Treesearch

The USDA NRCS Aberdeen Plant Materials Center (PMC) produces certified early generation seed of hoary tansyaster (Machaeranthera canescens (Pursh) A. Gray [Asteraceae]), a late summer and fall blooming forb native to the Intermountain West region. Hoary tansyaster is an excellent forb candidate for restoration efforts in arid to semiarid sites. It is relatively easy to manage in a seed production system, establishes quickly in a rangeland situation, and provides blooms in late summer during the establishment year. Propagation methodologies including establishment, weed control, harvest,...

While mid-rotation fertilization increases productivity in many southern pine forests, it remains unclear what impact such management may have on stand water use. We examined the impact of nutrient and water availability on stem volume, leaf area, transpiration per unit ground area (EC) and canopy conductance per unit leaf area (GS) of a pine plantation during its 8th and 9th growing seasons. Treatments consisted of a factorial combination of throughfall reduction (30% reduction in throughfall versus ambient)and fertilization (a complete suite of essential nutrients) beginning in April...

We develop a novel risk assessment approach that integrates complementary, yet distinct, spatial modeling approaches currently used in wildfire risk assessment. Motivation for this work stems largely from limitations of existing stochastic wildfire simulation systems, which can generate pixel-based outputs of fire behavior as well as polygon-based outputs of simulated final fire perimeters, but due to storage and processing limitations do not retain spatially resolved information on intensity within a given fire perimeter. Our approach surmounts this limitation by merging pixel- and...

An effort to eradicate Phytophthora ramorum, causal agent of sudden oak death, has been underway since its discovery in Oregon forests. Using an information-theoretical approach, we sought to model yearly variation in the size of newly infested areas and dispersal distance. Maximum dispersal distances were best modeled by spring and winter precipitation 2 years before detection, and infestation size the year prior. Infestation size was best modeled by infestation size and spring precipitation the year prior. In our interpretation, there is a 2-year delay between the introduction of...

Phytophthora tentaculata Kröber & Marwitz, has been detected in several native plant nurseries in 4 California counties and in restoration sites on orange sticky monkey flower (Diplacus aurantiacus subsp. aurantiacus (W. Curtis) Jeps. [Scrophulariaceae]), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia (Lindl.) M. Roem) [Rosaceae]), coffeeberry (Frangula californica (Eschsch.) A. Gray [Rhamnaceae]), and sage (Salvia spp. L. [Lamiaceae]). These findings are the first detections of P. tentaculata in the US and the first ever on these host plants. Phytophthora species are a known problem in horticultural...

The objective of this study was to document current areas of subterranean termite activity in Wisconsin and to evaluate genetic characteristics of these northern, peripheral colonies. Here, amplified fragment-length polymorphism was used to characterize levels of inbreeding, expected heterozygosity, and percent polymorphism within colonies as well as genetic structure among populations sampled. Genetic analysis revealed two species of termites occur in Wisconsin, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) and Reticulitermes tibialis Banks, both found in the southern half of the state. Colonies of...

Research was conducted to evaluate the decking performance of northeastern United States wood species treated with copper based preservatives. Decking specimens were treated with one of four wood preservatives and exposed near Madison, Wisconsin. Specimens were evaluated for biological attack and dimensional stability. After 10 years, none of the preservative treated specimens had fungal decay. All of the untreated Southern Pine specimens were severely decayed within 5 years, but untreated specimens of other species were much slower to decay. Surface mold was most commonly observed on...

New noncontact technologies have been developed and implemented for determining as-built condition and current dimensions for a wide variety of objects and buildings. In this study, a three-dimensional laser scanner was used to determine the dimensions and visual condition of a historic bridge in the Amnicon Falls State Park in northern Wisconsin. 3D scanning provides millions of data points of information about the bridge being inspected. The point clouds of data collected depict all visible aspects and actual dimensions of the bridge. This information can be used to determine areas of...

Technical change is developing rapidly in some parts of the forest sector, especially in the pulp and paper industry where wood fiber is being substituted by waste paper. In forest sector models, the processing of wood and other input into products is frequently represented by activity analysis (input–output). In this context, technical change translates in changes over time of the input–output (I–O) coefficients and of the manufacturing cost (labor, capital, and materials, excluding wood and fiber). In the case of the global forest products model, the I–O coefficients and the manufacturing...

The Sleepers River Research Watershed (SRRW) in Vermont, USA, has been the site of active hydrologic research since 1959 and was the setting where Dunne and Black demonstrated the importance and controls of saturation-excess overland flow (SOF) on streamflow generation. Here, we review the early studies from the SRRW and show how they guided our conceptual approach to hydrologic research at the SRRW during the most recent 25 years. In so doing, we chronicle a shift in the field from early studies that relied exclusively on hydrometric measurements to today's studies that include chemical...