Treesearch

Hurricanes frequently impact coastal forests throughout the southeastern United States and are expected to increase in frequency and intensity in the future. Given this projection, interest has grown in adopting forest management practices that can reduce the risk of hurricane damage by increasing stand resistance and resilience. Empirical evidence suggests that uneven-aged stands are more resistant and resilient to hurricanes than even-aged stands, due to their heterogeneous stand structure and multiple age classes. Nevertheless, opportunities to compare the impact of hurricanes on stands...

In drylands, water-limited regions that cover _40% of the global land surface, ecosystems are primarily controlled by access to soil moisture and exposure to simultaneously hot and dry conditions. Quantifying ecologically relevant environmental metrics is difficult in drylands because the response of vegetation to moisture and temperature conditions is not easily explained solely by climate-based metrics. To address this knowledge gap, we developed and examined 27 climate and ecological drought metrics across dryland areas of the western United States. Included in the 27 metrics is a suite...

Intraspecific trait variation is fundamental to understanding a species' adaptive capacity. Assessing phenotypic variation at different ecological scales is useful for evaluating species' vulnerability to changing environmental conditions. Here, we quantify the ecological scale of variation of phenotypic functional traits for a widespread dryland tree species and evaluate the strength of trait-environment relationships across spatial gradients and in response to interannual variability in weather conditions.

Leaf litter inputs can influence the structure and function of both terrestrial and adjacent aquatic ecosystems. Dioecy and herbivory are two factors that together have received little attention, yet have the potential to affect the quantity, quality, and timing of riparian litterfall, litter chemistry, and litter decomposition processes. Here, we explore litter chemistry differences for the dioecious Sitka willow (Salix sitchensis Sanson ex. Bong), which is establishing on primary successional habitats at Mount St. Helens (WA, USA) and is heavily infested with a stem-boring weevil...

Introduction: Agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry (AgFF) workers often work extremely long hours during peak production seasons, resulting in sleep deprivation and fatigue. The National Occupational Research Agenda has classified fatigue as a “significant safety issue” and area of concern for many industry sectors, including AgFF. This review explores current research and practice in AgFF and proposes next steps. Methods: We conducted a scoping literature review to examine the extent and nature of research in this area. Article inclusion criteria included peer‐reviewed journal...

Employment in the US logging industry has been declining over the past few decades and fell to a 20-year low following the 2008 economic recession. This study investigates the drivers of employment in the US logging industry from 2007 to 2017, using a directed acyclic graph (DAG). This approach is applied for the first time to disclose the contemporaneous causal relations among employment, wages, mechanization, production level, and product prices in the logging industry. Forecast error variance decomposition (VD) is further used to examine the long-run dynamic relationships between these...

Biochar and manure may be used to enhance soil quality and productivity for sustainable agriculture and forestry operations. However, the response of surface and belowground wood decomposition (i.e., soil processes) and nutrient flux to soil amendments is unknown, and more site-specific information about soil property responses is also essential. In a split-plot design, the soil was amended with three rates of manure (whole plot; 0, 3, and 9 Mg ha-1) and three rates of biochar (split-plot; 0, 2.5, and 10 Mg ha-1). Soil physical properties, nutrients, and enzyme activities were evaluated in...

Alpine ecosystems in the arid southwestern United States are vulnerable to climate change. Many of these ecosystems are experiencing increased recreational use and introductions of nonindigenous ungulates. In the La Sal Mountains of southeastern Utah, alpine plant communities support an endemic plant species, Erigeron mancus, 11 plant and two animal species of conservation concern, and a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Research Natural Area. Nonindigenous mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) were introduced by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) in...

Wildland fires are fundamentally landscape phenomena, making it imperative to evaluate wildland fire strategic goals and fuel treatment effectiveness at large spatial and temporal scales. Outside of simulation models, there is limited information on how stand-level fuel treatments collectively contribute to broader landscape-level fuel management goals. Our objective here is to present a framework designed to measure fuel treatment effectiveness from stands to landscapes to inform fuel treatment planning and improve ecological and social resilience to wildland fire.

Safety zones (SZs) are critical tools that can be used by wildland firefighters to avoid injury or fatality when engaging a fire. Effective SZs provide safe separation distance (SSD) from surrounding flames, ensuring that a fire’s heat cannot cause burn injury to firefighters within the SZ. Evaluating SSD on the ground can be challenging, and underestimating SSD can be fatal. We introduce a new online tool for mapping SSD based on vegetation height, terrain slope, wind speed, and burning condition: the Safe Separation Distance Evaluator (SSDE). It allows users to draw a potential SZ...