Research Topics

Since 1907 the Harvard Forest has served as a center for research and education in forest biology and conservation. The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, established in 1988 and funded by the National Science Foundation, provides a framework for much of this activity. An understaning of forest responses to natural and human disturbance and environmental change over broad spatial and temporal scales pulls together research topics including biodiversity studies, the effects of invasive organisms, large experiments & permanent plot studies, historical & retrospective studies, soil nutrient dynamics, and plant population & community ecological interactions. Major research in forest-atmosphere exchange, hydrology and regional studies places the work in regional and global context, aided by modeling tools. Conservation and management research and linkages to policy have been part of the Forest since its beginning, and the approaches used in New England can often apply to international studies.

• Biodiversity Studies
• Conservation and Management
• Ecological Informatics and Modelling
• Forest-Atmosphere Exchange
• Historical and Retrospective Studies
• International Research Projects
• Invasive Plants, Pests and Pathogens
• Large Experiments and Permanent Plot Studies
• Physiological Ecology, Population Dynamics, and Species Interactions
• Regional Studies
• Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
• Watershed Ecology