Dispatches from the Field > Dispatch index by science topic

NPS photo.

Science in the Smokies includes understanding bear behavior, monitoring stream and amphibian health, searching for new forms of life, monitoring air quality, and much, much more!

Air quality

• Air quality management
• Visiting air quality monitoring stations in the Smokies
• NPS Dark Skies Initiative
• Linking air, water, & fish restoration (coming soon)

Culture & Archeology

• Who manages cultural resources?
• Archeology in the field: profile and podcast
• Documenting Elkmont: photographing for preservation
• Cultural museum collections in the Smokies
• Ethnographic resources: telling the story of the Smokies' past
• Preserving historic structures
• Preserving historic landscapes
• Archeology overview

Ecosystems

• Inventory & Monitoring program
• What's in our wetlands?
• Discover Life in America project
• Geology tour - podcasts (coming soon)
• Winter in the Smokies
• Healthy air, healthy soil, healthy forests
• What is citizen science?

Fire

• Controlled burns - profile in Little Cataloochee
• Coring trees - materials & links
• Fire fighters & fire managers of Great Smoky Mountains
• Tree rings tell the story of fire - University of Tennessee dendrochronology research
• The Ultimate Tree Ring Web Pages (external link to University of Tennessee professor Henri Grissino-Mayer's page)
• Tornadoes & fire

Fish

• Fisheries management
• Return of the native Brook trout
• Linking air, water, & fish restoration (coming soon)

Invasive Exotic Species

• Biological threats to streams
• Impacts of HWA & hemlock loss on stream life
• Invasive earthworms
• Treating Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) with biocontrol beetles

Plants

• Biocontrol Beetles with Ranger Webster - PODCAST
• Chestnut trees & a virus that helps combat chestnut blight
• Hemlocks - Dying Giants
• Mapping Change: Monitoring Forest Dynamics
• Rare plants: Ginseng
• Restoring Native Grassland Communities in Cades Cove
• Vegetation Management
• A new greenhouse for native plants
• The search for rare Sweet pinesap

Water quality

• Taking the pulse of Smoky Mountain streams: University of Tennessee research and testing

Wildlife

• Bats in crisis: White Nose Syndrome threatens cave bats
• Bears in the long-term: University of Tennessee black bear research, 1968-present
• NPS success story: keeping our bears wild
• Wildlife Management
• What to do to keep bears & your family safe: tips for hikers & campers

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