UMaine Researchers Studying Hemlock Tree Decline, Media Report
The Associated Press and WVII (Channel 7) reported Hamish Greig, a University of Maine assistant professor of stream ecology, and Jacquelyn Gill, an assistant professor of terrestrial paleoecology at the Climate Change Institute (CCI) and the School of Biology and Ecology, are studying the impact of hemlock tree die-offs on the state’s freshwater forests. The researchers set up 36 water tanks that will have hemlock needles added to them to see what happens to an ecosystem when a hemlock dies, according to the article. They also will use radiocarbon-dated records to better understand how hemlock die-off affected aquatic systems in the past, the AP reported. “When you change one thing in an ecosystem, everything is connected. Killing off all the hemlock trees doesn’t just change the forests. This change has impacts all the way, it trickles through the whole system,” Gill told WVII. The Republic, Sun Journal, SFGate and WABI (Channel 5) carried the AP article.