Harvard Forest Field Guide: The Common Trees Found on Prospect Hill

   As a Harvard Forest REU student, I am outside taking measurements everyday. These measurements range from things like diameter at breast height (DBH), tree height, the distances between trees, leaf area index (LAI), and percent cover by different lichen species. However, this blog post does not explain how I did any of those, or even what those measurements mean, and that's because none of these measurements mean anything if I can't first identify the tree I am taking measurements on. (Although some of these measurements are really cool and if you're interested you should definitely make the time for a quick google search!) Instead this blog post focuses on offering a modest tool to help identify some of the most common species found on the Prospect Hill tract of land at Harvard Forest. Good luck and happy ID-ing!