Treesearch

Soil moisture dynamics play a crucial role in hydrological and agroecological processes, yet currently, there are few viable statistical procedures readily available to compare soil moisture time series data from multiple locations or soil horizons. We introduce three novel soil moisture time series signatures to characterize and compare soil moisture dynamics across depths and locations: (1) recession slope, (2) slope reversal frequency, and (3) soil moisture flashiness index. We calculated two recession slopes, one between saturation and field capacity and a second between field capacity...

Fuel treatments are implemented across large spatial scales in sagebrush ( Artemisia spp.) ecosystems of the US Intermountain West to limit wildfire risk and spread, but treatment effects on ecosystem carbon storage remain poorly understood. Fuel treatments can reduce aboveground carbon storage and may also influence belowground carbon storage either directly through disturbance (e.g., disruption of soil surface) or indirectly through altered plant community composition over time (e.g., increases in invasive annual grasses that can impact plant–soil feedbacks and thus soil carbon storage)....

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program provides this resource update yearly as an overview of forest resources in Maine. These estimates are derived from field data collected across a systematic network of fixed-radius forest monitoring plots located on both public and private land. New updates are provided annually as a subset of plots within the State are remeasured. Each year, field crews visit and measure a subset of all FIA plots across the entire State (the size of the subset varies by State and year). Combining all the...

The southern pine beetle (SPB) is a serious pest of pine forests from Central America to the eastern United States, with a recent range expansion into the northeastern United States. Efforts to detect and monitor SPB activity began in 1960 as part of an overall integrated pest management system to limit its impact to southern pine forests. The ubiquity of SPB’s pine hosts in the southern United States, in the form of plantations and natural mixed stands, along with the regular occurrence of SPB outbreaks over a vast region, makes SPB a leading driver of overall forest health across this...

Biomass burning (BB) is a major source of atmospheric particles and trace gases, influencing climate change, air quality, and human health. During the Georgia Wildland-Fire Simulation Experiment, we measured the hygroscopicity (κ) and size resolved cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of BB particles from controlled burns of fuel beds representative of three ecoregions in Georgia, United States. Primary BB particles were predominantly organic, and photooxidation in an oxidation flow reactor produced secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in a new nucleation mode while transforming primary...

Although forest-based ecosystem services are well-documented, limited research has examined the role of forest ownership in human well-being. We conducted an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of evaluative and experienced subjective well-being (i.e., affect) among private landowners in the Great Northwoods region of Michigan and Wisconsin, USA. The amount of land people owned, whether that land was forested, and how often and in what ways respondents engaged with their land was not related to life satisfaction or eudaimonic well-being (i.e., worth and meaningfulness of life). In...

Biodiversity change has elicited widespread concern over the consequences for functions and services provided by ecosystems1–3. Despite extensive evidence for a positive effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning within a single trophic level4,5, how this biodiversity effect varies with multi-trophic food web structure remains unresolved6 even though most ecosystems contain two to six trophic levels7. We investigate how food web complexity modulates biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships in nature by quantifying energy fluxes as proxies for two principal ecosystem functions8—...

The emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), native to Northeast Asia, is the most destructive invasive pest of ash (Fraxinus spp.) in North America. In this study, we exposed mature fourth-instar diapausing EAB larvae (J-shaped or J-larvae) to nine temperatures ranging from 1.7 to 23.9 °C for 90 days, and then evaluated their diapause termination by measuring both the probability and timing of post-chill development to adults under warm rearing conditions (27 ± 0.5 °C, 16:8 h L: D). We also determined the effect of chill temperature on the mortality...

Oak (Quercus) trees and forests have provided a myriad of utilitarian and ecosystem services for millennia. Oaks are considered a foundational species in many regions of the world but are increasingly threatened as global climate change and anthropogenic pressures alter disturbance regimes and successional dynamics. Gaps in critical knowledge for oak ecology and management are impeding sustainability and restoration at small and large scales. This special issue was borne from attendees who attended a recent symposium, the International Oak Symposium that was held in Knoxville, Tennessee...

American elm ( Ulmus americana L.), an important floodplain tree species in the Eastern U.S., continues to suffer widespread mortality from the non‐native pathogen Ophiostoma novo‐ulmi . Reliable and efficient methods for screening potted American elms for resistance to the pathogen are lacking, hindering efforts to restore the species. The objective of this study was to compare various screening methods for efficacy in separating known‐resistant from known‐susceptible American elm genotypes. Over the course of three experiments, we evaluated symptom development in potted American elms...