Forests Science Articles

Warming winter weather in southeast Alaska has created a combination of conditions that's eliminating yellow cedar from low-elevation rainforests.

A fungus introduced from Europe is well on its way to rendering whitebark pine trees extinct in some North American national parks, scientists warn.

Colorado has rapidly lost an unusually large number of aspen trees in the last few years to insects and diseases.

Leaving some live trees standing after logging benefits biodiversity, concludes a review of over 200 scientific studies.

Evidence from ancient charcoal indicates the boreal forest historically extended much farther north than it does today.

Scientists expect the ranges of many North American trees to shrink over the next century if the climate gets as warm as models forecast.

A look at the history of forest fires and drought in Canada and Alaska finds three striking trends emerging over forty years.

It appears that climatic warming in boreal forests has pushed many trees beyond the limits of their optimal growing conditions.

Over two-thirds of trees in certain types of forests located thirty miles from the track of Hurricane Katrina were downed by the high winds.

The deep-green coniferous forests lining the valley bottoms of Jasper National Park arise from people manipulating wolves, elk and wildfire over the past century.

Human-assisted evolution may be the only way to save some subalpine ecosystems from the ravages of an invasive fungus.

On a steep, boulder-strewn mountainside in the Himalaya, clings a stand of juniper trees that holds the record for the highest forest growing north of the equator.

Researchers conclude that a commonly-held belief, that forests of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan have recovered from rapid, wide-spread logging of over a century ago, is not entirely true.

Eastern hemlock trees might be gone from New England forests by the end of the century, thanks to an introduced insect and warming climate.

When more than half of trees are harvested from a mature forest, the populations of some bird species plummet.

Scientists have uncovered the overriding principles that govern why some tree species are confined to a narrow range of latitudes while others thrive across a continent.

On a global scale, forests increased their net primary production by 6% between 1982 and 1999, but on a smaller scale there were notable declines in tree growth.

British Columbia

The phenomenon of dying yellow cedar prevalent in southeast Alaska is now documented as extending at least 150 km southwards into British Columbia.

The relatively undisturbed example of endangered Garry oak savanna at Rocky Point near Victoria, BC seems to be a fleeting artefact of European settlement.

Garry oak, a key member of an endangered ecosystem in British Columbia, shows little genetic variability throughout its range from Courtenay, BC to northern California.

In a subalpine forest on Mount Elphinstone near Gibsons, British Columbia, the turnover of trees is exceptionally infrequent, putting this 1000-year-old forest at the far end of the scale for stand disturbance dynamics.

Subalpine fir and interior spruce trees can serve as wildlife habitat for 100 years or more after they die.

In wet forests that are dominated by ancient red cedars, 22 to 30% of trees offer enough habitat for birds and mammals to be classified as a wildlife tree.

Mountain Pine Beetle

Temperatures in boreal forests extending across Canada will soon be warm enough to accommodate mountain pine beetles.

As British Columbia's massive mountain pine beetle infestation spreads eastwards, the question still remains as to whether the beetles can successfully invade Canada's boreal jack pine forests.

Expect more water flowing after bark beetles finish with pine stands in central British Columbia.

As the sapwood of lodgepole pines attacked by mountain pine beetle dries, it harbours a dynamic mix of fungal species.

Lodgepole pine stands heavily hit by mountain pine beetles then left unmanaged for 25 years have become forests comprising an array of tree ages interspersed with standing and fallen snags.

Lodgepole pine forests may never be the same, ecologically, following a mountain pine beetle epidemic.

While British Columbia's mountain pine beetle epidemic is shaping up to be a gold rush for some cavity-nesting birds, it appears the boom will soon bust.

Killing or removing most of a watershed's forests dramatically alters the rate and amount of water flowing across the landscape.

Wildlife will not suffer during the first few years after most trees in a forest are killed by mountain pine beetles.