Treesearch

In contemporary forest landscapes, aquatic-riparian management approaches are addressing ecological integrity of site-to-landscape components that extend beyond the reach of traditional best management practices (BMPs). In this chapter, we highlight the intersection of BMPs that have guided past priorities with integrated interdisciplinary geomorphic, hydrologic, and biological perspectives of joint aquatic-terrestrial ecosystem management and restoration in forests. Beyond-BMP considerations include adapting prescribed BMPs for broader species and habitat protections and recognizing the...

This study assesses the impacts of whole-tree harvesting (WTH) versus stem-only harvest (SOH) on two oak-dominated stands located in Northern Wisconsin. Specifically, our study follows up on an experiment designed to better understand the impacts of WTH and whether stands are at risk of long-term nutrient losses, which could contribute to declines in productivity. The original study assessed: (i) full biomass removal (referred to as WTH), (ii) partial biomass removal (removal to 5 cm diameter bole), (iii) a traditional SOH (removal to 10 cm bole), and (iv) no harvest (control). Our data...

Uneven-aged silviculture is becoming increasingly popular as a tool to restore and manage forests for multiple benefits. However, there are few studies that evaluate the growth response of shade intolerant pine species in the southeastern United States to regeneration harvests during stand conversion process. We utilized an existing long-term, operational scale, replicated stand conversion trial in the southeastern United States to evaluate the effects of two initial stand conversion harvest treatments (uniform shelterwood and group cuttings) and an uncut control on the growth of residual...

The brown rot fungus Fomitopsis pinicola efficiently depolymerizes wood cellulose via the combined activities of oxidative and hydrolytic enzymes. Mass spectrometric analyses of culture filtrates identified specific proteins, many of which were differentially regulated in response to substrate composition.

Understanding the forest carbon cycle has become increasingly important as carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions contribute to the changing climate. Decomposition is a major component of the forest carbon cycle; however, aspects of wood decomposition remain poorly understood, especially for stumps. To fill this knowledge gap, we examined the change in CO2 emissions over time from Picea rubens Sarg. (red spruce) stumps using a 32-year chronosequence (i.e., 0, 2, 4, 8, 23, and 32 years since harvest) derived from detailed harvesting records in a northern conifer forest in central Maine, USA, that...

Deadwood moisture plays a major role in regulating deadwood decomposition rates and may also affect forest microclimate. Despite this, the temporal variability of deadwood moisture at 15-min time scales remains relatively unknown because techniques for using high-frequency sensors for tracking moisture at appropriate spatial and temporal intensities have been lacking. We installed a high-density sensor array in and around a downed log to gain a detailed assessment regarding the temporal variation of volumetric water content at multiple locations within one downed dead log, the source snag,...

Tree regeneration surveys provide insight into potential forest change and trajectories of stand development, which can guide management in an era of global change. However, most tree regeneration surveys tend to be coarse and/or rapid assessments which can introduce considerable uncertainty into translating estimates of seedling abundance into models of sapling recruitment and subsequent overstory tree abundance and composition. Observations of seedling abundance changes across size classes may be essential to accurately predicting recruitment from seedling sized trees to advanced size...

In North America, oaks (Quercus, Fagaceae) are the most abundant and diverse woody plants and one of the most highly valued, important forest trees as measured by provision of ecosystem services and economic value. Oaks dominate ecosystems throughout much of North America from Pacific Coast evergreen forests, to Eastern temperate deciduous forests, and southwestern oak‐piñon‐juniper woodlands (Johnson et al 2019). Many oak species are majestic, overstory trees but others are shrubs or small trees, particularly in drier habitats (e.g., chaparral), and higher elevation forests. Oaks grow in...

Vietnam mangrove forests have long been recognized to play important roles in coastal protection against soil erosion and storms/strong waves, supplying seafood, land reclamation, and carbon accumulation. Mangrove forests were severely damaged by the Second Indochina War and the shrimp aquaculture boom of the 1980s and 1990s. In recent decades, the rate of mangrove forest decline has been reduced due to increased efforts in mangrove restoration, though mangrove conversions to other land uses still occur locally. In this study, we analyzed Landsat data using the Google Earth Engine (GEE)...

Large in-stream wood (LW) is a critical component of riparian systems that increases heterogeneity of flow regimes and provides high quality habitat for salmonids and other fishes. We present four sampling-based methods to estimate two-dimensional LW for a 61-hectare river restoration project on the South Fork McKenzie River near Rainbow, OR (USA). We manually delineated LW area, from unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS) multispectral imagery for 40 randomly selected 51.46 m2 hexagonal plots. Seven auxiliary variables were extracted from the imagery and imagery derivatives to be incorporated...