The Forest of Drunken Trees
Black spruce forests in northern regions are tipping over. A new study seeks to understand why, and uncovers the role climate change plays in tilting trees.
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forests
Dead and Gone? – The loss of decaying wood communities in urban forests
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?
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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
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The Forest-Fungi Loop
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.
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Indigenous Fire Practices Work
“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)
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Friend or foe? Invasive earthworms can benefit agriculture but harm forests
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.
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Avoiding A Problem: Spineless Critters Signalling Trouble For Plants?
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.
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Seeking Ferns, Finding Worms
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.
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How Pre-Industrial Charcoal Changed the Soils Under Our Feet
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.
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Seeing the Forest for the Trees
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.
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