Treesearch

White oak (Quercus alba) trees are difficult to sustain in many stands across the Central Hardwood Region because natural and anthropogenic processes are failing to establish advance reproduction (Schweitzer and others 2019). Large-scale shifts in species composition result in mesophication of hardwood forests that can lead to lower biodiversity and reduced fire and drought tolerance (Woodbridge and others 2022). Artificial regeneration (i.e., planting) contributes to localized restoration targets with an immediate input of advance reproduction (Clark and Schlarbaum 2019). The goal of our...

Our desire to maintain biodiverse forests is predicated on a desire to maintain oaks (Quercus spp.) in dominant canopy positions and high stocking levels. Oak reproduction is advance-growth dependent; that is, there must be adequate numbers of oak seedlings in competitive sizes prior to a canopy-replacing disturbance. Therefore, adaptive regeneration strategies are needed to position oak reproduction for recruitment into future canopy positions.

Over the last half-century, thousands of acres have been afforested in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) with projections of nearly 30 million acres by 2040 (Wear 2002). This is after a previous 2 centuries where nearly 75 percent of the original hardwoods were removed from the MAV (Nature Conservancy 1992). Establishment of new stands across this large area has resulted in a wide variety of survival and growth characteristics across soils, topography, and silvicultural techniques (Cunningham and Stuhlinger 2018, Self and Willis 2022).

A midstory release was used to enhance naturally established white oak (Quercus alba) seedlings that resulted from a previous bumper acorn crop at the Forest Resources Research and Education Center in Oak Ridge, TN, during the summer of 2020. Total number of species, height classes, and photosynthetically active radiation were collected on the plot level and height and root collar diameter (RCD) were collected on the subplot level over two complete growing seasons. White oak seedlings receiving the release treatment showed significant differences in percent height and RCD growth on the...

Biomass estimates are integral to carbon and feed stocks, fuel loads, and primary productivity. Understories of mature, natural-origin, pine (Pinus spp.) and pine-hardwood stands in southeastern Arkansas are dominated by shade-tolerant hardwoods which are poorly represented by existing biomass equations. Destructive sampling of 120 saplings [(0.5–12.2 cm in diameter at breast height (d.b.h.)] was used to develop biomass models for six hardwood species. A linear, two-parameter logarithmic model was used with d.b.h. as the main predictor. Local equations were compared to standard national-sca...

Slash pine (Pinus elliottii) is the second most important commercial species in the Southeastern United States and is usually established in poorly drained flatwoods where it outperforms other common pines. Modeling slash pine growth and how it responds to silvicultural treatments is of interest to forest managers wanting to maximize growth and profits. In this research, a growth and yield system of differential equations is proposed to model slash pine growth, including the effects of some silvicultural treatments (i.e., bedding and vegetation control). Data for this model came from a...

Variables such as average tree diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) and total height are important stand characteristics for forest management. Conventionally, tree d.b.h. and height are measured; however, due to the difficulty of measuring tree height in the field, this variable is often estimated from tree d.b.h. Recent developments in remote sensing techniques, in particular the application of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology to forestry, provides a promising alternative. LiDAR point clouds can be used to accurately estimate tree total height and crown area, which can be...

Multispectral data collected from satellite-based sensors serve as a powerful tool for quantifying forest aboveground biomass. In this paper, we evaluated the performance of models that used satellite-image-derived variables and the models that used a combination of satellite-image-derived variables along with stand-level attributes to quantify forest aboveground biomass of natural mixed-hardwood forests. Imagery from Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2 satellite missions were used to derive the remote-sensing variables. We also identified the important predictors for these models using the recursive...

When applying prescribed fire to achieve various management objectives, forest managers benefit from being able to accurately predict fire behavior with site- and time-specific data. At the William B. Bankhead National Forest in northcentral Alabama, we used three levels of thinning (none, light, heavy) and three fire return intervals (no fire, 9-year return, 3-year return) in mixed pine-oak (Pinus spp.-Quercus spp.) stands to move stands toward more desirable structures. After 38 fires over 12 years, we amassed a substantial store of thermocouple temperatures and burn condition data. We...

A virtual forum for land managers to provide feedback on barriers to, and opportunities for, the increased use of prescribed fire in the United States was held in June 2021. The session included a series of case studies illustrating barriers and opportunities in different ecosystems as well as key findings from recent research on prescribed fire use. In Eastern U.S. forests, where fire has long been excluded from multiple fire-adapted forest types including oak-pine (Quercus spp.-Pinus spp.) forests, woodlands, and savannas, ongoing research demonstrates that prescribed fire can be...