Treesearch

In recent decades, wildfires have destroyed growing numbers of homes in the United States. Wildfire recovery has emerged as a critical time to reduce future vulnerability, yet we lack knowledge of how rebuilding efforts unfold over time, and are shaped by resident and housing characteristics, land use planning, and government regulations. We used a case study approach to document housing recovery a decade post-event for the Highway 31 fire in suburban South Carolina, and the Station fire in exurban California (both in 2009). We found divergent rebuilding and mitigation outcomes; rebuilding...

Analysis of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions using electronic-nose (e-nose) devices has shown promise for early detection of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats. Tricolored bats, Perimyotis subflavus, from three separate sampling groups defined by environmental conditions, levels of physical activity, and WNS-disease status were captured temporarily for collection of VOC emissions to determine relationships between these combinations of factors and physiological states, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd)-infection status, and metabolic conditions. Physiologically active (non-torpid)...

Sagebrush ecosystems of western North America are threatened by invasive annual grasses and wildfires that can remove fire-intolerant shrubs for decades. Fuel reduction treatments are used ostensibly to aid in fire suppression, conserve wildlife habitat, and restore historical fire regimes, but longterm ecological impacts of these treatments are not clear. In 2006, we initiated fuel reduction treatments (prescribed fire, mowing, and herbicide applications [tebuthiuron and imazapic]) in six Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis communities. We evaluated long-term effects of these fuel...

The majority of the aboveground biomass on the Earth’s land surface is stored in forests.Thus, forest biomass plays a critical role in the global carbon cycle. Yet accurate estimate of forestaboveground biomass (FAGB) remains elusive. This study proposed a new conceptual model to mapFAGB using remotely sensed data from multiple sensors. The conceptual model, which providesguidance for selecting remotely sensed data, is based on the principle of estimating FAGB on theground using allometry, which needs species, diameter at breast height (DBH), and tree height asinputs. Based on the conceptua...

Many National Forest Inventory (NFI) stakeholders would benefit from accurate estimatesat finer geographic scales than most currently implemented in operational estimatesusing NFI sample data. In the past decade small area estimation techniques havebeen shown to increase precision in forest inventory estimates by combining fieldobservations and remote-sensing.We sought to demonstrate the potential for improvingthe precision of forest inventory growing stock volume estimates for counties inUnited States of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, by pairing canopy heightmodels from digital...

Small area estimation is a growing area of research for making inferences over geographic, demographic, or temporal domains smaller than those in which a particular survey data set was originally intended to be used. We aimed to review a body of literature to summarize the breadth and depth of small area estimation and related estimation strategies in forest inventory and management to-date, as well as the current state of terminology, methods, concerns, data sources, research findings, challenges, and opportunities for future work relevant to forestry and forest inventory research....

Falling trees and tree fragments are one of the top five causes of fatalities for wildland fire responders. In six out of ten recent years, at least one fatality from a tree strike has occurred while a fire responder was on duty, and others were injured. We used TreeMap, a national map of forest characteristics, including individual tree height, diameter, and status (live or dead), to generate a map of snag hazard for forested areas of the continental U.S. at 30 x 30 m resolution. Snag hazard was classified into categories of low, moderate, high, or extreme based on snag density and...

The Special Issue is aimed to link climate-change impacts on hydrological processes and water quality for local watersheds or basins. Emphases are on climate-induced water resource vulnerabilities (e.g., flood, drought, groundwater, evapotranspiration, and waterpollution) and methodologies (e.g., computer modeling, field measurement, and management practice) employed to mitigate and adapt climate-change impacts on water resources. In addition, application implications to water resource management were discussed in this Special Issue.

Forest change affects the relative magnitudes of hydrologic fluxes such as evapotranspiration (ET) and streamflow. However, much is unknown about the sensitivity of streamflow response to forest disturbance and recovery. Several physically based models recognize the different influences that overstory versus understory canopies exert on hydrologic processes, yet most input datasets consist of total leaf area index (LAI) rather than individual canopy strata. Here, we developed stratum-specific LAI datasets with the intent of improving the representation of vegetation for ecohydrologic...

Metrosideros polymorpha, Hawaiian common name ‘ōhi‘a, is the dominant tree of Hawaiian forests, comprising 80% of the native forests and 50% of all forests in the state (Owen et al., in press; US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, n.d.). ‘Ōhi‘a trees contain 41% of all live-tree carbon sequestered on these islands (Owen et al., in press; US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, n.d.). Many ‘ōhi‘a forests are almost monospecific in the canopy, although they support a diverse and largely endemic understory. ‘Ōhi‘a is one of the first woody species to colonize new lava flows and...