Recently, I encountered Liz Schultheis, a doctoral student from MSU who was doing research on Norway Maple invasion. Here is a description of the work that she is doing -- that includes Saginaw Forest, as well as the parks and natural areas around Ann Arbor. Here is her description to me about her research:
My research is on the invasion of Norway maple in Michigan. Specifically I am sampling as many sites as I can find to get a variety of invasion dates to create a time series. I am looking to see if Norway maples experience enemy release early in their invasion, but then acquire them over time as native soil pathogens and predators evolve to use a new resource. From each forest I sample I core trees I believe to be the oldest, collect soil samples, and measure DBH and tree density.
Besides the large invasion of Norway maples right at the forest entrance, we found even older trees in the south-west corner across from where we parked [on Westview Way]. The largest DBH I could find was 61.3 cm, and this was our largest reading from any of the Ann Arbor parks. I plan to use my tree core to date this tree, and ... estimate the invasion of Norway maple into your forest.
The photo in this post was taken by Liz, showing her undergraduate research assistant, Jeremy Jubenville, taking a soil core next to one of the larger Norway maples in Saginaw Forest. (Thanks to both for letting me use this photo.)
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