Treesearch

The southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis, is a native pest of pine trees that has recently expanded its range into the northeastern United States. Understanding its colonization, dispersal, and connectivity will be critical for mitigating negative economic and ecological impacts in the newly invaded areas. Characterization of spatial-genetic structure can contribute to this; however, previous studies have reached different conclusions about regional population genetic structure, with one study reporting a weak east-west pattern, and the most recent reporting an absence of structure....

The accidental spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS) by recreational boaters is a major concern of state and county environmental planners in the USA. While programs for watercraft inspection to educate boaters and slow AIS spread are common practice, large numbers of boats and waterbodies, together with limited budgets, make program design difficult. To facilitate program design, we developed an integer programming model for allocation of scarce inspection resources among lakes. Our model uses species-specific infestation status of lakes and estimates of boat movement between lakes....

Chloroplast (cp) DNA genomes are traditional workhorses for studying the evolution of species and reconstructing phylogenetic relationships in plants. Species of the genus Castanea (chestnuts and chinquapins) are valued as a source of nuts and timber wherever they grow, and chestnut species hybrids are common. We compared the cp genomes of C. mollissima, C. seguinii, C. henryi, and C. pumila. These cp genomes ranged from 160,805 bp to 161,010 bp in length, comprising a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions (25,685 to 25,701 bp) separated by a large single-copy (LSC) region (90,440 to 90,560...

Research on environmentally consequential human decision-making often begins from the premise that consumption decisions are motivated by individual values. However, we argue that social science research aiming to understand consumer decision-making will benefit from integrating the lived experiences of people in households, where decisions are often influenced or mitigated by the presence of those who share homes. Conducting research on consumption decisions regarding household resources revealed the embedded nature of these decisions, which are situated in the context of the socially...

Wood pallets play a critical role in the movement and storage of goods worldwide. They are an important component in the complex global supply chain and used by almost every industry. It is therefore important to assess the environmental implications of the wood pallet supply chain and identify optimization strategies that can be implemented. In this paper, primary 2018 annual production data collected from U.S. pallet manufacturers were used to develop the first industry-average life-cycle inventory (LCI). A new functional unit was proposed to perform a more refined and accurate environmen...

This study assessed the environmental impacts and economic feasibility of generating heat using wood-briquettes (WBs), and heat and electricity using torrefied-wood-briquettes (TWBs). WBs and TWBs were manufactured from forest residues using portable systems and delivered to either residential consumers or power plants in the United States. An integrated cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) approach was used to quantify environmental impacts and minimum-selling prices (MSPs) of heat and electricity, respectively. Results illustrated that 82% and...

Purpose: Global demand for construction materials has grown exponentially in the last century, contributing to climate change and detrimental impacts on the ecosystem. To aid in sustainable growth and reduce our environmental footprint, renewable construction materials, such as lumber, have been incorporated into green building activities. The purpose of this study was to quantify the environmental impacts associated with manufacturing redwood lumber in northern California using the life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach. Methods: This study surveyed and visited redwood manufacturing...

Global construction industry has a huge influence on world primary energy consumption, spending, and greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. To better understand these factors for mass timber construction, this work quantified the life cycle environmental and economic performances of a high-rise mass timber building in U.S. Pacific Northwest region through the use of life-cycle assessment (LCA) and life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). Using the TRACI impact category method, the cradle-to-grave LCA results showed better environmental performances for the mass timber building relative to conventional...

Hibiscus moscheutos L., also known as hardy hibiscus, is valued for its medicinal and ornamental attributes. It is usually propagated via seeds or cuttings. The purpose of this investigation was to develop a dependable micropropagation for H. moscheutos ‘Luna White’. To that end, the effect of four explant types (leaf, root, node, shoot tip) and two growth regulators 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) and meta-Topolin (mT) (6-(3-hydroxybenzylamino) purine) on in vitro growth of H. moscheutos was investigated. Genetic stability of the in vitro grown plants was assessed using flow cytometry, and...

The Forest Development Program (FDP) is a nationally renowned state-administered cost-share assistance program for forest landowners in North Carolina, primarily funded through taxation on primary forest product across the state. While the demand for FDP cost-share funds often exceeds available resources, over one-fourth of annual allocations on average go unused, due primarily to application cancellations and the divergence of actual costs and treated acres from the amounts approved originally. This study evaluates various factors related to the utilization of allocated funds based on...