Treesearch

Two studies were conducted in the Springfield Plateau province of the Arkansas Ozarks from 2009 to 2014 incorporating the applied silvicultural methods proven beneficial to promote oak natural reproduction. The first study, River Hills, was a completely randomized design with treatments including: partial overstory removal to basal area 50 (BA50), partial overstory removal to basal area 50 plus mid-story removal (BA50+MR), and a non-harvest control (NHC). An additional treatment was applied in early 2013 involving a prescribed burn of the BA50 and BA50+MR treatments. Prior to the prescribed...

Prescribed fire and thinning are two primary tools for restoring overgrown oak and oak-pine woodlands in Missouri. We wanted to examine woodland restoration efforts and determine if we were meeting our goals of promoting herbaceous ground flora cover and richness. We examined herbaceous responses to fire at two restoration sites in the Missouri Ozarks. At the first research site (Fourche Creek), we compared ground flora responses following fall and spring burning. At the second site (Rocky Creek), we examined ground flora responses following harvest treatments and three prescribed fires....

Soil fertility is one of the most important, yet least understood aspects of forest ecosystems. Study of soil fertility in forest ecosystems is complicated by the complex relationship between soil properties and stand productivity and immense variability in properties and characteristics of soils within relatively small geographic areas. Furthermore, the deep rooting systems of trees, which are capable of exploring soil throughout the soil profile, complicates the relationship between soil properties and stand productivity (Landsberg and others 2003, Dye and others 2004). Due to these...

Generalist plant pathogens may have wide host ranges, but many exhibit varying degrees of host specialization, with multiple pathogen races that have narrower host ranges. These races are often genetically distinct, with each race causing highest disease incidence on its host of origin. We examined host specialization in the seed pathogen Pyrenophora semeniperda by reciprocally inoculating pathogen strains from Bromus tectorum and from four other winter annual grass weeds (Bromus diandrus, Bromus rubens, Bromus arvensis and Taeniatherum caput-medusae) onto dormant seeds of B. tectorum and...

Greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus populations across North America have been declining due to degradation and fragmentation of sagebrush habitat. As part of a study quantifying greater sage-grouse demographics prior to construction of a wind energy facility, we estimated apparent net nest productivity and survival rate of chicks associated with radio-equipped female sage-grouse in Carbon County, Wyoming, USA. We estimated apparent net nest productivity using a weighted mean of the average brood size and used a modified logistic-exposure method to estimate daily chick survival...

Alabama is currently the southern limit of the range of eastern hemlock [Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere]. In 2012, several well preserved stumps were excavated from a farm located in Notasulga, Alabama (32 º 33” 6’ N; 85º 40” 22’ W). Even though they were buried in a saturated soil for approximately 1,500 years, the stumps were remarkably well preserved. The low-density wood from one stump was identified as hemlock (Tsuga spp.) due to presence of piceoid, cross-field pitting. We assume the excavated stump was eastern hemlock. Uncorrected carbon dating of one sample was 1580 radiocarbon...

Granivorous rodent populations in deserts are primarily regulated through precipitation-driven resource pulses rather than pulses associated with mast-seeding, a pattern more common in mesic habitats. We studied heteromyid responses to mast-seeding in the desert shrub blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima), a regionally dominant species in the Mojave–Great Basin Desert transition zone. In a 5-year study at Arches National Park, Utah, USA, we quantified spatiotemporal variation in seed resources in mast and intermast years in blackbrush-dominated and mixed desert vegetation and measured...

The mean global climate has warmed as a result of the increasing emission of greenhouse gases induced by human activities. This warming is considered the main reason for the increasing number of extreme precipitation events in the US. While much attention has been given to extreme precipitation events occurring over several days, which are usually responsible for severe flooding over a large region, little is known about how extreme precipitation events that cause flash flooding and occur at sub-daily time scales have changed over time. Here we use the observed hourly precipitation from...

Variability in historic fire regimes in eastern North America resulted in an array of oak savannas, woodlands and forests that were dominant vegetation types throughout the region. In the past century, once abundant woodlands have become scarce due to conversion to agriculture, or development of forest structure in the absence of fire. Restoration of oak woodlands is a primary goal for land management agencies and conservation organizations. Although oak woodlands can be restored with a long-term regimen of prescribed burning, a combination of prescribed burning, timber harvesting and...

Although drought is recognized as an important and overarching driver of ecosystem change, its occurrence and effects have been difficult to describe over large geographic areas (Hogg and others 2008, Panu and Sharma 2002).