Treesearch

Urban waterfronts are experiencing a renaissance, as it is estimated that by 2030 more than 60 percent of the world’s population will live in cities, the majority of which are located in coastal or riparian regions. On a global level, changing public demands have spurred a new language of sustainability, revitalisation, and resilience with regard to urban waterfronts. Prior research has explored the potential ecological and social impacts of these trends, both in terms of benefits such as opportunities for recreation, as well as negative consequences such as increasing gentrification. Less...

Coastal communities are threatened by extreme weather events in the form of storm surge and by frequent, chronic, or nuisance flooding. The physical damage of these events is vast and established in the literature; however, the social-emotional impacts are less well-documented. This pilot study sought to understand the impacts of tidal flooding on flood-prone communities in Queens, NY. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews (n=9) with civic science participants, we document flooding impacts, identify adaptations to flooding, and examine sources of information about flooding--including...

Tropical forest canopies cycle vast amounts of carbon, yet we still have a limited understanding of how these critical ecosystems will respond to climate warming. We implemented in situ leaf-level + 3°C experimental warming from the understory to the upper canopy of two Puerto Rican tropical tree species, Guarea guidoniaand Ocotea sintenisii. After approximately 1 month of continuous warming, we assessed adjustments in photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, stomatal conductance, leaf traits and foliar respiration. Warming did not alter net photosynthetic temperature response for either...

Lignocellulosic biomass is a sustainable alternative to petroleum-derived chemicals to develop biobased wood adhesives, which motivates integrated biorefineries to effectively convert biomass feedstock into desirable chemicals. Herein, lignin recovered from kraft biorefinery (L-KB) and two bio-oils, prepared from laboratory-scale solvent liquefaction of lignin (BO-SL/L) and fast pyrolysis of pinewood (BO-FP/PW), respectively, have been used to substitute 50% (w/w) of phenol in a novolac phenol−formaldehyde (NPF) resin system. The molecular structures of the L-KB, BO-SL/L, and BO-FP/ PW...

Hemicellulose, a structural polysaccharide and often underutilized co-product stream of biorefineries, could be used to produce prebiotic ingredients with novel functionalities. Since hot water pre-extraction is a cost-effective strategy for integrated biorefineries to partially fractionate hemicellulose and improve feedstock quality and performance for downstream operations, the approach was applied to process switchgrass (SG), hybrid poplar (HP), and southern pine (SP) biomass at 160°C for 60 min. As a result, different hemicellulose-rich fractions were generated and the chemical...

Ecological theory predicts that animals will select habitats for breeding that confer an adaptive advantage through increased reproductive success. We therefore expect to see congruence between habitat preferences and measures of fitness. We studied abundance, nest site selection, and nest survival in white-headed woodpeckers (Picoides albolarvatus) in four forest types along an elevational gradient in the southern Sierra Nevada, California. Our primary objective was to ascertain what habitat features white-headed woodpeckers were selecting for nesting and at what scale, and whether those...

As the frequency and size of wildfires increase, accurate assessment of burn severity is essential for understanding fire effects and evaluating post-fire vegetation impacts. Remotely-sensed imagery allows for rapid assessment of burn severity, but it also needs to be field validated. Permanent forest inventory plots can provide burn severity information for the field validation of remotely-sensed burn severity metrics, although there is often a mismatch between the size and shape of the inventory plot and the resolution of the rasterized images. For this study, we used two distinct...

A plus-tree progeny test of full- and half-sib “superior” loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) was installed in 1969 on the Crossett Experimental Forest (CEF) to consider the performance of 28 improved families with unimproved planting stock from the CEF (family W29). Performance was evaluated using data from young (3-year-old; early 1970s), maturing (25-year-old; 1994), and mature (48-year-old; 2017) trees. With the exception of a single improved family, early survival was high (>80%), with most families exceeding 90%. Three years post-planting, fusiform rust infection rates were also low, with...

This handbook presents several arrays of practical silvicultural options to landowners and forest managers of young, bottomland oak-dominated plantations. Each array of options is designed specifically to achieve one of three common landowner objectives: (1) production of high-quality oak sawtimber as the sole or primary objective; (2) creation of improved habitat for wildlife as the sole or primary objective, primarily through improved acorn production; and (3) integrated management for both oak sawtimber and improved wildlife habitat as multiple objectives of roughly equal importance and...