Treesearch

This case study was developed as part of a larger, interdisciplinary research project to assess the social, hydrological, and ecological effects of beaver-related watershed restoration approaches in rangeland streams of the Western United States. It is one of five case studies being undertaken to investigate the social context of beaver-related restoration in western rangelands. The Scott River basin in northern California is the first place in the state where watershed restoration using beaver dam analogues (BDAs, instream post and vegetation-weave structures that mimic natural beaver...

The development of electronic-nose (e-nose) technologies for disease diagnostics was initiated in the biomedical field for detection of biotic (microbial) causes of human diseases during the mid-1980s. The use of e-nose devices for disease-diagnostic applications subsequently was extended to plant and animal hosts through the invention of new gas-sensing instrument types and disease-detection methods with sensor arrays developed and adapted for additional host types and chemical classes of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) closely associated with individual diseases. Considerable progress...

This report presents a summary of the most recent Forest Inventory and Analysis data of Idaho’s forests based on field data collected between 2006 and 2015. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, numbers of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, and removals. Most sections and tables are organized by forest type or forest-type group, tree species group, diameter class, or owner group. Results show that Idaho’s forest land covers 21.6 million acres, of which 3 million acres (14 percent) are privately owned, and another 16.3 million acres (76 percent) are administe...

National forest planning and management traditionally have involved addressing a broad spectrum of natural resource issues and ecological conditions to comply with forest management regulations and policies. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service issued a new forest planning rule requiring that national forests and grasslands identify and evaluate information on the ecosystem services provided by plan areas from which people benefit as part of the plan assessment phase of plan revision. Specifically, planning teams are directed now to identify “key” ecosystem services...

Wildfire ecosystems are thought to be self-regulated through pattern–process interactions between ignition frequency and location, and patterns of burned and recovering vegetation. Yet, recent increases in the frequency of large wildfires call into question the application of self-organization theory to landscape resilience. Topography represents a stable bottom-up template upon which fire interacts as both a physical and an ecological process. However, it is unclear how topographic control changes geographically and across spatial scales. We analyzed fire perimeter and topography data...

Cherrybark oak is a highly desirable hardwood species across the southeastern United States. Silvicultural techniques for establishment have been carefully studied, but advances in tree improvement have yet to be realized. Cherrybark oak seedlings of genetically improved and unimproved stock were tested in field plantings in southern Arkansas and in a controlled pot study for root pruning effects. After 2 years, initial growth advantages of improved stock were no longer present; however, improved stock averaged 19 percent higher survival compared with unimproved seedlings. The improved...

Morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies of true morels (Morchella) in North America, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru led to the discovery of four undescribed species of Morchella. Two new species in the Elata clade, one from the Dominican Republic, initially distinguished by the informal designation Mel-18, and a newly discovered sister species from northern Arizona, are now recognized. Mel-18 is described as a novel phylogenetically distinct species, M. hispaniolensis. Its sister species from Arizona is described as M. kaibabensis, also recovered as an...

Artificial pollination of black walnut (Juglans nigra L.) is not practical and timber breeders have historically utilized only open-pollinated half-sib families. An alternate approach called "breeding without breeding," consists of genotyping open-pollinated progeny using DNA markers to identify paternal parents and then constructing full-sib families. In 2014, we used 12 SSR markers to genotype 884 open-pollinated half-sib progeny harvested from two clonal orchards containing 206 trees, comprised of 52 elite timber selections. Seed was harvested in 2011 from each of two ramets of 23...

The effects of forest thinning and wood quality on wood decomposition in the mineral soil were investigated in a Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis Carriére) plantation in northern China by measuring mass loss and changes in wood properties (carbohydrates, lignin and nitrogen (N) concentrations) in wood stakes of two tree species - loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.). Stakes were inserted to a 20 cm soil depth in stands with three thinning levels (low, moderate, and heavy) and an unharvested control and removed after 1 year. There were significant...

Water crises - defined as significant declines in water quality and quantity - top the global risks list compiled by the World Economic Forum (2015) that have the greatest potential impacts on society. Vegetation fires are amongst the most hydrologically significant landscape disturbances (Ebel & Mirus, 2014) and affect ~4% of the global vegetated land surface annually (Giglio, Randerson, & van der Werf, 2013). Fire‐prone or fire‐managed ecosystems (forests, grass‐, and peatlands) also provide ~60% of the water supply for the world's 100 largest cities (Martin, 2016). Accordingly, fire is...