Treesearch

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are hypothesized to assist growth of northern whitecedar in acid peatlands, yet there is little direct evidence that they can provide sufficient resources, especially nitrogen (N), from unfertilized peat soils. Our objective was to determine mycorrhizal efficacy to support cedar growth and nutrient supply as part of a low-impact approach for ecological restoration of cedar in peatlands. We tested the effectiveness of AM inoculation in a greenhouse experiment in factorial combination with fertilization and liming. We also determined AM colonization rate in...

We report data on the projections of annual surface water demand and supply in the conterminous United States at a high spatial resolution from 2010s to the end of the 21st century, including: 1) water withdrawal and consumption in the water-use sectors of domestic, thermoelectric power generation, and irrigation; 2) availability of surface water generated from local watershed runoff, accumulated from upstream areas, and artificially transferred from other basins. These data were derived from the projected changes in climate, population, energy structure, technology and water uses. These...

Flame geometry plays a key role in shaping fire behavior as it can influence flame spread, radiative heat transfer and fire intensity. For wildland fire, thorough characterizations of flame geometry can help advance the derivation of comprehensive models of wildfire behavior. Within the fire community, a classical flame modeling approach has been to develop semi-empirical models. Many of these models have been derived for surface fuels or for pool fire configurations. However, few have sought to model flame behavior in chaparral crown fires. Thus, the objective of this study is to assess...

British Columbia experienced three years with notably large and severe wildfires since 2015. Multiple stand-replacing wildfires occurred in coastal–transitional forests, where large fires are typically rare, and thus, information on post-fire carbon is lacking. Because of their carbon storage potential, coastal–transitional forests are important in the global carbon cycle. We examined differences in surface fuel carbon among fire severity classes in 2016, one year after the Boulder Creek fire, which burned 6 735 ha of coastal–transitional forests in 2015. Using remotely sensed indices...

Background Understanding the temporal patterns of fire occurrence and their relationships with fuel dryness is key to sound fire management, especially under increasing global warming. At present, no system for prediction of fire occurrence risk based on fuel dryness conditions is available in Mexico. As part of an ongoing national-scale project, we developed an operational fire risk mapping tool based on satellite and weather information. Results We demonstrated how differing monthly temporal trends in a fuel greenness index, dead ratio (DR), and fire density (FDI) can be clearly different...

A bird observatory is a research and education institution whose overall and primary mission is typically to provide information on the life history and conservation of birds. Originally known as the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO), this institution has survived and flourished since its founding more than 50 years ago. Known in later years as Point Blue Conservation Science, it has been led and staffed by a camaraderie of dedicated and inspired people. It has also provided important leadership in field ornithology and related fields of natural history, and most importantly, as a leader...

This study focuses on understanding the effect of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) on glass fber/epoxy interfacial interactions. The glass fbers (GF) were coated with solutions containing cellulose nanomaterial. The parameters that were investigated were the CNC surface chemistry, concentration, and dispersing medium, i.e., aqueous solution only versus emulsions. To determine the effect of the CNC coatings on the interfacial adhesion, specimens of a single GF in an epoxy matrix were prepared for GF coating by varying the coating formulations. The interfacial shear stress (IFSS) was determined...

It has been common practice to assume that a 2-parameter Weibull probability distribution is suitable for modeling lumber strength properties. Previous work has demonstrated theoreti-cally and empirically that the modulus of rupture (MOR) distribution of a visual grade of lumber or of lumber that has been binned by modulus of elasticity (MOE) is not a 2-parameter Weibull. Instead, the tails of the MOR distribution are thinned via pseudo-truncation. Simulations have established that fitting 2-parameter Weibulls to pseudo-truncated data via either full or cen-sored data methods can yield...

Sealants are critical components of building construction. They must prevent air and water leaks in the building envelope to prevent moisture damage and maintain comfort and energy efficiency. Simultaneously, they must absorb relative motion between the building components as materials expand and contract due to changes in environmental conditions. Repairing failed sealant is an expensive, labor-intensive operation. Common understanding is that sealants fail under tension as they age and stiffen. Experiments at the Forest Products Laboratory using outdoor exposure with movement, laboratory...

The Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) system has been further enhanced with an analytical engine—BayesFusion’s SMILE (Structural Modeling, Inference, and Learning Engine) that comes with the GeNIe (Graphical Network Interface) software—for creating Bayesian network (BN) models. BNs are graphical networks of variables linked by probabilities, that have proven useful in decision-aiding for risk analysis and risk management.