Treesearch

Control measures for forest Phytophthoras often focus on reducing the spread of infested soils, including closing roads and washing vehicles. Similar measures are suggested for Phytophthora ramorum, despite its evident aerial dispersal: stay out of areas of wet soils, and clean clothing and equipment when entering or leaving infested areas. It remains unclear, however, if these measures have limited the spread of P. ramorum in Oregon and California.

Tanoak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus (Hook. & Arn.) Manos, C.H. Cannon & S. H. Oh) is highly susceptible to Phytophthora ramorum. Symptoms include stem cankers, shoot dieback, and foliar blight. The mechanism by which P. ramorum kills the trees is not known, however. In this study we aimed to determine what physiological factors contribute to tanoak mortality when trees are infected with P. ramorum, and to investigate the relationship between elicitin secretion and disease symptoms. In growth chamber experiments, we investigated how photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, water usage, and...

Phytophthora ramorum, the causal agent of sudden oak death in California oak woodlands, poses a threat to woody plants in the rest of the United States, including the Gulf Coast area, which is regarded as a high-risk location. Several plant species native to Gulf Coast forests were tested for susceptibility to P. ramorum, including yaupon (Ilex vomitoria Aiton), spice bush (Lindera benzoin (L.) Blume), southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora L.), sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana L.), black willow (Salix nigra Marsh.), baldcypress (Taxodium distichum L.), Virginia creeper (Parthenociss...

Despite the presence of Phytophthora ramorum in northern and central California forests since at least 1994, asymptomatic coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia Née) still remain in heavily infested stands. Coast live oak infection and mortality rates of 5 percent y-1 and 3 percent y-1, respectively, observed in long-term monitoring plots in Marin County, California give no indication that individual trees appear to evade infection. In some study plots, more than 50 percent of the mature coast live oaks have died since 2000.

Bats are diverse and ecologically important, but are also subject to a suite of severe threats. Evidence for localized bat mortality from these threats is well-documented in some cases, but long-term changes in regional populations of bats remain poorly understood. Bat hibernation surveys provide an opportunity to improve understanding, but analysis is complicated by bats' cryptic nature, non-conformity of count data to assumptions of traditional statistical methods, and observation heterogeneities such as variation in survey timing. We used generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) to...

Management of wildcrnc!>s and other backcountry lands can be more sure-footed if some notion of what the future will hold is revealed. An important part of what future is recreational use of these lands. Some have argued that per capita nature-based recreation use has been declining and ma} continue doing so in the future (Pergams and Zaradic 2008). Harris (2012) reported that whereas total hunting and fishing participation numbers declined between 1996, and 2006, wildlife watching was on the rise. Findingd from the 2011 Nature Survey of Fishing

Wildlife habitats connected with forested islands and their back channels (areas where commercial traffic is prohibited) on the Ohio River are valuable to diverse species. However, quantitative data on the importance of these areas to cavity-nesting birds are lacking. We compared cavity-nesting bird use and habitat between back and navigational channel sides of islands in 2000 and 2001. We observed 13 species of cavity-nesting birds. Total cavity-nesting bird abundance (number per 50-m-radius plot) was similar between the back and navigational channel sides, but abundance of downy woodpecke...

The diversity of forest types in the Central Appalachians provides important habitat for amphibians and reptiles. As development continues, increased fragmentation is evident on the landscape. The objectives of our study were to determine the influence of location within a forest (edge or interior) and landscape position (riparian and upland) on West Virginia herpetofaunal species abundance and diversity. Using drift fence arrays, we captured individuals from 17 amphibian species and 6 reptilian species during 43,144 trap-nights. Eastern red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus Green)...

With white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations at historically high levels throughout many North American forests, many current management activities are aimed at reducing deer populations. However, very little information exists on the ecology of low-density white-tailed deer populations or populations that have declined in density. We examined survival and cause-specific mortality rates in a white-tailed deer population that recently experienced a substantial (>50 percent) decline in population density on an industrial forest in central West Virginia. We monitored 57 adult...

Additional presentation abstracts in proceedings, 18th Central Hardwood Forest Conference.