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.
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
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.
The Harvard University Alumni Quarterly Colloquy highlights Harvard Forest as a living laboratory. Read the article.
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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