Treesearch

Climate change threatens inland lakes, which are highly valued for their ecological and economic benefits. Here, we synthesize adaptation strategies that could offset climate impacts on Midwestern lakes. Our synthesis is based on results from the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts lake adaptation workshop, in which 48 researchers and managers with expertise on Wisconsin’s inland lakes gathered to provide input on climate adaptation strategies. We identified recent scientific advances, knowledge gaps, and examples of successful climate adaptation strategies with respect to four...

Tree crown ratio is useful in various applications such as prediction of tree mortality probabilities, growth potential, and fire behavior. Crown ratio is commonly assessed in two ways: (1) compacted crown ratio (CCR-lower branches visually moved upwards to fill missing foliage gaps) and (2) uncompacted crown ratio (UNCR-no missing foliage adjustment). The national forest inventory of the United States measures CCR on all trees, whereas only a subset of trees also are assessed for UNCR. Models for 27 species groups are presented to predict UNCR for the northern United States. The model...

A recently developed online GIS tool, Nitrogen Critical Loads Assessment by Site (N-CLAS), was used to assess the effects of nitrogen (N) deposition and climate change on 23 tree species of management concern in the northeastern United States. The N-CLAS tool calculates and maps critical loads, target loads, and exceedances across the landscape by linking information on the relationships between N deposition, tree growth and environmental conditions with high resolution geospatial data for species composition and abiotic modifying factors (topography, climate, and soils). Outputs can be...

Aim: The European gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar dispar (L.), (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) is an invasive defoliator that has been expanding its range in North America following its introduction in 1869. Here, we investigate recent range expansion into a region previously predicted to be climatically unsuitable. We examine whether winter severity is correlated with summer trap captures of male moths at the landscape scale, and quantify overwintering egg survivorship along a northern boundary of the invasion edge. Location: Northern Minnesota, USA. Methods: Several winter severity metrics were...

Hurricanes generate disturbances in forests such as canopy opening, fallen trees and leaves which alter physicochemical characteristics of the habitat. Litter decomposition depends primarily on the interaction among climate, litter quality and biota, as a consequence any change in habitats will result in changes in these factors. Our objective is to evaluate the effects of hurricane driven changes to forests on green litter decomposition, decomposer communities and nutrient mineralization. For this study, three blocks were selected, each with two plots of 20m x 20m, one plot was used for...

Accounting for externalities generated by fire spread is necessary for managing fire risk on landscapes with multiple owners. In this paper, we determine the optimal management of a synthetic landscape parameterized to represent the ecological conditions of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) plantations in southwest Oregon. The problem is formulated as a dynamic game, where each agent maximizes their own objective without considering the welfare of the other agents. We demonstrate a method for incorporating spatial information and externalities into a dynamic optimization process. A...

Millennia of extensive grazing, agriculture, and timber harvesting have altered Turkey’s native vegetation and modified fire regimes. The degree to which this is so is a topic for debate among policy-makers, managers, and scientists - with implications for understanding the potential impacts of land use and climate change on future forest management. While rapid urbanization, modern agribusiness, intensive forest management, and fire suppression continue to dominate the Turkish landscape, the dynamics of land use and climate change raise questions about the sustainability of future...

A mild methanolysis pretreatment strategy was developed with a recyclable acid, p-TsOH, as the catalyst for the fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass toward its main components. Bamboo fiber was fractionated in one step with dissolution of more than 88% lignin and 90% xylan with most of the cellulose (86.8%) retained in pretreated bamboo at mild conditions (110 °C, 30 min, and 10% p-TsOH). Enzymatic hydrolysis of the cellulose-rich fraction was enhanced to 89.2% at an enzyme loading of 15 FPU g-1 substrate, nearly 4-fold higher than the untreated bamboo. Most of the xylan (hemicellulose)...