Treesearch

Human-caused carbon emissions have pushed global atmospheric CO2 concentrations from a pre-industrial level of 280 ppm to over 400 ppm which in turn is forcing the earth’s climate to change due to increased atmospheric trapping of radiant heat. Temperature and precipitation patterns are changing both temporally and physically (snow vs. rain) while intense storm and heat events are exposing forests to new extremes. These changes are directly affecting tree vitality and growth, causing global tree mortality events, as well as influencing fire behavior and burn frequency, and other abiotic...

If forest landscape restoration (FLR) aims towards living sustainably within landscapes and restoring degraded socio-ecological systems, then integrating lessons of Traditional and Western knowledge systems can inform this effort (c.f. Ruiz-Mallen and Corbera, 2013). Knowledge systems represent much more than repositories of timeless information useful to today's managers and restorationists: they are intricately coupled human and natural systems that have evolved through intergenerational and community-based stewardship of natural resources. In this context, Berkes (2007) cautions that...

Remote sensing data have increasingly been employed in combination with field plot data to estimate aboveground carbon (C) stocks across heterogeneous forested landscapes around the world. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the US Forest Service offers a gridded network of field plots which potentially can be linked to airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to estimate forest aboveground carbon density (ACD; units of Mg C ha−1). Here we utilized FIA plot and airborne LiDAR data sets collected across two contrasting landscapes known as Laupahoehoe and Pu‘u...

This plant profile for Heteromeles arbutifolia provides information on species distribution; taxonomic relationships; ecological and evolutionary considerations for restoration; growth form and distinguishing traits; habitat characteristics; projected future suitable habitat; growth, reproduction and dispersal; biological interactions; ecological genetics; seed characteristics, germination requirements and processing; and plant uses including agriculture, restoration, and traditional products, plus an extensive bibliography. It is part of Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District's...

This plant profile for Prunus ilicifolia provides information on species distribution; taxonomic relationships; ecological and evolutionary considerations for restoration; growth form and distinguishing traits; habitat characteristics; projected future suitable habitat; growth, reproduction and dispersal; biological interactions; ecological genetics; seed characteristics, germination requirements and processing; and plant uses including agriculture, restoration, and traditional products, plus an extensive bibliography. It is part of Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District's...

How warming affects the magnitude of CO2 fluxes within the soil profile remains an important question, with implications for modeling the response of ecosystem carbon balance to changing climate. Information on belowground responses to warming is especially limited for the tropics and subtropics because the majority of manipulative studies have been conducted in temperate and boreal regions. We examined how artificial warming affected CO2 gas production and exchange across soil profiles in a replicated mesocosms experiment relying on heavily weathered subtropical soils and planted with...

Wildfires, insect outbreaks, and windstorms are increasingly common forest disturbances. Post-disturbance management often involves salvage logging, i.e., the felling and removal of the affected trees; however, this practice may represent an additional disturbance with effects on ecosystem processes and services. We developed a systematic map to provide an overview of the primary studies on this topic and created a database with information on the characteristics of the retrieved publications, including information on stands, disturbance, intervention, measured outcomes, and study design....

Pathogenic invasions are a major source of change in both agricultural and natural ecosystems. In forests, fungal pathogens can kill habitat-generating plant species such as canopy trees, but methods for remote detection, mapping and monitoring of such outbreaks are poorly developed. Two novel species of the fungal genus Ceratocystis have spread rapidly across humid and mesic forests of Hawaiʻi Island, causing widespread mortality of the keystone endemic canopy tree species, Metrosideros polymorpha (common name: ʻōhiʻa). The process, known as Rapid Ohia Death (ROD), causes browning of...

Given the diversity of environmental, historical, social, economic and cultural contexts in which forest landscapes (and their degradation) occur, restoration efforts require the effective engagement and mobilization of the social and human capital that exists within these socio-ecological systems. This involves the utilization of diverse knowledge systems (von der Porten and de Loe, 2014), which in some cases, includes a significant body of Traditional knowledge and expertise that was marginalized during colonial periods (Stewart, 2002). Importantly, these knowledge systems remain largely...

Wildland fires are generally classified into three categories: ground fires, surface fires, and crown fires (Fig. 1). Soils are described worldwide by the various layers that have formed or been deposited on top of bedrock or other parent material. In wildland areas, the layer closest to the surface is composed of organic material deposited by plants (Foth 1978). The organic layer is divided into two parts – the O1 layer at the surface and the O2 layer which forms under the O1 layer. Ground fires burn the matted and decomposed organic material that forms the O2 layer. Surface fires burn...