Impacts of haying on soil nitrogen levels, and subsequent feed backs in plant and pollinator communities Null hypothesis: Biomass harvest will have no impact on total soil nitrogen or on floristic and pollinator quality & diversity.” (Of course we hope to reject the null hypothesis) There’s a global phenomenon whereby high quality plant communities are […]
The Old Oaks Are Dying, Can You Hear Them Crying?
This photo represents a typical old growth (white tribe) oak tree surrounded by a novel configuration of weedy trees. The open crown of the oak suggests the oak emerged in an open landscape, or Savanna. The savanna was maintained by herbivores grazing and grooming the vegetation (a 20 million year co-evolutionary event), and more recently […]
Ash Trees as a novel biotic community
**This article was a letter I wrote in response to an article on mpr.org, http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/03/09/ash-borer-research Hi Dan, Nice coverage on this subject; however, in many ways I see this entire effort erroneous due to incorrect perceptions of the existing ash “forests”*. Below is an interesting alternative view to the ash…. Please enjoy!!!! I have been […]
The Myth of Forest
The current wooded state of many abandon lands creates an impression of “forest”, but the forest perception is dangerously incorrect and has facilitated a century of mismanagement. True forest is Cretaceous in origin, emerging in the shadows of dinosaurs. True forest still exists, and can be found in scattered localities from Southeast Minnesota and down […]
