Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/?s=forests)
An invasive insect increasingly threatens one of the Great Lakes region’s most important trees for storing the carbon that causes global warming.
Researchers have found that eastern hemlock trees felled by the invasive woolly adelgid could emit 4.5 tons of carbon across almost two and a half football fields.
You’re wrong if you think the lowly earthworm has little to do with the health of Michigan’s hardwood forests.
To the contrary, “exotic” – non-native – earthworms can have “widespread and complex effects” on individual trees and overall forest health
While forests are known to enhance the water quality of nearby watersheds, oftentimes people don’t recognize forests’ role in providing clean drinking water, according to a new study from Michigan State University. The research was conducted at three watersheds in Michigan: the heavily urbanized Detroit River Watershed, the less populated and heavily forested Au Sable River Watershed and the more populated agricultural, forested and urban Lower Grand River Watershed.
Six of the animals were transferred from another Lake Superior island in a bid to control Isle Royale’s moose population and restore its forests.
Warming temperatures and more frequent short-term droughts are forecasted for Great Lakes forests.
The Great Lakes region is involved in a national effort to clear trees to allow for new growth. The reforesting effort is key to maintaining wildlife and healthy forests.
Study shows that Wisconsin forest composition is changing because of the out-of-control deer population.
Current efforts to contain the invaders include quarantining areas affected.
It’s been about 30 years since Michigan saw an outbreak of spruce budworm, but the little insects are now back in a big way. Current State talks with Bob Heyd, forest health specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources about what that means for the state’s trees.
By Chris Symons
Compost box heroes, or the root of all ecological evil? Worms in Great Lakes forests are not what they seem. Trilliums are smaller, algal blooms are more common and hummingbird populations are decreasing. All of these are made worse by non-native earthworms in Great Lakes soil. A recent study in Ecosystems journal identified four key minerals that earthworms remove from soil and that native plants need to grow.