Treesearch

Plant genetic information provides critical knowledge necessary to mitigate the impacts of climate change through ecological restoration. The first step in restoration is recognizing and delineating genetic boundaries at different taxonomic and spatial hierarchies (e.g., species, subspecies and populations). The second step is an assessment of the genetic diversity found within and among populations of a species. "For many of the plants that occupy western North American, little population genetic information is available," says RMRS Director Sam Foster, "which can lead to imperfect...

Recent regional tree die-off events appear to have been triggered by a combination of drought and heat - referred to as 'global-change-type drought'. To complement experiments focused on resolving mechanisms of drought-induced tree mortality, an evaluation of how patterns of tree die-off relate to highly spatially variable precipitation is needed.Also included is: Hicke, Jeffrey A.; Zeppel, Melanie J. B. 2013. Climate-driven tree mortality: insights from the pinon pine die-off in the United States. New Phytologist. 200: 301-303.

From 1997 through 2008, we studied the nesting habits and nest success of the Blue Grosbeak (Passerina cerulean) along the middle Gila River (1997-2001) and the middle Rio Grande (2000-2008) in New Mexico. A riparian forest of cottonwoods grows along both rivers. but the forest along the Rio Grande is a much more intensively managed ecosystem, with an understory dominated by saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) and other non-native invasive plants, frequent wildfires, and large-scale attempts at remediation of the vegetation. Along the Gila River 100 (95%) of 105 nests were in native shrubs or trees,...

Downy brome (cheatgrass) is a highly successful, exotic, winter annual invader in semi-arid western North America, forming near-monocultures across many landscapes. A frequent but poorly understood phenomenon in these heavily invaded areas is periodic 'die-off' or complete stand failure. The fungal pathogen Pyrenophora semeniperda is abundant in cheatgrass seed banks and causes high mortality. To determine whether this pathogen could be responsible for stand failure, we quantified late spring seed banks in die-off areas and adjacent cheatgrass stands at nine sites. Seed bank analysis...

Extractive content and composition is a vital component of naturally durable woods; however, variability in extractives can limit their usefulness in the field. Two extractive-free, non-durable wood species were pressure treated with ethanol-toluene extractives from 8 durable wood species. Extracted Southern pine, Paulownia and unextracted Southern pine blocks were treated and challenged in soil bottle experiments with four common wood decay fungi. Weight loss from fungal degradation of the extractive-treated blocks was compared to untreated controls. Results indicated that in some cases,...

Bacteria representing several genera were isolated from integument and alimentary tracts of live Asian longhorned beetle, Anaplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky), larvae and adults. Insects examined were from infested tree branches collected from sites in New York and Illinois. Staphylococcus sciuri (Kloos) was the most common isolate associated with adults, from 13 of 19 examined, whereas members of the Enterobacteriaceae dominated the isolations from larvae. Leclercia adecarboxylata (Leclerc), a putative pathogen of Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), was found in 12...

The gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar L., nucleopolyhedrovirus (LdMNPV) product Gypchek is a microbial pesticide produced by the USDA Forest Service. Gypchek is a mixture of LdMNPV genotypes produced in vivo. Commercial interests prefer to develop a stable, high-potency genotype that can be produced at low cost, preferably in vitro. We sprayed 2 LdMNPV strains and Gypchek at various doses, with and without the viral enhancer Blankophor BBH (Burlington Chemical Co., Burlington, NC), on oak foliage under field conditions to determine the relationship between application rate and larval mortality....

Micronized and nano-copper (Cu)-based and arsenic and chromium-free systems have received much attention for wood protection in recent years. Because they have different fixation, and micro-distribution properties, such copper systems may be more or less subject to release using known remediation methods than soluble forms of Cu. This study evaluated Cu recovery from wood treated with micronized- or nano-Cu via chemical extraction, and determined optimum release rates of Cu from micronized- and nano-Cu-treated wood compared with the release rates from soluble Cu-based wood preservatives....

Fuel management planning can be a complex problem that is assisted by fire behavior modeling and geospatial analyses. Fuel management often is a particularly complicated process in which the benefits and potential impacts of fuel treatments need to be demonstrated in the context of land management goals and public expectations. Fire intensity, likelihood, and effects can be analyzed for multiple treatment alternatives. Depending on the goal, the effect of treatments on wildfire impacts can be considered at multiple scales, from a single forest stand or planning unit to a watershed to a...

European settlement of the United States and utilization of forests are inextricably linked. Forest products fueled development, providing the building blocks for railroads, bridges, ships, and homes. Perhaps because of the importance of its forests, the United States has a rich cartographic history documenting its resources. Long-term, broad-scale monitoring efforts for forests focus on relatively simple measures, such as forest area, change in forest area over time, and proportion of forest land. We demonstrate how historical cartographic products could be effectively used to produce...