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April 24, 2013

Advancing Community Leadership in Forest Conservation

Keystone Cooperators 2013

Twenty-five forest landowners and community leaders recently braved icy April weather to attend a three-day workshop at the Harvard Forest as part of the 24th annual Keystone Project. The Keystone Project training, led by Paul Catanzaro from UMass Extension and Dave Kittredge from the UMass Department of Environmental Conservation, covers topics including forest ecology and management, wildlife

April 22, 2013

Pitcher Plants as Models for Ecosystem Change

Lily pond

An innovative new study led by HF senior ecologist Aaron Ellison and Summer Research Program student Jennie Sirota was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The NSF-funded study investigated the factors that cause some lakes and ponds to shift from a clear, oxygen-rich state to an irreversible green sludge. Those green ponds have

April 22, 2013

Harvard Forest Artist Receives Grand Prize

Chelsea collecting leaves, by John Hirsch

Photographs of the Harvard Forest by artist John Hirsch have won the Grand Prize for Photo Portfolio in the Maine Media Workshop’s “Spirit of Place” contest. More than 3,800 images were submitted to the competition from artists around the world.  Hirsch’s contest prizes include a special exhibition at the Maine Media Gallery in Rockport.

Two

April 5, 2013

Harvard Forest Purchases Petersham Country Club Land

Petersham Country Club - winter

The Petersham Country Club property was officially purchased by the Harvard Forest today, nine months after Country Club leaders initially approached the Harvard Forest with an offer to sell. 

The Petersham Country Club first opened in 1924. The director of the Harvard Forest at the time, Richard Fisher, and his wife Georgina were founding members along with many Petersham residents and

April 4, 2013

Tracking Boston's 'Urban Metabolism'

Harvard Forest Summer Research Program student and mentors

Seventy percent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions come from cities. As many cities rush to pursue new CO2 emissions goals, Harvard Forest collaborators at Boston University--Lucy Hutyra and Nathan Phillips--have developed an "urban metabolism" project to better understand CO2 in Boston and surrounding areas: where is carbon emitted? how is carbon stored? and what

April 1, 2013

A Look Inside Carnivorous Plants

pitcher plant by Rob Lilieholm

The complex system of aquatic life that resides inside a carnivorous northern pitcher plant is the subject of a new study by post-doctoral fellow Ben Baiser and senior ecologist Aaron Ellison. These tiny, wriggling organisms--mosquito larvae, mites, rotifers, and copepods--are crucial to the pitcher plant’s ability to process food. They create a sort of ‘processing chain’ to

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

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