massachusetts wildlife: a journey through time
TRANSCRIPT
New England Forests Through Time: The Historical Perspective
John O’Keefe, Fisher Museum at Harvard Forest
With special thanks to David Foster, Brian Hall, Debra Bernardos, Glenn Motzkin, David Orwig,
and everyone at Harvard Forest.
New England Setting
Witness tree species distribution
HF diorama – pre-European forest
HF diorama – early clearing
Town Settlement Dates
HF diorama – height of agriculture
HF diorama – farm abandonment
HF diorama – harvesting pasture pine
HF diorama – hardwoods succeed pine
Hardwood sprouts
White pine seedlings
HF diorama – successional hardwoods growing
Modern Forest Landscape
0
20
40
60
80
100
1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000Year
Perc
ent
Maine
Vermont
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New Englandpopulation, % of 1990pop'n.
Forest Cover and Population Trends in New EnglandForest Cover and Population Trends in New England
New England Transformed
Massachusetts Land-use History
Thoreau’s Life
Pasture wall
Plowed field wall
Harvesting old-pasture pine
Harvard Forest white pine after 1938 hurricane
1938 Hurricane track and severe damage
Harvard Pond filled with salvaged logs
Extensive Forest Blowdown
Trees Windthrown
Carbon Uptake at the Harvard Forest Measured by Eddy Covariance
Wofsy et al. 2002
Uptake
0
10
20
30
40
Cum
ulat
ive
NE
P
(met
ric to
n-C
ha-
1 )
0
1
2
3
4
5
92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06
Ann
ual N
EP
(m
etric
ton-
C h
a-1 y
r-1)
∆NEP yr-1 = 0.179 ± 0.048 ton-C ha-1y-2
Year
Carbon Uptake at the Harvard Forest Measured by Eddy Covariance
Modern Disturbances and Forest Conservation Issues
1880s – Agriculture dominated 1990s – Forest dominated
2050 - ???
Both Dominated
by Houses ???
David Foster, David Kittredge, Brian Donahue, Glenn Motzkin, David Orwig, Aaron Ellison, Brian Hall, Betsy Colburn and Anthony D’Amato
2005
http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu
Potential change in areas experiencing temperatures lethal to hemlock woolly adelgid
Potential Sugar Maple range in 2100
Historical Wildlife Trends in Massachusetts
Moose population estimates
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Num
ber o
f moo
se
Year
Estimated moose population in Massachusetts
# moose
Our woodlots, of course have a history, and we may often recover it for a hundred years back, though we do not … yet if we attended more to the history of our lots we should manage them more wisely. Henry D. Thoreau October, 1860
Annual sums of NEP and wood increment
Drought?
Ice storm
Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
Asian Longhorn Beetle - 110 square mile quarantine as of 12/2011
Over 1.9 million trees examined! Over 20,000 infested trees found! Over 30,000 trees removed! Over 12,000 trees planted!
EMERGING THREAT – EMERALD ASH BORER JUST FOUND IN DALTON, MASSACHSETTS IN SEPT. 2012
Sources: MacConnell et al. 1973, MassGIS and MAS 2003.
Forest Loss
in
Massachusetts
Wildlife Responses (examples)
• Extirpated (cougar, wolf) (passenger pigeon, heath hen (extinct))
• Increase/decrease (bobolink, meadowlark, woodchuck)
• Decrease/increase (deer, bear, fisher) (beaver, wild turkey, moose (temp.
extirpated))
Wildlife Responses (examples)
• Range expansion (coyote, opossum, turkey vulture)
• Exotic introduction (starling, ring-necked pheasant, Norway rat)
• Perisistent (raccoon, muskrat, crow)
0
100
200
300400
500
600
700
800
1980 1990 2000 2010
year
estim
ated
moo
se p
opul
atio
n
MassachusettsConnecticut
Moose population estimates
Wolves
Coyote range expansion
Grassland Bird Distribution
Savannah Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Upland Sandpiper Eastern Meadowlark Bobolink
Beaver reintroduction and expansion
Deer population estimates
Bear population estimates and 2002 distribution
Permanent Woodland
Intact Soils
100-yr-old Forest on 19th C Plowed
Field
Residual Ap Horizon
Species distribution on the Montague plain
unplowed plowed
Agrarian Cultural Landscapes
Nantucket Landscape through Time
P. Dunwiddie
18 90s
19 90s
Asian Longhorn Beetle – 110 square mile quarantine area as of October 2011