Treesearch

In this study, a suite of complementary environmental geochemical analyses, including NMR and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses of central metabolites, Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS) of secondary metabolites, and lipidomics, was used to investigate the influence of organic matter (OM) quality on the heterotrophic microbial mechanisms controlling peatland CO2, CH4, and CO2:CH4 porewater production ratios in response to climate warming. Our investigations leverage the Spruce and Peatland Responses under Changing Environments...

The Appalachian coalfield occurs within the eastern United States (US). This mountainous landscape is formed from natural dissection of sedimentary geologic strata with interbedded seams of coal and serves as headwaters for multiple rivers. The region's natural ecosystems, with a primary vegetation of mostly deciduous forest, are among the non-tropical world's most biodiverse. After first humans arrived more than 10,000 years ago, the first Europeans came to Appalachia as fur trappers and traders; agriculturalists and merchants came soon after. The region's diverse forests and rich mineral...

Protecting wildlife corridors is a common management problem in regions of industrial forestry. In boreal Canada, human disturbances have negatively affected woodland caribou populations (Rangifer tarandus caribou), which prefer to function in large undisturbed areas. We present a linear programming model that allocates a fixed-width corridor between isolated caribou ranges and estimates its impact on harvest activities. Our corridor placement problem minimizes total resistance for caribou passing through the corridor, which is protected by a prohibition on all economic activities. We link...

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Several U.S. cities have implemented vacant lot greening programs as planning strategies to address decreased tax base, crime, and other issues associated with high land vacancy in marginalized neighborhoods, yet little is known about the benefits of programs that transfer city-owned lots to private owners. Using a mixed methods approach, we studied whether and how private ownership matters for vacant lot condition-care in Chicago's (IL) Large Lot Program, which allows property owners to purchase vacant city lots on their block for $1. We compared...

We use optimization of a structural dynamic model to evaluate the cost of carbon sequestration when afforestation subsidies are used to encourage private landowners to switch from cropland to forestry. Our model allows for the planting of either softwood or hardwood forest types with flexible rotation lengths, in addition to irrigated crops. We apply the model to a portion of the Lower Mississippi River Basin in Arkansas where groundwater overdraft lowers the profitability of irrigated crops. In our baseline model with a 5% discount rate, a subsidy for afforestation from $1000 to $4500 per...

This study analyzes changes in timberland ownership from 2003 to 2012 across the northern United States based on Forest Inventory and Analysis data identified according to five ownership categories. A total of 26,940 FIA plots that were remeasured between selected years were used for the analysis. Publicly available corporate ownership data were investigated and used to differentiate industrial and institutional (timber investment management organizations [TIMO] and real estate investment trusts [REIT]) ownership. Kernel density, Ripley’s K-function, and multinomial logistic regression...

Landscape-scale maps of tree species densities are important tools for developing strategies to manage ecosystems threatened by forest pests. Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis Ehrh.) dominates riparian forests in watersheds throughout eastern North America. As a conifer in a primarily deciduous landscape, hemlock plays an ecohydrological role, especially when other species are dormant. The non-native, hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), Adelges tsugae, presents a landscape-scale threat to forest ecosystem health and economic viability of eastern hemlock. Land managers require tools to assess...

The Asian longhorned beetle [Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky), ALB] was found in Hollywood, SC, in May 2020. This infestation is at least 7-yr old and represents the southernmost infestation in North America. A federally regulated invasive forest and tree pest, ALB primarily attacks maples but is known to attack and reproduce in trees in at least 12 different genera. Damage observed in South Carolina is typical of that seen in other ALB infestations, including oviposition sites, splitting bark around larval feeding sites, and round holes made by emerging adults. Copious weeping from...

Frequent, small wildfires can pose dangers to homes in the wildland–urban interface, but are not often included in wildfire hazard models. We assessed patterns of small wildfire occurrence probability in the Northeast region of the United States, focusing on (1) spatial and seasonal variations; (2) differences between small and large fires (size threshold of 4 ha); and (3) how predicted probabilities are influenced by inconsistent wildfire definitions in urbanised landscapes. We analysed fire incident report data from 2005 to 2017 to parameterise maximum entropy (MaxEnt) models based on...