Category: Forests & trees

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The need for diverse street trees

City planners take note:

Tree diversity helps prevent pests from gaining a foothold, said Mike Bohne, forest health group leader for the United States Forest Service. It also makes it so that a community does not lose its entire urban canopy if there is an infestation.

Too late for Worcester, Massachusetts (USA), where 80% of the street trees are maples. Most of them are infested by the Asian long-horned beetle and need to be removed. Property values may plummet further.

The beetle was introduced to the USA with wood packing material from China. Eradication efforts are intense as much larger economic damage is looming. Worcester is in New England and the invasive beetle might now spread to the famed maple forests that produce large quantities of syrup, wood, and leaf-peeping tourists.

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Mine’s a decaff

We’re always on the look-out for examples of the financial value of germplasm collections which don’t involve some obscure and faraway disease, however nasty. So it was really nice to come across a great story about the search for naturally low-caffeine coffee, and in the Wall Street Journal no less. Coincidentally, there was also a blog post yesterday about the wild coffees of Madagascar. ((Yes, dear reader, we nibbled both these things yesterday, but I thought, on reflection, that they were worth a bit more than that.)) Some of the many species found on that island are known to have low caffeine levels, but “[a]ttempts to transfer the caffeine-free property from wild coffee species of Madagascar, which produce an inferior beverage, to C. arabica have failed owing to a strong genetic barrier.”

LATER: I wonder if the recent Korean “land-grab” in Madagascar will have an effect on wild coffees and other interesting endemics.

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2nd World Congress of Agroforestry 3rd Announcement

This just in.

Theme: Agroforestry – The Future of Global Land Use

The Congress will assess opportunities to leverage scientific agroforestry in promoting sustainable land use worldwide. It will also serve as a forum for agroforestry researchers, educators, practitioners and policy makers from around the world to:

  • share new research findings, lessons, experiences, and ideas that will help influence decisions that impact on livelihoods and the global environment
  • explore new opportunities and strengthen existing partnerships in agroforestry research, education, training, and development
  • form new networks and communities of practice, and nurture old ones