7 MB - University of Toronto Magazine

Leading EdgeThomas and his colleagues noticedthe dying leaves in a 13.5-hectareresearch plot near Algonquin Provincial Park.Work began on this particular patch of forest –the first of such research “mega-plots” in NorthAmerica – in 2007 in an effort to understandtemperate forests through intensive study. It’s amethod that was pioneered 30 years ago in Panamaand Malaysia to study tropical forests, andto yield insight into a little-studied ecosystem.But Thomas says that we also have a lot tolearn about temperate and boreal forests.Although scientists have studied and managedthese forests for decades, their focus has oftenbeen on growing healthy trees quickly for logging.“Most of the history of traditional forestryresearch has been narrowly applied,” he says.Researchers at the Haliburton mega-plot aretrying to learn everything they can about thebasic biology of the forest. The first step was torecord, measure and map every woody-stemmedplant with a diameter of one centimetre or more− about 47,000 plants in all. This work was completedlast summer, and a team of graduatestudents are now analyzing the data. The censuswill allow them to track the growth and mortalityof every tree in the forest over years.Scientists working on the plot use a networkof 180 temperature sensors and a nearby meteorologicalinstrument tower. The 30-metre-hightower, run in collaboration with Jennifer Murphy,a professor of chemistry, and Nate Basiliko,a professor of geography, uses special equipmentto measure the exchange of carbondioxide, methane and other gases between theforest and the atmosphere.Thomas says the death of new leaves is aneffect few would have predicted for warmersprings; the researchers have ruled out othercauses, such as disease, pests and rainfall. Thefinding is a good example of the sort of unexpectedconsequences of global warming that theforest plot and instrumentation will helpresearchers understand. For instance, if warmertemperatures are going to kill leaves more oftenin the future, and if the death of those leavesslows forest growth or reduces the intake ofcarbon dioxide, then global warming might bequicker and more severe than currently predicted.– Kurt KleinerDo You Drink Too Much? A behaviouralscientist offers new criteria for defininghow much is too muchAlthough serious alcoholics do plenty of damage to themselves and others,it’s the people with moderate drinking problems who cause the mosttrouble, simply because there are more of them − about four problemdrinkers for every one with a serious alcohol dependency.The bad news is that most of these problem drinkers – an estimated1.5 million in Ontario – never seek help. The good news is that relativelybrief and easy interventions can help them, says John A.Cunningham, a professor of social and behavioural sciences.“In Canada, only one in three people who experience lifetime [alcohol]problems will ever seek treatment,” Cunningham says. They eitherdon’t think they have a problem, or would prefer to deal with it themselves.So Cunningham is developing quick and easy interventionmethods that are also effective.When problem drinkers take a 10-minute Internet survey thatCunningham developed, they cut their drinking by about a third. Thesurvey – at checkyourdrinking.net − asks about the amount of alcoholconsumed, and compares it to averages for others of the same age andsex. It also reports how much the drinker spends on alcohol, and his orher chances of suffering negative consequences from drinking.In 2007, Cunningham launched a study that included 72 problemdrinkers, about half of whom took his survey. He tracked their drinkingfor a year and found that, after six months, the survey participantshad reduced their alcohol consumption by 30 per cent more than thenon-participants, although after 12 months all drinkers had cut down.(Cunningham notes that many problem drinkers involved in a studyreduce alcohol consumption on their own. But he says his interventiongave the survey-takers a year with greater reductions.)Cunningham is now working on a similar questionnaire in the formof a pamphlet mailed to households. – Kurt KleinerPhoto: Image Source/Corbis18 WWW.MAGAZINE.UTORONTO.CA