Treesearch

Human activities have become important influences on the fluvial systems of eastern North America since post-colonial settlement. This research identifies post-settlement anthropic signatures in alluvial sediments in the Upper Little Tennessee River, USA. Agricultural and mining activities were scattered and discontinuous in this relatively remote region of the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains. We compared physical and chemical characteristics of sediments in post-settlement and pre-settlement stratigraphic units at three separate sites. Chronologies were calculated using non-linear power...

Parcelization and forest fragmentation are of concern for ecological, economic, and social reasons. Efforts to keep large, private forests intact may be supported by a decision-making process that incorporates landowners’ objectives and uncertainty. We used structured decision making (SDM) with owners of large, private forests in Macon County, North Carolina. Macon County has little land use regulation and a history of discordant, ineffective attempts to address land use and development. We worked with landowners to define their objectives, identify decision options for forest management,...

This paper presents a place-based examination of the timing and long-term pedogenic effects of human-induced forest to pasture conversion in the French western Pyrenees Mountains, Basque commune of Larrau. We analyzed colluvial stratigraphic sections to derive the chronology of landscape change using radiocarbon dating, charcoal concentrations, magnetic susceptibility, and n-alkanes to reveal when forests were replaced by pastures (largely by intentional use of fire). In addition, we compared properties of native forest soils to those of adjacent long-term pastures using a paired t-test...

Historically, results of surveys conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service were conveyed in printed reports, featuring text, tables and static figures. Since the advent of the Internet and with the ubiquity of mobile smart devices, technology has changed how people consume information, as well as how they experience and interact with the world. Web applications, such as the ESRI Story Map Journal© which serves as a confluence for embedded text, maps, images and other dynamic content, provide a platform from which a user can point and click to...

Benjamin Franklin once said “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” It is with that in mind that the Southern Research Station (SRS) Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program jumps feet first into exploring alternative methods of communicating the knowledge that is discovered through broad-scale data collection of the forest resources of the Unite States. One major aspect of our current explorations is the utilization of the esri ArcGIS Online (AGOL) platform and the numerous tools found therein. We describe the efforts of the SRS-FIA program to generate...

The mean climatology, seasonal and interannual variability and trend of wind speeds at the hub height (80 m) of modern wind turbines over China and its surrounding regions are revisited using 33-year (1979–2011) wind data from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) that has many improvements including higher spatial resolution over previous global reanalysis products. Mean 80-m wind speeds are consistently higher over China Seas and the ocean areas than over land, and inside China high winds are found in areas of Inner Mongolia and the Tibetan Plateau. There is a considerable...

Many factors contribute to parasites varying in host specificity and distribution among potential hosts. Metagonimoides oregonensis is a digenetic trematode that uses stream-dwelling plethodontid salamanders as second intermediate hosts in the Eastern US. We completed a field survey to identify which stream salamander species, at a regional level, are most likely to be important for transmission to raccoon definitive hosts. We surveyed six plethodontid species (N=289 salamanders) from 23 Appalachian headwater sites in North Carolina: Desmognathus quadramaculatus (n=69), Eurycea wilderae...

We used a stratified random sampling design to inventory the mangrove vegetation within the Zambezi River Delta, Mozambique, to provide a basis for estimating biomass pools. We used canopy height, derived from remote sensing data, to stratify the inventory area, and then applied a spatial decision support system to objectively allocate sample plots among five strata. Height and diameter were measured on overstory trees, saplings and standing dead trees in nested plots, and biomass was calculated using allometric equations. Each of the eight mangrove species occurring in Mozambique exist...

Interbasin water transfers are globally important water management strategies, yet little is known about their role in the hydrologic cycle at regional and continental scales. Specifically, there is a dearth of centralized information on transfer locations and characteristics, and few analyses place transfers into a relevant hydrological context. We assessed hydrological characteristics of interbasin transfers (IBTs) in the conterminous US using a nationwide inventory of transfers together with historical climate data and hydrological modeling. Supplying and receiving drainage basins share...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of air pollutants linked to a wide range of adverse health outcomes, including asthma, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and fetal growth impairment. PAHs are emitted by combustion of organic matter (e.g. fossil fuels, plant biomass) and can accumulate in plant and animal tissues over time. Compared to criteria pollutants, such as O3 or NO2, less is known about PAHs in air inhaled by the general population because PAH monitoring is more technically challenging and costly (in Portland, for example, PAHs are measured by only one monitor)....