Treesearch

Acute and extreme weather events can cause considerable damage to the tissues of trees, including stem death and branch or leaf distortion, which may limit their survival and reproduction. In January 2016, a rare cold spell impacted the coastal forests of subtropical China. Using post-hoc assessments, we evaluated the morphological and physiological response of Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera L.) to the extreme cold spell in two distinct ecoregions, one (Xiangshan, China) representing the cold spell impacted zone and the other (Taizhou, China) representing the non-affected zone. To...

Aim: Biological invasions are a major threat to biodiversity in aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Insects represent an important group of species in freshwater and terrestrial habitats, and they constitute a large proportion of non-native species. However, while many non-native insects are known from terrestrial ecosystems, they appear to be less represented in freshwater habitats. Comparisons between freshwater and terrestrial habitats of invader richness relative to native species richness are scarce, which hinders syntheses of invasion processes. Here, we used data from three regions on...

A wide variety of mathematical models exist which attempt to assess the risk of mold growth in building envelopes. Model predictions often fail to adequately represent observations from field experiments. We examine ways in which one model, the mold resistance design (MRD) model, can be improved to better align with empirical data. A database of laboratory mold growth results was assembled from the literature, which included not only the European spruce and pine on which pioneering models were based, but also materials commonly used in North America, such as oriented strand board (OSB) and...

In seed-obligate conifer forests of the western US, land managers need a better understanding of the spatiotemporal variability in post-fire recovery to develop adaptation strategies. Successful establishment of post-fire seedlings requires the arrival of seeds and favorable environmental conditions for germination, survival, and growth. We investigated the spatiotemporal limitations to post-fire seedling establishment and height growth in dry to moist mixed conifer forests with and without post-fire forest management treatments (salvage logging, grass seeding) in areas burned from low to...

Quantifying above-ground biomass changes, DAGB, is key for understanding carbon dynamics. National Forest Inventories, NFIs, aims at providing precise estimates of DAGB relying on model-assisted estimators that incorporate auxiliary information to reduce uncertainty. Poststratification estimators, PS, are commonly used for this task. Recently proposed endogenous poststratification, EPS, methods have the potential to improve the precision of PS estimates of DAGB. Using the state of Oregon, USA, as a testing area, we developed a formal comparison between three EPS methods, traditional PS...

The Miombo woodland is the most extensive tropical woodland in south-central Africa. However, field sample plot data on forest cover changes, species distribution and carbon stocks in the Miombo ecoregion are inadequate for effective forest management. Owing to logistical challenges that come with field-based inventory methods, remote sensing plays an important role in supplementing field methods to fill in data gaps. Traditional satellite and manned aircraft remote sensing platforms have their own advantages and limitations. The advent of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) has made it...

Lignin is a by-product of biorefineries and pulp and paper manufacturers. Lignin is a renewable source of phenolic precursors for fuels and chemicals. Hydrogenolysis of lignin cleaves the abundant β-O-4 bonds and releases phenolics. However, selective hydrogenolysis of lignin’s β-O-4 bonds is challenging because it requires high-pressure H2. Here we show efficient hydrogenolysis of lignin model compounds and technical lignin by Ru/C catalyst and internal hydrogen. The aliphatic hydroxyl groups (Cα OH) in lignin enabled Ru-catalyzed dehydrogenation of internal hydrogen and the formation of...

Wood-water interactions are central to the utilization of wood in our society since water affects many important characteristics of wood. This topic has been investigated for more than a century, but new knowledge continues to be generated as a result of improved experimental and computational methods. This review summarizes our current understanding of the fundamentals of water in wood and highlights significant knowledge gaps. Thus, the focus is not only on what is currently known but equally important, what is yet unknown. The review covers locations of water in wood; phase changes and...

The United States Capitol building was breached on January 6, 2021. Historically significant materials, many made of wood, were stolen, damaged, or destroyed. Shortly after the breach, the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) was contacted by the Department of Defense and the Architect of the Capitol and asked to provide technical advice and vintage lumber to aid in restoration efforts. This technical report includes the following: (1) details of FPL efforts to provide vintage lumber specimens to the Architect of the Capitol staff for use in repair of the U.S. Capitol...

Conservation scientists recommend maintaining and restoring ecological connectivity to sustain biodiversity in the face of land-use and climate change. Alternative connectivity assessments conducted at multiple spatial scales are needed to understand consequences of varying assumptions and for use in multi-scale conservation planning.