Treesearch

Lobsters, blueberries, moose, and rugged coastlines dotted with lighthouses are emblematic of the state of Maine. But underlying these simple icons is the rich natural heritage of Maine that drives the economy and shapes the state's culture. The history of Maine’s natural heritage has been co-produced by the both the natural and human worlds. The essays and photographs gathered here paint a vivid portrait of Maine's wild places and wild creatures, as well as of human impacts and the way the state's heritage has changed.

There are growing concerns about increases in the size, frequency, and destructiveness of wildfire events. One commonly used mitigation strategy is the creation and maintenance of defensible space, a zone around buildings where vegetation is managed to increase potential for structures to survive during wildfires. Despite widespread acceptance and advocacy of defensible space, few studies provide empirical evidence documenting the efficacy of different fuel modification practices under real wildfire conditions. The 2018 Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles County, California, occurred a short time...

Gap dynamics facilitate recruitment of late-successional species such as northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis L.). For this reason, harvests that result in partial rather than complete canopy removal have been suggested for cedar. However, success of regenerating cedar following partial harvests is uncertain, especially where there is heavy browsing by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman) or snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus). Efforts to understand how partial harvests and browsing interact to affect natural regeneration of cedar have been limited. We inventoried partially...

Wildfire risks to homes are increasing, especially in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where wildland vegetation and houses are in close proximity. Notably, we found that more houses are exposed to and destroyed by grassland and shrubland fires than by forest fires in the United States. Destruction was more likely in forest fires, but they burned less WUI. The number of houses within wildfire perimeters has doubled since the 1990s because of both housing growth (47% of additionally exposed houses) and more burned area (53%). Most exposed houses were in the WUI, which grew substantially...

The phaseout of methyl bromide (MB) fumigation creates an urgent need for an alternative phytosanitary treatment tolimit the risk of international spread of the oak wilt fungus, Bretziella fagacearum. Fumigation with ethanedinitrile (EDN) isconsidered a potential alternative to MB fumigation to eradicate wood-inhabiting pests and pathogens. We evaluated theefficacy of EDN fumigation by comparing the rate of B. fagacearum isolation before and after fumigation of red oak(Quercus rubra or Quercus ellipsoidalis) log sections from oak wilt–affected trees. Logs (range 15.2 to 98.0 cm long;diameter...

The role of forests in the global carbon cycle and opportunities to use natural climate solutions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions have gained attention for a number of reasons including the Trillion Trees Initiative, California's cap and trade legislation, corporate net-zero pledges, and recent federal and state policy initiatives. Forest carbon sequestration is an essential part of natural climate solutions, and understanding the dynamics of carbon sequestration is crucial for developing guidelines to manage forest carbon sinks.

Protecting the future of forests relies on our ability to observe changes in forest health. Thus, developing tools for sensing diseases in a timely fashion is critical for managing threats at broad scales. Oak wilt —a disease caused by a pathogenic fungus (Bretziella fagacearum)— is threatening oaks, killing thousands yearly while negatively impacting the ecosystem services they provide. Here we propose a novel workflow for mapping oak wilt by targeting temporal disease progression through symptoms using land surface phenology (LSP) from spaceborne observations. By doing so, we hypothesize...

Iran is located in a dry climate zone, and climate change has substantially reduced its precipitation and water resources. Reusing wastewaters from urban communities can meet some requirements for irrigation and fertilization of tree plantations in arid environments, leading to sustainable wastewater recycling, enhanced biomass production, and reduced land degradation. The objective of this study was to test the growth, biomass, nutrition, and heavy-metal accumulation of poplars [Populus nigra L. “62/154,” P. alba L. “20/45,” P. euramericana (Dode) Guinier “92/40”], and willow (Salix...

Tree improvement research is a long-term commitment that is subject to challenges from environmental and human-induced change. Over time, tree health, culture, and economics can be negatively affected by change factors including climate change, pests and/or diseases, regulatory actions, and shifting economic circumstances. In the current paper we describe strategies to leverage short- and long-term field trials for managing different types of change that impact tree improvement. Field trials like those presented here could be used to test new materials and processes, as well as serve as an...

Poplars (Populus L. spp.) are versatile, productive trees that are used in environmental systems worldwide to provide a variety of benefits. Though poplars are recognized for their elevated water use, summaries of existing data on poplar water use, its influencing factors, and the methodologies used to measure it, are lacking. We sought to 1) summarize the sap flow methodologies used to quantify poplar water use, 2) review sap flow-derived water use data reported in the literature for Populus hybrids and non-hybrids, and 3) assess the effects of different intrinsic factors (plant variables)...