Life at OSU

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Eucalyptus, a pest-resistant evergreen valued for its hardy lumber and wellness-promoting oil, can be genetically modified not to reproduce sexually, a key step toward preventing the global tree plantation staple from invading native ecosystems.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University researchers broadcast marbled murrelet calls in mature forests and found that the threatened seabirds’ choice of breeding locations is strongly influenced by whether they hear other murrelets in the area.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon wildfires threatened multiple cities in summer 2020, destroyed more than 4,000 homes, filled the air with smoke for days and burned more than 1 million acres, the second highest one-year total in state history.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A quarter-century-old harvesting restriction intended to last one year has served as an obstacle to returning eastern Oregon national forests to the healthier, more fire-resilient conditions they embodied in the late 1800s, research by the Oregon State University College of Forestry shows.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Selectively cutting trees in riparian zones to aid forest restoration can be done without adversely affecting streams’ water temperature as long as the thinning isn’t too intensive, new research by Oregon State University shows.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Converting the ground under electrical transmission towers into spaces for wildlife can enable fragmented populations to connect with one another, increasing local biodiversity and providing animals around the globe an important tool for adapting to climate change, a new study found.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A survey of more than 18,000 land parcels spanning 2 million square miles across 63 countries shows that a “protected area” designation reduces the rate of deforestation but does not prevent it.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The annual Starker Lecture Series at Oregon State University will this year focus on resilience in the face of disasters and other disturbances and how people across the forest landscape work to overcome them and learn from them.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have found that the blue orchard bee, an important native pollinator, produces female offspring at higher rates in the aftermath of wildfire in forests.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A year after a global coalition of more than 11,000 scientists declared a climate emergency, Oregon State University researchers who initiated the declaration released an update today that points to a handful of hopeful signs, but shares continued alarm regarding an overall lack of progress in addressing climate risks.