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March 2013

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March 25, 2013

New Research to Improve Climate and Species Models

Hemlock distribution

Harvard Forest research recently published in Global Ecology and Biogeography will improve scientists' ability to map future range shifts for plants and animals in a changing climate.

A team including HF researchers Sydne Record and Aaron Ellison, former HF post-doctoral fellow Matthew Fitzpatrick, and HF graduate program alumnus Andrew Finley worked

March 25, 2013

Exploring Ants on WBUR

Aaron Ellison describing ants

Senior Ecologist Aaron Ellison, lead author of the new Field Guide to the Ants of New England, was recently interviewed by WBUR reporter Meghna Chakrabarti on a walk around Walden Pond. They scrutinized a few ants up close and discussed the many services ants contribute to our lives.

March 12, 2013

Results from a Long-term Study of Hemlock Loss

Hemlock at Harvard Forest

Eastern hemlock, a foundation species common in many local forest stands, is disappearing from the southern New England landscape. Its loss is due in part to the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid, and in part to pre-emptive logging. A large-scale experiment at the Harvard Forest has tracked the ecosystem impacts of adelgid invasion (simulated by tree girdling) and commercial

March 12, 2013

New Database & Interactive Maps for K-12 Research

Interactive schoolyard map screenshot

Student data collected for the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology program is now housed in a comprehensive online system developed by Information Manager Emery Boose with support from LTER.  The new database allows classrooms and the public to explore and graph data archived from all Schoolyard field sites (more than 100 schools) since 2004. Schoolyard field

March 5, 2013

New Insights on Species Invasions

garlic mustard Harvard Forest

Land managers rely on ecological research to predict whether non-native species might invade an area and what the consequences will be. But according to a new study by Bullard Fellow Martha Hoopes and colleagues, the factors used to predict whether a species will invade an ecosystem are not always useful for predicting how harmful the invasion will

March 5, 2013

NSF "Ecological Reflections" Exhibit Highlights 6 Harvard Forest Artists

Cloud Lightning poster by Roberto Mighty

Work by 39 artists and writers from 11 LTER sites, including the Harvard Forest, is the focus of a new Ecological Reflections exhibit at National Science Foundation (NSF) headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The exhibit, “Sense of Place in Changing Places,” opened to a full house of visitors on February 28 as part of the 2013 LTER mini-symposium.

Artwork featured in

March 4, 2013

Harvard Forest and the Town of Petersham on Chronicle

Mark on Tower at Harvard Forest

The popular WCVB Channel 5 show Chronicle featured the town of Petersham and the Harvard Forest in a recent episode of "Mystery Main Streets."

Harvard Forest and the Fisher Museum were part of a puzzle that viewers tried to solve as they watched: where in New England can reporters climb a research tower, pet alpacas, meet up with monks,