Treesearch

The frequency and intensity of hurricanes affecting the United States has been projected to increase during coming decades, and this rising level of cyclonic storm activity is expected to substantially damage southeastern forests. Although hurricane damage to forests in this region is not new, recent emphasis on longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) restoration and the increasing number of longleaf pine plantations resulting from such efforts raise questions about both tropical storm effects on this species and suitable strategies and practices for facilitating its recovery from such...

The discovery of lightwood and turpentine stumps in southeastern Virginia raised questions about the true historical range for longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.). Several investigative studies were therefore carried out to develop a method to determine the taxa of these relicts. Chemical approaches included the use of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy coupled with principal component analysis and characterization of the monterpenes in stump wood extracts by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). More recent efforts led to the revivification of a method involving measurements of...

The Flomaton Natural Area (FNA) once stood as one of the few remnant fragments of virgin, old-growth longleaf pine stands (Pinus palustris Mill.) in the Southeast. This 80-acre stand contained trees over 200 years old. A restoration effort began in 1994 to remove off-site trees and to reintroduce fire to the site after over 40 years of fire suppression. A geographic information system (GIS) database was created by compiling the digital data recorded for the FNA, including a stem-map of all longleaf pines ≥ 1-inch d.b.h. (diameter at breast height). The database also includes ages, heights,...

Steady population growth, urbanization, increased military presence, and the 2030 completion of two significant “super highway”infrastructure projects stand to fundamentally reshape the landscape in eastern North Carolina and increase pressure on the state’s land-based industries (Marstel-Day 2012). With similar trends occurring throughout rural communities in the Southeast, the question of how to address tradeoffs between land-based economic sectors will become increasingly vital to policymakers and planners. In this paper, we analyze a representative tradeoff in eastern North Carolina:...

The recent focus on restoration of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) forests has frequently led to planting longleaf pine on old-field and cutover sites. While many perceptions regarding response of longleaf pine to management are based upon measurements in naturally regenerated stands, it is generally observed that crown development in planted longleaf stands is dissimilar to that observed in natural stands; that is, planted longleaf pine trees tend to have more branches and wider, more “full” crowns at young ages in comparison to naturally regenerated trees. Many planted longleaf...

Genetic improvement of southern pines has been underway for 50 years and during this time, deployment of germplasm has generally evolved from more genetically diverse to less genetically diverse. Information is needed on how deployment of individual genotypes in pure blocks will affect traits such as within-stand variation in individual tree traits, as well as tree-level competitive interactions.

Early growth of bottomland oaks is typically slow, and many oaks eventually become overtopped by trees of other species. Removal of these larger competitors in a young stand might improve growth of the oaks and lead to more free-to-grow oaks as the stand matures. Release treatments were applied in 1980 to an 11-year-old, direct-seeded Nuttall oak (Quercus texana Buckl.) plantation on a Sharkey clay soil in west-central Mississippi. Treatments consisted of either cutting or deadening all nonoaks more than 15-feet tall, more than 20-feet tall, and more than 25-feet tall, plus an unreleased...

An individual-tree basal area growth model previously developed for even-aged naturally occurring shortleaf pine trees (Pinus echinata Mill.) in western Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma did not include weather variables. Individual-tree growth and yield modeling of shortleaf pine has been carried out using the remeasurements of over 200 plots permanently established on the Ozark and Ouachita National Forests during the period 1985-1987. Different basal area growth models for shortleaf pine have been proposed previously, such as a model that was part of a distance-independent individual-tr...

The effects of exposing specimens of Oriental beech [Fagus sylvatica subsp. orientalis (Lipsky) Greuter and Burdet] to the white-rot fungi Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.: Fr.) Kummer and Trametes versicolor (L.: Fr.) Pilát strain 325 have been studied concerning the mechanical properties and chemical composition in terms of carbohydrates, cellulose, and lignin. Biological decay tests were carried out in accordance with the EN 113 standard specifications for 30 and 120 days. P. ostreatus had nearly the same deteriorating effects on the mechanical properties and chemical composition as that...

The dramatic decline of timber harvests on public lands in the western United States (U.S.) has helped intensify silviculture in the southern U.S. Today, intensive southern pine management usually involves establishment of plantations using site preparation, genetically improved seedlings, chemical fertilization and competition control, early stand density regulation, and increasingly shorter rotations. Little is known about the consequences of this intensification on the ecosystem services provided by pine-dominated forests. Using a synthesis of field studies, simulations, and literature...