Treesearch

Wildfire is a major driver of nitrogen (N) cycling and export from terrestrial to aquatic systems. While fire is a natural process in many watersheds, it can still degrade water quality by rapidly flushing N to streams. This can be particularly problematic in watersheds that experience high levels of N deposition or where climate change is promoting larger and more severe fires. The extent and duration of postfire N export, and the potential consequences for downstream water quality, depend on how N inputs, internal cycling, and outputs vary before, during, and after fire. Here we review...

Bark beetles and root weevils can impact forests through tree death on landscape scales. Recently, subterranean termites have been linked to these beetles via the presence of bluestain fungi (Ascomycota: Ophiostomataceae), which are vectored to trees by beetles. However, only a small subset of bluestain species have been examined. Here, we tested whether termite-bluestain association patterns in the field reflect termite feeding preference in laboratory choice trials. We documented the presence of four bluestain fungi (Leptographium procerum (W.B. Kendr.), L. terebrantis (Barras & Perry),...

As one of the most abundant and versatile natural materials on Earth, recently wood has attracted tremendous attention from scientists and engineers due to its outstanding advantages, including hierarchically porous microstructure, high mechanical strength, environmental friendliness, renewability, and biodegradability. Wood’s hierarchically porous structure and chemical components (e.g., cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin) enable its mechanical, ionic, optical, and thermal properties to be tuned via physical, chemical, and/or thermal modifications. Among these various approaches, the...

Science communication and delivery seeks to bridge the gap between academic research and practice on the ground, and bring new science into the field to inform how forested lands are managed. Successful scientific outreach, and subsequent integration of new knowledge into land management, is a continuous, iterative process that can serve to improve communication and relationships across agencies and organizations for the long term. When successful, this exchange also informs and improves academic research capacity to better address pertinent management and policy practitioner needs. A key...

In cellulose materials, the cellulose II allomorph is often present either exclusively or in conjunction with cellulose I, the natural cellulose. Moreover, in regenerated and mercerized fibers (e,g., lyocell and viscose), natural cellulose adopts to the crystal structure cellulose II. Therefore, its detection and quantitation are important for a complete assessment of such materials investigations. In the Raman spectra of such materials, a band at 577 cm -1 is typically observed indicating the presence of this allomorph. In the present study, to quantify the content of cellulose II, a...

Colloidal lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) from low temperature acid hydrotropic fractionation (AHF) of poplar wood and commercial alkali lignin using p-Toluenesulfonic acid (p-TsOH) were directly mixed with PVA to make PVA/AHF-LNP nanocomposite films. p-TsOH itself acted as a plasticizer for PVA; however the application of p-TsOH alone reduced PVA film tensile strength and therefore toughness. At proper loadings of LNPs and p-TsOH, both the failure strain and tensile strength of PVA/AHF-LNP composites were improved. The formation of hydrogen bonding between the p-TsOH/AHF-LNP aggregates with...

This is 1 of 23 guides to help Southeastern U.S. producers of economically important agricultural commodities build resilience to, prepare for, and recover from hurricane impacts. All guides can be found on the USDA Southeast Climate Hub Hurricane Preparation and Recovery Commodity Guides website.

Black rural land ownership and agriculture in the U.S. South have declined markedly over the past century. The challenges of farming and the rise of off-farm employment mean that forestry is often the most appropriate productive land use choice, yet engagement in forest management is often limited in Black landowners. The literature has identified the primary obstacles for forestry as land ownership issues such as heirs’ property, a disconnect between Black landowners and forestry professionals, and poor access to the conservation assistance programs supporting family forestry. Yet our...

This is 1 of 23 guides to help Southeastern U.S. producers of economically important agricultural commodities build resilience to, prepare for, and recover from hurricane impacts. All guides can be found on the USDA Southeast Climate Hub Hurricane Preparation and Recovery Commodity Guides website.

Major efforts are underway to harness the carbon sequestration capacity of forests to combat global climate change. However, tree damage and death associated with insect and disease disturbance can reduce this carbon sequestration capacity. We quantified average annual changes in live tree carbon accumulation associated with insect and disease disturbances utilizing the most recent (2001 – 2019) remeasurement data from National Forest Inventory plots in the contiguous United States. Forest plots recently impacted by insect disturbance sequestered on average 69% less carbon in live trees...