Treesearch

In Appalachian ecosystems, forest disturbance has long-term effects on microbially driven biogeochemical processes such as nitrogen (N) cycling. However, little is known regarding long-term responses of forest soil microbial communities to disturbance in the region. We used 16S and ITS sequencing to characterize soil bacterial (16S) and fungal (ITS) communities across forested watersheds with a range of past disturbance regimes and adjacent reference forests at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Bacterial communities in previously disturbed...

The oak-hickory and oak-pine forest types dominate much of the southern landscape. In the Blue-Ridge and Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia, oak as a percentage of total forest volume can be as high as 60 percent. Much of this forest type is represented by older aged cohorts with little potential for oak regeneration to replace declining codominants. Oak decline is a prevalent natural phenomenon across the landscape, brought about by aging cohorts growing on poor sites, and exacerbated by inciting factors such as recurring drought and insect defoliation events. In Virginia, the...

Since 1992, the oaks (Quercus spp.) have accounted for a third of the eastern hardwood growing stock volume, but oak poletimber volume has declined from 27 percent of total hardwood poletimber volume in 1992 to 23 percent in 2012 with most of this change occurring since 2002. This decline is a precursor to a reduction in oak sawtimber volume in the future in the absence of successful timber management efforts to avert it. The decline in oak poletimber volume initially occurred concurrently with a decline in consumption and price of higher grade hardwood lumber and a historic reduction in...

Rising temperatures and variable precipitation events leading to droughts and floods will likelyincrease in frequency. We present climate models with bracketed scenarios of daily temperature and precipitationfrom 1980 to 2099 showing increasing heat and drought for much of the country throughout this century. Wethen model and map potential changes in suitable habitat for ~130 tree species (10 x 10 km to 20 x 20 km) inthe Eastern United States. Potential adaptability to changing climate was evaluated by literature assessment ofbiological and disturbance traits. Overall, trends show many...