Treesearch

Agroforestry practitioners face numerous barriers, including narrowly focused agricultural and forest land support programs that are targeted toward conventional crop and timber production. Preferential property tax programs (PPTPs) are one of the critical support programs that offer economic relief for landowners of enrolled lands. However, eligibility criteria for these programs may prevent inclusion of agroforestry lands, and thus, disincentivize the diversification of working lands. This study reviewed State statutes, administrative rules, tax guides and manuals, and other supporting...

Zones where urban land covers meet wildland areas have become a critical point of interaction between human settlements and natural ecosystems at risk of wildfire. These zones span diverse socioeconomic, governance, and ecological dimensions that are often not accounted for with frequently used methodologies. We developed and mapped a tri-dimensional Pyro-Socio-Ecological Zone (PSEZ) framework based on a suite of composite indicators that account for disparate Ecological, Socioeconomic, and Governance contexts in southern Italy (IT) and southern California (CA), USA. In CA, PSEZ with high...

This literature review synthesizes recent research on use of stable isotopes to advance forest ecosystem management. Stable isotopes provide insights into soil fertility, nutrient cycling, climate variability, and pollution impacts by tracing carbon, nitrogen, and water dynamics. Microbial activity influences on soil conditions are also highlighted. Integration of soil metrics with genomic and forest management strategies allows for an understanding of carbon sequestration and soil health while supporting adaptive approaches to climate change. Seasonal variations in nitrogen uptake and the...

Understanding the spatial and demographic structure of local outbreaks is critical for identifying the ecological mechanisms underlying invasive forest insect dynamics.We investigated a population outbreak of Sirex noctilio within a pine plantation in Patagonia by integrating spatial analyses of infestation patterns with quantification of oviposition behaviour and adult performance.At the plot level, the distribution of infested trees shifted from a highly clustered pattern in previous seasons to a more spatially dispersed one of newly attacked treesLogs sampled from S. noctilio ‐infested...

Despite about half a million injurious pedestrian falls occurring annually in the United States, prevention of pedestrian falls is under studied. Sidewalk damage from street trees is a known risk for falls; however, tree canopy cover might reduce falls in summer months by lowering ambient temperatures. We conducted pilot research to assess whether emergency medical services (EMS) data could be used to implement a multi-city, location-based case–control study investigating the association between tree canopy cover and locations of injurious pedestrian falls. Case locations (n= 497) were...

The high price of pharmaceuticals is driven, in part, by the cost of materials and production. Some of the most expensive drugs contain chiral centers that are introduced during synthesis using a small number of chemical building blocks. These building blocks are both costly to produce and can lead to significant greenhouse gas emissions, both due to difficult recovery from low-concentration mixtures of chemical species and challenging reaction pathways. This work reports on a new approach for synthesizing pharmaceutical precursors that allows for the production of chiral species at high...

The remediation of heavy metal-contaminated environments, particularly those polluted with lead, remains a critical challenge due to the metal’s toxicity and persistence. This study developed a novel alkaline biochar for enhanced lead adsorption, prepared from pine wood through low-level NaOH (0–2 wt%) dry impregnation followed by pyrolysis at temperatures ranging from 350 to 600 °C. Characterization using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) elucidated the alkaline biochar’s...

There is an increasing need for inexpensive biodegradable sensors that can be easily employed in networks such as the Internet of Things. Paper materials are renewable, biodegradable, and sustainable, and thus could be used as substrates for electronic sensors. This work examined two commodity cellulose materials, an envelope paper and a linerboard, as potential substrates. A multistage coating process was developed to create a smooth surface for screen-printing of sensors using inexpensive microfibrillated cellulose. Employing this process, approximately 10 gm−2 of microfibrillated...

Postharvest fruit losses can be 25–50 %. This study is to develop a microfibrillated cellulose (MFC)-based lowcost barrier coating technology to extend banana shelf life and decrease postharvest losses. The coating performance of MFC adding carboxymethyl cellulose (MFC/CMC) on banana was evaluated by monitoring banana peel appearance/color browning, weight loss, firmness, and total soluble solids (TSS) at the ambient condition. The results showed that MFC/CMC coating with the addition of a proper amount of CMC could effectively delay banana browning by 2 days and decrease weight loss over...

Wood specific gravity (SG) is an essential indicator of wood quality, carbon stock, and the universality of tree functional traits influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. This study investigates the influence of natural physical variables, topography, water availability, and wind exposure on the specific gravity of the Quercus genus across a wide geographic range. Using a Bayesian regression model, we analyzed the relationships between SG and the selected physical variables. Our results indicate that these variables explain a significant proportion of the variation in SG...