Harvard University
Forests
From sprawling jungles to city parks, forests are complex ecosystems that support the livelihoods of flora, fauna, humans, and the planet.
Our forests
Harvard maintains and stewards two forests where we house a living collection of plants and expand our forest knowledge through research.
Harvard Forest
A 4000-acre laboratory, classroom, and long-term ecological research site located in central Massachusetts.
Arnold Arboretum
A 281-acre preserve of temperate woody plants from eastern North America and eastern Asia, located in the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain.
How forests help us
Forest play a major role in the planet’s overall wellbeing, from sequestering carbon and creating oxygen to fostering a diversity of life.
Forests around the world
Harvard researchers are exploring and supporting forests all over the world, including plant expeditions in Japan and the Pacific Northwest, Amazon conservation in Brazil and Peru, and a deep dive into the forests right in our New England backyard.
Forest flora
Paperbark Maple
The Arboretum has been active in the conservation of this endangered Chinese tree for more than a century.
Pitcher plants
A Harvard Forest research project explored naturalist Frank Morton Jones’ pitcher plant research.
Sapria himalayana
These unusual plants have no roots, stems, or leaves of their own, living only as a collection of cells until they produce some of the largest flowers in the world.
How we can help forests
Climate change and a growing global population continue to be detrimental to the world’s forests, but researchers are working to understand and mitigate those threats.
Forest fauna
Mink
A member of the weasel family, minks have been seen at the Arboretum for several years, typically near wetlands.
Howler monkeys
Monkeys don’t just consume fruits, but also make forest by dispersing the seeds of trees they consume.
Moose
Harvard Forest’s wildlife cameras have spotted moose and deer using their trees.
Walking in the woods
Research shows that hiking and “forest baths” have physical and mental benefits.
Underground dwellers
Mycorrhizae
A connection produced between a plant and fungi that live in the plant’s roots, mycorrhizae plays important roles in plant nutrition and soil biology and chemistry.
Worms
Invasive worms are eliminating ground cover and altering soil composition, threatening some plant communities in New England.
Ants
Army ants’ mass raids are considered the pinnacle of collective foraging behavior in the animal kingdom, but scientists are only just learning how they evolved to create them.
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