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Humboldt Field Research Institute

Posted October, 1998

Secrets of an Ancient Forest

On a Canadian desert island well above the Arctic Circle, the remains of an ancient forest testify to warmer times. Tree stumps, fallen logs, needles and even seed cones nestle into exposed layers in the sands and silts of the nearly barren Geodetic Hills. The island sports a permanent central ice cap, and the Arctic Ocean ice pack stretches away in the distance.

Richard Jagels, a University of Maine forest biologist from Winterport, has been studying this ecological time capsule, hoping to learn how the trees adapted to continuous illumination in what was then a warm temperate climate. He would like to use that information to understand how today's forests may respond to changing environmental conditions and to transmit that knowledge to his students.

“Today, there are some small flowering plants, sedges and grasses which take advantage of the short summer and water from the melting permafrost,” says Jagels. “The climate which supported dawn redwoods and other tree species about 40 million years ago was obviously very different. Alligator bones have been found near the site.”

Jagels made his first trip to the site on Axel Heiberg Island in 1997 at the invitation of a colleague from the University of Pennsylvania. Canadian scientists have been studying the area since the mid-1980s when the trees were discovered by a helicopter pilot. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has provided new funding for geologists and ecologists to continue that work.

Members of the research team include Arthur Johnson and Ben LePage of the University of Pennsylvania and Kenneth Anderson of the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. In 1991, the Geological Survey of Canada published a set of 14 papers about the ancient forest as part of its series of bulletins.

“What interests me most is the physiology and ecology of this forest,” Jagels says. “How did these trees grow in a regime of continuous light? During May, June and July, the sun never sets, although it shines weakly at a low angle. The whole tree received direct sunlight at some time as the sun circled above the horizon.”

“We also want to know what sorts of stresses the trees had. We've been using stable isotope analysis to study that question. Preliminary results suggest that these trees may have been stressed by a lack of moisture, or that they had modified metabolic pathways under continuous light.

“We've been looking at the structure of the tree remains and see wood production rates comparable with modern temperate forests. These results favor the hypothesis that the trees had modified metabolic pathways rather than moisture stress.”

Although the ancient forest thrived under warm conditions, says Jagels, it still had to adjust to the total darkness of the winter months. Today's deciduous trees (oaks, maples, birches and others which lose their leaves in the fall) may trace their lineage to these northern tropical forests. Shedding needles and leaves conserves energy.

Jagels focuses on the species known as dawn redwood or its scientific name, Metasequoia. It was thought to be extinct until living trees were found growing in a remote part of China in the 1940s, and plantings are now common throughout the world.

In his Nutting Hall office, Jagels keeps a collection of branches, seed cones, leaves and other materials from the island. After so many years, they appear only a bit worse for wear. The woody material was well preserved in the swamp where it grew, although it has been somewhat compressed

Two Ph.D. candidates, Mike Day and Mei Jiang, have been participating in the work. Day is also a research associate. He is conducting a photosynthetic analysis of Metasequoia and comparing his results to those from other species. Jiang has helped to obtain Metasequoia samples from China and to search the scientific literature on the species.

Although Maine is generally considered to be outside its range, several dawn redwoods have been planted on the UMaine campus. One stands in the courtyard of Barrows Hall, and specimens are located in the Littlefield Ornamental Garden and the Fay Hyland Arboretum.

Samples of ancient larch, gingko and birch have also been recovered from the island. Jagels and his colleagues are applying for additional research funds to continue their work.

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