Beech bark disease has been killing American beech trees in eastern North America since the late 1890s. In northern New England, New York, and the Maritimes where the disease is most severe, groups of disease resistant trees occasionally occur. Genetic studies reveal that trees in groups are families, and distribution patterns suggest that they were “planted” by blue jays.

Related Research:

• American Beech Resistance to Cryptococcus fagisuga (1983)
• Forest Insect & Disease Leaflet 75 (1983)
• Dispersal of Beech Nuts by Blue Jays in Fragmented Landscapes (1985)
• Spatial and Temporal Development of Beech Bark Disease in the Northeastern United States (2005)
• Beech Bark Disease: The Oldest "New" Threat to American Beech in the United States (2010)
• The Emergence of Beech Leaf Disease in Ohio: Probing Plant Microbiome in Search of the Cause (2020)
• Beech Leaf Disease Symptoms Caused by Newly Recognized Nematode Subspecies Litylenchus crenatae mccannii (Anguinata) Described From Fagus grandifolia in North America (2020)

Scientists:

• Jennifer Koch, Research Biologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio
• Laura Kenefic, Research Forester, Northern Research Station, Bradley, Maine
• Dave Houston, Principal Plant Pathologist (Retired), Northern Research Station, Hamden, Connecticut

In this episode, we used the following recording from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: ML526793201 (Kendrick DeBoer, Alberta, Canada)

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

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Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]

The number one way you can stop an insect invasion or pathogen from spreading is by stopping it from ever starting. Who says geneticists and ecologists can’t act in the same way—taking action before a tree is ever in danger?

With ash, proactive and collaborative breeding is already taking place, and it could be a roadmap for the future of combating tree species restorations.

Related Research:

• Green Ash Trees That Survive Beetle Infestation Pass on Their Resistance Through Propagation and Planting (NRS)
• The Key to Rescuing Green Ash from Emerald Ash Borer is in the Genes (NRS)
• “Saving Green Ash” (2017)
• “Restoring Green Ash: Breeding for Resistance to the Emerald Ash Borer” (2020)
• “Convergent molecular evolution among ash species resistant to the emerald ash borer” (2020)
• Saving Oregon Ash (2022) [Oregon Dept. of Forestry]

Scientists:

• Jennifer Koch, Research Biologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio
• Kathleen Knight, Research Ecologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio
• Richard Sniezko, Center Geneticist, Dorena Genetic Resource Center, Cottage Grove, Oregon

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

Want more information? Visit us at https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/nrs/products/multimedia/podcasts/forestcast-season-2-backcross-episode-5-will-ash-be-blueprint-tree

Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]

Dutch elm disease (DED) is one of the most commonly known and destructive tree diseases in the world. The disease was first observed in Ohio in 1930, and by 1976, only 34 million of the estimated 77 million elms present in U.S. urban locations remained.

Research on American elm from the 1970s to the present has focused in large part on the identification of American elm individuals that can withstand the DED pathogen. To increase American elm’s long-term recovery as a canopy tree, it is crucial to increase the genetic variation of tolerant elms available for planting in urban and rural settings.

Related Research:

• “New American Elms Restore Stately Trees” (1996)
• “Evaluation of 19 American Elm Clones for Tolerance to Dutch Elm Disease” (2005)
• “Proceedings of the American Elm Restoration Workshop” (2016)
• “Development of New Dutch Elm Disease-Tolerant Selections for Restoration of the American Elm in Urban and Forested Landscapes” (2017)

Scientists: 

• Jennifer Koch, Research Biologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio
• Kathleen Knight, Research Ecologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio
• Denny Townsend, Research Geneticist (Retired), USDA ARS, ​​U.S. National Arboretum, Washington, D.C.
• Dale Lesser, Farmer, Lesser Farms and Orchard, Dexter, Michigan 

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

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Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]

A hundred years ago, the American chestnut was the redwood of the East. It was big, and it was everywhere, especially in the southern Appalachians. But, today, it’s just a shrub and is, functionally, extinct.

With chestnuts having gone through such a dramatic decline, restoration has been a priority, and it’s been a restoration effort unlike many others. It’s been one of the most passionate efforts an American tree has ever seen.

Related Research:

• American Chestnut Oral History Project (2009)
• American Chestnut Restoration (NRS)
• “Reintroduction of American Chestnut in the National Forest System” (2014)
• “American Chestnut: A Test Case for Genetic Engineering?” (2014)
• “Growth, Survival, and Competitive Ability of Chestnut Seedlings Planted Across a Gradient of Light Levels” (2017)
• “Restoration of the American Chestnut Will Require More Than a Blight-Resistant Tree” (2020)

Scientists:

• Leila Pinchot, Research Ecologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio
• Bethany Baxter, American Chestnut Oral History Project, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
• Ella Preston, American Chestnut Oral History Project, Letcher County, Kentucky
• Harding Ison, American Chestnut Oral History Project, Letcher County, Kentucky
• James Mullins, American Chestnut Oral History Project, Dickenson County, Virginia

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

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Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]

Tree species restoration—especially with species that are threatened with extinction—isn't even on the table unless you have resistant planting stock. But, trees live on another timescale than humans—a much longer one. And, to be a geneticist, to breed, your job is to infiltrate that timeline, and to understand it. By understanding that timeline, you can begin to fiddle with it, fiddle with time, and with the future. The future of that plant, but also the future of our planet. Genetics allow us to make better trees, make a better world, and do it all by fooling our forests.

Related Research:

• "The Evolution of Forest Genetics and Tree Improvement Research in the United States” (2015)
• “Institute of Forest Tree Breeding: Improvement and Gene Conservation of Iconic Tree Species in the 21st Century” (2017)
• “Breeding Trees Resistant to Insects and Diseases: Putting Theory into Application” (2017)
• “Common Misconceptions About Forest Tree Breeding, A Valuable Tool For Addressing Forest Health Issues” (2020)
• “Breeding for Resistance to Tree Pests: Successes, Challenges, and a Guide to the Future” (2021)
• “Restoration of Landscapes and Habitats Affected by Established Invasive Species” (2021)

Scientists:

• Jennifer Koch, Research Biologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

Want more information? Visit us at https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/nrs/products/multimedia/podcasts/forestcast-season-2-backcross-episode-2-how-do-you-breed-better

Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]

In season one of Forestcast, entomologists showed us the ways we slow insects from attacking and killing trees. This season, we’ll meet another set of scientists, scientists who have been attacking the issue of non-native invasive insects and pathogens from a different angle. Chemicals and biological control can buy trees time, but they cannot completely control the non-native insects that are attacking trees that have never experienced these insects before. We need something on top of those controls, and these scientists, they’ve been working towards a solution — a long-term resistance.

What is it? Well, it’s simple. At least, a simple idea: use trees.

Related Research:

• “Proceedings of the Sixth International Workshop on the Genetics of Host-Parasite Interactions in Forestry—Tree Resistance to Insects and Diseases: Putting Promise into Practice” (2020)

Scientists:

• Jennifer Koch, Research Biologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio
• Kathleen Knight, Research Ecologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio
• Leila Pinchot, Research Ecologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio
• Charlie Flower, Research Ecologist, Northern Research Station, Delaware, Ohio

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

Want more information? Visit us at https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/nrs/products/multimedia/podcasts/forestcast-season-2-backcross-episode-1-tree-species-restoration

Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]

Mac Callaham, a research ecologist, goes searching alone in Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest for one of Brood X’s most-southern cicada emergences.

Scientist:

• Mac Callaham, Research Ecologist, Southern Research Station, Athens, Georgia

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]

Any day now, periodical cicadas will emerge across 15 states stretching from Illinois to New York and northern Georgia.

Two scientists, one who’s tracked the aboveground movements of these cicadas, and another who’s unearthed the belowground impact of these insects, take you inside the many mysteries and forgotten elements of these evolutionary enigmas.

Related Research:

• Sharp boundary formation and invasion between spatially adjacent periodical cicada broods (2021)
• Periodical cicada emergence resource pulse tracks forest expansion in a tallgrass prairie landscape (2019)
• Competition and Stragglers as Mediators of Developmental Synchrony in Periodical Cicadas (2018)
• Avian predation pressure as a potential driver of periodical cicada cycle length (2013)
• Effects of periodical cicada emergences on abundance and synchrony of avian populations (2005)
• Emergence of Periodical Cicadas (Magicicada cassini) From a Kansas Riparian Forest: Densities, Biomass and Nitrogen Flux (2001)
• Feeding ecology and emergence production of annual cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae) in tallgrass prairie (2001)
• The legacy of Charles Marlatt and efforts to limit plant pest invasions (2016)
• The Periodical Cicada (1907)

Scientists:

• Sandy Liebhold, Research Entomologist, Northern Research Station, Morgantown, West Virginia
• Mac Callaham, Research Ecologist, Southern Research Station, Athens, Georgia

Hey listeners! We're looking for cicada recordings! To be a part of an upcoming episode of Forestcast, record cicadas chorusing around you. In the recording, tell us where you are and who you are. Just record the cicadas on your phone and send the recording to [email protected].

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

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Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]

In the 1970s, red spruce was the forest equivalent of a canary in the coal mine, signaling that acid rain was damaging forests and that some species – especially red spruce – were particularly sensitive to this human induced damage. In the course of studying the lingering effects of acid rain, scientists came up with a surprising result – decades later, the canary is feeling much better.

Related Research:

• “The Surprising Recovery of Red Spruce Growth Shows Links to Decreased Acid Deposition and Elevated Temperature” (2018)
• “Quantifying the Legacy of Foliar Winter Injury on Woody Aboveground Carbon Sequestration of Red Spruce Trees” (2013)
• “Calcium Addition at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest Increases the Capacity for Stress Tolerance and Carbon Capture in Red Spruce (Picea rubens) Trees During the Cold Season” (2011)
• “The Isolated Red Spruce Communities of Virginia and West Virginia” (2010)
• “Acid Rain Impacts on Calcium Nutrition and Forest Health” (1999)
• "Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States" (1992)

Scientists:

• Mary Beth Adams, Research Soil Scientist, Morgantown, West Virginia
• Paul Schaberg, Research Plant Physiologist, Burlington, Vermont

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

Want more information? Visit us at https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/nrs/products/multimedia/podcasts/forestcast-special-episode-window-resurgence-red-spruce

Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]

In addition to studying and monitoring the non-native insects already here, scientists are monitoring pests that have potential to become problems if they ever do arrive, whether from overseas or from other parts of North America.

Related Research:

• “The Challenge of Modeling and Mapping the Future Distribution and Impact of Invasive Alien Species” (2015)
• “Reproduction and potential range expansion of walnut twig beetle across the Juglandaceae” (2018)
• “Enhanced Mitigation and Rapid Response to Reduce Spread and Impact of Spotted Lanternfly in the United States” (2019)

Scientists:

• Robert Venette, Research Biologist, Northern Research Station, St. Paul, Minnesota
• Melody Keena, Research Entomologist, Northern Research Station, Hamden, Connecticut

Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station.

Want more information? Visit us at https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/nrs/products/multimedia/podcasts/forestcast-season-1-balance-and-barrier-episode-6-future-forest

Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: [email protected]