Treesearch

The non-timber forest product paradox is alive and well: while these products are part of the lives and livelihoods of billions of people across the globe, there is little product information available, and they continue to be overlooked in global and national statistics, forest policies and interventions. This chapter argues that non-timber forest products are a key to unlocking the bioeconomy, moving from a narrow subject focus on biotechnology and a narrow geographical focus on Western Europe to embracing new ways of thinking about a forest-based bioeconomy. Such reorientation is an...

Almost one-third of the world’s nations are taking action to transit to a bioeconomy. Most strategies focus on eliminating fossil fuel dependence by improving the use of forest biomass. While important, this draws attention away from the billions of people worldwide directly consuming or selling non-timber forest products (NTFPs), providing other opportunities for transiting to a bioeconomy. We contend an urgent need to move beyond thinking of the bioeconomy as a tool primarily to reduce the use of petrochemicals to include common daily uses of sustainably sourced natural resources. This...

Assimilating non-timber forest products (NTFPs) into forest management is needed for efficient forest-based bioeconomies. In transitioning from classical linear economic and industrial models to a progressive bioeconomy, forest resources will be central in providing a range of products. More than ever, attention is focused on increasing and improving forest productivity while addressing tensions between potentially conflicting objectives. In this context, integration of NTFPs requires consideration of compatibilities and trade-offs between forest managements goals, and appropriate actions...

Different models as well as planting prioritization and optimization schemes based upon diverse ecological, social, and economic goals and preferences have been used to develop more efficient and effective tree planting schemes. We compare tree planting prioritization scenarios identified from i-Tree Landscape's priority planting index to optimal scenarios identified from a spatially explicit multi-objective decision support framework at the census block group level in the Bronx, NY. We explore four scenarios with varying objectives considering populations below the poverty line, avoided...

Numerous threats to urban forests are assessed for the conterminous United States, including projected changes in urban tree cover, air temperatures, precipitation, aridity, sea level rise, wildfires, and flooding, as well as threats from hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, and insects and diseases. All potential threats were integrated into a cumulative threat index to illustrate which areas of the United States will likely face the greatest overall threat to their urban forests. Urban forests with the greatest cumulative threat per unit area are in the eastern United States, particularly...

Atmospheric deposition of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to terrestrial ecosystems is a small, but rarely studied component of the global carbon (C) cycle. Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and organic particulates are the sources of atmospheric C and deposition represents a major pathway for the removal of organic C from the atmosphere. Here, we evaluate the spatial and temporal patterns of DOC deposition using 70 data sets at least one year in length ranging from 40° south to 66° north latitude. Globally, the median DOC concentration in bulk deposition was 1.7 mg L−1. The DOC...

Mixed Quercus-Pinus stands are increasingly desired by forest managers to achieve a range of objectives, including biodiversity enhancement and resilience to global change. To create and perpetuate desired mixed Quercus-Pinus stand composition and structure, quantitative information on natural disturbance impacts on stand development and succession is necessary. Wind is the most common natural canopy disturbance in eastern North America, and impacts vary in severity and spatiotemporal scales. Intermediate-severity disturbance (ISD; events that occur along a classification gradient between...

Crop seed yield modeling and prediction can act as a key approach in the precision agriculture industry, enabling the reliable assessment of the effectiveness of agro-traits. Here, multiple machine learning (ML) techniques are employed to predict sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) seed yields (SSY) using agro-morphological features. Various ML models were applied, coupled with the PCA (principal component analysis) method to compare them with the original ML models, in order to evaluate the prediction efficiency. The Gaussian process regression (GPR) and radial basis function neural network...

The classification and taxonomy of the Polyporales have undergone tremendous change and made significant progress in the last ten years. A case in point is the Cerrenaceae that was created just five years earlier. This is one of the smaller, lesserknown families with just five recognized genera and is well-defined and supported by phylogenetic analyses but difficult to characterize by morphology. Some genera and species in the Cerrenaceae display a range in basidiome habit, hymenophore configuration, and hyphal system that overlap with species from other families in the Polyporales and...

The South Fork McKenzie River (SFMR) in western Oregon, USA hosts one of the largest Stage 0 stream restoration projects implemented to date. Stage 0 refers to a multichannel planform with strong hydrologic connectivity to the adjacent floodplain and surface–subsurface connectivity. Stage 0 restoration was implemented on a 900-m-long reach of the SFMR by re-grading the channel and floodplain using 65,000 m3 of sediment to raise the channel bed. Thousands of large logs were added and the ends of some logs were buried in the sediment to provide foundations for future log jams. Our primary...