Treesearch

Forested ecosystems contain the majority of the world’s terrestrial carbon, and forest management has implications for regional and global carbon cycling. Carbon stored in forests changes with stand age and is affected by natural disturbance and timber harvesting. We examined how harvesting and disturbance interact to influence forest carbon stocks over the Superior National Forest, in northern Minnesota. Forest inventory data from the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program were used to characterize current forest age structure and quantify the relationship between age...

In the aftermath of a crisis, local, often spontaneous stewardship of nature provides a source of social-ecological resilience to individuals, communities, and ecosystems. This is the concept behind Greening in the Red Zone, and one that may be intuitive to many working in urban forestry, community greening, or any of the local nonprofits or community groups who act as civic ‘first responders’ in a time of need, helping communities recover with sometimes limited resources but valuable local knowledge. Yet, these greening responses to 'red zones'--places that are dangerous or hostile, such...

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The design, construction, and use of covered timber bridges is all but a lost art in these days of pre-stressed concrete, high-performance steel, and the significant growth both in the volume and size of vehicles. Furthermore, many of the existing covered timber bridges are preserved only because of their status on the National Registry of Historic Places or the diligent maintenance and care of the owners of these structures, or both. Of the covered timber bridges that remain in the United States, only a small percentage still stand today because of arson, vandalism, neglect, natural...

A total of 208 participants from 78 organizations in 19 countries gathered at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott on the Big Island of Hawaii on September 11-16, 2011 for the XIII International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds. Following a reception on the first evening, Symposium co-chairs Tracy Johnson and Pat Conant formally welcomed the attendees on the morning of September 12, and introduced Bill Steiner, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management, University of Hawaii at Hilo, who provided opening remarks on future directions of invasive species...

An exotic toadflax stem mining weevil conventionally identified as Mecinus janthinus Germar has become widely established on Dalmatian toadflax [Linaria dalmatica (Linnaeus) Miller] in western North America, although agent density and control efficacy are highly variable across release sites (De Clerck-Floate & Miller, 2002; McClay & Hughes, 2007; Van Hezewijk et al., 2010). Naturally-occurring and fertile hybrid toadflax (HT) populations resulting from the cross-pollination of Dalmatian toadflax (DT) and a sister species, yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris Miller) (YT), have been discovered...

We evaluated the efficacy of the biological control agent, red-headed leafy spurge stem borer (Oberea erythrocephala Schrank.) against the nonnative invasive plant leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.). Our three treatments were release of the biological control agent into uncaged plots, release of the biological control agent into plots caged to prevent agent escape and control plots caged to prevent agent entry. These treatments were replicated three times at six sites in the western U.S. We measured leafy spurge biomass for one or two years following release. We also measured the percentage...

Inundative releases of beneficial insects are frequently used to suppress pest insects, but not commonly attempted as a method of weed biological control because of the difficulty in obtaining the required large numbers of insects. The successful establishment of a flea beetle complex, mixed Aphthona lacertosa Rosenhauer and A. nigriscutus Foudras (87% and 13%, respectively), for the control of leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) provided an easily collectable source of these natural enemies that enabled us to attempt inundative release as a possible leafy spurge control method in a sensitive...

The effectiveness of Aphthona flea beetles (87 percent A. lacertosa Rosenhauer and A. czwalinae Weise, and 13 percent A. nigriscutis Foudras) as biological control agents of leafy spurge, Ephorbia esula L. was compared with a single application of herbicide (picloram) and untreated plots for a period of 8 years. Percentage of cover of leafy spurge, grasses; and flea beetle numbers were measured each year from 2000 through 2007. Cover of leafy spurge on Aphthona biological control plots exhibited annual declines until 2005. In 2006, these plots showed a temporary rebound in leafy spurge...