Treesearch

Objective. "Nature prescriptions" are increasingly being adopted by health sectors as an adjunct to standard care to attend to health and social needs. We investigated levels of need and interest in nature prescriptions in adults with cardiovascular diseases, psychological distress and concomitants (e.g. physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour, obesity, loneliness, burn-out). Methods. A nationally-representative survey of 3,319 adults across all states and territories of Australia was completed in February 2021 (response 84.0%). Participants were classified across 15 target groups using...

The establishment of monoculture plantations of non-native tree species is a common practice for supplementing native timber stocks. Since native wildlife species may lack co-evolved traits needed to successfully exploit nonnative tree species, non-native plantations are expected to provide inferior habitat for native biodiversity. However, some studies report that plantations may increase net biodiversity at the landscape scale by introducing novel habitats or supplementing existing natural forests. We used point counts to sample birds in 2016 and 2017 in mature Norway spruce (Picea...

Avian species provide pest control services in some agricultural systems, which may incentivize farmers to conserve natural habitats for native biodiversity. A critical component of this equation, however, is verifying that avian species are consuming potential pest species in the agricultural ecosystems. We used a DNA metabarcoding approach to determine the frequency of pest presence in songbird fecal samples collected from birds caught on diversified, low-intensity farms in New England, USA, during the bird breeding season. Twelve species of insect pest were identified in fecal samples,...

Forest carbon is a large and uncertain component of the global carbon cycle. An important source of complexity is the spatial heterogeneity of vegetation vertical structure and extent, which results from variations in climate, soils, and disturbances and influences both contemporary carbon stocks and fluxes. Recent advances in remote sensing and ecosystem modeling have the potential to significantly improve the characterization of vegetation structure and its resulting influence on carbon. Here, we used novel remote sensing observations of tree canopy height collected by two NASA spaceborne...

There are nearly one million small forest patches in the Northeast United States alone. For many Americans, interacting with these patches is the main way they spend time with trees. Urban forests, large and small, provide numerous environmental benefits to people.

Invasive plant species (IPS)1 have been monitored on select Phase 2 (P2) FIA plots since 2005 in the Midwest and since 2007 in the northeastern part of the NRS. In 2005 and 2006, IPS data were collected year-round on 100 percent of the plots. Starting in 2007, the sampling changed to collecting IPS data on 20 percent of plots with the monitoring window running from May through September. Since 2012, IPS data are collected on the Phase 2 Plus (P2+) sample. These plots are a 12.5 percent subsample of the Phase 2 plots, measured from May through September. These plots only occur on forest...

Forest fungal communities are shaped by the interactions between host tree root systems and the associated soil conditions. We investigated how the soil environment, root morphological traits, and root chemistry influence root-inhabiting fungal communities in three tropical forest sites of varying successional status in Xishuangbanna, China. For 150 trees of 66 species, we measured root morphology and tissue chemistry. Tree species identity was confirmed by sequencing rbcL, and root-associated fungal (RAF) communities were determined using high-throughput ITS2 sequencing. Using distance-bas...

By nature, the subject of invasion biology is a global phenomenon and considerable insight can be gained by comparing species in their native and invaded habitats and among invaded regions. As such, scientists, students and managers often seek out information about invasions in different parts of the world. Most of the literature on biological invasions originates from either North America and Europe (Pyšek et al. 2008) so the recently published edited volume, Biological Invasions in South Africa (Van Wilgen et al., editors) provides a useful window into biological invasions in the African...

Diverse workforce representation helps organizations achieve their goals and is important for government agencies that seek to gain public trust. Prior research has examined patterns of representation in the USDA Forest Service and found an overall lack of representation despite advances at leadership levels. Federal agencies are required to report total workforce demographics; however, representation relative to local communities is rarely known. Using data from the US Census Bureau, we examined demographic profiles of populations within a 1-hour drive time around Forest Service workplaces...

Gender equity has progressed unequally within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, with geosciences and specifically the Earth Observation (EO) field remaining largely unbalanced. Limited work has centred women's experiences in forest carbon monitoring (FCM), a field that combines EO and in situ data collection. Fewer studies have focused on perceptions of women from Latin America, Africa and Asia. This study examines participants in SilvaCarbon, an interagency technical cooperation program of the U.S. Government to build FCM capacity in tropical countries, where...