Native Tree Society BBS

Ed: I would sample a whole bunch of different parts of the moss, since there might be different patches of the moss that had different mutations, so that the development and then flow across the landscape of each mutation could be followed. If not, it might be hard or impossible to tell how much tim...

Neil et al.: Here is a trip through the universe of temporal and spatial scales in forest ecology, which gives some perspective to the above discussion. Its true that many old trees continue to grow at a high rate (especially of you calculate basal area or volume increment, which one of Craig Lorime...

Ed: I suppose I would try the so-called molecular clocks that look at DNA in various organelle (chloroplasts, mitochondria, etc.). Looking at C14 at various depths in the moss carpet might be interesting, and may or may not tell us much, depending on the rate of decay and how the oldest organic carb...

I am always doubtful about peoples claims that a given organism is a clone that hasn't reproduced for thousands of years. Such claims have been made for aspen, various fungi, mosses, etc., over the years. What I find more interesting is that Sphagnum can grow in Hawaii--this lends support to the hyp...

Neil: I liked your pictures of P koraiensis. The University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum has a collection of supposedly every tree species in the world that will grow in Minnesota's climate, and they are arranged by genus along a three-mile long walkway. One time I was measuring eastern white pi...

Kouta: 30 m versus 44 m, and the wrong species--I guess misidentified and mismeasured trees are not unique to the big tree list in the U.S. Even I would be able to tell the difference between T. cordata and T. platyphyllos, since those species are more common along streets in the city in Minneapolis...

ENTS: As of today (Oct 22) the Pagami Creek fire is 91% contained, and because an inch of rain fell last week combined with rapidly cooling weather, they are removing crews and equipment from the area. A research program funded by the National Science Foundation rapid response fund is underway, head...

Bob and Joe: FIA methods and implementation have improved a lot, especially in the last five years. I don't hesitate to use FIA data because I understand its many flaws, and like any good scientist, can extract conclusions that are not affected by those flaws. This is mainly a scale issue. With the ...

Bob et al.: I think the FIA is quite accurate at larger spatial scales--say the size of a county in northern MN, or half of MA. Most people don't appreciate the degree to which forest trends (in many variables such as species richness, tree mortality, species composition, etc.) can be opposite at di...

Paul: Sorry that Minnesota has made so much smoke. See this pair of pictures. The first is from Sept 13, when the fire blew up and ran 16 miles on a strong westerly wind. Picture2.jpg Note the pyrocumulus cloud--basically a thunderhead formed by condensation of the water vapor liberated by the burni...