Gauging forest changes
Harvard scientists are leading a new international collaboration that is working to match up a global network of forest plots with a similar network created in China, to provide scholars with more comprehensive information about the planet’s changing forests. The effort kicked off earlier this month, when scientists from the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS), a collaboration between the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, participated with Chinese scientists in a 17-day workshop, followed by a three-day symposium. Leading the effort is Stuart Davies, director of the Arboretum’s Asia Program. According to program manager Liz Delaney Lobo, the collaboration became a reality largely because of a five-year National Science Foundation grant that will help to finance workshops, travel, and other costs. In addition to the workshops, the grant provides for 10 graduate students or early-career researchers from the United States to visit China for scientific exchanges. The project ties the...