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September 1, 2009

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,

September 1, 2009

Prospect Hill Wireless Network

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

August 1, 2009

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

August 1, 2009

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,

August 1, 2009

Harvard Forest Studies Rare Pitch Pine Communities

Dwarf Pitch Pine Cover

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

August 1, 2009

Orchid Added to Harvard Forest Flora

Purple Fringed Orchid

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

July 1, 2009

New Harvard Forest Publications: American Beech Distribution and Disturbance Dynamics

Posy Busby with American Beech Tree

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

July 1, 2009

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."

July 1, 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

July 1, 2009

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

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