If a Forest Burns in a Fire, Does it Return to Normal?
“When a forest burns in a wildfire, should we expect it to return as it was before?” Research scientist, Jonathan
Read moreAuthor: Brianne Palmer
From Cropland to Cities: Aerial Transport of Fungi
How connected are our farms to our cities? If you are a flying fungus, they may be very connected! In a new study, researchers from De Paul University found fungi from the soil on the rooftops of Chicago and wondered why. It turns out, small fungal spores can travel from agricultural fields through the air into the cities and form friendships with the city-dwelling plants. Understanding how these spores move from agriculture to cities could help researchers develop new insight of the urban ecosystem.
Read moreRight Place Wrong Time: Timing Mismatches Between Humans and Plants at Mount Rainier National Park
In a recent study using crowd-sourced data, Harvard researchers found that National Park visitors may increasingly visit the parks at the wrong time and the small window when most of the wildflowers bloom. At Mount Rainier National Park, early snowmelt means the plants flower before the majority of tourists visit the park. With climate change, these timing mismatches will become more common, however small changes to human behavior may put the flowers and and the humans that admire them back in sync.
Read moreLegacies of human impacts linger in longleaf pine
Historically humans have tilled the land for agriculture. Now, in the longleaf pine forests in the Southeastern United States, many are working to restore the land. Restoration is used to bring back the pre-agriculture plant communities but how do these interventions change the soil microbes?
Read moreNew Discoveries of Luminescent Life
Have you ever wanted to glow in the dark? If you are an amphibian, this power may be more common than we thought! A study from St. Cloud State University recently characterized the patterns resulting from red, blue, and green light from the bodies of salamanders from around the world!
Read moreSeeking Common Ground…Using Earthworms
Nearly everyone on earth has seen an earthworm squirming on the sidewalk after a rainstorm but are we all seeing the same species? A group of researchers wants to understand the similarities in urban earthworm populations in cities around the world. If there are the same species on opposite sides of the ocean, what does this mean for biodiversity within the urban ecosystems many of us call home?
Read moreWhat Smokey the Bear didn’t know about invasive species
Fires are increasing across the United States and researchers are looking to weed out the one of the culprits — invasive grasses. Using information from fires and non-native grass invasion across the country, researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst set out to determine if invasive grasses increase the number of fires across the United States. Of the twelve grass species analyzed, 66% increased fire frequency, adding another layer to the complexity of managing wildfires. As individuals we can help halt this “grass-fire cycle” by reducing the spread of invasive grasses and human-caused sparks.
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