Treesearch

Effective conservation of at-risk species presents a conundrum, often requiring rapid status assessments and timely actions regardless of the adequacy of best available information. Here, we present a case study on Humboldt martens (Martes caurina humboldtensis), a rare and cryptic carnivore listed as threatened in 2020 under the United States Endangered Species Act. Given their rarity, many aspects of Humboldt marten population ecology remain understudied. To help inform marten conservation, we conducted exploratory analyses to estimate population growth by incorporating empirically...

In August 2017, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) established an expert group from the forestry and water sectors to identify common ground, and to enhance the attention to the important role played by the forest-water nexus in securing resilient landscapes. The expert group, the Forest-Water Champions (FWC), meets annually to build on its convergence of perspectives and ideas and to implement them through engagement in international...

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...