Boston Flora

Tag: National Science Foundation

  • Wednesday, January 19, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – Forest Ecosystems and the Winds of Change: Forests as a Cog in the Earth’s Climate System, Online

    That weather and climate have a major influence on forests is a familiar concept to most of us. But forests also influence climate in ways that aren’t always appreciated and are still being discovered. This applies to local as well as global processes and extends from the early evolution of trees to the current era of rapid, human-induced change.

    This Ecological Landscape Alliance January 19 noontime presentation will explore the fascinating role of forests as a key part of the climate system, and how researchers are still unraveling their mysteries using tools ranging from state-of-the-art satellite sensors to old-fashioned walks in the woods.

    Dr. Scott Ollinger is a professor of ecosystem ecology and director of the Earth Systems Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. His research focuses on carbon, nutrient and water cycles in forests and how factors such as biodiversity and land use change affect feedbacks between forests and climate. Dr. Ollinger has been principal investigator on a number of NASA and National Science Foundation research projects and he has served on a variety of state and national science advisory boards. He was the first Director of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and is presently a member of NASA’s North American Carbon Program. At UNH, Dr. Ollinger enthusiastically teaches courses in ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry.

    Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at www.ecolandscaping.org

  • Native Plant Trust Announces Yard Futures Project

    Native Plant Trust, the nation’s first plant conservation organization and the only one solely focused on New England’s native plants, has partnered with the renowned Woodwell Climate Research Center to share ground-breaking research about how American homeowners in six major metropolitan areas currently shape their yards and what can be done to create spaces that work better for both people and the environment. This research and best practices that come out of the Yard Futures Project are now available to the public in brief articles on the Native Plant Trust website, www.NativePlantTrust.org, which will be regularly updated.

    The Yard Futures Project is a collaboration of scientists affiliated with institutions from across the U.S., including Woodwell Climate Research Center, Duke University, City University of New York, University of Massachusetts, Johns Hopkins University, University of Minnesota, Arizona State University, U.S. Forest Service, University of Utah, University of Delaware, Portland State University, Davidson College, Clark University, Masaryk University, University of Vermont and Virginia Tech. The research focuses on homeowners and their yards in the metropolitan areas of Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Phoenix and includes on-site field studies, extensive surveys, and interviews.

    The project studies the impact of homeowners’ choices and examines not only how homeowners shape their yards, but also importantly why they make particular choices about lawns, gardens, and maintenance regimes. The project measures how yards influence attributes of residential ecosystems such as plant and insect biodiversity, microclimates, soil carbon and the potential for nitrogen runoff.

    The team is publishing most of the project findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals and other professional outlets; the brief articles at www.NativePlantTrust.org present the results in an accessible, engaging way that can immediately be put to use by the public. Christopher Neill, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, is editorial director and lead author for the series.

    “Urban and suburban yards now cover huge areas across the US. And more and more people care deeply about making their yards better habitat for wildlife and better providers of some of the services more natural areas provide, like carbon storage and shade that lowers air temperatures,” said Chris Neill. “This project aims to take what we’ve learned from studying yards across the country and put it in a form that homeowners can both understand and translate into things that they can do in their own yards.”

    The project receives funding from the National Science Foundation’s Macro Systems Biology Program, which is investigating the causes and consequences of large-scale ecological patterns.

  • Through Sunday, May 7 – Chocolate: The Exhibition

    Now through May 7 at the Museum of Science, Blue Wing, Level 1 is Chocolate: The Exhibition. A gift for the gods. A symbol of wealth and luxury. An economic livelihood. Bonbons. Hot fudge. Candy bars.

    For thousands of years, humans have been fascinated with the delicious phenomenon that we call “chocolate.” Today, most of us know it as a candy or a sweet dessert. But this wasn’t always so. Test your chocolate knowledge and discover the complete story behind the tasty treat we crave in our newest temporary exhibition, Chocolate.

    Indulge in more than 200 objects and highly detailed replicas including pre-Columbian ceramics, European silver and porcelain servers, nineteenth and twentieth-century advertising, and botanical representations. These, along with immersive, interactive components and media, reveal the rich history of chocolate around the world.

    Uncover facets of this sumptuous sweet that you’ve never thought about before. In this bilingual exhibition, explore the plant, the products, and the culture of chocolate through the lenses of science, history, and popular culture.

    Chocolate and its national tour were developed by The Field Museum, Chicago. This exhibition was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation. For complete information, hours, and admission prices, visit www.mos.org.

  • Tuesday, October 27, 3:30 pm – Reading and Conserving New England: Insights from History and Ecology

    David Foster, of Harvard Forest and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, will speak on Tuesday, October 27 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus Student Union, Cape Cod Lounge, as part of The Environmental Institute’s Fall Lecture Program, which is free and open to the public.

    This talk is based on David’s long-standing conviction that every landscape and region has a history that strongly conditions its current condition and its future dynamics. In this talk he will provide an overview of the ecological insights that emerge from a consideration of the natural and cultural history of New England and then illustrate how this can be applied both to anticipating future conditions and to conservation management, including discussion of the Wildlands and Woodlands vision being developed by scientists associated with the Harvard Forest.

    Bio

    David Foster is an ecologist and author of Thoreau’s Country – Journey through a Transformed Landscape (1999), New England Forests Through Time (2000; both Harvard University Press), Forests in Time – The Environmental Consequences of 1000 years of Change in New England (2004; Yale University Press) and Wildland and Woodlands: A Vision for the Forests of Massachusetts (Harvard University). He has been a faculty member in Biology since 1983 and is Director of the Harvard Forest, Harvard University’s 3500-acre ecological laboratory and classroom in central Massachusetts. David is the Principal Investigator for the Harvard Forest Long Term Ecological Research program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and involving more than 100 scientists and students investigating the dynamics of New England landscape as a consequence of climate change, human activity, and natural disturbance.

    David has a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Minnesota and has conducted studies in the boreal forests of Labrador, Sweden and Norway and the forests of Puerto Rico, the Yucatan, and Patagonia in addition to his primary research on landscape dynamics in New England. His interests focus on understanding the historical changes in forest ecosystems that result from human and natural disturbance and applying these results to the conservation and management of natural and cultural landscapes. He currently serves on the boards of The Nature Conservancy -Massachusetts, Trustees of Reservations, Conservation Research Foundation and Highstead Foundation. As part of his larger conservation work David and a group of Harvard Forest researchers developed Wildlands and Woodlands – A Vision for the Forests of Massachusetts, which lays out an ambitious plan for the protection and conservation of half of the land in the state.At Harvard University David teaches courses on forest ecology and environmental change and directs the graduate program in forest biology. He lives in Shutesbury, Massachusetts with his wife Marianne Jorgensen and their children Christian and Ava.  For more information, log on to www.umass.edu/tei/TEI/LectureFall2009.html.

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