Hydnora africana: The real life “Piranha Plant” and Queen of Species Interactions

June 3, 2020 Courtney Parrilla

Hydnora africana and the notorious Piranha plant. — *Hydnora africana* and the notorious Piranha plant.

Contrary to the fantasy world of videogames, some of these in-game species have real-life doppelgangers. Given the millions of years of fine-tuned species adaptations, these doppelgangers happen to be even cooler than their digital counterparts. Find out more about the parasitic Hydnora africana by reading this article written by my former student Courtney Parrilla!

Woodland salamanders; indicators of a healthy forest?

June 2, 2020 Antonio Seelman

Red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus)

Red-backed salamanders are some of the most abundant vertebrates living on the forest floor. In New York State alone, there is an estimated 18 billion of them! These tiny creatures play big roles in ecosystems everywhere and their abundance can be used as an environmental indicator of forest health/age. Learn more about these animals by reading this article written by my former student Antonio Seelman!

Does the Ash species stand a chance in Western New York? If not, what will replace it? A story of the Ash species, the Emerald Ash Borer and the future of the trees niche.

June 1, 2020 Nick Streczywilk

Figure 1: The EAB larvae, adult and the networks they make under Ash bark (Emerald ash borer expands presence into Saunders County)

If you are visiting this blog, I need not describe the various benefits that the forested lands of the world provide. For this post, we will zoom in on the northeastern United States, and more specifically, Western New York (WNY). The significance of the very important genus of Fraxinus in WNY forests may also be familiar to most. The ash’s of New York, as well as most of North America and Europe, is under attack from an Asiatic invasive insect introduced here in the 1990s. We can touch upon the impacts of the Emerald Ash Borer and possible Ash restoration, as well as what happens if the ash disappears from our forests.

Lecture 18: Multi-cohort stand development

April 30, 2020 Philip Pinzone

By making spatial and temporal observations, we can begin to see what a forest is, was, and may become.

Lecture 17: Single cohort stand development

April 22, 2020 Philip Pinzone

Today, we are going to look at the development of a single cohort stand. A single cohort is a stand of trees that become established within 10 years of each other. After a major disturbance in which all trees in the local area are killed, that region will (usually) go through four stages, which we will learn about in this lecture. Stand initiation, stem exclusion, understory re-initiation, and old growth.

Your path towards ecological understanding