Treesearch

Less advantaged areas have fewer and smaller trees. More advantaged neighborhoods have more and larger trees. Local socioeconomics relates to tree species diversity and composition. Tree canopy cover, not impervious cover, is correlated with community advantage.

Sialia sialis (Eastern Bluebird), a secondary cavity nester, often nests in anthropogenic structures, particularly nest boxes established throughout its range. We describe 3 observations of Eastern Bluebird nests at 2 photovoltaic (PV) solar facilities in eastern New York. At one facility, we observed an open-cup nest on the PV steel support structure, while at another, we observed 2 nests within structures mimicking cavities. At least 2 nests were likely successful. To our knowledge, these are the first documented occurrences of Eastern Bluebird nests within PV solar facilities in the...

Numerous studies report proximity to land cover edges decreases avian nesting success, yet variation among species, sites, and nesting guilds obscures overall patterns. Nest success is a key demographic parameter, and edges are often created from anthropogenic disturbance; therefore, further understanding of nest success and edges should inform bird conservation efforts. We performed a meta-analysis to examine effects of edges on mature forest and shrubland bird nest survival in eastern North America. Sixteen studies fit our inclusion criteria, comprising data for 11 mature forest and 9...

This paper summarizes issues related to how wind is measured or interpreted from atmospheric models. It is based on conversations at a workshop held in Minneapolis, MN in May 2023. We discuss measurement protocols affect the wind speed and direction values, and how atmospheric models are not representative of point-observations or time-mean winds. These discussions are tied to real-world implications for fire management. We propose several areas of research or tool development that could improve wind information available to prescribed and wildfire management.

Ice storms might sound fascinating, but for forests, they are not as cool as they seem! Ice storms happen when freezing rain coats trees, branches, and the forest floor in a shiny, frozen glaze. These storms can be a big deal because they can affect our forests and the things we care about, like, wood, wildlife, and places for recreation. Despite this, we do not know very much about how ice storms affect forests. Scientists at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire (USA), decided to learn more. They used fire-fighting pumps and hoses to create experimental ice storms in the...

Successional, second-growth forests dominate much of eastern North America; thus, patterns of biomass accumulation in standing trees and downed wood are of great interest for forest management and carbon accounting. The timing and magnitude of biomass accumulation in later stages of forest development are not fully understood. We applied a “chronosequence with resampling” approach to characterize live and dead biomass accumulation in 16 northern hardwood stands in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Live aboveground biomass increased rapidly and leveled off at about 350 Mg/ha by 145...

Trees in cities perform important environmental functions: they produce oxygen, filter pollutants, provide habitat for wildlife, mitigate stormwater runoff, and reduce the effects of climate change, especially in terms of lowering temperatures and converting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into stored carbon. Generally, to increase the environmental benefits of urban forests, the number of trees is increased, directly influencing the canopy coverage. However, little is known about potential of modifying the species composition of urban tree communities in order to increase ecological...

During their stationary, non-breeding period, Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbirds using habitats within agricultural working landscapes may be affected by both immediate site conditions as well as those of the surrounding landscape. We evaluated whether body condition and apparent non-breeding survival of Wilson’s Warblers (Cardellina pusilla) and body condition of Wood Thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina) were influenced by site and landscape contexts during two non-breeding seasons in a coffee growing region in Honduras. At the site scale, we tested whether the coffee farm management...

Turtle populations are declining globally, yet limited attention has been directed toward understanding the conservation status of species perceived to be widespread and common. The goal of this study was to contribute to the understanding of the conservation status of the eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina), a wide-ranging terrestrial generalist, in the northeastern United States (Maine to Virginia) by (1) characterizing relationships between occurrence and anthropogenic land use and (2) estimating the extent of land-use driven habitat impairment for the region. We used a regional...

Introduction: Native bee communities of temperate forests are conventionally sampled from the understory, yet there is growing evidence that bee assemblages in forest canopies are distinct from those in the understory. Therefore, conventional approaches to quantify forest bee–habitat relationships may not comprehensively characterize forest bee communities. Methods: To examine this, we sampled bees 1–26 m from ground level at 5-m increments at 47 locations in forests located in western Massachusetts, USA. We evaluated bee abundance and species richness responses to a suite of environmental...