Treesearch

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program provides this resource update yearly as an overview of forest resources in Maryland. These estimates are derived from field data collected across a systematic network offixed-radius forest monitoring plots located on both public and private land. New updates are provided annually as a subset of plots within the State are remeasured. Each year, field crews visit and measure a subset of all FIA plots across the entire State (the size of the subset varies by State and year). Combining all...

Springsnails in the genus Pyrgulopsis in western North America have long been a dilemma for taxonomists. Defining species boundaries has been complicated by the presence of undiscovered or cryptic taxa, range over- or underestimation, species complexes representing an unknown number of species, and named species synonymous with other taxa. To address these issues, we conducted an array of molecular species delimitation analyses using sequences from up to 2 mitochondrial and 2 nuclear genes from over 5000 specimens representing 140 of the 151 currently recognized taxa. These analyses...

Maps of aboveground biomass density (AGBD) estimated from remote sensing data with models trained from inventory data are essential for carbon monitoring. Forest inventory plots in the United States (US) are measured by the forest inventory and analysis (FIA) program of the US Forest Service (USFS). These plots are spatially representative, design unbiased, and provide estimates of AGBD and other forest attributes over large spatial domains, but do not provide spatially continuous or sufficiently precise estimates over small spatial domains (e.g. forest stands). Integration with remote...

Congressionally designated wilderness offers the highest level of land protection in the USA, comparable to category 1b wilderness as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, yet wilderness areas face impacts of climate change. Researchers and managers increasingly recognize the immense challenge of stewarding wilderness in a changing climate. Although responding to climate change is considered a wicked problem, this framing has not been applied to wilderness contexts. We move theory into practice by using wicked problem framing and four illustrative cases to explore...

Observed increases in wildfire activity across the contiguous United States (U.S.), together with continued warming and expanding development in fire-prone landscapes, highlight the need to anticipate near-term changes in fire regimes. We apply a Bayesian statistical model that integrates projected population density (SSP2) and downscaled climate simulations under a moderate emissions scenario (RCP 4.5) to estimate future wildfire occurrence, maximum fire size (using the 90th percentile of fire size distribution), and total area burned for large fires (>1000 acres) across all EPA Level III...

Riparian ecosystems in the American Southwest store disproportionate amounts of carbon relative to their limited extent, yet their capacity is poorly quantified and threatened by climate and land-use change. We synthesize current knowledge of riparian carbon dynamics in Arizona and New Mexico and combine this with spatial datasets to estimate potential and current carbon storage. We review how climate, hydrology, geomorphic setting, and biota interact to control carbon stored in biomass, large wood, and floodplain soils. Using the national riparian basemap and hydroclimatic data, we map...

Biochar, a carbon-rich material that can be produced from forest byproducts and waste, is emerging as a valuable material for removing heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. Biochar can be produced by many processes and equipment. Among these, mobile air curtain burners, developed to achieve lower levels of particulate matter and smoke than open pile burning, can be deployed in the field where biomass feedstocks are located. To elucidate lead metal ion (Pb2+) removal mechanisms, this study characterized seven biochars generated by a novel mobile curtain burner, representing the first...

Seedling functional attributes (i.e., morphological and physiological traits driving water, carbon, and nutrient economy, as well as stress resistance and resilience) influence the early performance of forest plantings. Nursery environment and cultivation practices interact with species ecology to shape these attributes and potential outplanting success. Although extensive literature exists on these topics, studies that have quantitatively synthesized findings to generalize plant quality and nursery cultivation theory are almost nonexistent. This chapter quantitatively reviews the effects...

Soils on log landings can be significantly degraded as a result of harvesting equipment. We evaluated the efficacy of biochar application and subsoiling to reduce compaction and improve soil properties. Fifteen log landings were selected across three US Midwest national forests: the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana, the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri, and the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois. Landings were divided into four treatments: (1) biochar applied on the soil surface (22.4 Mg ha −1 ), (2) subsoiling (depth of 50 cm), (3) a combination of subsoiling and biochar (22.4 Mg...

Due to the prevalence of local adaptation in plants, the provenance of seed sources can impact plant community restoration outcomes. Yet programs developing commercial germplasm releases often overlook local adaptation as a development criterion, leading to the selection of traits that may not support restoration success. In many cases, commercial germplasms are more available than plant materials developed explicitly considering spatial adaptation patterns.This study aims to demonstrate how seed transfer models can calibrate restoration guidance for commercially available germplasms of...