Treesearch

Deadwood is a critical component of forest ecosystems, storing nutrients for plants and serving as a carbon store and emission source. Climate change influences forest ecosystem dynamics with the potential for deadwood to emit carbon more rapidly due to accelerated decay and increased wildfires and increased inputs via mass forest mortality and disturbance events. To objectively inform our understanding of wildfires and associated carbon emissions, this study estimates the carbon content of dead fine woody debris (FWD) using multimodal data, such as Landsat-8 multispectral imagery,...

Non-native invasive plants cause significant ecological impacts to forests while requiring costly management interventions. We used data from Nationwide Forest Inventory plots to assess the extent and recent patterns of invasion by problematic non-native plants across United States forests at multiple scales (county, regional, and national). We estimated the proportion of forests that have been invaded and calculated the mean plot-level richness of invasive plant species during two recent inventory periods (ca. 2010 and 2018). We found that ∼99.5 million ha of forest have been invaded by...

With the development of cellulose nanofibril (CNF)-based adsorbents, the influence of particle size on adsorption capability has become increasingly recognized. In this study, endoglucanase FiberCare® was utilized to decrease fibril size of TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TCNFs) without changing carboxyl groups content of the resulting TCNFs. Average fibril length decreased by 27.3% (from 508.7 nm to 369.4 nm) after enzymatic hydrolysis for 12 h and further decreased by 35.4% (to 328.2 nm) after 24 h. Meanwhile, the average fibril diameter decreased 20.2% (from 56.8±16.3 to 45.3±14.3)...

Temperate grasslands such as the North American tallgrass prairie are among the most endangered terrestrial ecosystems due to changes in climate and land-use practices. While belowground responses of terrestrial ecosystems to perturbations have received greater attention in recent years, there is a dearth of long-term studies documenting changes over decadal scales. The current study addresses the long-term effects of fire (annual burning or fire exclusion), mowing, and nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization on the structure and composition of a tallgrass prairie nematode community...

The interfacial properties of the organic fraction of biomass burning aerosols (BBA), such as the critical micelle concentration (CMC) and surfactant composition, may vary based on the origin and moisture content of the fuel and the resulting combustion conditions. Surfactant composition, fraction of total particle mass, surface tension minimums, and CMC values of organics extracted from fresh and aged BBA produced using fuel beds from Georgia ecoregions (Piedmont, Coastal Plain, and Blue Ridge) and with fuel moisture contents representative of prescribed fires or drought-induced wildfires...

This study investigated the speciation and aqueous dissolution of macronutrients in fire ash from diverse ecosystems and speciation of ash and smoke from laboratory burning, exploring the variations and their causes. The speciation of phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), and potassium (K) in fire ash from five globally distributed ecosystems was characterized by using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and sequential fractionation. Aqueous dissolution of the macronutrients was measured by batch experiments at acidic and alkaline pHs. The results showed that P existed mainly as Ca phosphates, Ca as...

Managers of northern hardwood forests in the Great Lakes region create gaps in the forest canopy of various sizes during harvesting to achieve different silvicultural objectives. Single-tree harvesting favors recruitment of shade-tolerant tree species by creating small gaps in the canopy, whereas group selection creates larger gaps that can favor shade-intolerant tree species. We evaluated changes in carabid beetle abundance and diversity in harvest-created gaps of five sizes (gap diameters of 6, 10, 20, 30, and 46 m) and uncut forests in northern Wisconsin where sugar maple (Acer saccharum...

Over 7,000 caddisfly specimens, representing 33 species in 10 families, were collected between sunset and sunrise on 12 nights: three nights each during early July and early August in both 2023 and 2024. Collections were made on the southwestern side of Drummond Island along the shoreline of Lake Huron. Sampling occurred for five minutes at 15-minute intervals from near sunset (21:00) to 01:00 and then once again at 03:00 and 05:00. Nocturnal flight periodicity was broadly similar between years and months, with mean caddisfly abundance and species richness peaking at about one hour after...

Pelletizing enhances competitiveness of lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) as a fuel by increasing its bulk and energy density. However, LCB pellets are prone to degradation from moisture, have high ash, and pose safety risks due to carbon monoxide (CO) emissions during storage. Hot water extraction (HWE), a mild hydrothermal treatment particularly effective for angiosperms, removes most hemicelluloses (xylans), reduces ash, and increases lignin content in remaining HWE-LCB. Based on the current understanding of CO formation, these changes suggested that HWE could reduce CO emissions. In this...

The readership of ACS ES&T Air is undoubtedly familiar with the profound impacts of wildland-fire smoke on air quality and climate. It may be less familiar with the crucial role that wildland fires play in maintaining the ecological health of many forest types (McLauchlan et al., 2020). Wildland fires are generally categorized into wildfires and prescribed fires. On one hand, wildfires are unplanned wildland fires that occur either naturally or due to accidental or malicious human ignition. On the other hand, prescribed fires are wildland fires that are ignited intentionally to rejuvenate...