Treesearch

Biochar (BC), the carbon-rich by-product resulting from pyrolysis of biomass, is used for bioenergy and increasingly as a soil additive for carbon sequestration and soil improvement. However, information about the effects of BC on forest productivity and reforestation success, especially on boreal and temperate forest soils, is scant. We examined the effects of two BC types (Canadian and Finnish) added in proportions up to 60 vol.% into a common alluvial silty soil on the growth of transplanted Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) seedlings in a growth chamber. We found no marked...

Terrapene carolina triunguis is the western-most subspecies of T. carolina and has a range that stretches from southeast Kansas and central Missouri south to the Gulf Coast (Conant and Collins 1998. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Massachusetts. 616 pp.). Three-toed Box Turtles are omnivorous and consume a wide variety of food items (Ernst et al. 1994. Turtles of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. 578 pp.). It has been suggested that Terrapene carolina triunguis may be a...

Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), one of the most economically and ecologically important tree species in the world, also has one of the largest tree breeding programs. Although the coastal and interior varieties of Douglas-fir (vars. menziesii and glauco) are native to North America, the coastal variety is also widely planted for timber production in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and Chile. Our main goal was to develop a SNP resource large enough to facilitate genomic selection in Douglas-fir breeding programs. To accomplish this, we developed a 454-based reference transcriptome for...

Invasive plant species are a worldwide concern due to the high ecological and economic costs associated with their presence. This document describes the plant characteristics and regional distribution of the 50 invasive plant species monitored from 2005 through 2010 on forested Phase 2 (P2) Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots in the 24 states of the Northern Research Station. Genus level data for nonnative bush honeysuckles (Lonicera species) are included from 2005 through 2006. The data are from plots that are monitored in forested areas for public and private ownership classes.

This study presents a spatial and temporal climatology of major wildfire events, defined as >100 acres burned (>40.47 ha, where 1 ha = 2.47 acre), in the northeast United States from 1999 to 2009 and the meteorological conditions associated with these events. The northeast United States is divided into two regions: region 1 is centered over the higher terrain of the northeast United States and region 2 is primarily over the coastal plain. About 59% of all wildfire events in these two regions occur in April and May, with ~76% in region 1 and ~53% in region 2. There is large interannual...

Non-timber forest products, particularly herbaceous understory plants, support a multi-billion dollar industry and are extracted from forests worldwide for their therapeutic value. Tens of thousands of kilograms of rhizomes and roots of Actaea racemosa L., a native Appalachian forest perennial, are harvested every year and used for the treatment of menopausal conditions. Sustainable management of this and other wild-harvested non-timber forest products requires the ability to effectively and reliably inventory marketable plant components. However, few methods exist to estimate below-ground...

Seed banks often serve as reservoirs of taxonomic and genetic diversity that buffer plant populations and influence post-disturbance vegetation trajectories; yet evaluating their importance requires understanding how their composition varies within and across spatial and temporal scales (α- and β-diversity). Shifts in seed bank diversity are strongly governed by the deterministic role of differential seed longevities. Nevertheless, spatio-temporal variability in propagule depletion from and recruitment into seed banks may alter both α- and β-diversity. Here, we ask to what degree determinis...

Forest managers need accurate biomass equations to plan thinning for fuel reduction or energy production. Estimates of carbon sequestration also rely upon such equations. The current allometric equations for ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) commonly employed for California forests were developed elsewhere, and are often applied without consideration potential for spatial or temporal variability. Individual-tree aboveground biomass allometric equations are presented from an analysis of 79 felled trees from four separate management units at Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest: one unthinned...

The nonnative invasive emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire; EAB) has caused considerable damage to the ash (Fraxinus spp.) resource in North America. While there are methods to mitigate, contain, control, or even eradicate some nonnative invasive insects, EAB continues to spread across North America. Considering strong evidence suggesting >99 percent probability of host tree mortality, the loss of the North American ash resource is possible. To examine anticipated effects of EAB on tree species composition, we modeled future spatial and temporal changes in forest composition...

Forest fires affect millions of people worldwide, and cause major ecosystem and economic impacts at different scales. The management policies implemented to minimize the negative impacts of forest fires require substantial investment of financial, human and organizational resources, which must be justifiable and efficient. Decision support systems based on economic models can help to optimize the allocation of limited resources. This paper exposes the development of the economic theory for the efficiency analysis of fire management measures. Then, it provides a review of four fire managemen...