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Why are so many dead bumblebees appearing on sidewalks?
Bumblebees naturally have short lives, but extreme heat and human activity are making survival harder. Pesticides can poison bees or destroy the flowers they depend on, while habitat loss leaves them with fewer safe places to live and feed. Protecting native plants…
The best way to save giant sequoias may be more fire
Giant sequoias are built to withstand ordinary fires, but recent extreme wildfires killed thousands of trees that had survived for centuries or even millennia. A new analysis of about 26,400 sequoias found that trees in areas treated with prescribed burns were nearly…
Scientific breakthrough: We can now halve the price of costly cancer drug
The demand for the widely used cancer drug Taxol is increasing, but it’s difficult and expensive to produce because it hasn’t been possible to do it biosynthetically. Until now, that is. Researchers have now cracked the last part of a code that science…
Dual associations with two fungi improve tree fitness
When trees and soil fungi form close associations with each other, both partners benefit. Many tree species have further enhanced this cooperation by forming a concurrent symbiosis with two different groups of mycorrhizal fungi. Those trees cope better with water and…
Australia’s oldest prehistoric tree frog hops 22 million years back in time
Scientists have now discovered the oldest ancestor for all the Australian tree frogs, with distant links to the tree frogs of South America. This post is an excerpt from the original article. We’re just sharing this great piece with our readers! All credit goes to…
Growth before photosynthesis: How trees regulate their water balance
In order for trees to grow, they need to control their water balance meticulously. A study shows how trees react to drought — and revises previous perceptions. This post is an excerpt from the original article. We’re just sharing this great piece with our…
Meet a Tree: Basswood
by John Zasada Editor’s note: Author John Zasada is a retired US Forest Service research scientist. His interests and passions (and talents!) turned to special forest products upon his retirement. John is enamored with a common Minnesota tree species: basswood, also…
What Will Minnesota’s Forests Look Like in 2100?
Anthropogenic Climate change (this means, climate change originating in human activity) is driving changes to our forest landscapes. We can and do manipulate forest diversity, composition and structure through management decisions What will happen if we can stabilize…
Forest of Points
By Jennifer Corcoran – Remote Sensing Program Consultant and Keb Guralski – Statewide Forest Inventory Coordinator, DNR Resource Assessment Forest inventory plays a crucial role in good forest management. For example, in the last MFA Newsletter, readers…
Spotting Invasive Species in the Fall
Post originally published for Itasca Woodland Services by Marissa Berguson As the long, bright days of summer give way to crisp air and auburn hues, northern folk settle into their apple pie-baking, hot cocoa-sipping, turkey-basting, marshmallow-toasting,…
Meet a Tree: Learning More
Once again, in this issue of Minnesota Woodlands, we are deviating from the ‘norm.’ We assume, as MFA members and likely owners of a woodland, you know your basic tree identification. But do you know some intimate details about those trees? For instance, do you…