Treesearch

The exotic annual grass ventenata ( Ventenata dubia L.) is raising concern as it rapidly invades multiple ecosystem types within the United States, including sagebrush steppe, ponderosa pine forests, woodlands, and much of the Palouse and Pacific Northwest Bunchgrass Prairie (PNB). Despite increasing attention, little is known about the invasion dynamics of ventenata, especially its response to disturbances such as grazing and fire. In this study, we examined how cattle grazing and prescribed fire affect the abundance (standing crop, cover, frequency, and density) of ventenata and other...

While previously disputed as a plausible ignition source, civilian firearms use has emerged as a wildfire cause of concern in the United States (US). The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) included it as a newly recognized fire cause in the wildfire-reporting data standard approved in 2020. Here we report on shooting-caused wildfire ignitions using data mapped over to the new NWCG cause standard from historical wildfire records spanning 1992–2018. This is the first time that data on shooting-related fires have been assembled and summarized for the US, with the intention of raising...

Researchers and practitioners often emphasize the importance of effective community engagement around forest management projects to address possible barriers to implementation related to a lack of social acceptance. Using qualitative methods, we examined a public outreach program to understand the goals and perceptions of those providing and receiving information about forest management. We found that many community members were initially drawn to learn about wildfire risk mitigation, but their informational needs shifted toward broader forest ecology over time, suggesting that communicatio...

In recent decades, the use of satellite sensors, near-surface cameras, and other remote methods for monitoring vegetation phenology at landscape and higher scales has become increasingly common. These technologies provide a means to determine the timing of phenophases and growing season length at different spatial resolutions; coverage that is not attainable by human observers. However, in situ ground observations are required to validate remotely derived phenometrics. Despite increased knowledge and expertise there still remains the persistent challenge of reconciling ground observations...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a rising threat to biodiversity, national security, and regional economies, with impacts in the hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars annually. Proactive or predictive approaches guided by scientific knowledge are essential to keeping pace with growing impacts of invasions under climate change. Although the rapid development of diverse technologies and approaches has produced tools with the potential to greatly accelerate invasion research and management, innovation has far outpaced implementation and coordination. Technological and methodological syntheses...

Urban forests provide ecosystem services to more than 4.2 billion people living in cities; however, the provision of these services is threatened by climate change. Cities will experience novel, warmer climates that will impact tree species survival. Here, we present an empirical approach combining the use of climate analogues and vulnerability metrics to guide urban tree species selection. Climate analogues can be used to identify where the current climate in a given location is similar to the projected future climate of another location. Using vulnerability metrics, tree species in both...

Effects of cool-season (November-April) and warm-season (May-October) prescribed burning treatments and a spring wildfire on the soils and hydrologic functioning of the oak savannas on the Cascabel Watersheds in the Southwestern Borderlands Region of Arizona and New Mexico are reported in this paper. The impacts of the fire events on transpiration, formation of water repellent soils, hillslope soil erosion and deposition, streamflow regimes, and sediment depositions are among these soil and hydrologic functions. Results should be useful in planning management activities in similar oak...

Mycelium-bonded bio-composites are promising new materials for replacing non-sustainable products. In such composite systems, fungal mycelia work as an adhesive, bonding together lignocellulosic substrate particles. In this work, we focus on the two groups of mycelium-bonded bio-composites: as-grown foams and hot-pressed (densified) panels. We used Trametes versicolor mycelium and yellow birch wood particles as a substrate and incubated the mixture for up to 30 days. We investigated the relationship between mycelium growth and essential end-use properties. We revealed that in as-grown...

Over the past century, foresters in the Southern United States have achieved remarkable success in the practice of silviculture. Key elements of success include learning how to plant southern pines, which gave rise to genetic improvement and cultural practices that have placed short-rotation planted pine stands on a quarter of the South’s timberlands. A second element was the application of conservative silvicultural practices, including uneven-aged methods in southern pines, to help recover cutover but partially stocked stands. Both these advances contributed to retaining industrial...