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Forestcast

Written by: USDA Forest Service
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  • Summary

  • Explore the largest forest research organization in the world alongside scientists studying, questioning, and solving some of today's most compelling forest issues. Through stories, interviews, and special series, learn what’s happening in your forests, and where those forest ecosystems might be headed. Season 4: Afire A 360-degree introduction to fire from a scientific standpoint. The story of how fire research shapes our landscapes and our lives. Season 3: Women of Research Highlighting women’s perspectives in research over the past 50 years, scientists share stories of mentors and mentorship, motherhood, rural and urban stewardship, passions for science, leadership, and beyond. Season 2: Backcross 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, a long-term resistance. Season 1: Balance & Barrier More than 450 non-native insects have invaded our forests and urban trees since European settlement. Come explore four of these insects, and the scientists studying and combating these pests. A Window of Resurgence for Red Spruce: 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—ere 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. The Two-Sided Story of Periodical Cicadas: Two scientists—one who’s tracked the aboveground movements of 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. Flying the Nuthatch Home: Once spanning nearly 6 million acres in Missouri's Ozarks, the shortleaf pine and oak woodland ecosystem has dwindled to 100,000 acres today. Along with the loss of this habitat, a bird—the brown-headed nuthatch—disappeared as well. However, after decades of woodland restoration, the brown-headed nuthatch has returned to Missouri—by plane. Discover more at fs.usda.gov/research/products/multimedia/forestcast What started as a podcast produced by the Northern Research Station focusing on the Northeast and Midwest has now expanded to cover a wide range of forest topics from across USDA Forest Service Research and Development. Forestcast is an official USDA Forest Service podcast.
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Episodes
  • Welcome to “Forestcast”

    Welcome to “Forestcast”
    Feb 24 2020

    The Northern Research Station invites you inside the largest forest research organization in the world — the USDA's Forest Service — for conversations with scientists at the forefront of forest research. Forestcast brings you stories, interviews, and special in-depth anthologies of the science that's examining and explaining how forests affect our lives, and how we affect our forests.

    To kick things off, a special six-part series on one of the most significant environmental threat to our forests, and the scientists studying and combating these threats. Coming soon!

    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

    Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: jonathan.yales@usda.gov
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    3 mins
  • Balance & Barrier: A Slow Explosion of Damaging Forest Insects

    Balance & Barrier: A Slow Explosion of Damaging Forest Insects
    Feb 24 2020

    A biological invasion is an enormous increase in population of some kind of living organism. It happens when an organism — like an insect — arrives somewhere beyond its previous range, when it breaks out past its natural barrier, unbalancing the biological order. More than 450 non-native insects have invaded our forests and urban trees since European settlement. In this series, we'll explore four of these insects, and the scientists studying and combating these pests.

    In 1957, a British ecologist, Charles S. Elton, gave three radio presentations entitled “Balance and Barrier.” Within a year, he had expanded these ideas into what was to become a bible for practitioners of a burgeoning new science: invasion biology. In a tribute to those broadcasts, this six-part series will explore biological invasions — and their repercussions — in the Midwest and the Northeast.

    Related Research:

    • “Ecology of Forest Insect Invasions” (2017)
    • “A Highly Aggregated Geographical Distribution of Forest Pest Invasions in the USA” (2013)
    • “Historical Accumulation of Nonindigenous Forest Pests in the Continental United States” (2011)
    • “Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States” (2011)
    • “The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants” (1958)

    Scientists:

    • Therese Poland, Project Leader/Research Entomologist, Northern Research Station, Lansing, Michigan
    • Sandy Liebhold, Research Entomologist, Northern Research Station, Morgantown, West Virginia
    • Robert Haight, Research Forester, Northern Research Station, St. Paul, Minnesota

    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-1-slow-explosion

    Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: jonathan.yales@usda.gov
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    23 mins
  • Balance & Barrier: Wasps vs. Emerald Ash Borer Beetle

    Balance & Barrier: Wasps vs. Emerald Ash Borer Beetle
    Mar 5 2020

    With global trade and travel, organisms are moved around easily and abruptly, causing biological invasions. What’s our best hope to combat these rapidly spreading pests? Sometimes, it’s to do the exact same thing, to start moving around organisms — on purpose — to attack unwanted pests.

    This is called ‘biological control.’ It is one of the most cost-efficient and environmentally acceptable long-term approaches for managing invasive species. And, it’s been a crucial component to managing the damage caused by the most destructive forest insect in U.S. history — the emerald ash borer beetle.

    Related Research:

    • Emerald Ash Borer Biocontrol in Ash Saplings: The Potential for Early Stage Recovery of North American Ash Trees (2017)
    • Progress and Challenges of Protecting North American Ash Trees from the Emerald Ash Borer Using Biological Control (2018)
    • Progress in the Classical Biological Control of Agrilus Planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) in North America (2015)
    • Buying Time: Preliminary Assessment of Biocontrol in the Recovery of Native Forest Vegetation in the Aftermath of the Invasive Emerald Ash Borer (2017)
    • The Role of Biocontrol of Emerald Ash Borer in Protecting Ash Regeneration After Invasion (2017)
    • EAB County Detections

    Scientists:

    • Leah Bauer, Research Entomologist, Northern Research Station, Lansing, Michigan (retired)
    • Roy Von Driesche, Entomologist / Conservation Biologist, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts (retired)
    • Jian Duan, Research Entomologist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Newark, Delaware

    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-2-wasps-vs-emerald

    Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: jonathan.yales@usda.gov
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    25 mins
Earth Sciences
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