Treesearch

This indicator provides information on the number and distribution of forest-associated species and infraspecies (e.g., subspecies, varieties) at risk of losing genetic variation across their geographic range. Comparing current geographic distributions with historical distributions is the basis for identifying the species and infraspecies whose range has contracted significantly (based on per-State presence and absence). Human activities, like land use conversions, climate change, the alteration of native habitats, the introduction of exotic species, and direct exploitation, are acceleratin...

This indicator reports the area and percentage of U.S. forests that are used for subsistence activities. In the United States, subsistence rights are codified through Federal laws, State constitutions, and Federal treaties with Tribal Nations and Canada. These bodies of legislation protect subsistence rights in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest (States of Washington and Oregon), Hawaii, and the Great Lakes region (States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan), which are the focus of this analysis. More specifically, Alaska and Hawaii are the only States to codify in their constitutions the...

Laminated root rot (LRR; caused by the fungus Coniferiporia sulphurascens) is the most damaging root disease of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in the Pacific Northwest, USA and southwestern Canada. LRR’s influences on tree mortality and forest productivity have been well-documented in young commercial Douglas-fir forests (<50 years); however, much less is known about the role of LRR in the dynamics of older forests and how root disease might alter trajectories of forest succession. The objective of this study was to examine the association between LRR, and changes in forest community...

For over fifty years, the Landsat satellite series has provided continuous and comprehensive data for monitoring changes on the Earth’s terrestrial surface. Eight successive missions, carrying progressively more sophisticated sensors, with improved radiometric, geometric, and spatial characteristics, have provided an unbroken series of optical and thermal imagery, unparalleled globally. With limited lifetimes for each Landsat satellite, planning of each mission typically overlaps to ensure continuity. Commencing in 2021, planning of a Landsat-9 successor gathered user needs from across the...

Until recently, wildlife habitat maps were static documents that can quickly become outdated anytime landscape conditions changed due to disturbances like wildfire, drought, and timber harvest. But now, researchers at the Rocky Mountain Research Station and their collaborators have developed an approach for producing near-real-time wildlife habitat maps using Google Earth Engine. These products are called Living Maps because of their ability to stay up to date - incorporating new input data and remaining accurate over time - thus functioning like an automated wildlife habitat monitoring...

This summary report provides an overview of the current conditions, changing trends, issues, and threats to statewide forest resources based on findings from the 2018 inventory of New Jersey’s forests. New Jersey’s forests report an estimated 1.9 million acres of forest land and 89 tree species. Forest land is dominated by maples in the north and pitch pine in the south. The volume of growing stock on timberland currently totals 3.3 billion cubic feet. Average annual mortality of sound volume of live trees on forest land has remained relatively stable since 2013 and currently totals 54.7...

The Northern Gulf of America (NGOA, formerly known as Northern Gulf of Mexico) is a key economic region for seafood production, recreation, and marine transportation. This study compared evapotranspiration (ET) and water yield in the Sabine River Basin (SRB) and Pearl River Basin (PRB) along the NGOA, focusing on coastal watersheds between two 40-year weather scenarios: past (1985–2024) and future (2025–2064). The analysis was conducted using the HAWQS (Hydrologic and Water Quality System) model, along with Mann-Kendall (M-K) and Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) tests. Simulations showed a...

We investigated the effects of the fuel moisture content and photochemical aging on the toxicity of smoke particulate matter (PM) emissions in simulated wildland fires. We burned fuel beds consisting of surface fuels and duff under moderate and low moisture contents, representative of prescribed fires (Rx) and drought-induced wildfires (Wild), respectively. The Wild emissions were photochemically aged in an oxidation flow reactor (Wild-Aged). We exposed human bronchial epithelial cells to PM extracts from each permutation. PM extracts from all experimental permutations (Rx, Wild, Wild-Aged)...

We investigated the influence of combustion conditions on emissions of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) and the formation of secondary organic carbon (SOC) in wildland fires. We performed combustion experiments using fuel beds representative of three ecoregions in the Southeastern U.S. and varied the fuel-bed moisture content to simulate either prescribed fires (Rx) or drought-induced wildfires (Wild). We used fire radiative energy normalized by fuel-bed mass (FREnorm) as a proxy for combustion conditions. For fuel beds that contained surface fuels only, the higher moisture...

The fossil record offers important opportunities to reconstruct plant community response to past disturbance events. Yet reconstructions are hindered by limited empirical evidence of successional variation in functional traits measurable on fossil leaves, including leaf morphology and δ 13 C. In addition, the role the leaf economic spectrum (LES) plays across succession within temperate deciduous forests is unresolved. Finally, it is unclear to what degree disturbance confounds the leaf morphology–climate relationships utilized in paleoclimate proxies.We utilize a chronosequence spanning...