Treesearch

Heavy metal concentrations often vary at small spatial scales not captured by air monitoring networks, with implications for environmental justice in industrial-adjacent communities. Pollutants measured in moss tissues are commonly used as a screening tool to guide use of more expensive resources, like air monitors. Such studies, however, rarely address environmental justice issues or involve the residents and other decision makers expected to utilize results. Here, we piloted a community science approach, engaging over 55 people from nine institutions, to map heavy metals using moss in...

American Toads are the only toad species found in Wisconsin, and they are distributed throughout the state. They are a fairly large anuran, with a stout body, short limbs, and 'warty' skin that is mostly mottled browns and tans but sometimes reddish.

The geological history of Wisconsin, particularly glacial and permafrost cycles (Clayton et al. 2001, Syverson and Colgan 2004), shaped the current topography of the state. Bedrock and soil types, rivers and natural lakes, hills and valleys are all products of past environments (e.g., Rawling et al. 2008, Lytwyn 2010, Jacobs et al. 2011, Schaetzl and Attig 2013). These geological legacies, along with climatic gradients, strongly influence the modern plant and animal diversity in Wisconsin (Albert 1995, Schulte et al. 2002, Cutright et al. 2006). Furthermore, plant communities, which are a...

The Wood Turtle is arguably one of the most attractive and interesting freshwater turtles in North America. It is a medium-sized species with yellow or orange coloration on its throat and forelegs and pyramid-shaped rings on its shell. The species is primarily distributed throughout the northern half and the west-central and south-central portions of the state.

Regarding the limited resources for fossil fuels and increasing global energy demands, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change, there is a need to find alternative energy sources that are sustainable, environmentally friendly, renewable, and economically viable. In the last several decades, interest in second-generation bioethanol production from non-food lignocellulosic biomass in the form of organic residues rapidly increased because of its abundance, renewability, and low cost. Bioethanol production fits into the strategy of a circular economy and zero waste plans, and using...

Maps of species composition are important for assessing a wide range of ecosystem functions in forested landscapes, including processes shaping community structure at broader (e.g., climate) and finer (e.g., disturbance) scales. Incorporating recently available remotely sensed datasets has the potential to improve species composition mapping by providing information to help predict species presence and relative abundance. Using USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis plot data and the gradient nearest neighbor imputation modeling approach in eastern Washington, USA, we developed...

High elevation and arid wilderness areas generally lack epiphytic lichen species used for air quality biomonitoring. We assessed the potential of saxicolous lichens to serve as bioindicators of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) deposition by examining relationships among deposition, environmental variables, and elemental concentrations in the saxicolous lichens Umbilicaria phaea (n = 51), Rhizoplaca melanophthalma (n = 20), and the epiphytic lichen Letharia vulpina (n = 16) in the southern Sierra Nevada (SN) and San Bernardino Mountains (SBM) of California, USA. Lichen samples were collected...

Previous studies have evaluated how changes in atmospheric nitrogen (N) inputs and climate affect stream N concentrations and fluxes, but none have synthesized data from sites around the globe. We identified variables controlling stream inorganic N concentrations and fluxes, and how they have changed, by synthesizing 20 time series ranging from 5 to 51 years of data collected from forest and grassland dominated watersheds across Europe, North America, and East Asia and across four climate types (tropical, temperate, Mediterranean, and boreal) using the International Long-Term Ecological...

This Discussion Paper is a background document to the Forest Sector Outlook Study 2020-2040 (FSOS) for the UNECE region (ECE/TIM/SP/51). It provides the details that are summarized in chapter 4 of the main study. This Discussion Paper provides a comprehensive overview of how forests might be affected in the UNECE region and its five different subregions, how forests might help climate mitigation, and how forest management may need to adapt to changing conditions. Climate change impacts on forests will be profound: extended, warmer growing seasons and higher levels of atmospheric CO2, might...

Modern Arboriculture challenges us to use our minds as well as our muscles to care for trees. Part of that challenge is to properly evaluate what we see in the landscape, including the association of fungi with the trees in our care. The fungi we can readily see include a wealth of polypores, gilled mushrooms, jellies, and slime molds. We know that some of these fungi are signs of tree disease and structural weakness, while most are “along for the ride” and pose no risk to trees or the people who live around them.