[LTER-sbc_help] Forest Science News - March 2019

[Hubbard Brook Research Foundation]

A monthly roundup of research headlines  Forest Science News is brought to you by the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation. March 2019 CARBON SEQUESTRATION Young, fast-growing forests provide a substantial carbon sink Using a combination of tree age data and modeling software, an international group of researchers calculated how much carbon the world’s forests stored between 1981-2010. They split the forests into two categories: old-growth forests and forests that are in the process of regrowing after disturbances to the land such as farming. They found that old-growth forests worldwide sequestered between 0.95 and 1.11 billion metric tons of carbon per year, while forests younger than 140 years old—including many temperate forests in North America—sequestered between 1.17 billion and 1.66 billion metrics tons of carbon per year. The study suggests that these regenerating forests may be able to sequester an additional 50 billion metric tons of carbon as they continue to grow—equivalent to about seven years’ worth of fossil fuel emissions. The authors stress, however, that the amount of carbon the world’s forests can sequester is finite, and it remains crucial to find strategies to reduce emissions. Article: Mongabay Abstract: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences BIODIVERSITY Protecting small temperate forests isn't enough to maintain bird diversity Establishing protected areas is a widespread strategy for preventing species loss. But a team of researchers publishing in Biodiversity and Conservation say there are limited data on how effective this approach is, especially in smaller protected temperate forests. To assess whether protected status succeeds in maintaining bird diversity over the long term, they tracked bird species changes over 40 years in a small protected deciduous forest in New Jersey. They found that nearly half of the bird species seen in the forest at the onset of protection were not present at the end of the study period. What's more, many species that declined in the protected forest over that time period had populations that remained stable or increased within the larger region. The authors conclude that protecting small forest fragments may not always lead to bird conservation success.  Press Release: Rutgers University Abstract: Biodiversity and Conservation SOUNDSCAPES Hungry deer change the way sounds move through the forest As white-tailed deer populations increase in North American temperate forests, they change the structure of the habitats they occupy by chowing down on understory trees and shrubs. A team of researchers from Vassar College used sound recordings to determine whether the structure of deer-browsed forest vegetation affects bird communication. After playing recorded trills, tones, and white noise in habitats where deer were present and habitats where they were excluded, the biologists found that although there was no difference in sound amplitude between the two habitat types, the fidelity of the sounds was greater in the deer-browsed habitats. This finding, they write, suggests that although further research is needed, deer browsing could influence songbird behaviors that depend on vocalization—such as mate selection and interactions between parents and offspring.   Press Release: Phys.org Abstract: PLoS ONE HUBBARD BROOK HIGHLIGHT Forest ecologists put the icing on top On a frigid night last February, a team of Hubbard Brook staff doused an array of angled dowels, pipes, wires, and plates with water until they glistened with a thick coating of ice. This “ice farm,” set within a 50 by 50 foot plot near the U.S. Forest Service headquarters of the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, was designed to establish an accurate, affordable, and easily-replicated protocol for citizen scientists participating in the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network to measure ice accretion. The team took 2,300 measurements that night, and is currently analyzing the data to come up with a standardized technique—there is currently no consistent method for measuring ice. This recent experiment is a continuation of the longer-term Ice Storm Experiment, in which researchers created an artificial ice storm in basketball-court-sized forest plots at Hubbard Brook and are monitoring how the ecosystem responds over time.   Article: Concord Monitor The above links were curated from news articles and press releases published during February 2019. The Hubbard Brook Research Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study Forest Science News is a science communication tool designed to improve communication between ecosystem scientists and public audiences in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada. Please email ideas and questions to: sciencelinks at hubbardbrookfoundation.org Sign up to get Forest Science News in your inbox! Hubbard Brook Research Foundation | 30 Pleasant St., Woodstock, VT 05091 Unsubscribe sbc_help at lternet.edu Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by sciencelinks at hubbardbrookfoundation.org in collaboration with Try it free today
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