Treesearch

The application of functional traits to predict and explain plant species’ distributions and vital rates has been a major direction in functional ecology for decades, yet numerous physiological traits have not yet been incorporated into the approach. Using commonly measured traits such as leaf mass per area (LMA) and wood density (WD), and additional traits related to water transport, gas exchange and resource economics, including leaf vein, stomatal and wilting traits, we tested hypotheses for Hawaiian wet montane and lowland dry forests (MWF and LDF, respectively): (1) Forests would...

The southern Appalachian Mountains have experienced rapid human population growth rates since the 1980s. Land used practices are shifting from rural to residential. The majority of development has been low density, and is often near biologically diverse areas such as National Forests and National Parks. The long-term effects of urbanization in the southeastern Appalachian Mountains are not clearly understood and even less is known with respect to stream salamander response to urbanization. In order to determine the temporal influence of exurban housing on southern Appalachian streams we...

Stoichiometric ratios of resources and consumers have been used to predict nutrient limitation across diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In forested headwater streams, coarse and fine benthic organic matter (CBOM, FBOM) are primary basal resources for the food web, and the distribution and quality of these organic matter resources may therefore influence patterns of secondary production and nutrient cycling within stream networks or among biomes. We measured carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) content of CBOM and FBOM and calculated their stoichiometric ratios (C/N, C/P,...

Zero-order basins are common features of soil-mantled landscapes, defined as unchanneled basins at the head of a drainage network. Their geometry and volume control how quickly sediment may reaccumulate after landslide evacuation and, more broadly, zero order basins govern the movement of water and sediment from hillslopes to the fluvial network. They also deliver water and sediment to the uppermost portions of the fluvial network. Despite this role as the moderator between hillslope and fluvial processes, little analysis on their morphology has been conducted at the landscape scale. We...

Little is known about the genetically distinct southern strain of Salvelinus fontinalis Mitchell (Brook Charr), a species that is likely to be negatively affected by global climate change at the southern extent of its range. We tagged 35 Southern Brook Charr between March and October of 2011 and sampled for movements in May and October 2011 and May 2012. The study site in Ball Creek, NC, was 330 m long, and we sampled 2 ancillary 50-m sites located 300 m above and below the site boundaries. We recaptured a total of 12 fish: 10 fish once, 1 fish twice, and another fish 3 times for a total...

The William B. Bankhead National Forest in northcentral Alabama is using active management to shift mixed Quercus-Pinus forests toward forests more dominated by upland hardwoods. We studied the impact of three levels of thinning (none, light thin, and heavy thin) and three levels of prescribed fire (none, infrequent fire, and frequent fire) and all combinations in a factorial experimental design to assess overstory (trees >5.5 inches d.b.h.) mortality. All burns were conducted during the dormant season. In all 36 treatment stands, we surveyed five permanent vegetation plots before treatment...

The Earth's climate has been changing rapidly since the mid-twentieth century and this has consequences for all living organisms. Last year's State of the World's Plants focused on how these climate impacts are already affecting vascular plants across the globe and how they are likely to affect them in the future. This chapter provides a broad overview of the current status of knowledge of how fungi are responding to climate change and how their ecological functions and interactions may affect ecosystem responses to current and future change.

In the US, codified seismic design procedure requires the use of seismic performance factors which are currently not available for CLT shear wall systems. The study presented herein focuses on the determination of seismic design factors for CLT shear walls in platform type construction using the FEMA P-695 process. Results from the study will be proposed for implementation in the seismic design codes in the US. The project approach is outlined and selected results of full-scale shear wall testing are presented and discussed. Archetype development, which is required as part of the FEMA...

DNA barcoding has been proposed as a useful tool for forensic wood identification and development of a reliable DNA reference library is an essential first step. Xylaria (wood collections) are potentially enormous data repositories if DNA information could be extracted from wood specimens. In this study, 31 xylarium wood specimens and 8 leaf specimens of six important commercial species of Pterocarpus were selected to investigate the reliability of DNA barcodes for authentication at the species level and to determine the feasibility of building wood DNA barcode reference libraries from...