Treesearch

Juan A. Torres-Negron (Juan Torres) studied ants, wasps, termites and other insect groups. I reviewed 34 of his publications and grouped them into six subjects: ecological theory, taxonomy, chemistry, ecology, synthesis, and commentaries. Juan Torres used empirical fieldwork, keen observations, and experimentation to advance the understanding of ant taxonomy and ecology in Puerto Rico. His taxonomic work involved the description of new species and genera of various insect groups, as well as revisions of taxonomic groups, and other observations of the ecology and behavior of rare taxa. Juan...

We examine the influence of wildfire institutions on management and forest resilience over time, drawing on research from a multiownership, frequent-fire, coupled human and natural system (CHANS) in the eastern Cascades of Oregon, USA. We constructed social-ecological histories of the study area’s three main landowner groups (national forest, private corporate, and tribal) using a historical framework (1905–2010). Our findings highlight two infrequently recognized linkages of multiownership, frequentfire CHANS: (1) informal institutions (e.g., cultural norms, knowledge system and fire...

We utilize the NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke product for the period of 2005 to 2016 to develop climatology of smoke occurrence over the Continental United States (CONUS) region and to study the impact of wildland fires on particulate matter air quality at the surface. Our results indicate that smoke is most frequently found over the Great Plains and western states during the summer months. Other hotspots of smoke occurrence are found over state and national parks in the southeast during winter and spring, in the Gulf of Mexico southwards of the Texas and Louisiana coastline during...

Background: The movement behavior of an animal is determined by extrinsic and intrinsic factors that operate at multiple spatio-temporal scales, yet much of our knowledge of animal movement comes from studies that examine only one or two scales concurrently. Understanding the drivers of animal movement across multiple scales is crucial for understanding the fundamentals of movement ecology, predicting changes in distribution, describing disease dynamics, and identifying efficient methods of wildlife conservation and management. Methods: We obtained over 400,000 GPS locations of wild pigs...

Knowledge of population density is necessary for effective management and conservation of wildlife, yet rarely are estimators compared in their robustness to effects of ecological and observational processes, which can greatly influence accuracy and precision of density estimates. In this study, we simulate biological and observational processes using empirical data to assess effects of animal scale of movement, true population density, and probability of detection on common density estimators. We also apply common data collection and analytical techniques in the field and evaluate their...

As a result of substantial ecological and economic damage attributed to wild pigs (Sus scrofa), there is international interest in using pharmaceutical baits to control populations. To assess the efficacy and specificity of baiting programs, chemical biomarkers can be used to evaluate uptake of pharmaceutical baits. Rhodamine B (RB) is known to be an effective biomarker in wild pigs. However, significant data gaps exist regarding the minimum effective dosage and persistence of RB in wild pigs. We used a controlled double‐blind study experiment conducted in spring of 2014 on the Savannah...

Effects of cypress knee roughness on flow resistance and discharge estimates of the Turkey Creek watershed. In this study effects of cypress knees as vegetation resistance factor on Turkey Creek watershed discharge calculation were analyzed. The Turkey Creek watershed is a 3rd order stream system draining an approximate area of 5,240 ha. It is located at 33°08' N latitude and 79°47' W longitude, approximately 60 km north-west of City of Charleston in South Carolina (USA). Turkey Creek (WS 78) is typical of other watersheds in the south Atlantic coastal plain. In the case of Turkey Creek...

Quantifying species-habitat relationships provides guidance for establishment of recovery standards for endangered species, but research on forest bird habitat has been limited by availability of fine-grained forest structure data across broad extents. New tools for collection of data on forest bird response to fine-grained forest structure provide opportunities to evaluate habitat thresholds for forest birds. We used LiDAR-derived estimates of habitat attributes and resource selection to evaluate foraging habitat thresholds for recovery of the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker...

Current research has shown that urban trees can contribute significantly to stormwater volume control by retaining rainfall in the canopy of trees and increasing infiltration. The potential role of urban trees for stormwater design was evaluated at a proof-of-concept level for a planning study of part of the University of Wisconsin (UW)—Madison campus in 2016. There is currently no regulatory stormwater performance credit for trees in Wisconsin, and the effects of urban trees are not simulated by WinSLAMM or other common design models. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate a simple...

The consistent sporadic transmission of West Nile Virus (WNV) in the city of New Orleans justifies the need for distribution risk maps highlighting human risk of mosquito bites. We modeled the influence of biophysical and socioeconomic metrics on the spatio-temporal distributions of presence/vector-host contact (VHC) ratios of WNV vector, Culex quinquefasciatus, within their flight range. Biophysical and socioeconomic data were extracted within 5-km buffer radii around sampling localities of gravid female Culex quinquefasciatus. The spatio-temporal correlations between VHC data and 33...