Treesearch

Changes in sulfate (SO42−) deposition have been linked to changes in mercury (Hg) methylation in peatlands and water quality in freshwater catchments. There is little empirical evidence, however, of how quickly methyl-Hg (MeHg, a bioaccumulative neurotoxin) export from catchments might change with declining SO42− deposition. Here, we present responses in total Hg (THg), MeHg, total organic carbon, pH, and SO42− export from a peatland-dominated catchment as a function of changing SO42− deposition in a long-term (1998− 2011), whole-ecosystem, control-impact experiment. Annual SO42− deposition...

Indoor humidity levels in buildings affect the quality of indoor air, the health and comfort of the occupants, and the durability of the structure. Interior water vapor generation is an important consideration in building design analysis. In this paper we compare two methods for quantifying water vapor generation rates in residential buildings. The first involves Monte Carlo simulations that consider time varying interior sources using statistical survey data. Typical sources include humans, pets, plants, showering, bathing, cooking, washing, etc. The second approach involves field...

Women and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) employees are underrepresented in science and natural resource management institutions. Student and recent graduate trainee and internship programs have been used to try to address this in United States federal agencies over the last few decades. Our study evaluates how effective such programs are at improving U.S. federal workforce diversity. We used a comprehensive employee dataset from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service– which has the largest natural resource management workforce in the country–to...

Globalization and economic growth are recognized as key drivers of biological invasions. Alien species have become a feature of almost every biological community worldwide, and rates of new introductions continue to rise as the movement of people and goods accelerates. Insects are among the most numerous and problematic alien organisms, and are mainly introduced unintentionally with imported cargo or arriving passengers. However, the processes occurring prior to insect introductions remain poorly understood. We used a unique dataset of 1,902,392 border interception records from inspections...

Understanding flame spread and combustion dynamics in surface fuels is important for both planning and evaluating the impact of prescribed fires. However, prescribed fires tend to be conducted under light and unsteady wind conditions as compared with those which have been well studied for wildfire scenarios. To improve this understanding and provide data for next-generation fire models, it is necessary to collect detailed time-resolved observations of these processes. To accomplish this, a series of small-scale field experiments was conducted in pine needle litter. 10 m x 10 m plots were...

The increasing importance of prescribed fire use has led to an increased focus on the development of modelling tools suited to conditions typical of prescribed fire scenarios. An improved understanding of flame spread through porous surface fuels represents an important part of these efforts. In the lower wind speed conditions typical of many prescribed burns, the role of fuel structure may be of greater importance than in highly wind-aided flame spread scenarios. The porous nature of wildland fuel beds complicates efforts to apply existing, solid surface theories for flame spread in low...

Species ranges are forecast to change in response to warming temperatures and altered precipitation patterns, yet tree migration rates fail to track the pace of climate change. In anticipation of these changes, various forest adaptation management strategies have been broadly proposed, including intentionally modifying species composition via assisted migration of future climate adapted species. Despite the potential utility of these adaptation measures, practical evaluations are limited, particularly those applied to meet other ecological objectives such as supporting vulnerable, underrepr...

Manganese (Mn) may play an outsized role in soil biogeochemical cycles relative to its abundance. The role of Mn-facilitated oxidation of biomacromolecules during litter decomposition is well-established, but the balance between Mn-promoted soil organic carbon (SOC) oxidation and long-term SOC protection in mineral soils is unknown, especially in subsoils. In this study, we used soils collected across the US National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) to assess the distribution of Mn and relationships between Mn abundance and SOC concentration, potential mineralization, and persistence...

In the age of big data, soil data are more available and richer than ever, but – outside of a few large soil survey resources – they remain largely unusable for informing soil management and understanding Earth system processes beyond the original study. Data science has promised a fully reusable research pipeline where data from past studies are used to contextualize new findings and reanalyzed for new insight. Yet synthesis projects encounter challenges at all steps of the data reuse pipeline, including unavailable data, labor-intensive transcription of datasets, incomplete metadata, and...

Family forest owners (FFOs) hold a plurality of forestland in the United States, and programs and markets exist that compensate landowners for sequestering and storing increased carbon through extended rotations, improved forest management, and increased forest cover. We used USDA Forest Service National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) data from 2018 to estimate the number of ownerships and their associated acreage that are enrolled, that are familiar but not enrolled, and that are unfamiliar with these programs, as well as differences in attributes among these groups. As of 2018, less than...