Treesearch

The Agaricomycete Heterobasidion annosumsensu lato (s.l.), a species complex of fungal pathogens, causes root and butt rot on conifers throughout the northern hemisphere, thereby shaping structure, composition, and evolution of vast and diverse forest ecosystems. We analyze forest change 48–49 years following Heterobasidion root disease emergence in 63 permanent plots first established in 1970–1972 and measured at least once every decade through 2020. We use this dataset to infer the long-term consequences of Heterobasidionroot disease in a set of common forest types that reflect some of...

Sympatric host-associated genetic differentiation is a prominent pattern that could lead to speciation. In insects, there are numerous examples of host-associated differentiation among herbivores that prefer different plants, and parasitoids that prefer different hosts, but few examples for specialist predators. We developed new microsatellite loci for two species of silver fly, Leucotaraxis argenticollis (Zetterstedt) and L. piniperda (Malloch) (Diptera: Chamaemyiidae), being evaluated as biological control agents for the hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae)...

Context: Identifying core habitat areas and corridors is a first step to ensuring suitable areas are available to support movement and gene flow. The pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) is a species of concern and a sagebrush obligate of the arid Great Basin, yet a habitat network of core areas and corridors for this species has not been assessed. Methods: Using a multiscale habitat modeling approach, we mapped pygmy rabbit habitat suitability and identified important variables that define habitat suitability. Movement pinch points in the Snake River plain and from Nevada west to...

Conservation and management of wide-ranging carnivores like cougars (Puma concolor), which occur across human-altered landscapes can benefit from an in-depth understanding of their genetic status. Here, we apply the largest collection of multilocus genotypes currently available for cougars (n = 1,903) to provide a comprehensive assessment of genetic diversity, gene flow, and source-sink dynamics for cougars occurring across Washington, United States and south-central British Columbia, Canada. We found that cougars in the Olympic, Cascade, Kettle, Selkirk, and Blue Mountains ecosystems are...

PODs, potential wildfire operational delineations, give land managers, fire managers, partnering agencies, and at-risk communities a structured framework for developing landscape-scale wildfire response options before wildfires ignite.

In the late 1980s, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, along with other federal agencies and multiple universities, collaborated to develop a new physically based soil erosion model, the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Model. The WEPP model was intended to replace the Universal Soil Loss Equation and was to include estimates for upland runoff and erosion, sediment delivery to first order channels, and runoff and sediment routing through a down-stream channel network. The WEPP technology estimated erosion from raindrop splash and sheet flow (interrill erosion) and concentrated...

When wildlife species exhibit unexpected associations with vegetation, replication of studies in different locales can illuminate whether patterns of use are consistent or divergent. Our objective was to describe fine-scale forest conditions used by Pacific martens (Martes caurina) at 2 study sites in northern California that differed in forest composition and past timber harvest. We identified denning and resting locations of radio-marked martens and sampled structure- and plot-level vegetation using standardized forest inventory methods between 2009–2021. Woody structures used by martens...

Groundwater systems in snow-dominated drainage areas supply cool baseflows that support instream and downstream users late into the dry season. Yet, these catchments are becoming rarer with climate change and anthropogenic pressures that threaten groundwater systems. Restoration of low-gradient meadows and streams can recover a catchment’s natural storage potential, especially in Mediterranean biomes such as the Sierra Nevada of California where summer groundwater recharge is scarce. The degradation of meadows due to intense human modification has decreased groundwater elevations and...

Acetylation is a type of commercial wood modification used to enhance the durability of wood. Despite its adoption, especially in outdoor environments, there are mixed data on how acetylation affects the combustion of wood. This paper evaluates the differences in acetylated and untreated wood using a cone calorimeter in combination with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to look for acetic acid vapors in the combustion gases. Two thicknesses of acetylated pine boards were tested and compared against an untreated board from the same genus. No differences were observed between...

Mycelium-bonded bio-composites are an emerging class of novel materials developed over the past ten years. These have attracted significant research and commercialization interest with a steadily increasing number of papers, patents, and products. The basic idea behind these novel composites is to use fungal mycelia to bond substrates, mostly lignocellulosic biomass, together. Therefore, fungal mycelia in the system actually work as adhesives. This kind of adhesive is different from traditionally recognized resin-based adhesives in characteristics, processing, application field, and...