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April 29, 2025
New Study Confirms Beech Leaf Disease Threatens European Beech Trees, Too
KIRTLAND, OHIO — A new study from Holden Forests & Gardens and a team at USDA Agricultural Research Service confirms that beech leaf disease—a fast-spreading disease already devastating American beech... more

April 28, 2025
Study Shows Forest Soils Still Bear the Scars of Industrial Pollution
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
KIRTLAND, OHIO — After 12 years of carefully tracking tree growth and soil chemistry, researchers at Holden Forests & Gardens (HF&G) have confirmed that phosphorus is now a limiting nutrient... more

April 28, 2025
A New Way to Detect Beech Leaf Disease: Rainwater Running Down Tree Trunks
KIRTLAND, OHIO — How do you detect a pathogen that lives way, way up in a tree’s canopy? A novel method for detecting beech leaf disease from the ground—using rainwater... more

April 25, 2025
Good News for Forests: Invasive Shrub Removal Gets Easier After Two Years of Work
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
KIRTLAND, OHIO — A new study from researchers at the Holden Arboretum offers encouraging news for forest managers battling non-native shrubs: the effort needed to control these invaders drops dramatically... more

April 23, 2025
Beech Leaf Disease-Causing Nematode More Widespread Than Visible Symptoms Suggest, New Study Finds
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
KIRTLAND, OHIO — Researchers at Holden Forests & Gardens have confirmed that the nematode responsible for beech leaf disease (BLD), Litylenchus crenatae ssp. mccannii, is present in forest stands across... more

March 24, 2025
30% of Beech Trees Killed by Beech Leaf Disease, New Study Shows
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
Long-term data reveal 30% mortality and alarming growth slowdown in the native beech trees in northeastern Ohio, near the epicenter of beech leaf disease. KIRTLAND, OH — A decade after... more

March 5, 2025
How Nonnative Plants Respond to Climate Change: Holden Arboretum Researchers Report
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
Scientists agree: Global warming is real, and it’s happening today. Here in northeast Ohio, we can most clearly see the signs during spells of too-warm-too-early weather in the spring or... more

February 24, 2025
The Power of Plant Records: How Tracking Plants Helps Save Species
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
If a plant has ever died in your care, you’re in good company. It turns out that even in the world’s botanical gardens, managed by full-time professionals, plants don’t live... more

January 16, 2025
Seedling Scramble: How Warming Changes Plant Communities
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
Kirtland, OH — Our world is warming, and how exactly that will affect our ecosystems is a critical question. As the climate shifts, plants and animals are already responding in... more

January 8, 2025
Holden’s Wildflower Garden Is a Living Laboratory for Climate Change Research—Here’s What Our Researchers Have Learned
Public gardens like the Holden Arboretum and the Cleveland Botanical Garden are great places to visit. But patrons exploring the latest Frost event might miss that behind the scenes, these... more

November 8, 2024
Holden researchers put forest management strategies to the test. Here’s what they found
By Anna Funk, Science Communication Specialist
Private landowners play a critical role in preserving Ohio’s natural heritage where a majority of the state’s eight million acres of forest are privately owned. To manage these forests, land... more

May 22, 2024
Beech Leaf Disease Research Update: The Impact on Microbial Communities
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (KIRTLAND) May 21, 2024 – Beech leaf disease is an emerging threat to American beech trees in the Great Lakes Region and northeastern U.S. Caused by a non-native,... more

March 15, 2024
Holden Forests & Gardens Receives $1.8M to Expand Forest Landowner Support in the Great Lakes Region
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (CLEVELAND) March 15, 2024 – Holden Forests & Gardens today announced that it received $1.8 million from the USDA Forest Service as a part of the nearly $145 million... more

November 21, 2023
Every flower hosts a diverse community of pollen grains (from the wrong species)
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
New research sheds light on the factors that shape the diverse microscopic pollen collections deposited on flowers by pollinators. more

November 8, 2023
Holden Researchers Uncover How a Resilient Tree Acclimates to Stressful Environments
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
The eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a hardy tree native to the eastern U.S. But lately it’s been encroaching on ecosystems out West — could its physiology be the... more

November 2, 2023
New Study Reveals Overlooked Driver of Biodiversity Across Landscapes: Conditions During Plant Establishment
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
In a new study published in Ecology, Holden researcher Katie Stuble and colleagues use restored grassland experiments to demonstrate how planting conditions impact diversity, but only for certain community types. more

October 24, 2023
New Research Reveals How the Environment and Genetics Influence Plant Microbiomes, Offering Insights for Climate Resilience
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
The more researchers investigate the microscopic word, the more microbes have been found living in and on other organisms — including plants. These microbes aren’t just hitching a ride; they’ve... more

October 10, 2023
Northeast Ohio seed bank wants to make an investment in Ohio’s forested future
By Ida Lieszkovszky, Freelance Journalist, Ideastream Public Media
By Ida Lieszkovszky, Ideastream Northeast Ohio’s Holden Forests and Gardens is the proud owner of a new bank, but this bank doesn’t want your money. Holden’s bank deals in seeds... more

August 21, 2023
Holden Researchers Explore an Underappreciated Way Warmer Temperatures Will Impact Ecosystems: Decomposition
By Anna Funk, Science Communication Specialist
In a new study, researchers at the Holden Arboretum improve our understanding of a mechanism for how climate change will impact natural ecosystems. more

August 11, 2023
Fulbright Scholar Dr. Shweta Basnett to speak on Rhododendron pollinators
By Juliana S. Medeiros, PhD, Plant Biologist
Visiting Fulbright Scholar Dr. Shweta Basnett will hold lecture to highlight global diversity of Rhododendron pollinators and sensitivity to climate change. Dr. Shweta Basnett, Fulbright Scholar, University of Maryland, will... more

August 8, 2023
A Seed Station for Forest Restoration
By Anna Funk, Science Communications Specialist
Holden’s new seed bank project forms the core of new climate-fighting reforestation efforts across the region. In December, a crane dropped a fully loaded shipping container into the Holden Arboretum.... more

July 26, 2023
Holden Researcher Will Study How Microbes Alter How Plants Respond to Climate Change with Prestigious Award from the NSF
By Anna Funk, Science Communications Specialist
There’s an entire universe of microscopic life, living in us, on us, and all around us, too small for the naked eye to see. The more researchers learn about these... more

June 20, 2023
Holden Forests & Gardens Receives the 2023 Program Excellence Award from The American Public Gardens Association
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Holden Forests & Gardens Receives the Program Excellence Award from the American Public Gardens Association Working Woods Learning Forest™ Teaches Public and Private Landowners How to Care... more

June 2, 2023
Researchers develop new detection tool for beech leaf disease’s nematode pest
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Researchers at the Holden Arboretum developed an improved, effective way to monitor and detect the presence of a disease-causing nematode in beech leaf tissue. Beech leaf disease... more

April 28, 2023
Snowballing Effects of Beech Leaf Disease Hurt Helpful Root Fungi
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Severe beech leaf disease infestation hurts trees’ relationships with helpful root mutualists, ectomycorrhizal fungi. The American beech, Fagus grandifolia, is a North American staple and the dominant... more

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