Treesearch

This resource update is a brief look at some of the basic metrics that describe the status of and changes to forest resources in Illinois. This information is based on field data collected using the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annualized sample design, and it is updated yearly. Tables for Illinois, 2018 can be found at https://doi.org/10.2737/FS-RU-197-Tables. The FIA one-click application that generated this report can be found at https://doi.org/10.2737/FIA-One-Click-State-Report-v1.2.

Tests were conducted using 97 exploding targets (ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder) to examine the effects of product formulation, environment, and shooting on wildfire ignition. Tests in 2015 produced no ignitions in cold and humid weather conditions. Ignitions in 2018 under warm and dry conditions were positively related to the aluminum concentration (expressed as a percentage of the ammonium nitrate mass) and the placement of the target on a straw fuel bed rather than on a 6 in (15 cm) high steel pedestal. High speed videography and peak overpressure measured for each explosion...

Coarse dead wood is an important component of forest carbon stocks, but it is rarely measured in Amazon forests and is typically excluded from regional forest carbon budgets. Our study is based on line intercept sampling for fallen coarse dead wood conducted along 103 transects with a total length of 48 km matched with forest inventory plots where standing coarse dead wood was measured in the footprints of larger areas of airborne lidar acquisitions. We developed models to relate lidar metrics and Landsat time series variables to coarse dead wood stocks for intact, logged, burned, or...

Global ecology – the study of the interactions among the Earth’s ecosystems, land, atmosphere and oceans – depends crucially on global observations: this paper focuses on space-based observations of global terrestrial ecosystems. Early global ecology relied on an extrapolation of detailed site-level observations, using models of increasing complexity. Modern global ecology has been enabled largely by vegetation indices (greenness) from operational space-based imagery but current capabilities greatly expand scientific possibilities. New observations from spacecraft in orbit allowed an...

The agency responsible for Costa Rica’s payment for ecosystem services (PES) program (Pagos de Servicios Ambientales, PSA) has been charged with developing mechanisms to increase cost-effectiveness in the forest protection program. One possible mechanism that can be used to achieve this goal is conservation auctions. While a trial run or a pilot auction could be useful in exploring possible auction designs or to identify possible unintended consequences, these options often require significant financial and political support. An alternative way to explore possible auction designs is by...

We describe five observations of avian mobbing of Jamaican boas (Chilabothrus subflavus) in northern Cockpit Country, Trelawny Parish, Jamaica. Four mobbing events were carried out by Jamaican Crows (Corvus jamaicensis), and one by a group of smaller passerines. We also describe a probable instance of a boa depredating a crow nest.

Unprecedented levels of tree mortality from native bark beetle species have occurred in a variety of forest types in Western United States and Canada in recent decades in response to beetle-favorable forest and climatic conditions (Bentz 2009, Meddens and others 2012). Previous studies suggest that bark beetle outbreaks alter stand structural attributes and fuel profiles, and thus affect the fire environment and potential fire hazard (Jenkins and others 2008, 2014). A number of factors influence post-outbreak fire hazard, including the time since mortality, the proportion of trees killed,...