Treesearch

There are many field guides available about invasive plants and their identification. The purpose of this field guide is to give a brief scientific synthesis of what is known about the behavior of select invasive species in managed, disturbed, and pristine forested systems. It also provides key information for accurate identification. Such information will be helpful when prioritizing research questions and choosing the best control strategies. Control methods for each species are not provided. The most successful control methods are most often site-specific; overgeneralizing control...

Determining feeding relationships is central to understanding biological control potential in the field. However, methods to differentiate actual (or realized) feeding relationships from potential feeding relationships is lacking especially for small, generalist predators such as lady beetles. In this study, we used DNA metabarcoding approaches to characterize actual feeding relationships of lady beetles (Coccinellidae) in the field and validated our methods with a lab study. We first asked whether high-throughput amplicon sequencing (HTS) can characterize diets of lady beetles ranging...

This summary report provides results of the ninth forest inventory of the forests of Wisconsin conducted by the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program. There are an estimated 17 million acres of forest land across the State which is a small decrease from the 2014 estimate. There are 11.5 billion live trees at least 1 inch diameter at breast height (d.b.h.)/diameter at root collar (d.r.c.) on this forest land. Growing-stock volume on timberland totaled 22.4 billion cubic feet, led by sugar maple and red maple with 2.5 billion cubic feet and 2.3 billion cubic feet,...

Results of the fourth annual inventory estimate that 89 percent, or 17.5 million acres, of Maine's land base (exclusive of water) is forested, making Maine the most forested state in the Nation. Over 75 percent of Maine’s forest land is dominated by the maple/beech/birch and spruce/fir forest-type groups. The volume of sawtimber on timberland has risen 75 percent since 1959 while average annual net growth (merchantable bole volume) of growing stock on timberland averaged 713 million cubic feet per year from 2013 to 2018. The density of carbon in Maine’s forest land was estimated at 88 tons...

This executive summary summarizes the results of the seventh inventory of the forests of Southern New England, defined as Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, conducted by the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program. Previous inventories were conducted in 2012, 2007, 1998, 1985, 1972, and 1953. Information in this report includes forest context, forest features, forest health, and ecosystem services. There are an estimated 5.2 million acres of forest land across the region: 3.0 million acres in Massachusetts, 1.8 million acres in Connecticut, and 370 thousand...

Some introduced species cause severe damage, although the majority have little impact. Robust predictions of which species are most likely to cause substantial impacts could focus efforts to mitigate those impacts or prevent certain invasions entirely. Introduced herbivorous insects can reduce crop yield, fundamentally alter natural and managed forest ecosystems, and are unique among invasive species in that they require certain host plants to succeed. Recent studies have demonstrated that understanding the evolutionary history of introduced herbivores and their host plants can provide...

As a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United States has reported an inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sector since the mid-1990s (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2022). In 2020, National Inventory Report net GHG emissions decreased substantially due, in large part, to the global pandemic. Forest land, harvested wood products (HWP), woodlands, and urban trees within the land sector collectively continue to represent the largest net carbon (C) sink in the United...

Temperate forests play an important role in the sequestration and storage of carbon. We evaluated the long-term effects of manipulating stand density on aboveground live tree carbon dynamics and volume production for separate pine (Pinus spp.) and oak (Quercus spp.) forests of central USA. For both species groups, stand-level carbon storage in standing live trees was greatest without management, with unthinned pine plateauing around 100 Mg/ha of carbon at approximately 50 years old and the oak stands increasing to around 100 Mg/ha of carbon by about 80 years old. In the pine stands,...

Mass attacks of Juglans nigra by Pityophthorus juglandis and its introduction of the canker pathogen Geosmithia morbida lead to branch dieback and, commonly, tree death in locations with outbreaks of thousand cankers disease (TCD). Following initial detection of TCD in Butler County, Ohio, in 2012, and trapping of thousands of P. juglandis, a dramatic decrease in insect population occurred. Dissections of "lingering" TCD-symptomatic J. nigra in 2014 and 2015 were conducted to document the presence of "typical" Geosmithia cankers and other types of damage on branches and main stems....

Wood packaging material (WPM) used in international trade, such as crating and pallets, is recognized as a high-risk pathway for the introduction of bark- and wood-infesting insects (borers). The International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15 (ISPM 15), which sets treatment requirements for WPM, was adopted in 2002. The United States (US) implemented ISPM 15 during 2005–2006. We used 2003–2020 AQIM (Agriculture Quarantine Inspection Monitoring, conducted by USDA APHIS) data, based on standard random sampling, to compare pre-ISPM 15 borer detection rates in WPM entering the US...