Treesearch

Numerous studies have investigated the impact social media has had on business performance. However, until recently, there has been limited research regarding social media in the U.S. wood products industry. In 2013, a mail survey was conducted to investigate the use of social media as a marketing tool and to examine the factors affecting its use in the wood products industry. Although this research yielded valuable information, the consumer side of social media use was not studied. Thus, a follow-up study was conducted in 2017 through an online survey to determine how social media...

Following decades of absence, the gray wolf (Canis lupus) has recolonized much of the northern Great Lakes region from Canada and remnant populations in northern Minnesota. The wolf population in Michigan's Upper Peninsula may now be reaching saturation, with evidence that some dispersing individuals have traversed the Straits of Mackinac during ice-over winter conditions indicating potential recolonization of northern Lower Michigan. While previous research suggests suitable habitat exists in northern Lower Michigan to support a small wolf population, habitat availability at other...

We investigated the influence of hoop-net trap size on number and size of captures for comparatively large (Chelydra serpentina [Snapping Turtle]) and small (Chrysemys picta [Painted Turtle]) freshwater turtle species. We trapped turtles at 32 ponds throughout West Virginia in the summers of 2016 and 2017, with each pond sampled for 5 consecutive days using five 0.91-m–diameter and five 0.76-m–diameter baited hoop-net traps. We captured a total of 98 and 283 unique Snapping Turtles and Painted Turtles, respectively. Larger-diameter traps captured more Snapping Turtles and smaller-diameter...

For Gabriel Frey, making baskets from brown ash trees (Fraxinus nigra Marshall; also known as black ash) is a source of interwoven values of family, culture, identity, and income. Among these values, basket making plays a pivotal role in his young family's livelihood. Poverty levels are high in Penobscot County, Maine, USA, where he, his wife, and two small children live. In such rural corners of North America, people have long worked multiple jobs, often without quite meeting their basic needs. Gabriel works as a massage therapist to have a consistent paycheck that puts food on the table....

The extent to which ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi enable plants to access organic nitrogen (N) bound in soil organic matter (SOM) and transfer this growth-limiting nutrient to their plant host, has important implications for our understanding of plant–fungal interactions, and the cycling and storage of carbon (C) and N in terrestrial ecosystems. Empirical evidence currently supports a range of perspectives, suggesting that ECM vary in their ability to provide their host with N bound in SOM, and that this capacity can both positively and negatively influence soilCstorage. To help resolve the...

Rehabilitation of cutover stands is often a management objective of landowners who desire improved stand conditions and increased value from future harvest revenues. We evaluated crop tree growth response and quality following precommercial rehabilitation treatments in mixedwood stands degraded through repeated exploitive cutting in Maine, USA. Treatments included control (no rehabilitation), moderate rehabilitation (crop tree release), and intensive rehabilitation (crop tree release plus timber stand improvement). Paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.), red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.),...

Increases in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability are changing animal communities, partly by altering stoichiometric imbalances between consumers and their food. Testing relationships between resource stoichiometry and consumer assemblage structure requires ecosystem-level manipulations that have been lacking to date. We analysed patterns of macroinvertebrate community composition in five detritus-based headwater streams subject to experimental whole-stream N and P additions that spanned a steep gradient in dissolved N:P ratio (2:1, 8:1, 16:1, 32:1, 128:1) over 2 years, following a...

Compared to the extensive research on aquatic ecosystems, very little is known about the sources and trophic transfer of methylmercury (MeHg) in terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we examine energy flow and trophic structure using stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios, respectively, and MeHg levels in basal resources and terrestrial invertebrates from four temperate forest ecosystems. We show that MeHg levels in biota increased significantly (p < 0.01) with δ13C and δ15N at all sites, implying the importance of both microbially processed diets (with increased δ13C)...

The marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) is a threatened coastal bird that feeds on fish and nests in old-growth forests. In northwest Washington, murrelet populations are declining despite protections provided by the Northwest Forest Plan. Wildlife biologists Martin Raphael and Tom Bloxton, with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, used radio telemetry—the first study of its kind in Washington—to develop a detailed picture of the challenges faced by marbled murrelets. Teresa Lorenz analyzed the resulting data to gain further insights into the ecology of these...

In the Gulf of Mexico coastal region, prescribed fire has been increasingly used as a management tool to restore declining native ecosystems, but it also increases the threat posed by biological invasion, since the treated sites are more susceptible to invasive species such as Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera). We chose Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge (MSCNWR), a fire-managed landscape, to examine the potential effect of prescribed fire and landscape/community features on tallow invasion and spread. We took a complete survey of roadways and fire lines for tallow and...