Discoveries

Anyone who has paid even a little attention to plants and trees in late winter and early spring knows how responsive they are to temperature. In years when the winters are warm, many trees and…

It has been more than 80 years since a tree species in the Northeast has been added to the list of those meeting construction industry standards, but that list has just grown by one. Lumber…

Most of the 14,000-plus dams that dot New England’s rivers and streams – almost all built more than a century ago – once provided power to nearby mills. While these mills no…

Twenty years ago, scientists experimented with adding calcium to forest soils and found that it boosted tree growth. Today, they’re seeing an unexpected spike in nitrogen loss in these…

The long, instinctive migration of monarch butterflies from the northern United States and Canada to their wintering grounds in central Mexico is considered one of the natural world’s…

As the composition of tree species in forests in southern New England has evolved in recent decades, many of those forests have become more vulnerable to drought. The reason for the changing…

In the world of trees, it is difficult for seeds and seedlings to take root far from their parent plants, yet that’s a key factor in seedling survival. “The closer you are to mom,…

A team of researchers has been studying the effects of adding extra leaf litter and other organic matter to the soil in Harvard Forest for more than 25 years. The original purpose was to test…

Coyotes have become ubiquitous in the Northeast since they began colonizing the region in the 1920s. The conventional wisdom has been that coyotes are specialists in preying on deer, thus…

Trapping carbon dioxide before it exits power plants, vehicle exhaust pipes, and industrial smokestacks is believed by many experts to be a key step in fighting climate change. The most…

Abandoned industrial sites litter the world, and many are contaminated with pollutants that make it difficult to redevelop the land. Yet some species of trees can tolerate polluted soil and…

Rusty blackbird populations have declined by about 95 percent in the last 50 years, making their decline the fastest of any songbird in all of North America. They breed in stunted conifers…

Beavers have long been admired for their dam-building skills, which enable them to create ponds and slow the movement of water. Recently, a team of University of Rhode Island scientists has…

The hemlock woolly adelgid remains near the top of the list of harmful pest insects in eastern forests. It has significantly damaged the hemlocks in 2.5 million acres of hemlock-dominated…

Birdwatchers in the Northeast have long known that some species of finch that spend most of their lives in the boreal forest occasionally travel far beyond their normal range. Pine siskins,…

For decades it was hypothesized that blackpoll warblers, tiny black-and-white songbirds that breed in boreal forests and winter in South America, migrate south entirely offshore in a nonstop…

We hear a great deal in the news about the decline of managed honeybee colonies, but little has been reported about the crisis facing native bumblebees. According to Leif Richardson, a…

A scientific investigation into the genetics of 20 fungi that infect trees has turned up an unusual explanation for why one particular fungus is killing plantation-grown poplars. According to…

Beavers are well known for damming streams and creating ponds, forging new habitat for a wide range of wildlife. In the absence of streams, however, these ecosystem engineers often dig…

The wood of sugar maple trees is highly valued for its even grain and creamy light color, making it one of the Northeast’s most commercially important hardwood species for use in…