Treesearch

As vital components of the global carbon cycle, forest ecosystems play an important role in sustainable forest management. With the new data collected and recent development of carbon equations in the region, there is a need to update the essential quantitative information about forest carbon for monitoring these vulnerable populations and making appropriate management decisions. This study aims to quantify stand-level aboveground live carbon using an alternative method among different national forests and parks in the southern Appalachian region. Hybrid models with linear mixed model and...

The expansion of African mahogany (Khaya spp.) plantations in Brazil has led to an increase in the number of associated insect pests. Here we report the first instances of defoliating caterpillars [Glena bipennaria bipennaria (Guenée) (Geometridae) and Apatelodes pandara Druce (Apatelodidae)] on commercial stands of African mahogany in Brazil, specifically Khaya grandifoliola C. DC. and Khaya senegalensis (Desr.) A. Juss. Glena b. bipennaria was the dominant defoliator in all stands, with A. pandara only found in K. senegalensis stands. We provide data on seasonal development, defoliation...

The United States national forest inventory (NFI) serves as the foundation for forest aboveground biomass (AGB) and carbon accounting across the nation. These data enable design-based estimates of forest carbon stocks and stock-changes at state and regional levels, but also serve as inputs to model-based approaches for characterizing forest carbon stocks and stock-changes at finer spatial and temporal resolutions. Although NFI tree and plot-level data are often treated as truth in these models, they are in fact estimates based on regional species-group models and parameters known collective...

This document contains abstracts and papers of the oral and poster presentations offered at the 32nd USDA Interagency Research Forum on Invasive Species held in Annapolis, MD, in January 2024. The forum, sponsored by the Forest Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and Agricultural Research Service, illustrates the depth and breadth of studies supported by the agencies and their cooperators.

The USDA Forest Service supports research to promote forest health and protect trees from damaging agents, such as insects and disease. The Northern Research Station of the Forest Service collaborates with many partners to conduct research at local to international scales that offers insights and solutions to challenging forest health issues and helps meet unmet forest health needs. In 2024, the Northern Research Station published 65 publications related to forest health. This document reprints the abstracts for each publication and the 2023 regional forest health goals, threats, and needs...

Areas with landform characteristics that lead to more rapid runoff may be more vulnerable to increases in flood flows from more intense rainfall in the future. Those characteristics include fine-grained soils, low storage in lakes and wetlands, steep slopes, and high drainage densities. Landform characteristics that attenuate runoff include coarse-grained soils, high storage, gentle terrain, and low drainage densities. Groundwater recharge tends to be a dominant hydrologic process in such areas. Landtype associations (LTAs) are ecological units that relate closely with characteristics...

Background: Pollinators are declining due to habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. Fire may be an effective management tool for enhancing pollinator habitat in fire-maintained ecosystems. Many studies have demonstrated that fire can promote understory plant biodiversity and cover, but considerably less is known about the effects of fire on floral abundance and pollinators, particularly in mixed-oak forests of the eastern USA. Our goal was to assess the long-term effects of repeated prescribed fire on floral abundance and the abundance of bumble bees, a globally important group of...

A new population of the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky), an invasive species in North America since 1996, was discovered in Charleston County, South Carolina, in 2020. This population is the furthest south Asian longhorned beetle has established in North America. Previous models only estimate development time at this latitude; as such, we examined Asian longhorned beetle phenology in this novel climate. Over 24 consecutive months, we collected 153 eggs, 878 larvae, 37 pupae, and 1 unemerged adult (1,009 total specimens) from the federal quarantine zone in...

While research has documented clear regional differences in environmental attitudes and behaviors, less is understood about the role of shared moral values in shaping these variations. This gap poses a critical challenge to designing effective climate action strategies. Many environmental initiatives rely on “moral framing” to promote proenvironmental behavior, often targeting specific geographical areas like cities or counties. However, these strategies may falter if they fail to account for the unique moral landscapes that shape climate beliefs and actions in different regions. To...

Climate change affects nearly every aspect of the interdependent biophysical and social systems in California’s Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Mitigating and adapting to these effects will require effective climate governance: referring to the actors, rules, and processes through which decisions are made to prevent and respond to climate change. How governance systems effectively achieve these goals has become an increasingly central question in climate social science and climate policy debates, both at global and local scales. This paper reviews the state of science on climate governance...