Treesearch

The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) established a Long Term Agroecosystem Research Network (LTAR) across 10 of its research locations, including some of its large watershed facilities, in 2012 and expanded that network to 18 locations in 2014.

Projections of budget deficits by the Congressional Budget Office imply ever-increasing pressure on federal spending for all purposes, including long-term watershed research. This presentation will argue that, since federal funding is ultimately a political decision, those responsible for maintaining long-term watershed research programs should not try to provide rigorous economic justification. Rather, the effort should recognize the natural human tendency to relate to the world through stories, and develop stories so that stakeholders can see their “stake” in supporting both ongoing and...

Water connects physical, biological, chemical, ecological, and economic forces across the landscape. While hydrologic processes and scientific investigations related to sustainable agricultural systems are based on universal principles, research to understand processes and evaluate management practices is often site-specific in order to achieve a critical mass of expertise and research infrastructure to address spatially, temporally, and ecologically complex systems.

Understanding anthropogenic and environmental controls on fluvial Mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation over global and national gradients can be challenging due to the need to integrate discrete-sample results from numerous small scale investigations. Two fundamental issues for such integrative Hg assessments are the wide range of basin scales for included studies and how well discrete samples capture the characteristically high temporal variability of fluvial biogeochemistry, seasonally and over shorter time spans.

With the growing fraction of the world’s forests being intensively managed plantations, these ecosystems will increasingly be relied upon to provide other ecosystemservices, in addition to merchantable timber. Schemes proposing the use of managed forests to mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon, however, are yet to be tested for feasibility and cost. In the current study we will review literature on forest responses to key climate and management factors on the inputs and outputs to the soil C pool in the context of expected changes under management. Recent global reviews indicate...

Mercury is the number one contaminant in surface waters of the U.S. because of health concerns for both humans and other animals when they consume fish.

As part of the regional PINEMAP (Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project) funded by the NIFA - USDA, we established a factorial study in McCurtain County, OK near Broken Bow. This study examined the effects of fertilization and ~30 percent reduction in throughfall on an seven-yearold loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation. The objective of this study was to determine effects of decreased water availability and fertilization on tree growth. We measured tree and stand development as well as a suite of ecophysiological variables. Tree growth was reduced in...

The Forest Service is currently revising the previous 1995 Forest Plan for the Francis Marion National Forest in Coastal South Carolina developed in the wake of Hurricane Hugo which devastated the forest in 1989. Since 1995, the human communities surrounding the Francis Marion National Forest have grown and changed significantly. The revised Francis Marion Forest Plan is being developed under the 2012 Forest Planning Rule. More information concerning the Francis Marion National Forest Plan Revision can be found at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/scnfs/landmanagement/planning.