IU helps Smithsonian with tree project

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - A southern Indiana forest that contains some of the state's largest trees will be mapped in detail for an international research project.

Indiana University researchers overseeing the effort in Brown County will map and identify every tree in a 62-acre swath of the 550-acre Lilly-Dickey Woods for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The institute is tracking changes in forests over time.

The Panama-based institute dedicated to understanding biological diversity is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Lilly-Dickey Woods site will be the first Midwestern forest in its 14-nation network of forest plots.

A crew of IU researchers led by IU graduate student Daniel Johnson will carefully identify, measure and map every tree and shrub within the forest. Each of those trees and shrubs will be re-measured every five years.