A grant from Barnes & Noble College will fund Penn State Beaver Thrives, an initiative designed to help the campus and local community become more inclusive. The resources and programming of Penn State Beaver Thrives will focus on mental health and neurodiversity. The first program will be a dyslexia simulation program.
This research sheds light on how deer impacts may change with soil pH and suggests that deer management is critical for protecting tree regeneration given current soil conditions.
Mountain laurel, the abundant state flower, had been thought to compete with tree seedlings. But the study did not find that mountain laurel was a significant inhibitor of tree seedlings.
The researchers tested the soil. Nearly all plots in the forests had a pH less than 4 prior to the liming treatment, the result of natural soil acidification and prior acid rain.
New findings from long-term research underscore the challenges managers face when trying to conserve Penn’s Woods. The seven-year study, conducted by a team of researchers from Penn State, the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is the first to simultaneously assess how deer browsing, soil nutrients and competing vegetation affect tree regeneration in Keystone State forests.
