Oregon State University and the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement conducted large-scale experiments to test the effects of herbicides on pollinators and other insects, deer and elk, birds, and plant species. Herbicide applications negatively affected biodiversity in the first five years, but impacts lessened considerably in later years. Importantly, although there are tradeoffs between forest wood production and biodiversity, researchers found no such tradeoffs with profitability once economic discount rates were taken into consideration. This indicates that there could be optimal management strategies that do not compromise biodiversity, but maintain profitability.
NIFA supports this research through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.
To learn more, please visit the Betts Forest Landscape Ecology Lab.
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