Treesearch

Humans place strong pressure on land and have modified around 75% of Earth’s terrestrial surface. In this context, ecoregions and biomes, merely defined on the basis of their biophysical features, are incomplete characterizations of the territory. Land system science requires classification schemes that incorporate both social and biophysical dimensions. In this study, we generated spatially explicit social-ecological land system (SELS) typologies for South America with a hybrid methodology that combined datadriven spatial analysis with a knowledge-based evaluation by an interdisciplinary...

Subterranean termites are ecosystem engineers that modulate the flow of carbon from deadwood to the atmosphere and soil, yet their contributions to the latter pool are largely unaccounted forin carbon cycling models. The fate of C from wood utilized by Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) was determinedusing a reductionist design in a closed system with δ13C labeled wood as a stable isotope tracer.The percentage of wood-based carbon in termite respiratory gases, tissues, and organic deposits (frassand construction materials) was measured for five colonies to budget wood-C mass distributed...

Carbon monitoring is critical for the reporting and verification of carbon stocks and change.Remote sensing is a tool increasingly used to estimate the spatial heterogeneity, extent and changeof carbon stocks within and across various systems. We designate the use of the term wet carbonsystem to the interconnected wetlands, ocean, river and streams, lakes and ponds, and permafrost,which are carbon-dense and vital conduits for carbon throughout the terrestrial and aquaticsections of the carbon cycle. We reviewed wet carbon monitoring studies that utilize earthobservation to improve our...

Plant invasions can alter food resources and habitat conditions that structure animal communities. These effects are negative for many native animals, but neutral or even positive for others. Understanding why we see this variation in responses is critical for mitigating invasion outcomes, yet we lack a synthetic framework to explain and potentially predict effects of invasive plants on native animals. We propose a trait-based framework for understanding how invasive plants affect native fauna, which draws on community assembly, niche, and trait theories to define the mechanisms by which...

Microbes are ubiquitous residents of the atmosphere, including the air that we breathe. They are also widely present in terrestrial, marine, and aquatic environments. Typical microbes include viruses, fungi, archaea, bacteria, algae, and bryophytes. Many are of edaphic origin and play significant ecological roles in the soil. Propagules are exceedingly lightweight and small, generally measured in microns (millionths of a meter). Propagules achieve airborne status in the wind, where they may travel from a few millimeters to thousands of kilometers. Most have been recorded at least as high...

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction has been gaining popularity in North America. However, CLT-based seismic force resisting systems are not recognized in current U.S. design codes, which is among the many challenges preventing widespread adoption of CLT in the United States. The purpose of this study was to investigate the seismic behavior of CLT-based shear wall systems and to determine seismic performance factors, namely, the response modification factor (R factor), the system overstrength factor(Ω), and the deflection amplification factor (Cd), using the FEMA P695 procedure. Nine...

The 22nd International Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation of Wood Symposium was hosted by the Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, May 24–27, 2022. This symposium was a forum for those involved in nondestructive testing and evaluation (NDT/NDE) of wood and brought together many international researchers, NDT/NDE users, suppliers, representatives from various government agencies, and other groups to share research results, products, and technology for evaluating a wide range of wood products, including standing trees, logs, structural lumber, engineered wood products, and wood...

The fourth full annual inventory of Minnesota's forest reports 17.6 million acres of forest land with an average live tree volume of 1,156 cubic feet per acre. Aspen is the most predominant forest type in Minnesota, making up 28 percent of the total area. Net growth exceeds removals in the State resulting in a growth to removals ratio (G/R) of 1.7, meaning that forest land is accumulating volume. Fragmentation and parcelization, aging forest cover, as well as threats from native and nonnative pests, are major issues that will impact the future of Minnesota's forests. Information from the...

Staff on the Entiat Ranger District of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state partnered with researchers to develop a strategy to improve the sustainability of the district’s recreation program. The need to pursue a sustainable recreation strategy came about in response to a series of severe wildfires that damaged recreation infrastructure and altered natural resource conditions. Concurrent to those wildfires was continued limited funding for infrastructure maintenance and recreation management. Researchers worked with Entiat Ranger District staff to develop and...

Currently, a change in the species composition of the Bialowieza Forest, eastern Poland, is occurring. Parallel to the dying of spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.), caused by Ips typographus (L.), there is a spread of deciduous tree species, among which hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.) is the most active. Against the background of climate change, it is of interest to consider the possibility of reintroducing relict species in areas occupied until recently by spruce. One of these is silver fir (Abies alba Mill.), which is biologically and ecologically very similar to spruce. The Tisovik tract (the...