Natural Resources Paper Study Group

[pandacular]

In the United States, there are many federal and state agencies dedicated to the public study of natural resources. Every state has a Department of Natural Resources, which publish research papers about the forests, geology, wildlife, and much more in the state. I’m sure that other countries have the same.

I don’t think that these papers are widely read outside of industry professionals, but they should be! Many of these papers are written for the non-academic public, and are fascinating and full of things that will help you understand your environment.

Some can even help us better understand our bonsai. One such paper—which I saw mentioned on here—is titled Identifying Old Growth Forests in Western Washington by Robert Van Pelt and the Washington DNR. This paper features this beautiful illustration.


I would like this thread to be a place to share and discuss papers like, published by government, university, or NGOs on the natural environment and especially (of course) trees.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Commenting to be able to follow this thread.

Not quite a some scholarly research paper, but I did recently read this article
https://www.americanforests.org/art...pawpaws, persimmons,treats made just for them.
On some tree evolutions leftover from the now extinct megafauna. Fun lil read

 

[MaciekA]

Great idea for a thread. Apologies if the following paper doesn’t quite fit the mold but it may be of interest to many here:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2022302118

“Phylogenomic and ecological analyses reveal the spatiotemporal evolution of global pines”

In a nutshell, this is a relatively recent paper showing how pine species are related genetically and geographically and also temporally (ie when which subgroup split off from which other subgroup). Figure 1 and 2 are wall poster worthy material and mind blowing in some subtle ways. It is fun to think about the family tree of pine species when considering which ones do or don’t respond similarly to bonsai techniques.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Back again after doing some searching to find this site again

Gymnosperms - The Gymnosperm Database

Description of the evolution, biology, distribution, ecology, and uses of the Gymnosperms: Cycads, Ginkgo, Conifers and Gnetophytes.

www.conifers.org

I spent quite awhile sitting through the various species they have info on, some cool observations on growth patterns and examples of some mature specimens of some species. Good for a bit of inspiration and some identification help as well.

 

[pandacular]

Great idea for a thread. Apologies if the following paper doesn’t quite fit the mold but it may be of interest to many here:

This is pretty much exactly what I'm talking about, thanks for contributing.

 

[TrevorLarsen]

In the United States, there are many federal and state agencies dedicated to the public study of natural resources. Every state has a Department of Natural Resources, which publish research papers about the forests, geology, wildlife, and much more in the state. I’m sure that other countries have the same.

I don’t think that these papers are widely read outside of industry professionals, but they should be! Many of these papers are written for the non-academic public, and are fascinating and full of things that will help you understand your environment.

Some can even help us better understand our bonsai. One such paper—which I saw mentioned on here—is titled Identifying Old Growth Forests in Western Washington by Robert Van Pelt and the Washington DNR. This paper features this beautiful illustration.
View attachment 518389

I would like this thread to be a place to share and discuss papers like, published by government, university, or NGOs on the natural environment and especially (of course) trees.

Very cool idea. I have to say seeing that picture of the trees by age is slightly depressing that the boring tree was 50!

 

[Cruiser]

One such paper—which I saw mentioned on here—is titled Identifying Old Growth Forests in Western Washington by Robert Van Pelt and the Washington DNR. This paper features this beautiful illustration.

The guide is available as a pdf to the public!

Old Growth tree and stand characteristics

https://www.dnr.wa.gov/publications/lm_hcp_west_oldgrowth_guide_full_lowres.pdf Members may find this guide useful and/or interesting. It is a manual for identifying old growth trees and forests in western Washington, and for understanding stand dynamics (how a forest changes over time). It...

www.bonsainut.com

Paperback copies are issued to all DNR foresters. There are lots sitting around in storage/offices. If you express your interest and make a request, someone at an office may provide you one.

 

[pandacular]

Yes, I believe you were the one who had posted this before! Any other recommended reads?

 

[Cruiser]

There’s another van pelt guide for east side old growth.
I’ll have to think about other things.. There’s a great deal of info provided to us but a lot is presented as PowerPoints.

 

[Cruiser]

I’ve got one. There’s some issues uploading..

 

[Cruiser]

https://www.fs.usda.gov/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2002_franklin001.pdf

This one talks about stand structure development. It contains concepts and ideas that would be useful when creating a group/forest composition.

 

[Kievnstavick]

Useful Tropical Plants

Useful Tropical Plants

tropical.theferns.info

I like to use this site as a stepping stone to other sites and research articles for the lesser known tropical plants in the bonsai world.