Treesearch

Seasonal and diurnal flight patterns of the invasive walnut twig beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis, were assessed between 2011 and 2014 in northern California, USA in the context of the effects of ambient temperature, light intensity, wind speed, and barometric pressure. Pityophthorus juglandis generally initiated flight in late January and continued until late November. This seasonal flight could be divided approximately into three phases (emergence: January–March; primary flight: May–July; and secondary flight: September–October). The seasonal flight response to the male-produced aggregatio...

Esterified kraft lignins (KL) were prepared by reaction with maleic anhydride (MA), succinic anhydride (SA), and phthalic anhydride (PA) in acetone solutions. The esterified lignins were characterized using ATR-FTIR, solid state CP-MAS 13C NMR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). PA modification resulted in the highest weight gain percent (WGP) when compared to MA and SA modifications. Spectroscopic analysis revealed decreases in hydroxyl content and increases in carbonyl (C=O) and ester groups of the modified KL as a result of...

This work extends previous efforts in plate bending of Virtual Fields Method (VFM) parameter identification to include a general 2-D anisotropicmaterial. Such an extension was needed for instances in which material principal directions are unknown or when specimen orientation is not aligned with material principal directions. A new fixture with a multiaxial force configuration is introduced to provide full-field strain data for identification ofthe six anisotropic stiffnesses. Two paper materials were tested and their Qij compared favorably with those determined by ultrasonic and tensile...

Experimental canopy gap formation and additions of coarse woody debris (CWD) are techniques intended to mimic the disturbance regime and accelerate the development of northern hardwood forests. The effects of these techniques on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning were investigated by surveying the abundance and diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi in six treatments: (i) unharvested control, (ii) control + fenced to exclude deer, (iii) gap creation + fenced to exclude deer, (iv) gap creation, (v) gap creation + CWD addition, and (vi) CWD addition under closed-canopy. A total of 1,885...

Clearcutting is an effective regeneration practice for northern hardwoods in New England. However, in esthetically sensitive areas forest managers sometimes use methods that soften the visual impact, such as smaller clearcuts (patch cuts) or low-density shelterwoods. It is unclear if these methods produce the same effects as clearcuts on tree regeneration and breeding bird habitat. A comparison of a 15-acre clearcut, four patch cuts varying in size from 2.9 to 5.5 acres, and a 34-acre low-density shelterwood showed that the patches regenerated some early successional tree species, similar...

The marketplace has an increasing desire for credible and transparent product eco-labels based on life-cycle assessment (LCA) data, especially involving international trade. Over the past several years, stakeholders in the U.S. wood products industry have developed many such “eco-labels” under the ISO standard of LCA-based environmental product declarations (EPDs). The standard requires data to be less than 10 years of age, a current issue that needs to be addressed for many structural wood products’ life-cycle inventories (LCIs). Under the umbrella of the Consortium for Research on...

Quantifying the uncertainty of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reductions from agriculture and forestry practices is an important aspect of decision�]making for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners as the uncertainty range for each GHG estimate communicates our level of confidence that the estimate reflects the actual balance of GHG exchange between the biosphere and the atmosphere. In particular, a farm, ranch, or forest landowner may be more inclined to invest in management practices that reduce net GHG emissions if the uncertainty range for an estimate is low, meaning that higher...

This chapter provides guidance for reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with entity-level fluxes from the forestry sector. In particular, it focuses on methods for estimating carbon stocks and stock change from managed forest systems. Section 6.1 provides an overview of the sector. Section 6.2 describes the methods for forest carbon stock accounting. Section 6.3 describes the methods for estimating carbon stocks and stock change from establishing and clearing forest. Section 6.4 describes methods for estimating carbon stocks and stock change from forest management. Section...

This study explores the connections between vegetation cover change, environmental stewardship, and building footprint change in New York City neighborhoods from the years 2000 to 2010. We use a mixed-methods multidisciplinary approach to analyze spatially explicit social and ecological data. Most neighborhoods lost vegetation during the study period. Neighborhoods that gained vegetation tended to have, on average, more stewardship groups.We contextualize the ways in which stewardship groups lead to the observed decadal- and neighborhood-scale changes in urban vegetation cover. This...

The 2006 Esperanza Fire in Riverside County, California, was simulated with the Coupled Atmosphere-Wildland Fire Environment (CAWFE) model to examine how dynamic interactions of the atmosphere with large-scale fire spread and energy release may affect observed patterns of fire behavior as mapped using the FireMapper thermal imaging radiometer. CAWFE simulated the meteorological flow in and near the fire, the fire's growth as influenced by gusty Santa Ana winds and interactions between the fire and weather through fire-induced winds during the first day of burning. The airflow was characteri...