Treesearch

Non-native plants typically benefit from enemy release following their naturalization in non-native habitats. However, over time, herbivorous insects specializing on such plants may invade from the native range and thereby diminish the benefits of enemy release that these plants may experience. In this study, we compare rates of invasion spread across Europe of three North American insect folivores: the Lepidoptera leaf miners Macrosaccus robiniella and Parectopa robiniella, and the gall midge Obolodiplosis robiniae, that specialize on Robinia pseudoacacia. This tree species is one of the...

Peatland carbon cycling is critical for the land–atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases, particularly under changing environments. Warming and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (eCO2) concentrations directly enhance peatland methane (CH4) emission, and indirectly affect CH4 processes by altering hydrological conditions. An ecosystem model ELM-SPRUCE, the land model of the E3SM model, was used to understand the hydrological feedback mechanisms on CH4 emission in a temperate peatland under a warming gradient and eCO2 treatments. We found that the water table level was a critical regulator...

Maintained green space in underserved urban neighborhoods may be an important environmental pathway to improving community health and safety, though effects may vary across population subgroups and by time of day. We examined survey responses from 442 participants (178 men and 264 women), living near vacant lots in a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a cleaning and greening intervention, on perceived safety during the day and at night. At the intervention sites after the intervention, only men reported feeling less unsafe during the day. Women reported more fear, and men reported less...

The ecotone between the Great Plains and the Eastern Deciduous Forest region is characterized by transitional grassland-forest ecosystems with a robust history of frequent fire regimes and fire-adapted natural communities. Historically, fires created a mosaic of prairies, savannas, woodlands, and forests juxtaposed by landscape controls. Humans have been strong determinants of fire regimes, causing frequent fires in historical times and an extended period of fire exclusion for nearly the last century. In recent decades, interest has increased in understanding the region’s fire ecology and...

Long-term monitoring of forest soils is necessary to understand the effects of continued environmental change, including climate change, atmospheric deposition of metals, and, in many regions, recovery from acidic precipitation. A monitoring program was initiated in 2002 at five protected forest sites, primarily Spodosol soils, in Vermont, northeastern USA. Every 5 years, ten soil pits were sampled from random subplots in a 50 × 50-m plot at each site. Samples were taken by genetic horizon and, to reduce variability and improve comparability, from four specific layers: the combined Oi/Oe...

A new genus of Chamaemyiidae (Diptera: Lauxanioidea) is described, namely Leucotaraxis gen. nov. (type species Leucopis atrifacies Aldrich; other included species Leucotaraxis argenticollis (Zetterstedt), comb. nov., Leucotaraxis piniperda (Malloch), comb. nov., and Leucotaraxis sepiola sp. nov.). These species are predators of Adelgidae (Hemiptera) infesting Pinaceae. Leucotaraxis argenticollis is Holarctic, while the other three species are Nearctic. The phylogeny of Leucotaraxis with other representatives of Chamaemyiidae was elucidated using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences and...

Most biological invasion literature—including syntheses and meta-analyses and the resulting theory—is reported from temperate regions, drawing only minimally from the tropics except for some island systems. The lack of attention to invasions in the tropics results from and reinforces the assumption that tropical ecosystems, and especially the continental tropics, are more resistant to invasions. We have critically assessed biological invasions in the tropics and compared them with temperate regions, finding relatively weak evidence that tropical and temperate regions differ in their...

Species of Radulomyces (Radulomycetaceae, Agaricales) with spines were studied by morphological and molecular methods. Phylogenetic analyses and morphological studies show that Radulomyces paumanokensis is a later synonym of Radulomyces copelandii and that Radulomyces licentii is a distinct taxon. Based on morphologic and molecular data, the new genus Noblesia (Meruliaceae, Polyporales) is proposed to accommodate Sistotrema croceum and Peniophora femsjoeensis. Sarcodontia is emended and restricted to three species with 13 taxa excluded from the genus. For many years, Sarcodontia crocea was...

As a forest landowner or manager, you know that what you do on your land is important. This is especially true when it comes to climate change. The decisions that you make affect how well your forest can handle droughts, recover from storms, and cope with insect outbreaks, events that are increasing in frequency and severity as the climate changes. This ability to "bounce back" is often called forest resilience. Your decisions also affect climate change by storing more or less carbon in your woods (carbon stocks) and by changing the rate at which carbon is absorbed by your trees (carbon...

Red spruce (Picea rubens) was historically an important and dominant timber species in the central Appalachian mountain range. The tree species is now found in a small fraction of its original home range. Threatened and endangered organisms such as the Cheat Mountain Salamander (Plethodon nettingi) rely on red spruce associated forests for survival. This review provides a background on the history of forest management of red spruce in the central Appalachian region. A meta-analysis was conducted on recent literature (published 2000 or later) of red spruce in the central Appalachian region...