Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · May 27

🌳👀 Free event @ HF this Saturday from 1-3pm! Learn how to ID trees with Elodie, our Education Assistant. This will include a 1.5 mile level walk on open trails; attendees will also hear about Harvard Forest research activities. RSVP not required.

harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/event/tree-i...

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · May 5

🌳Join us this Thurs 5/7 @ 7pm for the premiere of *Views from a Woodlot*, a short film highlighting the philosophy & decades of forestry leadership by Bruce Spencer, steward of MA’s 100,000-acre Quabbin Reservation for 40+ years. 💧In-person @ the HF Fisher Museum. RSVP not req'd. rb.gy/8qpbuj

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Apr 9

Join us 4/23 @4:30p w/ @harvardsalata.bsky.social for a discussion on the critical role of ecol. restoration in tackling the global climate & nature crises. 🌳Hear from our Dir in Residence, Jonathan Thompson, & Thiago Picolo of re.green RE the global market for nature-based solutions. RSVP: Linktree

Image shows the event date (Wednesday April 12), the event title (The Business Case for Nature: Opportunities, achievements, & challenges in restoring native tropical forests), and other text (RSVP required / Belfer Center, Cambridge). The image also includes an aerial photograph of two very different forests split by a road: on one side the forest appears diverse and naturally-occurring, whereas the other side is plantations with rows of what appear to be the same species of tree.

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Apr 7

🌳 Seminar this Weds 4/9 @ 11am EST! Morgan Furze will present “Physiology, ecology, & evolution of carbohydrate storage in trees.” Morgan, Asst. Professor, joins us from Purdue University.

📍in-person @ HF 🤓 RSVP not required

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Mar 24

🤩Check out the latest issue of Worcester Living magazine for a lovely highlight of the Fisher Museum at Harvard Forest! 🌳

worcesterliving-ma.newsmemory.com (See page 24)

Image shows page 24 of Worcester Living magazine's Spring 2025 issue. Image includes a photograph of three dioramas at Harvard Forest's Fisher Museum, plus the title, authors, and initial text of the article. Title: Into the Woods: Harvard Forest, Fisher Museum Educate, Preserve, State's Natural Beauty; Story by Paul Della Valle & Photos by Rick Cinclair.

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Mar 20

🌲 Join us Weds 3/26 @ 11am EST! 🔬 Vidya Vuruputoor will discuss interdisciplinary approaches to studying Eastern Hemlock’s defenses against the Woolly Adelgid. 🧐

In/person & Zoom - Linktree ➡️ Seminars. 🌐 Registration not req’d; DM for PW (same as previous). 🤓

Image shows text and a photo of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid on Hemlock needles. In addition to details noted in the text of this post, text with the image includes the title: “Multi-omics approach to terpenoid defenses in Eastern Hemlock, threatened by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.” Image provided by Vidya Vuruputoor.

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Mar 10

📢 Our Annual Ecology Symposium is next week! 🌳🔬👨🏽‍🎓 Zoom in to hear exciting research & education updates from HF researchers & associates. rb.gy/c0bjp5

Image shows text and three photos (aerial of research in the forest, upwards to a research tower, and researchers looking at a tree). Text includes the following: Tuesday March 18; Harvard Forest Annual Ecology Symposium: Future Directions of Research and Education at the Harvard Forest; Register to attend online!

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Reposted by Harvard Forest

Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs @masseea.bsky.social · Mar 7

Despite recent rain and snowfall, the state's groundwater levels are not where they need to be for the upcoming growing season. We're asking all residents to follow state guidance and local water restrictions to keep water available for essential needs. mass.gov/conservemawater

mass.gov

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Mar 6

“I think what’s happening here is very real for all of us, and we could flop down and despair — seriously we could — but we’re also bolstered by a real sense of wonder at the resilience of ecosystems, at the way that trees work, the way these systems function.”

When the woods are your climate change lab — Harvard Gazette

For these researchers, Harvard Forest is a labor of love, and that love is changing.

news.harvard.edu

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Mar 5

🌳Join us on 3/12 for "From Metal Mining to Data Mining: How Indigenous Data Governance Supports Sovereignty Within an Open Science Ecosystem" by Lydia Jennings, PhD (Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Wixárika). ⚛️ In-person @ Harvard Forest & on Zoom. 🌐💻 harvard.zoom.us/j/99148582331 DM for PW. (same as previous)

Image shows a picture of Lydia Jennings, PhD, doing fieldwork in a forest with a canine companion. Text shown on the image appears within the text of this post.

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Mar 3

Join us this Saturday! 💫

Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Feb 13

🦊🌞On Saturday, March 8 from 1:30-2:30 come to Harvard Forest for Seasonal Traditional Storytelling, led by our Indigenous Education Specialist, Keshia DeFreece Lawrence. Free & open to all; children are welcome. 🌳https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/events

Image shows the text included in this webpage, plus the time (1:30-2:30), location (Fisher Museum, 324 N Main St, Petersham, MA 01366), and the following details: "free and open to all! Kids and Families welcome! and BYO blanket and pillows!". It also includes cartoon-style graphics of a bear, foxes, and spring flowers

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Feb 24

We're honored to have worked w/BBC in their new series, the Americas, which aired yesterday on NBC. In their initial episode, The Atlantic Coast, narrator Tom Hanks discusses the science of fall colors. The “triple oak” mentioned is on nearby land stewarded by our longtime volunteers, the Feldmans!

Tom Hanks Discusses the Atlantic Coast | The Americas | NBC

YouTube video by NBC

youtu.be

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Reposted by Harvard Forest

Jackie Matthes @jackiehmatthes.bsky.social · Feb 21

Congrats to Samuel Jurado on his first first-authored paper! We found that larger rain events lead to lower soil moisture, creating dry land-atm feedbacks in the NE US by increasing the height of cloud formation.

Research @harvardforest.bsky.social thx to @ameriflux.bsky.social & NSF REU & LTER

Increasing Large Precipitation Events and Low Available Water Holding Capacity Create the Conditions for Dry Land‐Atmosphere Feedbacks in the Northeastern United States

Land-atmosphere coupling at Harvard Forest is principally controlled by the low amount of precipitation retained as soil moisture rather than evapotranspiration More extreme rainfall resulted in ...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Feb 13

🦊🌞On Saturday, March 8 from 1:30-2:30 come to Harvard Forest for Seasonal Traditional Storytelling, led by our Indigenous Education Specialist, Keshia DeFreece Lawrence. Free & open to all; children are welcome. 🌳https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/events

Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Feb 10

🌳Join us Weds (2/12) for "Rooted in Truths," a seminar by Andre StrongBearHeart Gaines Jr (Nipmuc), where he'll discuss restoring balance between everyday life & traditional values within colonial systems. 🌲 In-person ONLY @ Harvard Forest harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/visit

Image includes the text details included in the post, plus a photograph of Andre standing on top of a wetu (traditional home made with tree bark) with two other individuals standing at the entrance of the structure.

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Feb 5

📢 We’re hiring! 🌳 Each year, our Summer Research Program in Ecology is supported by an Assistant Coordinator / Resident advisor. Know anyone who would be a good fit? 🤔 👨🏽‍🎓👩🏻‍🏫

See this and several other job openings here: harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/employment

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Feb 3

🤓 Sometimes growth occurs quite slowly, and sometimes we may need a microscope to see it, but it still shows up!🌳 Hear from one of our Senior Ecologists, Neil Pederson, to discover how scientists read tree rings to understand centuries-old stories. 🌲🍃🔥@yellowbuckeye.bsky.social

Neil Pederson @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social · Feb 3

A discussion on what old trees and what we can learn from them, but also, a reflection on how the global human intelligence can lift our cultural and environmental world. The evidence is everywhere:

youtu.be/sTIB6Gg5PUU?...

Also available in listening form from the Apple Finch podcast series

What 1,000-Year-Old Trees Look Like with Neil Pederson | AFP 37

YouTube video by Apple Finch Pudding

youtu.be

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Jan 27

Our seminars are back!🌳Join us this Weds @ 11am EST! 🌲🌍 Mariana Vázquez-Alonso will present "From Ancient Forests to Modern Carbon Neutral Initiatives: LiDAR biomass estimation across landscapes" in-person at Harvard Forest and on Zoom. 🌐💻 harvard.zoom.us/j/99148582331 DM for PW. (same as previous)

Image includes a photograph of researchers examining plant parts while sitting on the forest floor. Additional text includes the speaker's name (Mariana Vázquez-Alonso), the seminar title ("From Ancient Forests to Modern Carbon Neutral Initiatives: LiDAR biomass estimation across landscapes"), and the seminar date, time, and location (January 29 at 11am, Zoom and in-person).

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Jan 23

🌲 Sat. Jan 25 | 11am-12pm | @ Harvard Forest 🤓

Join us for a free public event & meet our Tree Ring Lab crew! 🌳

Tour will include a tree coring demo & Harvard Forest’s Tree Ring Lab, & discussion of old growth tree research!

RSVP not required. harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/events

Graphic includes sketch of a tree cross-section, tree bark, and the text included in this post.

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Mar 19

It's Symposium day! Graduate students in our @uslter.bsky.social site program are presenting their work on myccorhizal fungi, methane cycling, landscape interpretation, pest forecasting, urbanization, and young students' STEM identity. Join us online! harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/news/registe...

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Feb 24

We're honored to have our meticulous phenological and meteorological data featured in this incredible work of #sciart / #dataviz by Jon Schroth (based in Connecticut): an ecological/phenological calendar for southern New England. www.resilience.org/stories/2024...

Full view of the colorful Cycles of Gaia ecological calendar, showing concentric circles as data layers of precipitation, day-length, and plant production of leaves, flowers, and fruits/seeds.

A closer view of the Cycles of Gaia ecological calendar, showing concentric circles as data layers that vary in thickness according to data values by month: a blue circle for precipitation, green for leaf production, and thinner layers for flower and fruit/seed production.

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Feb 13

Each hurricane in New England wipes out ~10 yrs of forest carbon sequestration. If hurricanes become more frequent and/or intense here, the forests' ability to serve as carbon sinks may be at risk. Thx @josephtumber.bsky.social 4 vital @uslter.bsky.social work! northernwoodlands.org/discoveries/...

A Stormy Future for Carbon Offsets | Winter 2023 | Discoveries |

Carbon offset programs often withhold 10 to 20 percent of offsets generated by a project, as a buffer against changes to the forest that might… This content i

northernwoodlands.org

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Feb 9

We've been spotlighting our Bullard Fellows for years now and this is the first one that made me choke up with admiration. Dr. Siddiq is a friend and hero of mine. harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/news/bullard...

Dr. Siddiq and 3 fellow scientists establish an ecosystem monitoring plot in an arid area of eastern Sudan.

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Jan 29

The Forest right now. Nice, right? All of our webcams are updated every half hour during daylight hours, thanks to the PhenoCam network! harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/webcams

an aerial view of a snow-covered forest.

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Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Jan 24

Starting now!

Harvard Forest @harvardforest.bsky.social · Jan 18

Our public seminars are back next week! On Wednesday, January 24, from 11:00-11:30am EST, we'll hear from Xiaojie Gao, a post-doc here at the Forest:

"Seeing Forest Seasonality From Space"

We hope you'll join us online! Message us for the Zoom link/password (which is the same as in past seminars).

global phenology map from MODIS, showing color (red/blue) that corresponds to peaks/valleys in plant productivity