Harvard Forest HF FAB3
The “Forest and Biodiversity at the Harvard Forest” (FAB) experiment will examine how forest diversity and introduced pests and pathogens affect forest function.
This research incorporates phylogenetic diversity, or the evolutionary relationships among biological entities, in this case trees and their associated pathogens. Using fourteen native tree species with varying susceptibility to environmental stressors, the research team addresses these questions:
- How do multiple dimensions of biodiversity in forests, including species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and variation in ecological niches of tree species affect forest function, stability, and resilience?
- How are interactions among tree species influenced by their ecological and phylogenetic similarities?
- How do pests and pathogens differ in their impacts on forests depending on forest diversity?
This is located at the Harvard Farm, approximately ¾ miles southeast of Harvard Forest’s main campus in Petersham. The experiment is envisioned to include over 200 forest plots varying in species richness, phylogenetic diversity, climatic niche, and successional status, with some plots being monocultures of individual species and others having as many as 12 different species. Diversity of species mixes range from maple, birch, beech, walnut, pine, and magnolia families. The tree species within each family occupy relatively different ecological niches, including those that are early and late successional.
Species of Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) are under significant stress due to the increasing presence of introduced host-specific pathogens in the region. To better understand how the tree communities interact in the absence of these pathogens, each plot will be replicated to include Beech or Hemlock individuals that have been treated to remove pathogens.
The experiment is envisioned to provide a collaborative platform for research that will lead to a better understanding of how changes in the environment affect forests locally and how to better prepare for climate change.
