Whirlybirds and maple syrup
Every day since mid-February, Harvard Forest researcher Joshua Rapp has walked the tree-lined dirt road leading into the 3,500-acre woodland. But instead of lugging the latest high-tech instruments and scientific gadgets, Rapp has been conducting an ancient rite of New England spring: checking sugar maple taps. This spring, Harvard researchers are joining maple sugar harvesters around the region, collecting gallons of sap from nearby trees. The researchers aren’t looking to sweeten their pancakes, however. They’re seeking to understand better sugar maple biology and the link between the number of seeds a tree sets in the fall and the sugar content of the sap that flows in the following spring. Maple syrup producers have long known that the amount of syrup varies year to year, but sap flow and syrup production have most often been linked to variations in daytime and nighttime temperatures. Rapp and Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Elizabeth Crone believe that...