Treesearch

Woodland (Plethodontid) salamanders occur in huge numbers in healthy forests in North America where the abundances of many species vary along successional gradients. Their high numbers and trophic role as predators on shredder and decomposer arthropods influence nutrient and carbon pathways at the leaf litter/soil interface. Their extreme niche conservatism and low vagility offer further advantages to the use of these salamanders as metrics of forest ecosystem condition. Mill Creek is a 103 km2 commercially logged redwood forest watershed acquired as parkland where original primary forest...

Of the recently developed univariate and multivariate near-IR FT-Raman methods for estimating cellulose crystallinity, the former method was applied to a variety of lignocelluloses: softwoods, hardwoods, wood pulps, and agricultural residues/fibers. The effect of autofluorescence on the crystallinity estimation was minimized by solvent extraction or chemical treatment or both. Additionally, when the roles of lignin and hemicellulose in the Raman crystallinity assessment were investigated, it was found that syringyl lignin containing lignocelluloses generated somewhat higher crystallinity,...

The goal of the study was to conduct a life-cycle inventory (LCI) of California redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) decking that would quantify the critical environmental impacts of decking from cradle to grave. Using that LCI data, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) was produced for redwood decking. The results were used to compare the environmental footprint of redwood decking to other decking materials that serve an equivalent function. The other materials examined include plastic (cellular PVC) and wood–plastic composites (WPCs) with recycled content varying from 0% and 100%.

Environmental educators are challenged to document behavior changes, because change rarely depends solely on outcomes of education programs, but on many factors. An analysis of 15 communities in the United States that have increased their preparedness for wildfire allowed us to explore how education programs encouraged individual and community change. Agency-sponsored adult educational programs helped communities change their philosophy about firefighting, pass ordinances that restrict individual property rights, and empower residents to reduce their wildfire risk. This article explores...

I developed Landscape Builder to create spatially explicit landscapes as starting conditions for LANDIS Pro 7.0 and LANDIS II landscape forest simulation models from classified satellite imagery and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data collected over multiple years. LANDIS Pro and LANDIS II models project future landscapes by simulating tree growth, tree species succession, disease, insects, fire, wind, and management disturbance. Landscape Builder uses inventory plot attributes from the FIA inventory database, FIA unit map, National Forest type map, National Forest size class map,...

Bamboo is a type of biomass material and has great potential as a bioenergy resource for the future in China. Surface chemical and thermal–mechanical behavior play an important role in the manufacturing process of bamboo composites and pellets. In this study, moso bamboo was treated by sodium hydrate solution and acetic acid solution. Surface chemical and dynamic mechanical properties of bamboo were determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, respectively. Results showed that the main polar chemical groups of the outer layer of bamboo...

Fire-damaged trees that otherwise would have survived can be killed by bark beetles (McCullough and others 1998, McHugh and others 2003). Wallin and others (2008) found that fire weakens a tree’s defense against bark beetles. An unacceptable level of tree mortality may occur after a controlled burn as a result of weakened tree defenses (Sullivan and others 2003). Breece (2006) monitored tree mortality in the Birds and Burns Network sites (coordinated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station) for the first three growing seasons (2004–06) after...

The demand for a well-trained green-collar labor force will increase as many cities implement sustainability and green infrastructure plans. Additionally, many green jobs training programs are intended to provide pathways out of poverty for low-skilled workers. In this case study, we analyze the experiences of graduates from a New York City, USA green jobs training program targeting 18-24 year olds previously disconnected from the workforce as they transition to full-time employment. Graduates of the program work directly in arboriculture, ecological restoration, landscape design, and...

Increased temperatures and more extreme weather patterns associated with global climate change can interact with other factors that regulate animal populations, but many climate change studies do not incorporate other threats to wildlife in their analyses. We used 20 years of nest-monitoring data from study sites across a gradient of habitat fragmentation in Missouri, USA, to investigate the relative influence of weather variables (temperature and precipitation) and landscape factors (forest cover and edge density) on the number of young produced per nest attempt (i.e., productivity) for...

The Proceedings of the Sudden Oak Death Fifth Science Symposium provides an update on research to address sudden oak death, caused by the exotic, quarantine pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum. Over 60 submissions present national and international investigations covering pathogen biology, biosecurity, genetics, monitoring, fire ecology, and diagnostics. Several papers on disease status and progress toward nursery and wildland management are also included.