Treesearch

1. Bats are important but threatened insectivorous predators, making them a core group to consider when weighing the risks and benefits of insecticide use for combating pest outbreaks. Bats may benefit from open spaces created when insect pests defoliate tree canopies. Applying insecticides could also make treated areas less attractive to bats by lowering insect availability and increasing canopy densities. 2. Here, we examined the effects of a one-time insecticide treatment of oak forest plots with tebufenozide under outbreak and non-outbreak scenarios of the forestry pest species...

Peatland conservation and restoration are globally important goals because of peatlands’ potential to sequester and store carbon for millennia, regulate hydrology, and emit greenhouse gases (GHGs) when degraded. To provide information that can be used to identify possible targets for restoration, we have developed a peatland condition map for the conterminous US and Hawaii using existing GIS-based information. We intersected gSSURGO histosols and histic epipedons (HE) with layers for land use, crops, ditches, roads, and railroads (within 150 m buffers for the last three), land protection...

Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles are closely coupled in forested ecosystems. Studies of interactions between nitrogen cycling and forest succession have been challenging due to the broad spatial and temporal scales involved in feedbacks between successional dynamics and N cycling mechanisms. In this study, algorithms were added to a forest landscape model (LANDIS-II/PnET-Succession extension) to account for nitrogen cycling and its effects on growth and competition. In the revised model, PnET-CN-Succession, with coupled C and N cycling, forest species compete for not only light and water...

An exclusive report on housing trends and the impact on woodworkers' spending. What are some of the key market drivers for woodworkers in the construction-based sectors, and what investments are being made to advance their capabilities?

Increasing the equitable distribution of tree canopy is a priority for many cities, and tree canopy change studies are needed to inform natural resource managers on how and for whom canopy is changing. This study examines relationships between tree canopy change, socioeconomic/demographic characteristics, and land use at the block group and county scales, in Cook County, Illinois from 2010 to 2017. At the block group level, spatial Random Forest Regression models the nonlinear relationships between six canopy metrics and socioeconomic, demographic, and land use predictors. We also tabulated...

We document the characteristics of infrasound from a compact (<3-m burn diameter) wood pile fire using arrays located at 50 and 600 m. Infrasound from our controlled burn is present throughout the entire near-infrasound range (1–20 Hz), but its peak infrasound energy trends from 1.3 to 1 Hz over an hour correlating with a transition from relatively tall and narrow flame to a broader pile of coals with shorter flame. Observed infrasound frequencies correlate with flame flickering – quantified through spectral analysis of video – suggesting that flame and gas pulsing is the mechanism for the...

Background. Pyrogenic organic matter (PyOM) represents a relatively persistent component of soil carbon stocks. Although subsequent fires have the potential to combust or alter preexisting PyOM stocks, simulating soil heating faces important methodological constraints. In particular, methods for estimating the effects of subsequent fire on preexisting PyOM in soil have important limitations. Aims. We aimed to design a laboratory method to effectively simulate soil heating from above, to investigate the impacts of subsequent fires on PyOM at different soil depths while addressing key...

Effective landscape planning relies on community insights through participatory design to achieve local needs. Visual media can assist community engagement, and visuals created using generative AI text-to-image models are increasingly adopted for such purposes. We explore a new approach of including generative images in participatory planning through a case study with the Diverse Corn Belt Project in the US Corn Belt. Our method is applicable to other contexts, and adds to the literature in three ways. First, we propose a compromise between real-time image generation and extended time...

While much of the literature focuses on plant and prokaryote tolerance towards abiotic stresses, environmental resistance by fungi remains understudied. Many fungi have traits that help them to tolerate extreme environmental perturbations. Bird’s nest fungi produce ‘peridioles’ which consist of basidiospores, basidia, hyphae, and melanized walls, but their tolerance towards environmental stresses is currently unknown. We exposed the peridioles of three distantly related bird’s nest fungi species (Cyathus poepigii, Crucibulum parvulum, and Nidularia pulvinata) to extremely high temperatures,...

Aim: Tree size distributions are an emergent feature of forest dynamics across space and time. Theory suggests that undisturbed forests exhibit a size-abundance distribution captured by a power-law relationship with a near-2 slope. We aimed to quantify how disturbances systematically and predictably cause deviations from this expected pattern. Location: Contiguous United States. Time Period: 2001–2023. Major Taxa Studied: Diverse tree communities. Methods: We analysed size-abundance distributions in over 160,000 FIA plots for both disturbed and undisturbed forests, examining changes in...