Kathryn Flinn
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flinnlab.bsky.social
Kathryn Flinn
@flinnlab.bsky.social
Ecologist | Writer | Educator | Professor of Biology at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. Investigating northeast Ohio’s natural heritage & how humans shape it. https://kathrynflinn.com/ AKA Katie
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How a city shapes its forests: Land use change and forest distribution around Cleveland, Ohio over 2...
rdcu.be
November 29, 2023 at 2:14 PM
Link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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How a city shapes its forests: Land use change and forest distribution around Cleveland, Ohio over 2...
As cities consume increasing land area worldwide, we need more investigation of the effects of urbanization on forests. Here we provide a comprehensive example of how the growth of a city shapes its s...
link.springer.com
November 28, 2023 at 6:52 PM
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
If your institution doesn't subscribe, I am happy to email you a reprint! Just message me your email.
November 28, 2023 at 6:48 PM
The upshot: we need to protect remaining primary forests, which cover only 6.7% of the landscape, from development. These forests contain northeast Ohio's natural heritage. And we can work on restoring biodiversity to post-ag forests, the majority of our current forests.
November 28, 2023 at 6:31 PM
From 1938 to 1979, new lawns and development were largely built on agricultural fields, with only 10% of new lawns and development destroying forests. From 1979 to 2021, 23% of new development and 44% of new lawns destroyed forests.
November 28, 2023 at 6:30 PM
Young forests were more likely to be developed than mature forests, which were relatively stable. Good news! However, this is changing...
November 28, 2023 at 6:30 PM
Steeper slopes and lower elevations were more likely to remain and become forests, and oak forests were three times more likely to be kept than beech forests. That means current forests are a highly biased sample of presettlement forests, making remaining beech forests precious.
November 28, 2023 at 6:30 PM
Most forest patches are <45 acres, and 75% of points in forest fall within 50 yards of an edge. This means fragmentation is likely having a big effect on the diversity, composition, and function of our forests.
November 28, 2023 at 6:30 PM
2/3 of current forests are growing on former farmland, most established <85 years ago. These tend to be impoverished in biodiversity and altered in composition, but they represent a huge opportunity for recovery and restoration.
November 28, 2023 at 6:30 PM
1/3 of current forests are primary, meaning they were never cleared for agriculture. These forests harbor the most biodiversity and are most similar to presettlement composition. This is a very high percentage compared to other places!
November 28, 2023 at 6:29 PM
Over the past 220 years, Cuyahoga County experienced massive forest loss, from 98.7% to 12% of the landscape, and modest recovery, to 21%. Clearing for agriculture caused most deforestation in the 1800s, but development became the main agent of forest loss from the 1900s to now.
November 28, 2023 at 6:29 PM