Treesearch

The focus of this study is to examine the effect of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) on the properties of polylactic acid (PLA) films. The films are fabricated via melt compounding and melt fiber spinning followed by compression molding. Film fracture morphology, thermal properties, crystallization behavior, thermo-mechanical behavior, and mechanical behavior were determined as a function of CNC content using scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, dynamic mechanical analysis, and tensile testing. Film crystallinity increases with increasing CNC...

Copper is currently used as the key component in wood preservatives despite the known tolerance of many brown-rot Basidiomycetes. Copper-tolerant fungi, like Fibroporia radiculosa, produce and accumulate high levels of oxalate when exposed to copper. To gain insight into the mechanism of oxalate production, four F. radiculosa isolates decaying untreated and 1.2% ammoniacal copper citrate-treated wood were evaluated for the differential expression of citrate synthase, isocitrate lyase, glyoxylate dehydrogenase, a succinate/fumarate antiporter, and a copper resistance-associated ATPase pump....

The first enzyme with dye-decolorizing peroxidase (DyP) activity was described in 1999 from an arthroconidial culture of the fungus Bjerkandera adusta. However, the first DyP sequence had been deposited three years before, as a peroxidase gene from a culture of an unidentified fungus of the family Polyporaceae (probably Irpex lacteus). Since the first description, fewer than ten basidiomycete DyPs have been purified and characterized, but a large number of sequences are available from genomes. DyPs share a general fold and heme location with chlorite dismutases and other DyP-type related...

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are on the rise due to multiple factors, including human facilitated movement of pathogens, broad-scale landscape changes, and perturbations to ecological systems (Jones et al. 2008; Fisher et al. 2012). Epidemics in wildlife are problematic because they can lead to pathogen spillover to new host organisms, erode biodiversity and threaten ecosystems that sustain human societies (Fisher et al. 2012; Kilpatrick 2011). There have been recent calls for large-scale research approaches to combat the threats EIDs pose to wildlife (Sleeman 2013). While it is...

Pulses of respiration from coarse woody debris (CWD) have been observed immediately following canopy disturbances, but it is unclear how long these pulses are sustained. Several factors are known to influence carbon flux rates from CWD, but few studies have evaluated more than temperature and moisture. We experimentally manipulated forest structure in a second-growth northern hardwood forest and measured CO2 flux periodically for seven growing seasons following gap creation. We present an analysis of which factors, including the composition of the wood-decay fungal community influence CO2...

Tree-cavity excavators such as woodpeckers are ecosystem engineers that have potentially complex but poorly documented associations with wood decay fungi. Fungi facilitate cavity excavation by preparing and modifying excavation sites for cavity excavators. Associations between fungi and endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers (RCWs) are particularly interesting because these are the only birds that specialize in excavating into the heartwood of living pines, a process that takes years to complete. Using molecular methods, we examined fungal communities in complete and incomplete RCW excavations...

Emerging infectious diseases pose an important threat to wildlife. While established protocols exist for combating outbreaks of human and agricultural pathogens, appropriate management actions before, during, and after the invasion of wildlife pathogens have not been developed. We describe stage-specific goals and management actions that minimize disease impacts on wildlife, and the research required to implement them. Before pathogen arrival, reducing the probability of introduction through quarantine and trade restrictions is key because prevention is more cost effective than subsequent...

Stephanospora michoacanensis is presented as a new species from North America. This angiocarpic species is recognized by its yellowcream peridial surface color, and broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, spiny or crested, inamyloid spores with a distinct, complete or nearly complete corona at its base. Stephanospora michoacanensis is similar to S. caroticolor, but S. caroticolor has a bright yellow to reddish yellow peridial surface, and larger spores. Stephanospora michoacanensis also resembles S. chilensis, but S. chilensis has a brownishochraceous to reddish orange peridial surface, spiny...

We previously identified desirable properties for wood based on current market-based trends for commercial uses (Wegner et al. 2010). World business models increasingly incorporate the concept of social responsibility and the tenets of sustainable development. Sustainable development is needed to support an estimated 9 billion people by 2050 within the carrying capacities of the Earth. The supply of raw materials for the array of products we know today will be insufficient, and we will need to sustainably use forest-based resources as major sources of materials. For example, increasing...

We report the first records of 18 truffle species in Turkey. Three belong to the Ascomycota: Elaphomyces leucocarpus, E. muricatus, and Genea sphaerica; and 15 to the Basidiomycota: Alpova corsicus, Gautieria otthii, G. retirugosa, G. trabutii, Hymenogaster citrinus, H. hessei, H. luteus, H. lycoperdineus, Hysterangium clathroides, H. epiroticum, H. fragile, H. nephriticum, Leucogaster tozzianus, Octaviania asterosperma, and Protoglossum aromaticum. We also report new localities within Turkey for Picoa juniperi, P. lefebvrei, Geopora cooperi, Terfezia arenaria, T. claveryi, Tuber aestivum,...