Treesearch

Understanding and controlling the diffusion of ions and chemicals within the secondary plant cell walls are pivotal in various applications of biomasses. Recent studies have shown that inorganic ion diffusion through secondary cell walls is controlled by a moisture-induced glass transition in amorphous polysaccharides, including amorphous cellulose and hemicelluloses. Understanding the diffusion of ions in these structures has been the subject of numerous recent experiments; however, a deep understanding of the underlying mechanisms of interactions between ion atoms and water/hemicellulose...

Monitoring fuel loads and treatment effects are critical in planning and evaluating prescribed fire and wildfire operations, but gathering data is difficult at management scales. Monitoring data allow managers to quantify fuel hazards, run fire behavior simulations that inform how prescribed fires and wildfires may progress under different weather and forests, and evaluate ecological impacts of different management decisions. New monitoring approaches with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) developed by Northern Research Station scientists and partners are revolutionizing vegetation monitorin...

Forest managers are searching for better approaches to manage low-value material resulting from fuels management and timber harvest. The conventional practice of slash pile burning emits pollutants and greenhouse gases, and leaves behind burn scars that degrade forest soils and inhibit regeneration of native plants. While sometimes this low-value material can be chipped and removed for beneficial uses elsewhere, such options are costly and logistically difficult on many remote forest sites.Biochar production presents a promising alternative, reducing the need for costly material transport,...

Background: Accurate estimates of available live crown fuel loads are critical for understanding potential wildland fire behavior. Existing crown fire behavior models assume that available crown fuels are limited to all tree foliage and half of the fine branches less than 6 mm in diameter (1 h fuel). They also assume that this relationship is independent of the branchwood moisture content. Despite their widespread use, these assumptions have never been tested, and our understanding of the physiochemical properties that govern live crown flammability and consumption remains limited. To test...

Background: Sagebrush ecosystems are experiencing increases in wildfire extent and severity. Most research on vegetation treatments that reduce fuels and fire risk has been short term (2-3 years) and focused on ecological responses. We review causes of altered fire regimes and summarize literature on the longer-term effects of treatments that modify (1) shrub fuels, (2) pinyon and juniper canopy fuels, and (3) fine herbaceous fuels. We describe treatment effects on fuels, fire behavior, ecological resilience, and resistance to invasive annual grasses.Results: Our review revealed tradeoffs...

The last decade’s economic, social, and environmental changes have affected the production, consumption, prices, and trade of forest products in the United States. This report provides an overview of how future potential societal and biophysical changes in the U.S. South, the country, and the world may influence the region’s forest sector. Changes are modeled with six scenarios that offer alternative trajectories for socioeconomic change (rates of growth in income and population), climate warming, technology, and trade openness. Among these are two scenarios exploring (1) the accelerated...

Tropical storms cause a range of short-, medium-, and long-term effects on forest ecosystems; they influence forest structure, dynamics, composition, and diversity of biota, as well as the abiotic component that supports ecosystem processes and functions. Storms also affect the provision of ecosystem services that are vital to sustain life and necessary to support ecosystem functions. The passage of atmospheric systems also provides opportunities to conduct studies allowing knowledge production, thus broadening understanding of these disturbances on forest ecosystems. Tropical storms over...

Chestnut blight (caused by Cryphonectria parasitica), together with Phytophthoraroot rot (caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi), has nearly extirpated American chestnut (Castanea dentata) from its native range. In contrast to the susceptibility of American chestnut, many Chinese chestnut (C. mollissima) genotypes are resistant to blight. In this research, we performed a series of genome-wide association studies for blight resistance originating from three unrelated Chinese chestnut trees (Mahogany, Nanking and M16) and a Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) study on a Mahogany-derived inter-species...

A forest investment’s returns are generated from three sources: the land’s gain in value, the timber’s growth in size and product class improvement, and the timber price change. Land appreciation is rapidly leading to an inverse relationship with tenure. This phenomenon has turned what was once an academic exercise of land appraisal into a practical one that incorporates the asset’s terminal value. We found that failing to account for the terminal value can lead to sizable differences in forest value, although those differences diminish with increasing planning time horizons. The findings...