Treesearch

Purpose of Review. The housing industry has long provided important markets for the higher-value hardwood lumber used in fixtures such as cabinets, flooring, and millwork. These markets have become even more important in the face of the decline in furniture manufacture in the USA. The importance of housing and other construction markets to the US hardwood industry is the focus of the current review. Recent Findings. The housing crisis that began in 2007 (from a construction data perspective) has had a profound impact on the hardwood industry by reducing demand for many products and...

We measured soil heating and subsequent changes in soil properties between two forest residue disposal methods: slash pile burning (SPB) and air curtain burner (ACB). The ACB consumes fuels more efficiently and safely via blowing air into a burning container. Five burning trials with different fuel sizes were implemented in northern California, USA. Soil temperature was measured at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 cm depth. Immediately after burning, soil samples from two depths (0-10 and 10-20 cm) and ash samples were collected for analyzing organic matter; carbon and nitrogen content; and calcium,...

An increasing number of threats, both natural (e.g. fires, drought) and anthropogenic (e.g. agriculture, infrastructure development), are likely to affect both availability and quality of plants that grouse rely on for cover and food. As such, there is an increasing need to monitor plants and their use by grouse over space and time to better predict how changes in habitat quality influence the behavior of grouse. We use the greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus to showcase how new technology can be used to advance our understanding of the ecology, behavior and conservation of...

Natural and managed ecosystems are undergoing rapid environmental change due to a growing human population and associated increases in industrial and agricultural activity. Global environmental change directly and indirectly impacts insect herbivores and pollinators. In this review, we highlight recent research examining how environmental change factors affect plant chemistry and, in turn, ecological interactions among plants, herbivores, and pollinators. Recent studies reveal the complex nature of understanding global change effects on plant secondary metabolites and plant-insect interacti...

This paper critically examines the temporal and spatial dynamics of adaptation in climate change science and explores how dynamic notions of 'place' elucidate novel ways of understanding community vulnerability and adaptation. Using data gathered from a narrative scenario-building process carried out among communities of the Big Hole Valley in Montana, the paper describes the role of 'place-making' and the 'politics of place' in shaping divergent future climate adaptation pathways. Drawing on a situated adaptation pathways framework and employing an iterative scenario building process,...

We fabricated cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) from different cellulose materials (bleached eucalyptus pulp (BEP), spruce dissolving pulp (SDP) and cotton based qualitative filter paper (QFP) using concentrated oxalic acid hydrolysis and subsequent mechanical fibrillation (for CNFs). The process was green as acid can easily be recovered, and the prepared cellulose nanomaterials were carboxylated and thermally stable. In detail, the CNC yield from the different materials was similar. After hydrolysis, the DP of the cellulose materials decreased substantially,...

The resilience of a National Forest Inventory and Monitoring sample design can sometimes depend upon the degree to which it can adapt to fluctuations in funding. If a budget reduction necessitates the observation of fewer plots per year, some practitioners weigh the problem as a tradeoff between reducing the total number of plots and measuring the original number of plots over a greater number of years. Here, we explore some of the effects of differing plot intensities and cycle lengths on variants of three general classes of estimators for annual cubic meter per hectare volume, using a...

This resource update provides an overview of the forest resources in Pennsylvania based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. Estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design and are updated yearly. Information about the national and regional FIA program is available online at https://fia.fs.fed.us. Since 2000, FIA has implemented an annual inventory in Pennsylvania. The 2016 estimates of current resource attributes, such as area, volume, and biomass, are based on...

This study maps the spatial and temporal evolution of acres irrigated in the Coastal Plain of Georgia over a 38 year period. The goal of this analysis is to create a time-series of irrigated areas in the Coastal Plain of Georgia at a sub-county level. From 1976 through 2013, Landsat images were obtained and sampled at four year intervals to manually detect Center-Pivot irrigation (CPI) systems in the analysis region. During the 38 year analysis period there was a 4,500 percent increase in CPI systems detected that corresponded to an approximate 2,000 percent increase in total acreage. The...

This publication provides an overview of the forest resources in Maine based upon inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. Information about the national and regional FIA program is available online at www.fia.fs.fed.us. Since 1999, FIA has implemented an annual inventory measuring 20 percent of sample plots each year. For the 2016 inventory, estimates for current variables, such as area, volume, and biomass, are based on 3,527 plots inventoried from 2012–2016. Change variables, such as net growth,...