Ecologists Project SE Minnesota To Look Much More Like Eastern Kansas As Warming Continues

[hatrack]

EDIT

Tuesday, April 8, those gathering at the Lanesboro Public Library heard a presentation entitled "Climate Changes on Forests" by Dr. Lee Frelich, director, University of Minnesota Center for Hardwood Ecology, and vice president, Eastern Native Tree Society. The program was one of 10 sponsored by Southeast Library System (SELS) and the University of Minnesota Experiment in Rural Cooperation (ERC), offered to encourage those living in southern Minnesota to "dialogue with field experts to consider, discuss, and debate issues relating to the sustainable development of rural communities and landscapes."

Frelich stated, "The Kandiyohi forest at the edge of the prairie, with its elms, oaks, American basswood, hackberry and Kentucky Coffeetree, is the best blueprint we have for future forests in Minnesota under a warmer climate. These tree species also grow in eastern Kansas, which has a climate like that we think Minnesota will have by the end of the 21st century with a 'business as usual' scenario."

Elaborating on how the climate change would affect the southern region of Minnesota, Frelich spoke of how the invasive species and high deer populations will transform our forests over the next century. His comments explained that exotic earthworm invasions are creating new forest ecosystems in Minnesota by altering the structure of the soil. "European earthworms are the master invaders in our ecosystems because they change the structure of the soil so that it is warmer, drier, and has low nutrient availability," commented Frelich,

"Earthworms exacerbate the impact of warming climate on forests and a warmer climate will help exotic earthworms spread faster." The extensive research Frelich has done on boreal forests in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and his work in the area of patterns of tree height in the eastern United States set him in a position to recommend strategies for Minnesotans to consider. He remarked, "Climate change will not impact forests in a vacuum. A large number of invasive species, exotic tree diseases, population explosions of native insects, and high deer population will all add to the negative impacts of global warming on our forests. Many existing tree species will not grow in Minnesota in the future."

EDIT

http://www.hometown-pages.com/main.asp?SectionID=26&SubSectionID=137&ArticleID=20391&TM=36580.52

[NickB79]

1. I never realized European earthworms were so damaging

""European earthworms are the master invaders in our ecosystems because they change the structure of the soil so that it is warmer, drier, and has low nutrient availability," commented Frelich."

I always read that earthworms enriched soil by converting dead plant matter to nitrogen-rich worm poop.

[phantom power]

2. That's just what they wanted us to think.