Researchers on campus for final SPRUCE research measurements

August 01, 2025
A diverse group of 14 people smile together in front of a tree.
The research group smiles outside Green Hall.

Researchers from across the US and around the globe have joined Forest Resources (FR) Professors Rebecca Montgomery and Peter Reich and FR Research Scientist Raimundo Bermudez in Green Hall this week. The group has been busy collecting spruce and tamarack samples from the SPRUCE research site, located in a sphagnum bog at the USDA Forest Service Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota, and bringing them back to Green Hall to measure their photosynthesis at different temperatures. This is the final summer of the 12-year SPRUCE experiment, where researchers have studied the response of northern peatland ecosystems to increases in temperature and exposures to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. 

Three people look inside a growth chamber with bright interior lighting.
FR Research Scientist Raimundo Bermudez (left) and two visiting researchers look into one of growth chambers in Green Hall that they're using to measure the photosynthesis of spruce and tamarack samples at different temperatures.