Treesearch

Fresh and clean water is highly demanded throughout the world. To effectively address the need, nanomaterials enabled nanotechnology has been explored as a means of more efficient, reliable, and environmentally friendly approach towards water treatment practices. One concern in adopting nanomaterials is how to retrieve them from water body to avoid secondary contamination. In this work, the earth abundant and sustainable wood, e.g., basswood, was selected and carbonized into porous carbon as host skeleton, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), e.g., MOF-199 with extremely high surface area,...

There is a need to convert fire danger indices into operational estimates of fire activity to support strategic fire management, particularly under climate change. Few studies have evaluated multiple accumulation times for indices that combine both dead and remotely sensed estimates of live fuel moisture, and relatively few studies have aimed at predicting fire activity from both such fuel moisture estimates and autoregressive terms of previous fires. The current study aimed at developing models to forecast the 10-day number of fires by state in Mexico, from an accumulated Fuel Dryness...

Disturbance seasonality and return interval can create complex interactions of direct and indirect effects on species and ecosystems. Fire is a key grassland disturbance, yet long-term research examining seasonality and return intervals is limited. A 15-year experiment testing combinations of fire seasonality (summer, fall, spring) and return interval (2, 3, 6-year) plus non-burned controls was conducted in northern mixed prairie to evaluate effects on the plant community. Hesperostipa comata is a native C3 bunchgrass and dominant species in northern mixed prairie and previously observed...

The state of forests is intricately linked to the lives of the people dependent on them. Forest-dependent communities are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This chapter examines the social impacts related to changes in climate and forests by focusing on the socioeconomic systems that are already being impacted by climate change, the ways social forces are mitigating or amplifying those impacts, and possible adaptation options. At the global scale, we are not on track to meet most targets related to human health and the environment. Urbanization and conversion for agricultu...

Fire agencies across the United States must make complex resource allocation decisions to manage wildfires using a national network of shared firefighting resources. Firefighters play a critical role in suppressing fires and protecting vulnerable communities. However, they are exposed to health and safety risks associated with fire, smoke inhalation, and infectious disease transmission. The COVID-19 pandemic further complicated these risks, prompting fire agencies to propose resource management adaptations to minimize COVID-19 exposure and transmission. It is unclear if and how the...

Habitat selection models frequently use data collected from a small geographic area over a short window of time to extrapolate patterns of relative abundance into unobserved areas or periods of time. However, such models often poorly predict the distribution of animal space-use intensity beyond the place and time of data collection, presumably because space-use behaviors vary between individuals and environmental contexts. Similarly, ecological inference based on habitat selection models could be muddied or biased due to unaccounted individual and context dependencies. Here, we present a...

Globe-LFMC 2.0, an updated version of Globe-LFMC, is a comprehensive dataset of over 280,000 Live Fuel Moisture Content (LFMC) measurements. These measurements were gathered through field campaigns conducted in 15 countries spanning 47 years. In contrast to its prior version, Globe-LFMC 2.0 incorporates over 120,000 additional data entries, introduces more than 800 new sampling sites, and comprises LFMC values obtained from samples collected until the calendar year 2023. Each entry within the dataset provides essential information, including date, geographical coordinates, plant species,...

Reclaimed wood is a repurposed building material salvaged from old or abandoned buildings that offers a sustainable approach to using wood in communities. Although there have been some studies on reclaimed wood, there has been a limited amount linking reclaimed wood to consumerism. In August 2021, an online survey was conducted to gauge adult consumers’ knowledge of the wood products industry and their attitudes on reclaimed wood practices. Adult consumers are defined as individuals residing in the United States who are 18 years of age or older. Study results indicate that many respondents...

Biological invasions arise when humans intentionally or unintentionally transport biological organisms to new regions of the world where many establish and become serious pest species. Globally, biological invasions represent a leading cause of anthropogenic change by reducing biological diversity, altering ecosystem functions, and disrupting ecosystem services to humans. This article outlines the causes, consequences, and management of biological invasions and overviews the current state of the science of invasion biology.

Wildfires in the western US are increasing in frequency, size, and severity. These disturbances alter soil microbiome structure and function, with greater fire severity leading to more pronounced impacts to bacterial, archaeal, and fungal communities. These changes have implications for the provisioning of microbially-mediated ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration, clean water supplies) typically associated with forested watersheds. Challenges in sampling wildfire-impacted areas immediately post-burn have limited our assessment of short-term (i.e., days to weeks) changes in the...