Ellen Macdonald

A regrown forest can look tall, lush and green. Restored wetlands can buzz with insects. But scientists are finding that some of their smallest inhabitants — including certain mosses, lichens, algae and fungi — are often still missing. Restoring habitats such as forests and wetlands can save declining species of animals and plants and help their populations bounce back. But recent research shows they don’t all return at the same rate. Some of the smallest, least noticeable inhabitants can remain rare or absent for decades — with potential consequences for other species. Ellen Macdonald, a University of Alberta botanist, has spent her career studying forests, focusing on tiny flowers, mosses, liverworts and lichens, among tree roots or on the textured surfaces of bark. …The study, published recently in the journal Nature Sustainability, found that birch and aspen forests and their inhabitants appeared to recover within 25 years, while conifer forests took far longer.