forests – envirobites

Forests are beautiful. From flourishing plants to tranquil wildlife to decaying logs, all parts are beautiful, vital, and connected. Dead logs are responsible for maintaining a healthy forest thanks to teams of fungi and wood-dependent insects inside. These organisms break down plant material to add nutrients back to the ecosystem. Forests are essential for human health and well-being, but human disturbance could threaten these ecosystems. To keep our forests healthy and beautiful, we depend on these decomposers, but can they rely on us?

Climate Ecosystems Environmental Science

If a Forest Burns in a Fire, Does it Return to Normal?

September 4, 2020September 4, 2020 Brianne Palmer 0 Comments Climate, fire, forest succession, forests, Wildfire

“When a forest burns in a wildfire, should we expect it to return as it was before?” Research scientist, Jonathan

Ecosystems Environmental Science

The Forest-Fungi Loop

March 4, 2020March 3, 2020 Abigail Bezrutczyk 0 Comments Conservation, Ecology, ecosystems, environmental science, forests, fungi, Restoration, Soil, Trees

The ground under our feet might have more say in the landscape than we realize– researchers are studying the feedback loops between fungi and trees.

Case Studies Environmental Science

Indigenous Fire Practices Work

December 18, 2019 Andrew Barton 0 Comments American Indians, basketry, forests, indigenous resource use, prescribed fire, traditional ecological knowledge

“Fire exclusion policies forced California Indian communities and forest managers to curtail their routine cultural and prescribed burning practices. Despite these policies, Karuk and Yurok basketweavers retained their knowledge, maintained their practices and, most importantly, developed several innovative techniques to replicate fire’s effects on hazelnut to produce essential basketry materials.” (Marks-Block 2019)

Ecosystems Environmental Science

Friend or foe? Invasive earthworms can benefit agriculture but harm forests

September 17, 2019September 17, 2019 Kara Cromwell 0 Comments agriculture, carbon, Conservation, Ecology, environmental science, forest ecology, forests, invasive species, invertebrates, nutrient cycles

Earthworms are welcome guests in the garden, but it’s a different story in the forest. By consuming and removing leaf litter too fast they set in motion complex cascades of ecological changes, with long-term negative effects on soil fertility and biodiversity.

Ecosystems Environmental Science Toxicology

Avoiding A Problem: Spineless Critters Signalling Trouble For Plants?

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019 Anita Masse 0 Comments avoidance behaviour, boreal, ecotoxicology, forests, invertebrates, plant toxicity, soil toxicology

Spineless creatures are fleeing, alerting scientists to an unseen problem. The avoidance behavior of soil worms and insects could provide a fast and easy method for scientists to screen chemicals for plant toxicity.

Environmental Science

Seeking Ferns, Finding Worms

April 18, 2019May 4, 2019 Abigail Bezrutczyk 0 Comments Ecology, ecosystem change, environmental science, forests, invasive species, modeling, native plants

In the midst of an earthworm invasion, researchers created models to find a rare fern. This helps us to better understand how to protect threatened, endangered, and sensitive plants in a changing world.

Environmental Science Science through time

How Pre-Industrial Charcoal Changed the Soils Under Our Feet

January 18, 2019February 1, 2019 Alina Spera 0 Comments Archaeology, Ecology, forestry, forests, human impacts, hydrology, Soil, soils, water

Tragically, when some people look at the soil beneath our feet, they only see ‘dirt’. They are missing the fact that soils contribute so much to nature and our lives. But, what happens when humans alter soils from their natural state? Researchers from Cottbus, Germany, aimed to find out how charcoal production in the Northeastern US during the mid 1800s impacted the soils and ecology of the forests that we see today. Surprisingly, the answer is a little bit below the surface.

Climate Environmental Science Remote Environments Science through time

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

November 13, 2018November 19, 2018 E.M.B. Doran 0 Comments agriculture, carbon cycle, Climate Change, Conservation, earth system, Ecology, ecosystems, environmental science, forest policy, forests, greenhouse gases, machine learning, nutrient cycles, remote sensing, Restoration

Satellites have changed our ability to see the globe. We can now use satellite data is to monitor change in the amount of land covered by forests, and determine the reasons for that change. In this article, we discuss recent findings global forest monitoring and the impact of supply chain decisions by corporate actors.

Climate Environmental Science

We’re all in this together: Climate-forest connections mean local tree deaths have widespread impacts

November 2, 2018November 9, 2018 Jeannie Wilkening 0 Comments biosphere-atmosphere interactions, carbon, forests, modeling, transpiration

We know that forests can have a big local impact, but can they also have an impact on the climate on the other side of the continent? With climate change becoming a growing threat to our forests, a team of scientists looks to investigate what cross-continental connections exist between our forests and what they could mean for our future climate.

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