern Naturalist 13: 43-56.
This paper summarizes the independent research project of 2004 REU student Dan Atwater, in which he examined changes in the distribution of two noctuid moths that feed on pitcher plants at Tom Swamp. Large plants were preferentially attacked by larvae of Exyra fax but the pitcher-plant borer Papaipema appassionata was not so selective. We hypothesize that spatial distribution of Exyra larvae results both from selectivity in feeding and from limited flight distances of adults. In contrast, spatial distribution of Papaipema larvae may result from limited larval mobility. The results of this study provided key preliminary data for a successful NSF grant proposal.
Cobb, R.C., D. A. Orwig, and S. Currie. 2006. Decomposition of green foliage in eastern hemlock forests of southern New England impacted by hemlock woolly adelgid infestations. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 36: 1331–1341.
Recent Research Assistant Richard Cobb, working with collaborators including Harvard Forest Ecologist David Orwig and former HF REU summer student Steve Currie, examined the impacts of the introduced insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) on green litter decomposition in New England hemlock forests. This study investigated both the direct effects of HWA feeding and indirect changes in microclimate on foliar decomposition. Results suggest that while HWA-feeding did not result in significant changes in foliar percent carbon (C), percent nitrogen (N), or percent lignin at the beginning of the study, decomposing foliage from infested trees had significantly higher N concentrations than uninfested foliage as decomposition progressed. Mass loss of uninfested foliage was lower in infested hemlock stands than uninfested stands (30.9% ±0.7% vs. 34.2% ± 0.1%). Rates of mass loss were significantly correlated with microclimate factors and indicate that organic soil moisture levels are controlling decomposition in HWA-infested forests.
June 2006 Highlights
Spring Leaf Out - 2006
The photographs in the following presentation document the changes in forest trees at the margin of the pasture, adjacent to the headquarters of the Harvard Forest. These photographs were taken during spring of 2006 by John O'Keefe, and show the timing of the leaf out and leaf development this spring.
Despite the very mild and dry winter, leaf out (leaves emerged from 50% of the buds) occurred at the end of the first week in May, about two days later than the average date for the previous 16 years. This date is determined by averaging the date of leaf out of six species, including: red maple, red oak, yellow birch, white oak, striped maple and witch hazel. Due to cool, wet weather in the middle of May, leaf expansion proceeded rather slowly until the last week of May which was very warm. The images show this progression. Learn more about this study of woody species leaf phenology
Undergraduate Research Experience Program Kicks Off
22 summer students have arrived as part of the Harvard Forest summer research program in ecology. Students come from all over the United States to participate in on-going research projects including atmospheric pollution, global warming, hurricanes, treefalls, and insect outbreaks. Researchers come from many disciplines and institutions. Specific projects center on population and community ecology, paleoecology, land-use history, wildlife biology, biochemistry, soil science, ecophysiology, and atmosphere-biosphere exchanges.
Harvard Forest Publication
McDonald, R.I.,Motzkin, G., Bank, M., Kittredge, D., Burk, J., and Foster, D.R.. 2005. Forest harvesting and land-use conversion over two decades in Massachusetts. Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 227, Issues 1-2 , 15 May 2006, Pages 31-41.
Forest harvesting is an important, ongoing disturbance that affects the composition, structure, and ecological function of the majority of the world’s forests. However, few studies have examined the interaction between land-use conversion and harvesting. Harvard Forest researchers utilized a unique, spatially explicit database of all cutting events and land-cover conversions for Massachusetts over the past 20 years to characterize the interactions between land-use conversion and harvesting, and their relationship to physical, social, and economic factors. Harvesting activity ceases near the far outer suburbs of major metropolitan areas, as well as along the coast. There is a strong negative correlation between the proportion of forest lost to land-use conversion and the proportion of forest harvested. Harvest intensity, in contrast, appears related to ownership type, with state-owned lands having more intensive harvests. The results suggest that current forest management regimes are determined largely by the economic influence of nearby urban centers.
May 2006 Highlights
2006-2007 - Charles Bullard Fellowship Recipients
The Charles Bullard fellowship program is to support advanced research and study by individuals who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry and forest-related subjects from biology to earth sciences, economics, politics, administration or law. See the complete listing of Bullard Scholars from 1962 - 2006.
| Recipient | Home Institution | Field of Research |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Hormoz BassiriRad | University of Illinois at Chicago | Root and Plant Physiology |
| Dr. James Bever | Indiana University at Bloomington | Mycorrhizal Fungi |
| Dr. Adrien Finzi | Boston University | Community and Ecosystem Ecology |
| Dr. Sherilyn Fritz | University of Nebraska | Paleoecology and Diatoms |
| Jerry Jenkins | Wildlife Conservation Society | Botany and Geography |
| Dr. John McDonald | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | Wildlife Biology - Moose/Deer |
| Dr. Scott Pearson | Mars Hill College | Forest and Avian Ecology |
Harvard Forest in the News
HF Research on Invasive Plants demonstrates critical evidence that a noxious alien weed causes ecological damage in the Northeast.
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), an invasive plant that has spread across much of the U.S. harms native maples, ashes, and other hardwood trees by releasing chemicals harmful to a soil fungus the trees depend on for growth and survival, reports a study led by Harvard Forest Researcher Kristina Stinson, this week in the Public Library of Science. The tree-stifling alien, first introduced into the U.S. in the 1860s, has since spread to Canada and 30 states in the East and Midwest, with recent sightings as far west as Oregon. While many mechanisms - from the absence of natural predators or parasites to the disruption of long-established interactions among native organisms - have been proposed to explain the success of invasive species, this new work is the first to show that an invasive plant harms native plants by thwarting the biological "friends" upon which they depend for growth.
Read the press release.
Stinson, K.A., Campbell, S.A., Powell, J.R., Wolfe, B.E., Callaway, R.M., Thelen, G.C., Hallett, S.G., Prati D, Klironomos, J.N. (2006) Invasive Plant Suppresses the Growth of Native Tree Seedlings by Disrupting Belowground Mutualisms. PLoS Biol 4(5): e140
Fisher Museum Open on Weekends
Starting May 6th, the Fisher Museum will be open 12 - 4 on Saturdays and Sundays. The Fisher Museum features twenty-three internationally acclaimed models (dioramas) portraying the history, conservation and management of central New England forests. Other exhibits at the museum represent the range of Harvard Forest's research.
New Harvard Forest Publication
Finley, A.O., Kittredge Jr., D.B., Stevens, T.H., Schweik, C.M. and Dennis, D.C. 2006. Interest in Cross-Boundary Cooperation: Identification of Distinct Types of Private Forest Owners. Forest Science 52(1): 10-22.
Ecosystem-scale approaches to management in the eastern United States depend on the attitudes and behaviors of thousands of non-industrial private families and individuals whose ownership dominates landscapes. In Massachusetts, for example, it is estimated that the average ownership is 23 acres. Most ecosystem processes greatly exceed this very small average management unit. While there has been prior work on individual owner attitudes, there is little documented research exploring attitudes of owners towards cooperation at scales broader than their own properties. We use a segmentation analysis to divide the Massachusetts woodland owner population into 4 statistically distinct subgroups with respect to cooperation: two segments show interest for various reasons (representing 48% of the total population), whereas one segment shows apathy (27%), and the fourth segment shows disinterest (24% of the population). In general, woodland owners interested in cooperation tend to be younger, more highly educated, and have higher incomes than owners showing apathy or disinterest. Those interested in cooperation tend to have owned their land for a short time. These results have implications for public policy designed to effectively appeal to private woodland owners who collectively are responsible for a huge share of the nation’s forests.
April 2006 Highlights
17th Annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium
The seventeeth annual symposium will be held Wednesday April 12, 2006 9:00am. A series of talks highlighting new research and cooperative carbon dynamics work. Learn more or submit abstract.
Harvard Forest Master's Student Receives Bowdoin Prize
MFS student, Edward Faison was awarded Harvard University’s Bowdoin Prize for Graduate Essays in the Natural Sciences for 2005-2006, an annual prize given for a paper of literary merit on any subject in the natural sciences. His essay, entitled “Extraordinary Accounts of the Common Ragweed,” discusses ragweed pollen's unique role as an indicator of major environmental shifts in the New England landscape during the past 10,000 years.
Northeast NEON Meeting
NSF and NEONInc have released two reports and indicated that an RFP for a prospectus from each NEON Domain (region) will be coming out in 2-3 months, with the prospectus due in 6-9 months. Consequently, we are organizing a meeting for all individuals interested in the Northeast NEON effort.
Date: April 25, 2006
Location: Harvard Forest
Agenda: Overview of the NEON Planning Process and ISEP; Discussion of potential configurations for a Northeastern District and Sites; Initial planning for the development of a Northeastern Prospectus. Visit Neon Site for more information.
Forest in Time Paperback Second Printing
The re-release of Forest in Time (FIT) in paperback coincides with the review of FIT in The Agricultural History Review by Graeme Wynn of the University of British Columbia. He wrote:
New Harvard Forest Publications
Finley, A.O. and Kittredge Jr., D.B. 2006. Thoreau, Muir, and Jane Doe: Different Types of Private Forest Owners Need Different Kinds of Forest Management: Northern Journal of Applied Forestry, Vol. 23, No.1, March 2006
We used a segmentation analysis which indicates a significant heterogeneity of private woodland owner attitudes in Massachusetts. We estimate roughly 67% of private woodland owners place highest priority on contemplative enjoyment and privacy provided by their properties. These “Henry David Thoreau” type owners are not necessarily opposed to management or utilization of wood from their land, but these activities are of a lesser priority compared to “Walden-like” qualities or benefits. We estimate roughly 23% of the woodland owner population share characteristics with John Muir. These owners place highest priority on environmental protection and the preservation of nature, and express a desire to “let nature take its course”. We estimate a relatively small fraction (10%) of the woodland owner population falls into a third segment, which places little importance on nature preservation or privacy and contemplative benefits. We know little about what motivates these so-called “Jane Doe” woodland owners, though results indicate that they are older than Thoreaus or Muirs, and own larger parcels. A relatively high proportion (43%) of “Jane Doe” owners report the intention to sell or develop their land in the next ten years. An improved understanding of private woodland owners provides guidance on the development of more effective public policies and programs for people who collectively are responsible for the future of over 75% of the forested landscape of Massachusetts.
Urban, D. L., R. I. McDonald, E. S. Minor, and E. A. Treml. 2006 Causes and consequences of land use change in the North Carolina Piedmont. In J. Wu, B. Jones, H. Li, and O.L. Loucks (eds.). Scaling and Uncertainty Analysis in Ecological Studies, Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
In a recently released book, Harvard Forest researcher Robert McDonald co-authored a chapter on the causes and consequences of land-use change in the North Carolina Piedmont with D.L. Urban, E.S. Minor, and E.A. Treml. The project integrated studies of forest dynamics, conservation value (forest songbird communities), and ecosystem processes (watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry). As part of this modeling effort, they estimated the uncertainties due to errors in imagery and ground data, model selection, parameter estimation, and process error. The methodology developed has implications for other studies interested in incorporating these sources of uncertainty in models used for integrated assessments at regional scales.
Book's website: http://leml.asu.edu/ScalingBook/
March 2006 Highlights
Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium
The seventeeth annual symposium will be held Wednesday April 12, 2006 9:00am. A series of talks highlighting new research and cooperative carbon dynamics work. Learn more or submit abstract.
Wildlands and Woodlands: Continuing the Vision
Some eight months after the report's release four major and complementary efforts have arisen to support this conservation vision, sustain its dissemination and promote its initial implementation. These include:
- A self-organized consortium of regional conservation organizations, state agency representatives, and foundations meeting at the Henry P. Kendall Foundation and Doyle Center for Conservation (TTOR) is seeking to promote the vision through: communication and marketing, financing and funding, and policy and legislation.
- The New England Natural Resources Center (NENRC) is assisting with the important "proof-of concept" stage of W+W by providing a non-profit base for the development of pilot Woodland Councils. This activity involves extensive interaction with local and regional conservation groups by Keith Ross, a recognized leader in innovative approaches to land protection.
- James Levitt , Director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at Harvard University , and Kathy Lambert received funding to host a Spring 2006 roundtable of national leaders in the area of conservation finance to identify potential mechanisms for funding an ambitious regional land protection effort like W+W.
- Numerous regional efforts are developing that promise to extend W+W activity across and beyond the confines of Massachusetts. Two efforts are particularly promising. (i) The Quabbin to Cardigan public/private partnership, coordinated by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF) , seeks to protect a broad corridor of conservation lands, stretching more than 100 miles from the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts to New Hampshire's Mt. Cardigan, and beyond to the White Mountains. The region contains large tracts of protected forests, including the Harvard Forest, and limited wildland areas and the Harvard Forest Pisgah tract, one of the most intensively studied virgin forests in North America. Harvard Forest is a charter partner in the Quabbin to Cardigan (Q2C) Conservation Collaborative. (ii) Highstead , a 125-acre reserve in southwestern Connecticut dedicated to woodland conservation and education has committed to a new activities that are grounded in many of the ideas underlying the W+W vision. Specifically, Highstead is developing innovative programs to train and support conservation students and experts, disseminate information to landowners and the public, and assist the education and coordination of individuals and groups committed to woodland conservation. These efforts will focus at local (Southwestern CT), regional (southern New England and adjacent New York), and national scales.
Visit the Wildlands and Woodlands Website for more information
Climate change: something to sneeze about
Kristina Stinson and Ed Faison took the lead on two Harvard Forest publications demonstrating that climate change increases the presence and abundance of ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) and its pollen. K. Stinson and F. Bazzaz tested whether elevated CO2 would benefit the growth and reproductive output of small plants over larger ones by growing experimental stands of competing ragweed individuals in climate-controlled open top chambers shown in photo. They found that CO2-induced growth gains of smaller plants enhanced the relative reproductive output of small plants relative to larger plants. Thus, enhanced reproduction is expected and more individuals are likely to reproduce in future populations of this allergenic weed (Stinson, K.A. and F. A. Bazzaz (2006) Oecologia 147, 155-163). Harvard Forest's MFS student Brian DeGasperis and Summer Program sudents Jimmy Tran and Jen Petzold assisted with this project.
In a forthcoming paper in the journal Ecology, E. K. Faison, D. R. Foster, W. W. Oswald, B. C. S Hansen, and E. Doughty investigated the environmental drivers behind abundant ragweed pollen in sediments of four southern New England lakes 10,000-8000 years ago. They found strong evidence that high levels of ragweed pollen were associated with warmer, drier conditions. This conclusion is corroborated by independent lake level and climate reconstructions. Together, these results have implications for future ragweed distribution and abundance, and suggest that more ragweed pollen could accompany rising temperature and CO2 levels in New England.
Link to citation in Oecologia online
NEON Social Science Workshop Report
A Transformational Ecological Research Program To Interpret and Forecast Dynamics in the Coupled Human-Environment System Report of the NSF-Sponsored Workshop -- January 10-11, 2006
Harvard Forest, Harvard University
David Foster, Billie Turner, Morgan Grove, and Workshop Participants
February 2006 Highlights
2006 Harvard Forest Summer Program in Ecology
We are now accepting applications for the 2006 Summer Program from undergraduates and recent graduates who are interested in an intensive research and education experience in ecology. Learn more
Managing Hemlock Forests threatened by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
Harvard Forest Ecologist David Orwig and Extension Forester David Kittredge from Umass-Amherst recently completed a fact sheet that reviews Hemlock Woolly Adelgid biology, silvicultural options, Best Management Practices, and considerations for making an informed decision about the future of hemlock stands. Many loggers, foresters, and woodland owners are facing decisions about their hemlock stands now or in the near future as the introduced adelgid spreads through the region. This new publication outlines a series of options and associated costs to consider for planning the appropriate management strategy for hemlock forests.
Orwig, D.A. and D.B. Kittredge. 2005. Silviculture Options for Managing Hemlock Forests threatened by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. pp. 7.
Conservation finance roundtable and white paper funded
James Levitt (director of Program on Conservation Innovation at Harvard Forest) and Kathy Lambert (president of Ecologic) received a grant to host a roundtable of national leaders in the area of conservation finance in Spring 2006. The goal is to indentify potential mechanisms for funding an ambitious regional land protection effort like Wildlands and Woodlands. The paper would be made available to the administration, the legislature, and the private sector leaders interested in the program.
Smith Conservation Fellowship Awarded to Harvard Forest Post Doc
Dr. Robert McDonald, currently of Harvard Forest, received The Society for Conservation Biology and the Cedar Tree Foundation 2006 Smith Conservation Research Fellowship. The David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship, the nation's premier post doctoral program in conservation biology, seeks to find solutions to the most pressing conservation challenges in the United States. Each Fellow's research is conducted in partnership with a major academic institution and "on the ground" conservation organization to help bridge the gap between theory and application.
Dr. McDonald will be based at Harvard University and focus on "Urbanization and conservation priority setting: scaling from global patterns to local processes" in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. The recipients were selected from a pool of over 80 highly qualified recent Ph D's from around the world.
January 2006 Highlights
2006 Harvard Forest Summer Program in Ecology
We are now accepting applications for the 2006 Summer Program from undergraduates and recent graduates who are interested in an intensive research and education experience in ecology. Learn more
Charles Bullard Fellowship Applications Due February 1st
We are now accepting applications for the Charles Bullard Fellowship Program online. The Charles Bullard Fellowship program is to support advanced research and study by persons, either scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use of forested environments. The research can encompass a wide array of forestry-related subjects from biology to earth sciences, economics, politics, administration or law. Learn more
Five-Year Grant Funded
The Division of Environmental Biology at the National Science Foundation has recommended that Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison's proposal "Moths, ants, and carnivorous plants: the spatial dimension of species interactions" be funded, beginning March 1, 2006. The goal of this 5-year, $585,000 research project, is to understand how species interactions change the spatial distribution of dynamic habitat patches across the landscape, and to determine how food webs are structured within and among these patches. Ellison and his collaborator Nick Gotelli at the University of Vermont will continue to use the pitcher-plant microecosystem for this research. This system consists of the carnivorous plant Sarracenia purpurea; the unique food web of bacteria, protozoa, rotifers, mites, and fly larvae that live within its rainwater-filled leaves; three species of bog-inhabiting ants that are the primary prey for this carnivorous plant; and larvae of the pitcher-plant moth, Exyra fax, which cut and drain pitchers and remove food web habitat. Results from surveys of 50 New England bogs and three field experiments to be conducted at Tom Swamp will be used to parameterize a simulation model to predict changes in spatial structure of ant, moth, and plant populations, and the structure and composition of the aquatic food web associated with the plant.
Harvard Forest Publication
Levitt, J.N. (ed.). 2005. From Walden to Wall Street: Frontiers of Conservation Finance. Island Press and Lincoln Institute.
From Walden to Wall Street brings together the experience of more than a dozen pioneering conservation finance practitioners to present groundbreaking ideas for dramatically expanding the availability of capital for land and biodiversity conservation in the United States. The authors explore a wide array of promising opportunities, including: mainstreaming environmental markets; enhancing government ballot measures for land conservation; using new forms of tax-advantaged financing; and leveraging the power of private debt and equity markets.
In the absence of such innovations in the field of conservation finance, a daunting funding gap faces conservationists aiming to protect America's system of landscapes that provide sustainable resources, water, wildlife habitat, and recreational amenities. Experts estimate that the average annual funding gap will be between $1.9 billion and $7.7 billion over the next forty years. The creativity and insight of From Walden to Wall Street offers considerable hope that, even in this era of widespread financial constraints, the American conservation community's financial resources may potentially grow dramatically in both quantity and quality coming decades.
James N. Levitt directs the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest and is a research fellow at the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Managing Hemlock Forests threatened by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
Orwig, D.A. and D.B. Kittredge. 2005. Silviculture Options for Managing Hemlock Forests threatened by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. pp. 7.
Harvard Forest Ecologist David Orwig and Extension Forester David Kittredge from Umass-Amherst recently completed a fact sheet that reviews Hemlock Woolly Adelgid biology, silvicultural options, Best Management Practices, and considerations for making an informed decision about the future of hemlock stands. Many loggers, foresters, and woodland owners are facing decisions about their hemlock stands now or in the near future as the introduced adelgid spreads through the region. This new publication outlines a series of options and associated costs to consider for planning the appropriate management strategy for hemlock forests.
December 2005 Highlights
Harvard Forest in the Media
Harvard Forest Schoolyard Science Project in Boston Globe
The Harvard Forest Schoolyard LTER program continues to grow and has recently made the news. One of the four research projects currently supported through our program (Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming) was featured in an article in The Boston Globe
he HF Schoolyard web page was also recently updated. Project descriptions, research protocols, suggested reading, and actual data for each research project can be viewed at http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/ museum/schoolyard.html by clicking on the project theme that interests you.
This year two new partners, the Nashua River Watershed Association and the SCA Massachusetts Parks AmeriCorps, joined our existing partners, the Hitchcock Center for the Environment and the Millers River Environmental Center. Current funding is provided by the National Science Foundation's Schoolyard and Ed En Venture programs as well as the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET).
Old Growth Forest highlighted on WFCR Public Radio
Tony D'Amato Doctoral Student at UMASS and Harvard Forest spoke with Field Notes naturalist Laurie Sanders about how a study of the state's remaining old growth forests is providing insights into better ways of managing our existing forest lands. Listen to the broadcast.
Harvard Forest Ecologist David Orwig Cited in Boston Globe Article on Invasive Insects
The article by Megan Woolhouse raises the awareness of invasive insects by describing their destructive impacts on forests. She describes recent efforts by State officials to search for new invasive insects before they become a problem. In addition she highlights the positive and negative effects of using bugs to fight other bugs (biocontrol). Read the Boston Globe article.
New Harvard Forest Publications
Ellison, A. M., M. S. Bank, B. D. Clinton, E. A. Colburn, K. Elliott, C. R. Ford, D. R. Foster, B. D. Kloeppel, J. D. Knoepp, G. M. Lovett, J. Mohan, D. A. Orwig, N. L. Rodenhouse, W. V. Sobczak, K. A. Stinson, J. K. Stone, C. M. Swan, J. Thompson, B. von Holle, and J. R. Webster. 2005. Loss of foundation species: consequences for the structure and dynamics of forested ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 9: 479-486.
This paper derived from an LTER cross-site workshop held at Harvard Forest Feb. 28-March 2, 2005. The workshop examined the responses of forest ecosystems to the loss of "foundation species" - single species that control population and community dynamics and modulate ecosystem processes. The workshop was supported by the LTER network office and included researchers from the Andrews, Baltimore, Coweeta, Hubbard Brook, Luquillo, and Harvard Forest LTER sites.
The article is also featured in the Pathways to Scientific Teaching section of Frontiers (paper by Hodder et al.), and this teaching article is being used by Pam Snow in the HF schoolyard LTER program.
Ratchford, J.S., S. E. Wittman, E. S. Jules, A. M. Ellison, N. J. Gotelli, and N. J. Sanders. 2005/2006. The effects of fire, local environment, and time on ant assemblages in fens and forests. Diversity and Distributions 11: 487-497.
In this paper by PIs and graduate students at Humboldt State University, University of Vermont, University of Tennessee, and Harvard Forest, we examined environmental factors controlling species composition of ant assemblages in fens and forests of the Siskiyou Mountains. We were especially interested in the response of these ant assemblages to the Biscuit Fire of 2002, one of the largest wildfires (>200,000 ha) recorded in Oregon.
Ellison, A. M. 2005. Turning the tables: plants bite back. Wings, Fall 2005: 25-29.
An overview of interactions between carnivorous plants and insects published in the magazine of the Xerces Society (http://www.xerces.org/), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting biological diversity through invertebrate conservation. Jess Butler and Tony D'Amato came up with the title of the article.
November 2005 Highlights
Harvard Forest Bullard Fellow Revises Peterson's Field Guide
Revised by Elizabeth Farnsworth (Bullard Fellow) and Cheryl Lowe for the first time in 50 years, the new Peterson's Field Guide to the Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America introduces both amateur and professional plant enthusiasts to the ferns and related families of the northeastern United States. The revised book incorporates a wealth of new information, updating the nomenclature of the ferns, and informing the reader about species that have been discovered only recently in the Northeast. The lovely illustrations from the previous edition (by Laura Louise Foster) have been reproduced for better quality, and new illustrations were added by Elizabeth Farnsworth, along with lots of informative color photographs. A brand new set of simple, illustrated keys guide the user to identify a mystery fern to genus, using traits that are readily visible in the field in most cases. The Guide also contains an expanded glossary of terms, as well as new sections on the evolution of ferns, their habitats, conservation issues, and gardening and propagation techniques. We hope this book will become the definitive guide to ferns for students, biologists, naturalists, environmental consultants, and other fern fans throughout the region.
Wildlands and Woodlands: An Update
Since the release of the scientific report "Wildlands and Woodlands: A Vision for the Forests of Massachusetts" calling for a bold new land protection effort to stave-off accelerating forest fragmentation in Massachusetts, many organizations and persons from the private forester to the public servant have expressed interest and/or endorsement of the vision. Below are some examples of efforts already underway
- Visit by the Save the Redwood League to discuss the W+W plan and mutual interests in protecting forest lands through public-private partnerships.
- " Expanding the regional application of Wildlands and Woodlands by holding a forum for students and faculty at Yale University School of Forestry and giving presentations at the Highstead Arboretum in Redding, CT.
- Planning a visit by the Massachusetts Joint (Senate and House) Legislative Committee on Natural Resources to provide an overview of Wildlands and Woodlands and related issues in forest research.
- Continue to meet on a bi-monthly basis with a growing group of state agencies, conservation organizations, and private foundations to discuss the implementation of W+W. The current focus centers on three major topics: Funding, Policy (state and local regulations that affect land use planning and forest conservation), and Outreach.
- Jim Levitt and the Program in Conservation Innovation has applied for funding to host a workshop early in '06 of national experts in land protection and conservation funding in order to devise strategies for funding the W+W vision.
New Harvard Forest Publication
McDonald, R.I. and Urban, D.L., 2006. Spatially Varying Rules of Landscape Change: Lessons from a Case Study. Landscape and Urban Planning 74:7-20.
Postdoctoral Fellow Robert McDonald examined deforestation patterns in the Raleigh-Durham metropolitan region over the last decade, building a set of models that enable prediction of patterns of deforestation into the near-term future. Different functional forms of the land-use change model are tested, and it is shown that having a model that allows for spatial variation in the rules of landscape change is crucial for accurate model estimation and inference. Failure to allow for spatial variation in the rules of landscape change leads to chronic underestimation of deforestation rates in hotspots of deforestation, and overestimation for the rest of the landscape. This result has wide implications for efforts to model urban development elsewhere.
October 2005 Highlights
October Highlights
US Postal Service Northeast Deciduous Forest Stamps Issued
The Postal Service has issued the Nature of America: Northeast Deciduous Forest commemorative souvenir stamp sheet. The sheet’s reverse side provides the common and scientific names of the 27 animals and plants pictured on the front. The artist's rendition was modelled after Harvard Pond and was created with some input from Harvard Forest Staff.
Harvard Forest Web Site Highlights Science Behind Autumn Leaf Color Change
Harvard Forest website created by John O'Keefe and 2004 Bullard Fellow, David Lee, Florida International University, focuses on leaf color change. The site will provide a central repository for images, references and scientific explanations and theories relating to leaf pigment changes. Though this site focuses on the New England area, the science and impact of these studies if far reaching.
http:// harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/research/leaves/autumn_leaves.html.
Harvard Forest Publications
D.R. Foster. 2006. The importance of land use history to conservation biology. p. 204-208, in M. J. Groom, G. K. Meffe, and C. R. Carroll. Principles of Conservation Biology. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA.
Recent Bullard Fellow Bernhard Stadler, from the University of Bayreuth in Germany along with collaborators including Harvard Forest Ecologist David Orwig, examined the impacts of the introduced insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid on spatial and temporal canopy processes in New England hemlock forests. Results suggest that adelgid-induced changes in tree physiology, forest microbiology, and stand-level nutrient cycling occurred well in advance of either heavy infestation by the pest or the appearance of severe tree damage. Observed changes in canopy biomass and distribution, throughfall chemistry, and abundance of epiphytic microorganisms may initiate profound changes in ecosystem function and may have an important effect on the subsequent structure and composition of the succeeding forest.
Stadler, B., T. MÜller, Orwig, D. and Cobb, R., 2005. Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in New England Forests: Canopy Impacts Transforming Ecosystem Processes and Landscapes. Ecosystems 8: 233–247.
Forest Ecologist David Orwig documented approximately 100 acres of old-growth forest on the western slopes of Wachusett Mountain State Reservation in Princeton and Westminster, Massachusetts. This report contains information on tree ages and forest composition, as well as recommendations for protecting both the newly discovered forests and nearby existing old-growth forests on the Reservation.
Orwig, D. 2004. An evaluation of the western slope forests of Wachusett Mountain. Report submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
September 2005 Highlights
Harvard Forest Research Develops New Estimate of Old-Growth Forest Acreage Remaining in Massachusetts
A new estimate of the amount of old-growth forest remaining in Massachusetts has been recently determined based on research currently being conducted by Tony D'Amato, doctoral candidate in Forestry at UMass, and Dr. David Orwig, forest ecologist at the Harvard Forest. This extensive, field-based research builds on the work of previous studies on old-growth forests in Massachusetts and determines the area of old-growth forest in the state on public lands to be approximately 1119 acres. The majority of these old-growth forests are located in the Berkshire Hills and Taconic Mountains of western Massachusetts; however, a considerable acreage is also found on the slopes of Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, MA. More details on the scope of this research as well as a downloadable list of these old-growth areas can be found in the Major Research Topics section.
New Harvard Forest Postdoctoral Fellow Publications
Harvard Forest Postdoctoral Fellow Robert McDonald, along with collaborators at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, tested the effectiveness of ecoregions, a common conservation tool that divides the world into discrete regions by their ecology, in representing variation in species composition for mammals, trees, and birds. Their results show that, for any particular taxonomic group, most ecoregion boundaries do not represent zones of higher than average turnover. This result has implications for conservation planning, and suggests that utilizing a set of ecoregions designed for one purpose for a different purpose will often be far from optimal.
McDonald, R., M. Mcknight, D. Weiss, E. Selig, M. O'Connor, C. Violin, A. Moody. 2005. Species compositional similarity and ecoregions: Do ecoregion boundaries represent zones of high species turnover? Biological Conservation 126: 24–40
Tree species are at risk of extinction if their ability to expand northwards is too slow to keep up with anticipated climate warming. With colleagues at Duke University, Jason McLachlan showed that previous estimates of range expansion at the end of the last ice age were too fast. Surveys of molecular markers indicate that rates of spread in beech and red maple may be severely constrained by factors such as limited seed dispersal in the face of rapid climate change.
J.S. McLachlan, J.S. Clark and P.S. Manos. 2005. Molecular indicators of tree migration capacity under rapid climate change. Ecology 86: 2088-2098.
August 2005 Highlights
Harvard Forest Master's Student receives Honorable Mention for Outstanding Thesis in the Biological Sciences
Brooks Mathewson, Masters’ student in forestry, has been awarded the Dean’s Prize for Outstanding Thesis in the Biological Sciences, receiving an Honorable Mention for his research at the Harvard University Extension School Masters of Liberal Arts Program. Brooks’ thesis advisors were Harvard Forest ecologists Betsy Colburn and David Foster, and Harvard Extension lecturers Amanda Benson and James Morris. The thesis was entitled "Eastern redback salamander (Plethodon cinereus) and juvenile eastern red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens) abundance in eastern hemlock and hardwood stands". For his ongoing Masters of Forestry Science, Brooks is expanding the geographic scope of the study to compare the abundance of eastern redbacks in hemlock and mixed deciduous forests throughout the Upper Worcester Plateau ecoregion.
Forests in Time: Now Available in Paperback
"Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England",
David R. Foster and John D. Aber, eds. 2004, Yale University Press, offers a unique look at combining history and science in ecological studies and environmental management and applies this approach to one of the most remarkably transformed landscapes in North America: the New England countryside. Written in accessible prose and profusely illustrated with photographs, maps, and graphs, the book relates the history of changes in New England and then explores the results of integrated studies and experiments in this largely forested landscape.
Table of Contents and Further description of the book are available.
New Harvard Forest Publications
Köster, D., Pienitz, R., Wolfe, B.B., Barry, S., Foster, D.R., and Dixit, S.S. 2005. Paleolimnological assessment of human-induced impacts on the nutrient balance of Walden Pond (Massachusetts, USA) during the last three centuries using diatoms and stable isotopes. Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 8 (2): 117-131.
Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison, along with University of Vermont Professor Nick Gotelli and his graduate students Amy Wakefield and Sarah Wittman examined nutrient stoichiometry of northern pitcher plants fed supplemental prey. Their results suggest that under current conditions of high nitrogen deposition in the northeast that pitcher plants are phosphorus limited, and that phosphorus is preferentially absorbed from prey. These results highlight the importance of considering multiple nutrient limitation in wetland ecosystems, and how nutrient limitation can be affected by human alterations of the regional and global nitrogen cycle.
Prey addition alters nutrient stoichiometry of the carnivorous plant Sarracenia purpurea. A.E. Wakefield, N.J. Gotelli, S.E. Wittman, and A.M. Ellison. Ecology 86: 1737-1743 (2005).
July 2005 Highlights
Local Flora Inventory
For nearly a century, Harvard Forest has been the focus of a wide range of ecological investigations, with a strong emphasis on studies of vegetation, disturbance history, and stand dynamics. Little is known of the local flora prior to the establishment of Harvard Forest in 1907. Hugh Raup developed the first checklist of vascular plants of Petersham, MA, based on his extensive collections in the early 1930s (Raup 1938). Subsequently, C. Earle Smith Jr. (Smith 1948, 1949) summarized what was known of the vascular flora of Petersham, based on the collections of Dr. I. M. Johnson and others in 1947 as well as a review of specimens in the Harvard Forest and New England Botanical Club herbaria.
Currently, we are conducting field inventories across Harvard Forest properties, recording species lists and noting abundances in broad categories within each compartment in order to map species distributions and general abundances. A review of herbarium records, databases, and relevant literature will enable us to determine which species have previously been found at Harvard Forest and where they were found. Specimen collections or photographic documentation will be made of species that have not previously been documented from Harvard Forest, are uncommon, or are of interest for other reasons. Once complete, this 2-year study of the vascular and bryophyte flora conducted by Harvard Forest Staff and Interns and Jerry Jenkins of the White Creek Field School, will:
- document the current flora of Harvard Forest, including detailed information on the distribution and abundance of locally and regionally uncommon species and invasive species;
- enable a broad evaluation of changes in the flora of Harvard Forest over the past century and a detailed evaluation of changes in the flora over the past 50-60 years by comparing our results with those of Raup (1938) and Smith (1948, 1949);
- serve as a baseline for documenting future changes in the flora.
New Harvard Forest Publication
Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison and Bullard Fellow Elizabeth
Farnsworth analyzed photosynthetic rates, tissue nutrient content, and
morphology of the California pitcher plant Darlingtonia
californica, and found that carnivorous plants deviate substantially
from generalized spectra of leaf traits proposed for a wide variety of
terrestrial plants. This work also sheds light on the actual physiological
costs of carnivory for carnivorous plants.
The Cost of Carnivory for Darlingtonia Californica (Sarraceniaceae): Evidence from Relationships among Leaf Traits. A.M. Ellison and E.J. Farnsworth. American Journal of Botany 92: 1085-1093 (2005).
June 2005 Highlights
Summer Students Arrive at Forest
33 summer students have arrived as part of the Harvard Forest summer research program in ecology. Students come from all over the United States to participate in on-going research projects including atmospheric pollution, global warming, hurricanes, treefalls, and insect outbreaks. Researchers come from many disciplines and institutions. Specific projects center on population and community ecology, paleoecology, land-use history, wildlife biology, biochemistry, soil science, ecophysiology, and atmosphere-biosphere exchanges.
Spring leaf development very late this year (2005)
Thanks to one of the coolest May's on record in southern New England the green-up of our deciduous forests has progressed very slowly this spring. In addition, a significant but very patchy frost on the morning of May 13th killed the just emerging leaves of some oaks and red maples setting them even further back.
Based on observations of leaf emergence and development, also known as leaf phenology (the timing of biological events controlled by climate), made at Harvard Forest since 1990, 2005 ranks with 1992, 1997, and 2003 as a very late year for leaf emergence in most species, and may rank with 1992 as the latest year for full leaf development. Most trees in this long-term study had leaves only 1/4 to 1/3 developed at the end of May.
For more information on this long-term study view this summary.
Wildlands and Woodlands: A Vision for the Forest of Massachusetts
In a new scientific report entitled "Wildlands and Woodlands: A Vision for the Forests of Massachusetts", Dr. David Foster the Director of Harvard Forest and his colleagues from the University of Massachusetts and Brandeis University call for a bold new land protection effort to stave-off accelerating forest fragmentation in Massachusetts. "The time has come to step-up to the challenge of protecting the Commonwealth's natural forest infrastructure," said Dr. Foster.
To learn more about the report or to get a copy go to the Wildlands and Woodlands Website
New Harvard Forest Publication
The Statistics of Rarity- a collection of 8 articles edited by Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison and Cornell's Anurag Agrawal. Ecology 86: 1079-1163.
Ecologists deal with rarity in many guises - species can be rare,
particular interactions may be uncommon, and catastrophic events that
reshape landscapes are, by definition, infrequent. Although ecologists
often seek out abundant species or events for their investigations out of
convenience, rare species are often of special central concern to
conservation biologists, reserve managers, and legislators, and historical
legacies of rare events are pervasive in ecosystems. The standard set of
statistical tools used by the majority of ecologists are difficult or
inappropriate to use when analyzing rare species or events, either because
assumptions such as normality or homoscedasticity do not hold, or because
the required sample sizes are impossibly large. The papers published in
this Special Feature present a cross-section of techniques for sampling,
quantifying, and modeling rarity, and include studies of plants, animals,
and infrequent disturbances in the paleo- and recent records.
Entire collection of 8 articles.
May 2005 Highlights
Wildlands and Woodlands: A Vision for the Forest of Massachusetts
In a new scientific report entitled "Wildlands and Woodlands: A Vision for the Forests of Massachusetts", Dr. David Foster the Director of Harvard Forest and his colleagues from the University of Massachusetts and Brandeis University call for a bold new land protection effort to stave-off accelerating forest fragmentation in Massachusetts. "The time has come to step-up to the challenge of protecting the Commonwealth's natural forest infrastructure," said Dr. Foster.
To learn more about the report or to get a copy go to the Wildlands and Woodlands Website
Harvard Forest 2005 - 2006 Bullard Fellows Announced
The Charles Bullard fellowship program is to support advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use of forested environments. The field is broadly construed to encompass the wide array of forestry-related subjects from biology to earth sciences, economics, politics, administration or law. See the complete listing of Bullard Scholars from 1962 - 2005.
| Recipient | Home Institution | Field of Research |
|---|---|---|
| John M. Briggs | Professor Evolution and Environmental Science Arizona State University |
Grassland Ecology Tree Invasion Data Management |
| Mark E. Harmon | Professor and Richardson Chair Department of Forest Science Oregon State University |
Old-Growth Forests Carbon Dynamics |
| Thomas R. Sinclair | Professor Agronomy Physiology Laboratory University of Florida |
Physiology |
| Conghe Song | Assistant Professor Department of Geography University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Carbon Dynamics Ecosystem Modeling |
| John F. Weishampel | Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator Department of Biology University of Central Florida |
Remote Sensing of Forest Structure |
New Harvard Forest Publication
Red-spotted Newts: An Unusual Nutrient Source for Northern Pitcher Plants. Jessica L. Butler, Daniel Z. Atwater, and Aaron M. Ellison, Northeastern Naturalist 12:1 pp. 1–10.
The northern pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) receives some of its nutrients from the decomposition of prey that fall into its pitcher-shaped leaves. The majority of prey consists of ants, beetles, spiders, and slugs, and in rare cases, frogs and lizards. Here we report on the unusual occurrence of 22 Red-spotted Newt larvae (Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens) trapped within northern pitcher plants during a nutrient manipulation experiment in a Massachusetts bog in the summer of 2003. Newts were found among the larger of our experimental plants, but were not associated with any particular nutrient-addition treatment. High nitrogen levels in newts could contribute significantly to the nutrient budget of northern pitcher plants. Furthermore, this observation suggests that the trapping of amphibian prey by northern pitcher plants might not be as rare an event as previously believed.
April 2005 Highlights
Producer's Tour Screening of "The Greatest Good" - documenting 100 years of the U.S. Forest Service
Tuesday, April 26th at 6:30 PM
On Tuesday, April 26th, Harvard Forest will host a screening of "The Greatest Good", a documentary of the U.S. Forest Service on its 100-year anniversary, in the Fisher Museum. The film's producers will be available at a reception with light refreshments at 6:30 pm. The film will begin at 7:00 PM. Following the presentation a panel including Massachusetts' State Forester, James Dimaio, University of Massachusetts professor, Paul Barten, and U.S. Forest Service Wildlife Biologist, Robert Brooks, along with the producers will discuss the film and respond to questions.
Fisher Museum opening on weekends starting May 7th
From May 7th through October 30th the Fisher Museum will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday from Noon to 4 PM. The Museum will not be open on Sunday, May 1st.
Harvard Forest Environmental Historian wins award
Brian Donahue, Environmental Historian at Harvard Forest and Professor at Brandeis University, was just awarded the George Perkins Marsh Award from the American Society of Environmental History for the Best Book in Environmental History. Previous winners include Bill Cronon, John Opie, and Art McEvoy. Brian's book is The Great Meadow. Farmers and the Land in Colonial Concord. The Great Meadow also won the Theodore Saloutos Award from the Agricultural History Society. Brian is currently a Bullard Fellow at Harvard Forest and normally spends summers as part of the LTER and Ag Trans NSF-Biocomplexity project.
Pests, Pathogens, and the Death of Dominant Forest Trees: What are the Effects on Forest Ecosystems?
At the beginning of March, two-dozen scientists from the Andrews Forest, Coweeta, Harvard Forest, Hubbard Brook, and Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research sites, and the Institute for Ecosystem Studies met at Harvard Forest to explore opportunities for collaborative research. Sponsored by the LTER Network Office, the "Workshop on the Impact of Removal of Foundational Species by Pests and Pathogens on Structure and Dynamics of Forested Ecosystems" examined case studies of pest- and pathogen-induced changes in the composition of forests across North America. Over the course of two snowy March days, participants presented overviews of beech-bark disease, sudden-oak-death, fungus-induced declines in Port-Orford cedar, large-scale defoliations during gypsy-moth outbreaks, and the death of eastern hemlock in response to the hemlock woolly adelgid. Researchers discussed scientific questions common to northern forests, the middle-Atlantic states, the southern Appalachians, and the Pacific northwest and considered opportunities for cross-site research on the effects of species losses on forest composition, streamflows and energetics, and ecosystem processes such as cycling of nutrients and carbon. The results of the discussions are being written up as a review paper summarizing the effects of major forest pests and pathogens on trees, and the associated impacts of large-scale changes in forest composition.
New Harvard Forest Publication
Assessing Private Forest Owner Attitudes Toward Ecosystem-Based Management. Danielo L. Belin, Kittredge, D.B., Stevens, T.H., Dennis, D.C., Schweik, C.M and Morzuch, B.J. 2005. Journal of Forestry. 103: No. 1. pp 28-33.
Nonindustrial private forest owners in Vermont, New Hampshire, and western were surveyed to determine their attitudes toward an ecosystem-based approach to management. In all cases, respondents showed favorable attitudes toward: unique, small-scale ecological features like rare species and wetlands; management at spatial scales larger than the individual parcel; and ownership beyond a single generation. Even non respondents, when interviewed on the telephone, indicated attitudes sensitive to these issues. We believe future conservation of nonindustrial private forestland (NIPF) lands will be successful if professionals design management alternatives sensitive to these attitudes and policy makers craft appealing and effective programs that are perceived as relevant.
March 2005 Highlights
Land Protection Grant Recommended for Funding
Our efforts to protect the boundary of Harvard Forest lands include a $3.7 million proposal in collaboration with the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust to the USFS Forest Legacy Program, seeking funds to put conservation restrictions on 2100 acres of private land outside the Forest. That proposal has just been ranked 3rd of the 48 proposals nationally that have been recommended for funding. The conservation restriction on the Wilson lot, for which Harvard Forest is fundraising to purchase with a restriction, is included in this proposal.
Summer Research Program for Undergraduates Funding Extended
The REU Site Grant that Aaron Ellison and Kathleen Donahue submitted to support our Summer Research Program for Undergraduates has been recommended for funding for 5 years. According to the program officer at NSF this will be the single largest REU award in biology in the history of the program.
New Harvard Forest Publication
The cooperation of private forest owners on scales larger than one individual property: international examples and potential application in the United States, David B. Kittredge, Forest Policy and Economics: 7 (2005) pp. 671– 688.
A relatively small number of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners in the United States has recently expressed interest in cooperating with one another at scales broader than their individual properties. There are many good reasons to do so, which would enhance their individual ownership benefits, as well as the suite of greater public benefits that accrue from a privately owned forest landscape. An Internet and literature review of private forest owner cooperation in temperate nations with developed economies resulted in a broad array of evidence of longstanding and successful activities from 19 countries. Forms of cooperation and resulting activities vary, ranging from low levels of commitment for purposes of information/education, to more structured participation for financial and marketing purposes. Likewise, the origins of cooperation differ from country to country, though common elements emerge (e.g. the role of government, reaction to a stimulus or threat). This review and analysis of private forest owner cooperation provides examples of tactics and successful results that contribute towards the development of potential cooperation of private forest owners in places where such activity is contemplated.
February 2005 Highlights
Sixteenth Annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium
Harvard Forest's annual ecology symposium, jointly sponsored by Harvard University's NIGEC and LTER Programs, will be held Wednesday, February 23. The meeting will include a series of synthetic talks outlining the developement, accomplishments, and future directions for science in the LTER and NIGEC programs. Presentations will highlight the effects of historical factors, climate forcing, pollution, and land-use on carbon dynamics, invasive species, and ecosystem structure and function. Synthesizing studies through modeling will be emphasized. Posters of current research activities will also be featured.
More information about the symposium and submitting abstracts
Cooperation with National Weather Service Continues
The National Weather Service (NWS) Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) recently installed a new precipitation gage and temperature sensor at the Harvard Forest. Installation of the new system, which will upload data to the NWS via satellite every 15 minutes, continues many years of participation by the Forest in the COOP program.
New Harvard Forest Publication
Boose, E. R. 2004. A Method for reconstructing historical hurricanes. Pages 99-120 in Hurricanes and Typhoons: Past, Present, and Future. R. Murnane and K. Liu, eds. Columbia University Press, New York.
January 2005 Highlights
Harvard Archaeology Course Uses Forest as Classroom
This past September, Harvard Forest was the site of a lively field archaeology course run by Noreen Tuross, Clay Professor of Scientific Archaeology at Harvard University. Ten students, two teaching fellows and Professor Tuross intensively sampled the Pierce Farm, investigating signals of past land use in phosphorus, DNA, and soil pollen. Many of the analyses were run on-site at the John G. Torrey Laboratory. Harvard Forest ecologists have previously investigated the land-use history of the Pierce Farm, and this background information made it an ideal site to test to what extent these biological and chemical signals can be used to infer past land use. This course highlights the role Harvard Forest plays as a field laboratory for interdisciplinary research for many researchers and students at Harvard University.
The undergraduate and graduate students in the course, coming from anthropology, history and ecology backgrounds, presented their findings in a poster session at the Peabody Museum on December 16.
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Related papers by Harvard Forest researchers:
Compton, J. E. and R. Boone. 2000. Long-term impacts of agriculture on soil carbon and nitrogen in New England forests. Ecology 81: 2314-2330.
Motzkin, G., P. Wilson, D. R. Foster, and A. Allen. 1999. Vegetation patterns in heterogeneous landscapes: the importance of history and environment. Journal of Vegetation Science 10: 903-920. - Article published in The Harvard Crimson, December 17: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=505153
- Posters from Students in Anthropology 1140 (Human Modification of the Landscape), Fall 2004
Long-Term Hydrological Studies Initiated
With funding from NSF and the Harvard Center for the Environment, the Forest has begun long-term studies of two small headwater streams on the Prospect Hill Tract. On Nelson Brook, weirs were installed on the two outlets of the 11-ha Black Gum Swamp. On Bigelow Brook, the existing culvert below the 3-ha Beaver Swamp was repaired, and a pipe installed in the stream channel 300m above the Swamp. All four sites will be instrumented early in 2005 to measure stream flow and water temperature, with the eventual goal of posting measurements in near-real time on the Harvard Forest web page.
View more pictures of the installation and weirs.
New Harvard Forest Publication
David B. Kittredge, October/November 2004, Extension/Outreach Implications for America's Family Forest Owners. Journal of Forestry: 15 - 18
The increasing number of family forest owners presents a challenge to effective outreach. Family woodland in some parts of the country represents the dominant ownership type. Sustained provision of a host of greater social goods and services depends on functional forest landscapes, yet fragmentation and parcelization of family woodlands pose a threat. Segmentation of the family owner audience into different types, and targeting of outreach toward two specific decision making junctures, may improve our ability to reach this important audience.
December 2004 Highlights
New Web Site Highlighting Science Behind Autumn Leaf Color Change
Harvard Forest has launched a new website created by John O'Keefe and Bullard Fellow, David Lee, Florida International University, focusing on leaf color change. The site will provide a central repository for images, references and scientific explanations and theories relating to leaf pigment changes. Though this site focuses on the New England area, the science and impact of these studies if far reaching.
http:// harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/research/leaves/autumn_leaves.html.
Forest Conservation: A Reality
Local Efforts
In recent years , Harvard Forest, has undertaken more active conservation planning by working with local organizations , regional entities, state agencies and national organizations to promote forest protection. Just in the past year , with help from friends of the Harvard Forest, we invested effort to protect land bordering the Harvard Forest from development and have partnered with local organizations to submit a $3.82 million proposal to the US Forest SErvice to protect over 2000 acres of land in central MA. Read More about Wilson Project.
State wide Efforts
In 2004, we initiated a project calling for new, broad-scale thinking and action in the conservation of forest landscapes. This vision will be articulated in the next Harvard Forest Paper: Wildlands and Woodlands - A Thirty Year Vision for the Forests of Massachusetts. It will be published in March 2005 and we are seeking assistance in funding the publication, distribution and application of this vision.
"We propose a regional program of forest conservation that is based on a simple design from conservation biology, but that extends this thinking in important new ways. This design features a series of large forest reserves in which natural processes dominate and human impact is minimized (Wildlands), embedded within expansive forestland that is protected from development but managed in an ecologically sustainable manner for diverse values and products (Woodlands)."
Read More about Wildlands and Woodlands.
Martha's Vineyard Efforts
We have already demonstrated measurable success influencing conservation and management policy, albeit on a much smaller scale, through our 1999 paper "Historical Influences on the Landscape of Martha's Vineyard: Perspectives on the Management of the Manuel F. Correllus Sate Forest" Tom Dunlop of the Vineyard Gazette has written several articles referring to the above effort. Read more about Martha's Vineyard Conservation
New Harvard Forest Book available for Purchase
Vernal Pools: Natural History and Conservation, a new book by aquatic ecologist Betsy Colburn. Purchased from Harvard Forest for $25 plus Shipping and Handling.
November 2004 Highlights
Vernal pools in fall and winter: A Book Signing
On December 1, 7:00pm, a book signing and slide show at Harvard Forest will celebrate the release of Vernal Pools: Natural History and Conservation, a new book by aquatic ecologist Betsy Colburn.
Vernal pools are small woodland ponds that are flooded in springtime by melting snow and rainfall. They range from seasonal pools that contain water for only a few months in spring, to semi-permanent ponds that dry up only occasionally. Vernal pools provide habitat for a host of animal species that do not occur in permanent waters where there are fish as predators.
The kinds of animals found in a given pool vary depending on how long water is present, and different species have different strategies for surviving when the pools are dry. Hundreds of thousands of terrestrial amphibians that live in the woods migrate to vernal pools early each spring to breed, and a wide variety of crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic insects, and other invertebrates complete their life cycles in these tiny aquatic ecosystems.
Dr. Colburn will provide an overview of the ecology of vernal pools. She will discuss some of the interesting adaptations of vernal pool wildlife for fall and winter, when some pools are dry, and others have started to refill. All these species must make it through several months of winter cold before the great burst of biological activity that occurs in spring. A question and answer period will follow the presentation.
Signed copies of Vernal Pools, which is the first comprehensive summary of information on vernal pools of glaciated northeastern North America, will be available for purchase.
NEON: an update
NEON = National Ecological Observatory Network. "A proposed $100-300 million NSF program, NEON will be the first national ecological measurement and observation system designed both to answer regional- to continental-scale scientific questions and to have the interdisciplinary participation necessary to achieve credible ecological forecasting and prediction". http://www.neoninc.org/
The Harvard Forest is currently serving as the Northeastern center (NEEON) for this program, with basic information available at http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/neon/neon.html. Since we are interested in connecting as broadly as possible with scientists, educators, land management agencies, and other individuals and groups interested in NEON and who might be interested in receiving future updates and attending meetings of NEEON please let us know by registering your name and email at http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/neon/neon_email.html.
October 2004 Highlights
Harvard Forest in the News: Restoration of Martha's Vineyard
Complete Vineyard Gazette stories and other related Harvard Forest articles
Successful First Summer Institute for Teachers
During the last weeks of August, Harvard Forest LTER hosted 20 teachers in a newly created Ecology Research in the Schoolyard Summer Institute for Teachers. The institute, funded by the National Science Foundation (Ed En Venture) and by Green Leaf Foundation, recieved an enthusiastic response from participants.
Harvard Forest, in collaboration with the Millers River Environmental Center (MREC), and the Hitchcock Center for the Environment (HC), formed the institute as part of a yearlong science teacher professional development project in central Massachusetts. Scientists led indoor introduction sessions followed by outdoor sessions in the forest to try out the field projects. Afternoons were spent participating in outdoor and indoor activities that were modeled for use with k-12 classes.
Each teacher has been assigned to a forest ecology project "coach" to support them in this training, as well as throughout the school year. Currently, project coaches are completing site visits with individual teachers at their schools in order to plan and flag each particular field site. Coaches are also working side by side with teachers both in and out of the classroom to support them in introducing this exciting new project to students.
This core group of teachers and coaches will all gather together at Harvard Forest in November for the first of 3 academic year seminars to supplement their field ecology training. Topics such as data analysis, assessment, and community outreach will be addressed in more detail during these seminars. By next spring, Harvard Forest expects to have a model for LTER schoolyard education to share with the rest of the network.
September 2004 Highlights
Harvard Forest Featured in Special Issue
The Special Issue: Forest Ecology and Management. Volume 196, issue 1, 12 July 2004. Pages 1 - 186. is dedicated to The Harvard Forest (USA) Nitrogen Saturation Experiment: Results from the First 15 Years. Edited by John Aber, This special issue presents 11 papers that report in detail on results from the first 15 years of chronic nitrogen additions to two contrasting forest types at the Harvard Forest. This study was established to study human influence on global and regional cycles of nitrogen which now exceed that from natural processes.
The Harvard Forest experiment remains one of the few on-going, long-term N saturation experiments. Long-term results differ substantially from short-term, emphasizing the importance of long-term program (LTER) in delivering policy-relevant information. The research value of these plots increases with time, as evidenced by the growing number of collaborative and cooperative studies on plant, soil and microbial responses represented by the papers in this special issue.
More information on Chronic N Study can be found at
Chronic N Research Pages
Annual Report 2003 - 2004 now available
The Harvard Forest 2003-2004 annual report has just been released and is now available on line in PDF format.
Seminar Series Resumes
Harvard Forest's Annual Seminar Series begins September 24, 2004 at 11:00am, with new Post Doctoral Fellow - Rob MacDonald
A full schedule which is continually kept up to date is now available
August 2004 Highlights
Berkshires Past Revealed
A team of Harvard Forest researchers recently obtained a sediment core from Benson Pond, which is located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. Undeterred by rough roads, inclement weather, and thick pond-side vegetation, Masters of Forestry student Posy Busby, Undergraduate (REU) student Sarah Truebe, Elaine Doughty, Bullard Fellow Matts Lindbladh, and Wyatt Oswald collected nearly 6 meters of sediment. Analyses of the sediment core will help us understand past changes in climate and forest composition in this little-studied region of New England.
More information on paleoecological studies can be found at
http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/ research/paleocology.html
July 2004 Highlights
New Grant Funds Summer Institute for Teachers
The Harvard Forest, in collaboration with the Hitchcock Center for the Environment and the Millers River Environmental Center, offers a Forest Ecology training institute for teachers of grades 1-9, from Amherst, Athol, Orange and Montague. Teachers will learn how to implement field studies related to local ecosystems with their students. The Institute will run from August 16 - 18th. Registration forms are still being accepted for the waiting list.
This grant was funded by NSF EdEn Venture Fund for Innovation in Environmental Science and Engineering Education (Grant No. DEB-0080592) and the Greenleaf Foundation.
Forests in Time - First Printing - Sold Out
"Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England",
David R. Foster and John D. Aber, eds. 2004, Yale University Press, offers a unique look at combining history and science in ecological studies and environmental management and applies this approach to one of the most remarkably transformed landscapes in North America: the New England countryside. Written in accessible prose and profusely illustrated with photographs, maps, and graphs, the book relates the history of changes in New England and then explores the results of integrated studies and experiments in this largely forested landscape.
Table of Contents and Further description of the book are available.
To order (from the second printing): You can send a check made out to "Harvard University" for $30. If international, please add $5. Mail to:
Harvard Forest
Forests in Time
324 North Main Street
Petersham, MA 01366
If you would like to order directly from Amazon for $45 go to the following Amazon Link.
June 2004 Highlights
New Laboratory Equipment Awarded to Harvard Forest
Harvard Forest was recently awarded $59,640.00 from a National Science Foundation grant to purchase new nutrient analysis equipment for community, ecosystem, hydrological, and physiological research. The grant was a Multi-User/Instrumentation and Instrument Development Grant (DBI-0400759) submitted in autumn 2003 by a team of researchers and collaborators including David Foster, David Orwig, Aaron Ellison, and Betsy Colburn of Harvard Forest, Michele Holbrook of Harvard University, Paul Steudler of The Marine Biological Laboratory, and Paul Barten of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
The award will be used to purchase a new multi-channel, automated ion analyzer with ion chromatograph to be housed in the Harvard Forest John G. Torrey Laboratory. These instruments will used to meet the increasing demand for nutrient analyses of soils and water in individual trees, forests, bogs, fens, streams, pitcher plants, and their invertebrate food webs. The equipment will be an ideal complement to the lab and will be applicable to many current and future research projects. Users will be comprised of faculty, staff, and students from several Harvard University Departments, outside collaborators and institutions, visiting Bullard Fellows, and undergraduate students participating in the Harvard Forest Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program from a wide range of outside universities, small colleges, and community colleges.
Major Step toward Land Protection - Wilson lot update
On May 6th a major step toward the protection and ultimate acquisition of the Wilson lot was taken when Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust (MGLCT) purchased the lot from the Wilson's (detailed description of land protection effort). As part of the purchase MGLCT signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement (P & S) with Harvard Forest to sell the property, subject to a conservation easement, to Harvard Forest by December 31, 2006.
This time frame allows MGLCT somewhat more than two years to work to secure funding from the U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program to purchase conservation easements on the Wilson property and 3 additional neighboring parcels in Petersham and Phillipston, totalling nearly 1,000 acres. The establishment of conservation easements on these neighboring properties will help protect a buffer of land around Harvard Forest's Prospect Hill tract and enhance an important corridor of protected habitat on the northeast side of the Quabbin reservoir.
This schedule will also provide Harvard Forest additional time to reach its fundraising goal of $200,000 (we are currently nearing the halfway mark) to purchase the restricted Wilson lot. Contributions to this important project are still very much needed .
Summer Students Descend on Forest
30 summer students have arrived as part of the Harvard Forest summer research program in ecology. Students come from all over the United States to participate in on-going research projects including atmospheric pollution, global warming, hurricanes, treefalls, and insect outbreaks. Researchers come from many disciplines and institutions. Specific projects center on population and community ecology, paleoecology, land-use history, wildlife biology, biochemistry, soil science, ecophysiology, and atmosphere-biosphere exchanges.
New Publication from the Harvard Forest
Ellison, A.M. 2004. Bayesian inference in ecology. Ecology Letters 7: 509-520.
May 2004 Highlights
Forest Harvesting in Massachusetts: Influences on Stand Composition and Invasive Plant Species
Harvesting is widespread across the western two-thirds of Massachusetts and is expected to continue into the future. Comprehensive spatial data on harvesting activities are generally lacking, particularly for the non-industrial private forest (NIPF) lands that comprise ~80% of forests in the state. Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) has a unique, spatially-explicit data set developed for regulatory purposes that can be analyzed to provide important information for management and conservation planning. We have initiated a study to document forest harvesting patterns across Massachusetts from 1984-2003 and to evaluate the influence of harvesting on residual forest composition, tree regeneration, and invasive species distribution.
This summer we will begin field work across central and western Massachusetts to:
- document forest cutting patterns.
- describe their spatial and quantitative characteristics with regards to important forest resource values and physical, cultural, and environmental factors.
- evaluate the influence of harvesting activity on residual stand composition, forest regeneration, invasive species distribution, and vegetation structure and composition. We have received funding for this project from Sweetwater Trust, The Nature Conservancy, and USDA.
This study is a collaborative effort with The Nature Conservancy and results from this study will help inform regional conservation efforts. In addition, information that we gather will allow MA Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) staff to assess regional forest management concerns (i.e., high grading and invasive species).
Two new post-docs have been hired to collaborate on this project:
- Mike Bank is currently finishing his PhD at the University of Maine and will arrive in early May
- Rob McDonald recently finished his PhD at Duke University and will arrive in mid-June.
New Publications from the Harvard Forest
Emery R. Boose, Mayra I. Serrano, and David R. Foster. 2004. Landscape and regional impacts of hurricanes in Puerto Rico. Ecological Monographs 74: 335-352.
Vernal Pools: Natural History and Conservation by Elizabeth A. Colburn and A Primer of Ecological Statistics by Nicholas J. Gotelli and Aaron M. Ellison.
For further descriptions or ordering information, see April Highlights.
April 2004 Highlights
Harvard Forest 2004 - 2005 Bullard Fellows Announced
The Charles Bullard fellowship program is to support advanced research and study by persons who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry defined in its broadest sense as the human use of forested environments. The field is broadly construed to encompass the wide array of forestry-related subjects from biology to earth sciences, economics, politics, administration or law. See the complete listing of Bullard Scholars from 1962 - 2005.
| Recipient | Home Institution | Field of Research |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Bowden | Associate Professor Department of Environmental Science Allegheny College |
Ecosystem Ecology, Land-use Legacies at Harvard Forest |
| Brian Donahue | Assistant Professor of American Environmental History American Studies Department Brandeis University |
New England Forest History, Walden Woods & Concord |
| Elizabeth Farnsworth | Senior Research Ecologist New England Plant Conservation Program New England Wild Flower Society |
Conservation Biology, Rare Species Biology & History |
| Greg Jordan | Plant Science University of Tasmania Hobart, Tasmania Australia |
Paleoecology |
| Gidon Ne'eman | Department of Biology University of Haifa-Oramin Tivon, Israel |
Pollination Biology, Pitcher Plants |
| Bernhard Stadler | Department of Animal Ecology Bayreuth Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research University of Bayreuth Bayreuth, Germany |
HWA, Throughfall Chemistry & Biology |
| Peter Thomas | Keele University School of Life Sciences Staffordshire, England |
Forest Dynamics & Science Education |
| Jill Thompson | Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies University of Puerto Rico San Juan, Puerto Rico |
Tropical Forest Dynamics |
Vernal Pool Comprehensive Guide - Available This Spring
Vernal Pools: Natural History and Conservation by Elizabeth A. Colburn, aquatic ecologist at Harvard Forest, is the first book-length synthesis of the natural history, ecology, and conservation of the seasonally wet pools that occur throughout the formerly glaciated region of eastern North America -- essentially the Great Lakes Basin, New England, and adjacent areas of Canada and the United States.
For more information about and/or purchasing the book please contact McDonald & Woodward Publishing Co. at www.mwpubco.com or (740) 321-1140.
Forthcoming Publication: A Primer of Ecological Statistics
Nicholas J. Gotelli & Aaron M. Ellison. 2004 A Primer of Ecological Statistics. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts
A Primer of Ecological Statistics explains fundamental material in probability theory and experimental design for ecologists and environmental scientists. The book is designed to serve as either a stand-alone or supplementary text for upper division undergraduate or graduate courses in ecological and environmental statistics, ecology, environmental science, environmental studies, or experimental design. The Primer also could be used for short-courses or workshops for conservation biologists, and environmental managers. The book emphasizes a general introduction to probability theory and provides a detailed discussion of specific designs and analyses that are typically encountered in ecology and environmental science. Topics include probability, statistical distributions, hypothesis testing, probability values, Bayesian analysis, experimental and sampling design, data archiving, regression, analysis of variance, categorical data, and multivariate analysis. A comprehensive glossary, a mathematical appendix on matrix algebra, and extensively annotated tables and figures are included.
Nick Gotelli is a Professor of Biology at the University of Vermont.
Aaron Ellison is a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Forest.
March 2004 Highlights
NEEO - Northeastern Ecological Observatory Initiative
A new website highlights the effort to establish a national platform for integrated studies and monitoring of natural processes at all spatial scales, time scales, and levels of biological organization. NEON will provide the resources and infrastructure for fundamental biological research that will enhance our understanding of the natural world, improve our ability to predict the consequences of natural and anthropogenic events, and inform our environmental decisionmakers. NEEO would consist of the Northeastern collaboration of facilities to enhance the national networks (NEON) collection and coordination of data. Learn more about the national program, proposals and the Northeastern efforts at http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/neon/neon.html.
Fifteenth Annual Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium, March 29th
Harvard Forest's annual ecology symposium, jointly sponsored by Harvard University's LTER and NIGEC Programs, will be held Monday, March 29. The meeting will include a series of talks and discussions highlighting major results, synthesis and future directions of the LTER and NIGEC programs. Presentations will highlight impacts of hemlock woolly adelgid and other invasives, atmosphere-biosphere exchanges, hydrological studies, and global change experiments. A special feature this year will be an update and discussion of the National Science Foundation's emerging NEON program, led by David Foster, John Aber and Jerry Melillo. Posters of current research activities will also be featured.
- Schedule of speakers and events
- Poster Presentation Titles
- 2004 Research Abstracts: Note: this is a large PDF file
Harvard Forest in the News
February 2004 National Geographic's feature article is "The Case of the Missing Carbon." The article features Harvard University Professor Steven Wofsy. His study is based at the Harvard Forest and monitors carbon exchange in New England forests.
An excerpt from the issue is located at the National Geographic Web site.
Newly Published Books available from the Harvard Forest
Forests In Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England. David R. Foster and John D. Aber, eds. 2004, Yale University Press
"Forests in Time" offers a unique look at combining history and science in ecological studies and environmental management and applies this approach to one of the most remarkably transformed landscapes in North America: the New England countryside. Written in accessible prose and profusely illustrated with photographs, maps, and graphs, the book relates the history of changes in New England and then explores the results of integrated studies and experiments in this largely forested landscape.
To order: You can send a check made out to "Harvard University" for $30. If international, please add $5. Mail to:
Harvard Forest
Forests in Time
324 North Main Street
Petersham, MA 01366
If you would like to order directly from Amazon for $45 go to the following Amazon Link.
Integrated Land-Change Science and Tropical Deforestation in the Southern Yucatan: Final Frontiers (Clarendon Lectures in Geography and Environmental Studies. Oxford University Press. February 2004.)
by B. L. Turner II, Jacqueline Geoghegan, David R. Foster (Eds.)
Editorial Review
This study of tropical deforestation in Mexico reports on the first phase of the Land-Cover and Land-Use Change in the Southern Yucatan Peninsular Region Project (LCLUC-SYPR): a large, multi-institutional and team-based study designed to understand and project land changes in a development frontier, which pits the rapidly growing needs of smallholder farmers to cut down forests for cultivation against federally sponsored initiatives committed to various international programmes of forest preservation and complementary economic programmes. The SYPR project is a response to interdisciplinary defined research themes deemed critical to global environmental change and complementary international research agendas.
Book Description
This highly topical study of tropical deforestation reports on the first phase of a large, integrated, multi- institutional, and team-based study. Based in Mexico, it is designed to understand and project land changes in a development frontier that pits the rapidly growing needs of smallholder farmers to cut down forests for cultivation against federally sponsored initiatives committed to various international programs of forest preservation and complementary economic programs.
Order from Oxford University Press
February 2004 Highlights
HWA Collaboration Website Coordinated at Harvard Forest
One of the major research topics at the Harvard Forest is concerning the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an introduced aphid-like insect from Asia. Currently HWA is threatening eastern hemlock with elimination across its range. While infestation and unimpeded migration of HWA presents a tremendous management problem, it also has provided an unusual opportunity to examine the biological, hydrological, and physical changes associated with the loss of hemlock and its replacement by hardwood species. Subsequently, there are a growing number of scientists focusing on this topic. This website was produced to allow easy access to a concise list of scientists currently pursuing integrated hemlock studies and HWA related research.
Saving Representative Stands of Hemlock: A Proposal
While researchers actively seek biological controls for hemlock woolly adelgids, these introduced sucking insects from Asia are wiping out entire hemlock forests up and down the east coast of North America. The attached article, originally published in Sanctuary, provides a brief description of the threat and proposes that representative stands be saved to serve as reference states and seed sources for hemlock forest restoration when the adelgid problem is solved.
The Wilson Project Update
Harvard Forest's primary goal is to maintain the viability of its forest classroom and laboratory by minimizing the development of lands immediately abutting its property. We sincerely thank all those who have very generously contributed toward the protection of the Wilson lot, which abuts our intensively studied, long-term research sites on the Prospect Hill tract. While we have made major progress toward our campaign goal, we still have a significant gap to close and need your help.
Learn more about The Wilson Project or contribute to this land protection goal.
Undergraduate Summer Research Program in Ecology
The Harvard Forest Summer Research Program in Ecology is an opportunity for students to participate in on-going research at the Harvard Forest. Students can choose from projects including: Invasive Plants, Pests & Pathogens; Plant Biology, Population & Community Ecology; Aquatic Studies; Large Experiments & Permanent Plot Studies; Conservation & Management; Atmospheric Chemistry and Soil Carbon & Nitrogen Dynamics. The deadline for applying for this program is March 1st, 2004.
January 2004 Highlights
Greenhouse Modernization
We have received a substantial grant from the National Science Foundation's Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (FSML) program to upgrade and modernize the greenhouses at the Harvard Forest and to renovate the plant physiology laboratory.
The upgrades will include new benches, electrical, mechanical, and watering systems, and automated climate control for the greenhouses; shade and lath houses for summer experimental work; and a fully-outfitted multi-user laboratory for conducting detailed studies of plant physiology situated right next to sites of ongoing field research. The renovations and enhancements will provide expanded opportunities for new and established researchers from around the world who use the Harvard Forest for state-of-the-art investigations into whole-plant biology and experimental plant ecology.
Undergraduate Summer Research Program in Ecology
The Harvard Forest Summer Research Program in Ecology is an opportunity for students to participate in on-going research at the Harvard Forest. Students can choose from projects including: Invasive Plants, Pests & Pathogens; Plant Biology, Population & Community Ecology; Aquatic Studies; Large Experiments & Permanent Plot Studies; Conservation & Management; Atmospheric Chemistry and Soil Carbon & Nitrogen Dynamics. The deadline for applying for this program is March 1st, 2004.
Harvard Forest Land Protection Effort: The Wilson Project 2003 - 2004
Harvard Forest's primary goal is to maintain the viability of its forest classroom and laboratory by minimizing the development of lands immediately abutting its property. The Wilson lot is especially sensitive because it abuts Prospect Hill tract, which is the most intensively researched area with the most sophisticated and densest array of scientific equipment.
Learn more about The Wilson Project or contribute to this land protection goal.
December 2003 Highlights
Outstanding Review Received for Long Term Ecological Research Program
This July, Harvard Forest hosted a 5-person review team that looked at the progress of the Harvard Forest LTER program. The review emphasized the following areas:
- Leadership in scientific collaboration and synthesis
- Value of a historic perspective
- Value of long-term biophysical measurements
- Contributions of experiments at Harvard Forest
- An educational program that fosters integration
- Advances in information management
- Current and New thrusts of LTER research
The Review team included Grace Brush - Johns Hopkins University, Norm Christensen - Duke University, John Stark - Utah State University, John Anderson - New Mexico State University, Richard Waring, Chair - Oregon State University. Henry Gholz - National Science Foundation and Sonia Ortega - NSF and University of New Mexico (LTER Office) were also present.
Read the review.
Harvard Forest Land Protection Effort: The Wilson Project 2003 - 2004
Harvard Forest's primary goal is to maintain the viability of its forest classroom and laboratory by minimizing the development of lands immediately abutting it property. The Wilson lot is especially sensitive because it abuts Prospect Hill tract, which is the most intensively researched area with the most sophisticated and densest array of scientific equipment.
Learn more about The Wilson Project or contribute to this land protection goal.
Newest Publications from Harvard Forest
Boose, E. R. 2003. Hurricane impacts in New England and Puerto Rico. Pp. 25-42 in Climate Variability and Ecosystem Response at Long-Term Ecological Research Sites. D. Greenland, D. G. Goodin and R. C. Smith, eds. Oxford University Press, New York.
David R. Foster and John D. Aber, eds. Forests In TimeThe Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England
Fill out the following form to be notified of ordering date and procedure.
November 2003 Highlights
Harvard Forest Land Protection Effort: The Wilson Project 2003 - 2004
The Issue
As described above, Harvard Forest has the largest and most comprehensive records of ecological change and human history for any site in North America. In the recent past, rural central Massachusetts has been bypassed by significant development leaving 90% forest cover and low population densities. However, today there has been a greater development pressure and increase in land prices.
The increased development could degrade or destroy the integrity of this land base for significant research.
Harvard Forest's primary goal is to maintain the viability of it forest classroom and laboratory by minimizing the development of lands immediatly abutting it property (Note that logging and non-motorized recreation, which currently occur on HF property are generally not a problem).
The Immediate Threat
In the adjoining town of Philipston, where the Forest owns > 200 acres, 100 acres, abutting Harvard Forest property, owned by Don and Bill Wilson has come up for purchase. Harvard Forest is lending its hand to conservation and development issues which are normally addressed by regional and statewide conversation groups. The Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust being one major regional agency. This particular property is especially sensitive because it abuts Prospect Hill tract, which is the most intensively researched area with the most sophisticated and densest array of scientific equipment.
The Goal
The Wilson's, long supporters of Harvard Forest, approached the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust and Harvard Forest to work together to purchase the property of conservation and research purposes as an alternative to development.
Raising funds for land protection is a new venture for the Harvard Forest which has been prompted by the extreme urgency to protect the integrity of the land. Without prompt action and active collaboration between The Mount Grace land Conservation Trust and Harvard Forest, the Wilson property will be sold and developed. The collaboration will also try to gain conservation restrictions on other lands surrounding the forest.
Learn more about The Wilson Project or contribute to this land protection goal.
Newest Publications from Harvard Forest
Boose, E. R., D. R. Foster, A. Barker Plotkin and B. Hall. 2003. Geographical and historical variation in hurricanes across the Yucatan Peninsula. Pp. 495-516 in The Lowland Maya Area: Three Millennia at the Human-Wildland Interface. A. Gómez-Pompa, M. F. Allen, S. L. Fedick and J. J. Jiménez-Osornio, eds. Haworth Press, New York.
Foster, D. R. and G. Motzkin. 2003. Interpreting and conserving the openland habitats of coastal New England: insights from landscape history. Forest Ecology and Management 185: 127-150.
Forests In TimeThe Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England
David R. Foster and John D. Aber, eds.
Fill out the following form to be notified of ordering date and procedure.
October 2003 Highlights
Moose Sightings at Harvard Forest
Several people have reported seeing moose on Harvard Forest property on the Prospect Hill tract. Even if you don't see the moose itself, you may see signs of its presence:
- Moose consume large quantities of willow, birch, and aspen twigs.
- Moose often browse on small saplings tearing off twigs and sometimes breaking the stem in the process. They also bite and strip and eat the bark off saplings and small trees, especially maples.
- Striped Maple is also known as Moosewood
- Moose scat is often a large pile (a quart or more) of oval-shaped pellets. You can see piles of droppings all around the forest.
- Be wary of moose during this time of year for they get territorial.
Schoolyard Coordinator added to Education Program at Harvard Forest
Harvard Forest LTER and The Fisher Museum have hired Pam Snow to act as Schoolyard Coordinator. Pam will focus on grades K - 12 and bring the lessons of the long term ecological research projects to the classroom as well as lead groups here through the Museum and the surrounding trails.
Newest Harvard Forest Publication
Forests In TimeThe Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England
David R. Foster and John D. Aber, eds.
Forests in Time offers a unique look at combining history and science in ecological studies and environmental management and applies this approach to one of the most remarkably transformed landscapes in North America: the New England countryside. Written in accessible prose and profusely illustrated with photographs, maps, and graphs, the book relates the history of changes in New England and then explores the results of integrated studies and experiments in this largely forested landscape. Fill out the following form to be notified of ordering date and procedure.
September 2003 Highlights
Integrated studies of hemlock and hemlock wooly adelgid launched
Across the eastern United States, hemlock is being killed slowly by the hemlock woolly adelgid, and rapidly by pre-emptive salvage logging. Investigators from the Harvard Forest, Harvard University, University of Bayreuth, University of California at Irvine, University of Massachusetts, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, and the Woods Hole Research Center have begun a long-term experimental study on how the loss of hemlock will effect plant physiology, forest biodiversity and community structure, ecosystem dynamics, carbon storage, and stream hydrology.
Harvard Forest Fall Seminar Series Begins September 5th
The Harvard Forest seminars are an interdisciplinary forum for invited speakers to present research on a wide range of ecological topics. The fall series runs from September 5 through December 19. Lectures are free and open to the public and are held Friday's at 11:00am. September Speakers include:
- David Lindenmayer, Australian National University and Harvard Bullard Fellow speaking on Two decades of research in a giant eucalypt forest - the montane ash forests of Victoria, south-eastern Australia.
- Thomas R. Sinclair - United States Department of Agriculture and Harvard Bullard Fellow speaking on Resource limitations to increasing plant productivity
A full seminar schedule is now available.
Harvard Forest 2002-2003 Annual Report Available
The Harvard Forest 2002-2003 annual report has just been released and is now available on line in PDF format.
August 2003 Highlights
1830's Massachussets Revealed With New Interactive Interface
In 1830 the State of Massachusetts mandated that each town complete a town map. These maps often show woodlands, roads, and important buildings, providing a unique look at the landcover and cultural features of Massachusetts over 170 years ago.
Digital versions of the 1830 maps are now available for online viewing which allows users to zoom, pan, turn features on and off, and save their map as an image.
Ecological Society of America Cooper Award Received
The 2003 Cooper Award from the Ecological Society of America was presented to David Foster, Glenn Motzkin and Ben Slater for their paper: D. R. Foster, G. Motzkin, and B. Slater 1998. Land-use history as long-term broad-scale disturbance: regional forest dynamics in central New England. Ecosystems 1: 96-119.
The Cooper Award recognizes an outstanding contribution in geobotany or physiographic ecology.
Consideration for the Cooper Award was also given to a second publication produced by the Harvard Forest. The special issue: Journal of Biogeography, Volume 29 Numbers 10/11, October/November 2002. Pages 1267–1592. Insights from historical geography to ecology and conservation: lessons from the New England landscape. Articles can be found at http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/publications/pdfbyyear.html.
July 2003 Highlights
Aquatics Research Expanded at Harvard Forest:
The Harvard Forest is expanding the role of aquatic studies in its research program. Aquatics research studies integrate hydrology, water quality, and freshwater ecology with ongoing work on forest vegetation, ecosystem function, plant physiology, disturbance history, and climate.
The Forest recently appointed Dr. Betsy Colburn, an aquatic ecologist, to the staff. In addition, construction of a permanent weir, to enhance long-term monitoring on the Harvard Forest research site, is planned for the coming year.
New Trail Signs Erected:
During the first week of July, Harvard Forest will complete the installation of new interpretive signs along its Natural History Trail through John Sanderson's Farm. This quarter-mile long, easy walking loop has many points of interest that emphasize the current habitat plus evidence of the landscape history of the site during the 160 years since it was John Sanderson's farm.
A virtual tour of the Sanderson Farm is now available on-line if you can not make it to our site in person.
This tour is best viewed with Internet Explorer or Netscape 7+.
Fisher Museum Hours of Operation
Monday - Friday 9 - 5
Saturday and Sunday: 12 - 4
June 2003 Highlights
Summer Students Arrive
36 summer students have arrived as part of the Harvard Forest summer research program in ecology. Students come from all over the United States to participate in on-going research projects including atmospheric pollution, global warming, hurricanes, treefalls, and insect outbreaks. Researchers come from many disciplines and institutions. Specific projects center on population and community ecology, paleoecology, land-use history, wildlife biology, biochemistry, soil science, ecophysiology, and atmosphere-biosphere exchanges.
Yucatan Studies to be Published
Oxford Press to release:
B.L. Turner, J. Geoghegan, and D. R. Foster. (Eds) 2003. Integrated Land Change Science and Tropical Deforestation in Southern Yucatan: Final Frontiers.
Book Available Fall 2003