Dr. Thomas P. Rooney

Department of Botany

Population growth, habitat loss and degradation, and the introduction of non-native species to the world's ecosystems are eliminating species diversity. Species are now disappearing 30 to 1000 times faster than the normal rate of extinction, indicating that we are at the cusp of the 6th mass extinction event in the Earth's history.

This global extinction crisis seems far removed from our day to day lives. Sure, we use some species every day. We drink beverages made with the dried fruits of coffee plants, live in houses constructed from the water conducting tissue of Douglas fir or loblolly pine trees, and fight headaches and heart disease taking a drug made from willow bark. We use many more species indirectly, although this point is frequently overlooked. We do not build our houses out of the mycorrhizal fungi that enable Douglas Fir to grow, but these below-ground fungi are nonetheless important. We do not drink beverages made from bethylid wasps, but we depend on them. These wasps control the coffee berry borer an important pest species on coffee plants.

Bethylid wasps and mycorrhizal fungi are two examples of the countless unsung heroes that sustain and enrich human life. Ecologists are now trying to understand the relationship between these inconspicuous species and the functioning of ecosystems. Functioning ecosystems provide many services to humanity. Some of these services enhance the quality of life. Forests improve air quality, and wetlands filter and remove toxins from water. Other services are essential, such as the generation and maintenance of soil and soil fertility. Half a century ago, Aldo Leopold warned: "What of the vanishing species, the preservation of which we now regard as an esthetic luxury. They helped build the soil; in what unsuspected ways may they be essential to its maintenance?"

As we lose ecosystem services, we become aware of their importance. By deforesting landscapes, we learned about the importance of forests in mitigating against floods, drought, and erosion. In my home town of Madison, Wisconsin, there is an effort underway to restore wetlands throughout the county. This effort has broad, bipartisan support because we have seen firsthand the effects of draining and filling 90% of the wetlands once present-namely, severe flooding. We could have avoided the millions of dollars in damage experienced throughout the 1990s if we had paid better attention to our ecological infrastructure, our wetlands.

Few of us are familiar with the sights, sounds, and smells of eastern old-growth forests, because nearly all of the eastern forest was logged at least once. The disruption of ecosystem services following deforestation proved deadly in some cases. The Peshtigo Fire of 1871 killed 800 people in northeastern Wisconsin, and the Johnstown Flood of 1889 killed an estimated 25,000 people in Pennsylvania.

Reforestation in the east occurred because Republican president Teddy Roosevelt made it a national priority. The early conservation movement was rooted in the gospel of efficiency and addressed pragmatic concerns, such as watershed protection. To me, the recovery of eastern forests remains the greatest accomplishment of the early conservation movement. This recovery was the focus of Bill McKibben's Atlantic Monthly essay entitled "An Explosion of Green." He finds reasons for hope, as the eastern US appears able to support both a growing population and expanding forests. He also finds reasons for concern. He writes "The East is like a young sapling sprouting from the stump of an old chestnut that was killed off by a deadly fungus in the early twentieth century. It looks healthy, it seems full of vigor-but it isn't going to get much bigger before it, too, succumbs to blight." He has uncovered the paradox of the eastern forest-it is simultaneously recovering and threatened.

The recovery has been impressive. Black bear, wild turkey, beaver, and white-tailed deer were nearly eliminated from the east 100 years ago. These animals now thrive east of the Mississippi, and the recovery continues. Wolves successfully colonized the Upper Great Lakes states from Canada, and their recovery in New England seems promising. Even the cougar is returning. Eastern forests appear more wild than 100 years ago, and seem to indicate at least here, nature is recovering.

If we were content to judge the health of the eastern forest based solely on the return of forest mammals, we would certainly be impressed. But mammals are among the most adaptable creatures in the forest. Biologists are worried about the less adaptable species. Forest understory species are one such group. This group, which includes woodland wildflowers, is in dire trouble. Here are some examples. Middlesex Fells, a protected park in Boston, lost 37% of its understory species since 1894. Brunet Island State Park in Wisconsin lost 36% of its species since 1950. Heart's Content, a protected virgin forest in northwestern Pennsylvania lost between 60 and 80% of its species since 1929. These are not select examples for effect-I am unaware of any long-term study on understory species that did not find losses. I will give you one preliminary result from my current research. I looked at 59 sites in northern Wisconsin. Over the past 50 years, 71% of all understory species declined in their average local abundance, despite management on these lands which qualifies as sustainable forest management. Other less adaptable species include amphibians, moths and butterflies. There may be other groups, but the complete absence of baseline data makes this impossible to assess.

The threats to these fragile species groups are many. Some of the greatest threats include invasion by exotic pest species, intensive logging, unrestricted ORV use, mining and drilling, air and water pollution, and in some places, fire suppression. Restoration of the eastern forest necessitates that we reduce the intensity and extent of these threats such that we provide habitat for all eastern forest-dwelling species. Only by protecting all species are we able to ensure our ecological infrastructure is sound, that ecosystem services continue to operate and improve the quality of our lives, and the species we use today will remain with us next year, next decade, and next century.