Reviving extinct Mediterranean forests
Extinct Mediterranean forests of biblical times could return and thrive in warmer, drier future, researchers argue in a September 2015 report for Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
Forestry
Fire-scarred trees record 700 years of natural and cultural fire history in a northern forest
A new paper in Ecological Monographs presents a 700-year dendrochronological record of fire in Trillemarka-Rollagsfjell nature preserve in southern Norway. Burn scars on old tree stumps chronicle social change, from the population crash at the time of the bubonic plague, through a spike in slash-and-burn agriculture, to the rise of the timber economy. Until the modern era, the human mark…
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Appreciate Trees this Holiday Season
By Gary Lovett, Senior Scientist and Forest Ecologist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY Tis the season when many Americans welcome trees into their homes. For millions of us, fresh-cut evergreens are at the heart of Christmas celebrations – a symbol of hope and joy. Sadly, the situation facing America’s trees is neither hopeful nor joyous. The Fraser fir, one…
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Call for public input on Northwest Forest Plan Science Synthesis
The U.S. Forest Service is revising the policies and guidelines governing the management of federal forests in the Pacific Northwest. Two decades of ecological research and monitoring data have accumulated since the adoption of the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994. To inform revisions, the Pacific Northwest (which includes Oregon and Washington) and Pacific Southwest (which includes California) Research Stations instigated…
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Madagascar team tracks lemurs as they spread the seeds of the rainforest
On the island nation of Madagascar, the long-limbed local primates, lemurs, are for some trees, essential helpers. It is advantageous for a tree to scatter its progeny not just to the wind and widely, but where they will find fertile ground and clement conditions for growth. Some trees recruit animals for this task by tempting them with delicious and nutritious…
Forest dance on wires depicts a creeping fungal multitude blown back by a tornado
Plant biology PhD student Uma Nagendra of the University of Georgia, Athens, wins the 2014 Dance Your PhD competion, sponsored by Science, AAAS, and HighWire Press. Floating on trapeze wires, young white pine seedlings unfurl and reach for light. But lurking in the roots of the parent tree are dangerous fungi that creep forth to strike at the young scions. The sprouts…
Old forests store new nitrogen–and may soak up nutrient excesses
Ecologists working in central Pennsylvania forests have found that forest top soils capture and stabilize the powerful fertilizer nitrogen quickly, within days, but release it slowly, over years to decades. The discrepancy in rates means that nitrogen can build up in soils, David Lewis, Michael Castellano, and Jason Kaye report in the October 2014 issue of ESA’s journal Ecology, published…
History of fire and drought shapes the ecology of California, past and future
Fire season has arrived in California with vengeance in this third year of extended drought for the state. A series of large fires east of Redding and Fresno, in Yosemite, and on the Oregon border prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency on Sunday, August 3rd. As force of destruction and renewal, fire has a long and…
Slowing the insect invasion: wood packaging sanitation policy yields US $11.7 billion net benefit
Risk analysis finds savings for homeowners and local governments of excluding invasive pests like the emerald ash borer outweigh added cost to imported goods.
ESA Policy News: November 11: President’s climate action plan, farm bill compromise and FS funding shortfalls
Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. WHITE HOUSE: NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER BUILDS ON CLIMATE ACTION PLAN On Nov. 1, President Obama issued a new broad Executive Order, instructing federal agencies to help states strengthen their ability to cope with increasingly intense storms, severe droughts, wildfires and…
ESA Policy News: August 23
Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. APPROPRIATIONS: ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCIES SLASHED, FIRE PREVENTION GETS BOOST Congress has adjourned for the August district work period leaving a full plate of must-dos when members return after Labor Day. Many items on their list will need to be addressed before…
Water for the trees
Saving forests from drought as the climate warms.
Drought complicates the big problems afflicting modern forests. Gordon Grant, Christina Tague, and Craig Allen think that mitigating drought stress should be an active priority for management of US public forests – in keeping with the US Forest Service mission to “improve and protect the forest” and “secure favorable conditions of water flows”.