Burning Down the House Party

Come to find out, Christmas trees burn like you would not believe. Nick Link explores the events that led to an ecology PhD.

A Meditation on Mosquitos

As I find myself in the dog days of an Alaskan summer – powerless to change my bug-infested situation – there is no choice but acceptance.

LTER Grad Student Spotlight: Emilia Grzesik

Emilia and her field tech, Elliot, in the field sampling black spruce forest fuel loads at Bonanza Creek LTER in Alaska.

This spotlight is part of an ongoing series featuring many of our wonderful LTER Network graduate student representatives who contribute valuable research and leadership across the network. To learn more about graduate research in the LTER network, visit this page. Emilia Grzesik is a second year Master’s student at the University of Fairbanks, Alaska (near completion)… Read more »

LTER Road Trip: Boreal Forest Research Legacies

Xanthe Walker organizes tree cores while sampling in the 1987 burn near Delta Junction, Alaska.

By Haley Dunleavy, PhD Candidate at Northern Arizona University Leaving my house, I feel like a runaway. I am packed inside an economy-sized rental car with my field clothes, camping gear, and of course, face masks, heading 300 miles north to meet my advisor Michelle Mack and fellow lab members for a couple days of… Read more »

Recent boreal wildfires are changing forest communities in Interior Alaska

Bonanza Creek LTER boreal forest after a fire

As boreal forest wildfires increase in severity and frequency, new patterns of post-fire recovery are emerging. Research led by Jill Johnstone at Bonanza Creek LTER has found that recent wildfires led to changes in tree species dominance that are persisting through post-fire succession in Alaskan boreal forests, indicating the potential for a widespread shift in… Read more »

Legacy carbon takes a hit as younger forest stands burn

Aftermath of forest fire

In 2014, massive wildfires swept through the Northwest Territories of Canada, burning over two million hectares of boreal forest, as well as the highly organic soils on which they stood. Researchers with the Bonanza Creek LTER used this unplanned experiment to learn whether the carbon released from burned land had been recently deposited or if… Read more »