Treesearch

Smoke plume dynamics involve various smoke processes and mechanics in the atmosphere and provide the scientific foundation for the development of tools to simulate and predict smoke and its environmental and human impacts. The increasing occurrence of wildfires and the demands for more extensive application of prescribed fires in the U.S. have posed great challenges and immediate actions for advancing smoke plume dynamics and improving smoke predictions and impact assessments to mitigate smoke impacts. Numerous efforts have been made recently to address these needs and challenges. This...

The Northern Gulf of America (NGOA, formerly known as Northern Gulf of Mexico) is a key economic region for seafood production, recreation, and marine transportation. This study compared evapotranspiration (ET) and water yield in the Sabine River Basin (SRB) and Pearl River Basin (PRB) along the NGOA, focusing on coastal watersheds between two 40-year weather scenarios: past (1985–2024) and future (2025–2064). The analysis was conducted using the HAWQS (Hydrologic and Water Quality System) model, along with Mann-Kendall (M-K) and Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) tests. Simulations showed a...

We investigated the effects of the fuel moisture content and photochemical aging on the toxicity of smoke particulate matter (PM) emissions in simulated wildland fires. We burned fuel beds consisting of surface fuels and duff under moderate and low moisture contents, representative of prescribed fires (Rx) and drought-induced wildfires (Wild), respectively. The Wild emissions were photochemically aged in an oxidation flow reactor (Wild-Aged). We exposed human bronchial epithelial cells to PM extracts from each permutation. PM extracts from all experimental permutations (Rx, Wild, Wild-Aged)...

We investigated the influence of combustion conditions on emissions of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) and the formation of secondary organic carbon (SOC) in wildland fires. We performed combustion experiments using fuel beds representative of three ecoregions in the Southeastern U.S. and varied the fuel-bed moisture content to simulate either prescribed fires (Rx) or drought-induced wildfires (Wild). We used fire radiative energy normalized by fuel-bed mass (FREnorm) as a proxy for combustion conditions. For fuel beds that contained surface fuels only, the higher moisture...

The fossil record offers important opportunities to reconstruct plant community response to past disturbance events. Yet reconstructions are hindered by limited empirical evidence of successional variation in functional traits measurable on fossil leaves, including leaf morphology and δ 13 C. In addition, the role the leaf economic spectrum (LES) plays across succession within temperate deciduous forests is unresolved. Finally, it is unclear to what degree disturbance confounds the leaf morphology–climate relationships utilized in paleoclimate proxies.We utilize a chronosequence spanning...

It is often necessary to mark bats through tagging or other means to obtain essential information on their demography, movements and behaviour. However, marks may have lethal or sublethal effects and hence may bias study results. Understanding the effects of marks on bats will allow researchers and managers to develop guidelines to minimise effects.Our aim was to review the effects and efficacy of marking techniques used on bats. Our objectives were to (1) describe marks currently used in bat research to identify motivations for marking, trends in commonly used types of marks and trends in...

Crop type mapping provides key spatial information for agricultural monitoring, management, production, and food security. Satellite multi-spectral imagery and machine learning algorithms have been used for large-area crop-type mapping, which necessitates training sample selection for high-quality mapping results. However, questions persist regarding the optimal sampling techniques and sample size to employ during application development. The novelty of this study focuses on investigating how sampling techniques and sample sizes influence the accuracy and reliability of satellite-based...

Avian reproductive activities are energetically demanding, leading to periods of heightened risk and reduced energy acquisition. Behavioral decisions by females in response to their physiological requirements are particularly important during nesting, as the availability and distribution of resources around nest sites can affect fitness of incubating females. We evaluated how spatially explicit LiDAR‐derived estimates of forest structure and topographical features influenced habitat selection by female eastern wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo silvestris ) during the incubation period. We...

Predation risk is known to influence prey behaviors. Risk from human predators can be more influential on prey responses than risk from natural predators. The wild turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ) is a widely distributed game species, and growing literature suggests that hunting activity influences various behavioral metrics of males, including rates of vocalizations, resource selection, and movements. However, previous studies have made inferences about potential influences of hunting activity on male resource selection and movement behaviors solely by studying hunted populations, using a...

Prey species can perceive and respond to spatiotemporal variation in predation risk to increase survival. In addition to adjusting spatial and temporal activity patterns to avoid predation, prey employ other antipredator behaviors, such as vigilance and fleeing, and these behaviors can be further modulated by intrinsic, environmental, and anthropogenic factors. However, few studies simultaneously examine multiple potential antipredator behavioral responses of prey or examine prey responses to multiple scales of risk. In the southeastern United States, coyotes (Canis latrans) have become...