Legacy Forest Data

Early 1980s: Dieter Mueller-Dombois and Mallikarjuna Aradhya pulling a Metrosideros polymorpha sapling out of organic peat somewhere in Hawai´i´s rainforest. Courtesy of Annette Mueller-Dombois.

Dieter´s interdisciplinary research into the causes of large-scale #forest #dieback in forests on the islands of #Hawai´i throughout the 1970s and 80s had a global impact and can be seen as exemplary for modern multi-causal forest #decline #research. Context: muse.jhu.edu/pub/5/articl...

05.08.2025 12:20 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1

March 1972: Hawai´i, Island of Kaua´i, Alaka´i Swamp area. Aerial photograph of forest dieback. Dying and dead Metrosideros trees stand out in grey against the few remaining healthy, green trees. Note on slide: `Terminal dieback, Alaka´i, March 1972`. Photo by Dieter Mueller-Dombois. The Alakaʻi Swamp (Alakaʻi Wilderness Preserve) is a montane rainforest on the island of Kaua´i in Hawai´i, located on a plateau near Mount Waiʻaleʻale, one of the wettest places on Earth. Although it is called a swamp, it is actually a rainforest.

Prof. Mueller-Dombois has been studying #forest #dieback in the Hawaiian #Islands since the late 1960s. This aerial photograph was taken during a reconnaisance flight over the dieback area in #Alaka´i Swamp, Kaua´i, in March 1972. Photo by D. M.-D.. Context: www.google.de/books/editio...

02.08.2025 07:53 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1

August 1976, Island of Hawaii (Big Island), Saddle Road area: Professor Dieter Mueller-Dombois, Botany Department, University of Hawaii at Manoa, takes notes on the decline (dieback) of native ohia lehua trees (Metrosideros polymorpha). Photograph by James D. Jacobi.

Let's start with our header. August 1976, Hawaii, Big Island, Saddle Road area: Prof. Dieter Mueller-Dombois, University of Hawaii at Manoa, takes notes on the dieback of native Ohia trees (Metrosideros polymorpha). Photo by James D. Jacobi. Context: scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/c...

01.08.2025 12:06 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1

IUFRO Task Force 57 was established in 2025 to rescue old forest data from boreal🌲, temperate🌳, subtropical🌵 and tropical🌴 regions. We will focus on numerical data, but other ‘data’ such as old photos, maps, and "lost" reports are also important. We´ll present an interesting selection here...

30.07.2025 13:29 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1