Forest plantations are widespread globally. Young forest plantations (hereafter young forests) differ from natural old-growth forests (hereafter old forests) in above- and below-ground structures…
The 200-year log decomposition study, now entering year 40, is already yielding unexpected insights. Read the full story in the September 2025 issue of Scientific American magazine.
“People say, ‘Oh the forest was lost.’ It’s not lost. It’s changed,” said Mark Harmon, a forest decomposition expert and professor emeritus at Oregon State University. Half of his research plots at…
Scientists studied the impacts of the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, where rare pre-fire stream discharge and chemistry data allowed them to evaluate the influence of…
In the last 10 years, David Herasimtschuk has photographed forests across the Pacific Northwest, documenting the inhabitants of these last remaining old-growth ecosystems. From salamanders and salmon…
Soil is the largest store of carbon (C) in the terrestrial biosphere, containing more than twice as much C as the atmosphere. Hence, even small changes in soil C may have a relatively large effect on…
A summary of work examines the current state of knowledge regarding how dead trees have, and will, influence water, nutrient and organic matter flows within and between ecosystems to influence very…
An international research team conducted the first continental-scale study of carbon flows into and out of streams across six major climatic zones. Scientists analyzed the balance between…
Leaf litter breakdown rates may increase 5 percent to 21 percent with a 1 degree to 4-degree Celsius rise in stream water temperature. Mean annual water temperature for some streams and rivers is…
Forested watersheds may not store quite as much carbon as previously thought. Small, headwater streams, such as those found in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, import a higher than expected…
The amount of carbon stored in tree trunks, branches, leaves and other biomass — what scientists call “aboveground live carbon” — is determined more by timber harvesting than by any other…