Treesearch

Much like other scientific endeavours, most fire research is conducted either within individual disciplines - fuels, physics, chemistry, ecology, modelling, and so forth - or, at best, across only two or three disciplines. This is primarily because fire scientists have particular areas of expertise and most collaborations are between scientists within that expertise. Although this approach often leads to significant discoveries, the lack of co-located, multi-scale measurements of pre-fire fuels, active fire processes and post-fire effects hinders our ability to tackle fundamental questions...

It is unlikely all male sage-grouse are detected during lek counts, which could complicate the use of lek counts as an index to population abundance. Understanding factors that influence detection probabilities will allow managers to more accurately estimate the number of males present on leks. We fitted 410 males with global positioning system and very high frequency transmitters, and uniquely identifiable legbands over 4 years in Carbon County, Wyoming. We counted male sage-grouse using commonly used lekcount protocols and evaluated variables associated with our ability to detect marked...

Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) is one of the most aggressive invasive species in the southern forestlands of United States. To explore the stem taper of tallow, outside-and-inside bark stem profile equations were fitted using Max and Burkhart (1976), Cao (2009) modified Max and Burkhart, andClark, Souter, and Schlaegel (1991) segmented polynomial models. Sample trees were collected from oak-gumcypress (Quercus/Liquidambar styraciflua/Taxodium distichum) and longleaf/slash pine (Pinus taeda/ Pinus echinata) forests in southern Mississippi using destructive sampling method. Results...

During an investigation into southern pine decline at Fort Benning Georgia, the possibility of wild pigs (Sus scrofa) as an inciting factor became evident. Their rooting activity caused significant root damage on sites showing symptoms of pine decline. It was thought that perhaps the pigs may be moving around pathogenic fungi during their rooting activity in Pinus taeda (loblolly pine) stands. In 2008 and 2010, fungal isolates were obtained from the snouts of wild pigs captured from these stands, as well as, from root-feeding bark beetles and roots sampled 2003-2005. Micromorphology and...

Post-logging sites were historically assumed to provide unfavorable habitat for songbirds. Timber harvests have always been important for species that require disturbances, but while most studies focus on clearcuts, few examine the harvesting methods ranging between clearcutting and undisturbed forests; such as those created with shelterwood prescriptions. We studied breeding bird community response to different basal area retention levels during the second stage of a two-stage shelterwood harvest, 12 and 13 years postinitial harvest. Study sites were located in an upland hardwood forest...

Southern Pine Decline is a cause of premature mortality of Pinus species in the Southeastern United States. While the pathogenicity of ophiostomatoid fungi, associated with declining Pinus species, has been observed both in the laboratory and the field the driving mechanisms for success of fungal infection, as well as the bark-beetle vectors is less understood. The goal of this research is to provide insight into the role of future climatic conditions, specifically elevated tropospheric ozone and altered precipitation patterns, in the progression of Southern Pine Decline on loblolly pine...

The southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) is a bark beetle that is native to the Southern United States, including Tennessee. The beetle is periodically epidemic and can cause high levels of mortalityduring epidemic years, particularly in dense or aging pine (Pinus spp.) stands. An epidemic outbreak of the Southern pine beetle occurred in 1999-2001. By 2001, at the peak of the epidemic, 55 counties in Tennessee were in outbreak status. Subsequent estimations suggest that over 350,000 acres of pine timber in the State were affected by the outbreak, causing hundreds of millions of...

Oak decline has been a problem in forests of the Ozark Highlands (OzH) for decades. It has impacted upland oak-hickory forests, particularly species in the red oak group (Quercus section Lobatae) across the Ozark Highlands of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The oak decline complex is often described in terms of predisposing factors, inciting factors, and contributing factors. Drought is a common inciting factor in oak decline, while advanced tree age is considered a predisposing factor, and opportunistic organisms such as armillaria root fungi and wood boring insects are believed to...

First-year seeding survival has been a continuing problem since the start of commercial pine plantation forestry in the 1950s. First-year survival of bare-root loblolly pine seedlings on intensively prepared sites in Louisiana has maintained a survival plateau between 79 to 89 percent with an average of about 82 percent. The specific objectives of this study were to identify seedling and microsite quality distributions in a current plantation, and evaluate a conceptual model explaining the plateau in first-year seedling survival. The study was approached with a conceptual model simulation...

Southern pine tree improvement programs have been in operation in the southeastern United States since the 1950s. Their goal has been to improve volume growth, tree form, disease resistance, and wood quality in southern pines, particularly slash pine (Pinus elliottii) and loblolly pine (P. taeda). The disease of focus has been fusiform rust, which is caused by the fungus Cronartium quercum f. sp. fusiforme. Prior to the 1930s, fusiform rust existed at endemic levels across the region, but following changes in forest management practices during the 1950s and 1960s, the disease increased to...