Treesearch

Wood is the water conducting tissue of tree stems. Like most angiosperm trees, poplar wood contains water-conducting vessel elements whose functional properties affect water transport and growth rates, as well as susceptibility to embolism and hydraulic failure during water stress and drought. Here we used a unique hybrid poplar pedigree carrying genomically characterized chromosomal insertions and deletions to undertake a systems genomics analysis of vessel traits. We assayed gene expression in wood forming tissues from clonal replicates of genotypes covering dosage quantitative trait...

Aquatic fungi drive important ecosystem processes, which may be affected by anthropogenic stressors, including changes in water quality. However, due to the great diversity of aquatic fungi, our understanding of the relationships among water quality variables, fungal community composition, and ecosystem function remains incomplete. Here, we show that aquatic fungal community structure and functional diversity correlate strongly with water quality. We used a multi-marker survey of environmental DNA and long-term water quality data to survey 17 stream, pond, and tidal creek sites within a...

Emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is the most destructive insect to invade North American forests. Identifying habitat features that support EAB natural enemies is necessary to enhance EAB biological control. In many forest ecosystems, tree species diversity has been linked with reduced pest abundance and increases in natural enemy abundance. We assessed the infuence of tree species richness, ash density, and proportion of total ash basal area on ash canopy condition, EAB larval densities, and biocontrol by woodpeckers and parasitoids in...

Relatively unmanaged interstitial areas at the residential–wildland interface can support the development of novel woody plant communities. Community assembly processes in urban areas involve interactions between spontaneous and cultivated species pools that include native, introduced (exotic/non-native) and invasive species. The potential of these communities to spread under changing climate conditions has implications for the future trajectories of forests within and beyond urban areas. We quantified woody vegetation (including trees and shrubs) in relatively unmanaged “interstitial”...

Households play a critical role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, there have been few studies of household conservation from the perspective of the nexus of food, energy, and water (FEW) consumption. This study's objective is to understand the effects of different types of intervention messages for inducing conservation of FEW resources and reducing carbon emissions at the household level in the U.S. Employing a serious-gaming approach, we developed the HomeRUN (Home Role-play for Understanding the Nexus) game, which allows players to act as homeowners and take behavioral and...

Aim: Invasions of non-native insects can have substantial impacts on agriculture, forestry, human health and biodiversity with considerable economic and environmental consequences. To understand the causes of these invasions, it is important to quantify the relative influence of principal drivers such as international imports and climatic effects. Location: North America, Chile, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Time Period: 1881–2020. Methods: To evaluate the relative contributions of various factors in explaining global variation in numbers of non-native insect establishments in...

Urban forests provide ecosystem services important for regulating climate, conserving biodiversity, and maintaining human well-being. However, these forests vary in composition and physiological traits due to their unique biophysical and social contexts. This variation complicates assessing the functions and services of different urban forests. To compare the characteristics of the urban forest, we sampled the species composition and two externally sourced traits (drought tolerance and water-use capacity) of tree and shrub species in residential yards, unmanaged areas, and natural reference...

Most phytophagous insects are specialists, so availability of suitable host plants often may be a critical factor limiting establishment of non-native insect species. Here we investigate the extent to which established nonnative tree-feeding insects utilize hosts that are native to the invaded range as well as hosts that are themselves non-native. We accomplish this by comparing host use among all native and non-native bark beetles and pinhole borers (Scolytinae and Platypodinae) established in Europe and North America reported in the literature. These groups of insects are well-known for...

Historic atmospheric acidic deposition resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels may alter the pools of important nutrients and base cations in sensitive forest soils. This raises concern that chronic acidic deposition, particularly when coupled with intensive forest biomass harvesting, may diminish long-term soil fertility, forest productivity, and carbon storage potential. To address these concerns, the Fork Mountain long-term soil productivity experiment was initiated in 1996 at the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia. The replicated experimental design consists of 16 plots...

Stretching from Missouri through Arkansas to Georgia and New York and covering 609,000 square kilometers, the Central Hardwoods region is the world’s largest continuous deciduous forested area. Today, most of the forests in the Central Hardwoods region are second-growth forests, meaning that they have been harvested once in the past two centuries. Very few of the forests are old-growth forests, which are defined as uneven-aged forest with trees more than 150 years old and minimal harvesting or manipulation over the last 40 to 100 years.