Discoveries Archive
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Lead Levels Settling Down
Lead that for decades accumulated in the duff layer of the forest floor in the Northeast is finally disappearing deep into the soil in low-elevation forests, though the process is taking a bit longer at higher elevations. This is according to a study conducted in the Green Mountains by Dartmouth College researcher Andrew Friedland and colleagues from the Northeastern States… (more)
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Lights, Action!
While toxins and noise are often cited for their detrimental effects on wildlife, recent research suggests that light pollution is negatively affecting forest-breeding wildlife as well. “In comparison to chemical and noise pollution, light pollution is more subtle, and its effects have perhaps not received the attention they deserve,” said Bart Kempenaers of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in… (more)
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The Pine Tea State
If Ray Fort has his way, the next time you get the flu, the cure might just come from the needles of a New England pine tree. Fort, a chemistry professor at the University of Maine, has found that conifers – especially white pines – store an organic acid in their needles that is the starting point for making the… (more)
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Lasers Generate Forest Height Map
Scientists from Colorado State University have produced a first of- its-kind map of the height of the world’s forests by combining data from three NASA satellites. The map reveals that the forest canopy in the Northeast averages about 50 to 60 feet tall, very similar to forests in the Appalachians and in Central Europe. The data will be used to… (more)
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Nature as Stimulant
In news that will come as no surprise to readers of Northern Woodlands, a team of psychologists has concluded that spending time in nature makes people feel more alive. A series of five studies published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that people reported feeling an increased level of vitality – greater physical and mental energy – during forays… (more)
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A Step in the Right Direction
Good news stories about the environment can seem hard to find these days, which makes it nice to report that power plants across the country have collectively decreased emissions of acid-rain-causing pollutants ahead of schedule. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, national sulfur dioxide pollution fell from 7.60 million tons in 2008 to 5.75 million tons in 2009. At… (more)
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Torching the Invaders
The more researchers learn about barberry, the more they find to dislike about it. The thorny perennial shrub escaped from cultivated landscapes after being introduced to the U.S. in the 1880s, and now it is established in 31 states and considered an invasive in most of them, where it is becoming a dominant understory shrub. Primarily spread by birds eating… (more)
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Whole-Tree Harvesting Might Not Deplete Calcium
A renewed interest has emerged in recent years in whole-tree harvesting, a practice that has been scorned by many as dangerous to the health of the forest ecosystem because it depletes the soil of nutrients. While recent evidence suggests that some of those concerns may have been overstated, the long-term impact of the practice is still unknown. Whole-tree harvesting is… (more)
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Bright Berries Beloved by Birds
Health-conscious humans have long known that brightly colored vegetables are healthier than blandly colored ones; turns out, songbirds also pay attention to color when it comes to their food. To fuel their migration, songbirds choose to feed upon certain brightly colored berries, in part because those berries offer protection against oxidative stress that occurs during long flights and can lead… (more)
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Caterpillars: Some Like it Hot
Dartmouth College Professor Richard Holmes has been counting caterpillars at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest for more than 20 years. He was mostly interested in understanding the abundance of caterpillars available as food for birds, but the tremendous fluctuations he found from year to year in the overall abundance of caterpillars – sometimes as much as a 30-fold difference –… (more)