Treesearch

Cistaceae are shrubs, subshrubs and herbs that often occur in stressful, fire-prone or disturbed environments and form ectomycorrhizal (ECM) associations with symbiotic fungi. Although some Cistaceae are long-lived shrubs that grow to significant size, others are herbaceous annuals or short-lived plants. Thus, Cistaceae are atypical ECM hosts that are fundamentally different in their biology from trees that are the more typically studied ECM hosts. The Mediterranean region is the center of diversity for Cistaceae and the ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with Cistaceae hosts have primarily...

The physical structure of forest canopies regulates numerous ecological processes and functions, and management strategies to promote specific structural features, such as high structural complexity, are increasingly desired. Partial disturbances — including partial harvests — can modify forest canopy structure, but their specific effects may be influenced by differences in characteristics such as intensity and frequency. Understanding the variable effects of silvicultural treatments on canopy structure will be essential to designing silvicultural regimes that can promote canopy structural...

1. In the temperate mixed oak forests of Central Europe, outbreaks of insects such as the spongy moth, Lymantria dispar, can cause severe defoliation and insecticide is sometimes applied for their control. Parasitoids, mainly Hymenoptera and Diptera, are among the most diverse and important natural enemies of caterpillars in these forests. However, due to their cryptic lifestyle and taxonomic difficulties, we lack knowledge on the impact of insecticide applications on complex host-parasitoid networks. 2. In a large-scale field experiment, we tested the effect of spraying the lepidopteran-sp...

Developed river corridors, resistant bedrock, steep channels, and confined valleys predispose New England to flooding. The region has experienced substantial flooding in recent years, which may continue due to rising temperatures and increased precipitation. To reduce future flooding, intervention is necessary. In a recent publication, research biologist Keith Nislow, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station, and colleagues introduced “Slow the Flow for Climate Resilience” (SFCR), a strategy that municipalities and practitioners can adopt to manage floods...

Terminology frames reality and affects how people perceive and respond to it. What makes the global climate situation concerning is not simply a change in climate, but the anthropogenic change, in addition to natural climate variations, occurring at a rapid rate relative to the pre-industrial era. However, in general language, “climate change” does not differentiate itself from natural climate variations nor reflect the rate of change. Based on theoretical reasoning, this paper argues that “climate upheaval” frames and communicates the global climate situation more informatively. This is...

In 2001, a northern climatic research house was constructed to demonstrate advanced and novel building techniques, materials, and systems for the Upper Midwest region of the United States. As part of the Advanced Housing Research Center program, the house highlighted energy efficiency, sustainability, water efficiency, and moisture research, specifically moisture movement and accumulation in buildings. The house is a 2,300-ft2, two-story structure located on the grounds of the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, Wisconsin. It is considered a research structure...

Context Characterizing landscape ecological complexity and change requires integrated description of spatial and temporal landscape organization and dynamics, as suggested by the shifting mosaic concept. Remotely sensed land surface phenology allows the detection of even small differences among landscape patches and through time, allowing for the analysis of landscapes as shifting mosaics.Objectives We sought to quantify aspects of the complex landscape behaviors that are implied by spatiotemporal variation in land surface phenology. We adapted an information-theoretic (IT) framework from...

Prescribed burning is a cost-effective method for reducing hazardous fuels in pine- and oak-dominated forests, but smoke emissions contribute to atmospheric pollutant loads, and the potential exists for exceeding federal air quality standards designed to protect human health. Fire behavior during prescribed burns influences above-canopy sensible heat flux and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in buoyant plumes, affecting the lofting and dispersion of smoke. A more comprehensive understanding of how enhanced energy fluxes and turbulence are related during the passage of flame fronts could...

Boreal forests form the largest terrestrial biome globally. Climate change is expected to induce large changes in vegetation of high latitude ecosystems, but there is considerable uncertainty about where, when, and how those changes will occur. Such vegetation change produces major feedback to the climate system, including by modifying albedo (reflectivity). Our study used the LANDIS-II forest landscape model to project forest dynamics on four representative landscapes (1 M ha) for 280 years into the future under a range of climate scenarios across a broad latitudinal gradient in Siberia....

Urban parks provide vital social, environmental and health benefits to residents. However, the spatial distribution of parks, and the amenities they provide, may not be equitably distributed within cities. We examine the accessibility of urban parks with different social, environmental and health amenities by race and ethnicity. We identified 122,988 urban parks across the USA, measured the racial/ethnic population distribution within a 10-min walkshed around each park and compared these distributions to the overall demographics of the city. We found that the spatial distribution of parks...