Treesearch

Flighted spongy moth, Lymantria dispar asiatica Vnukovskij and Lymantria dispar japonica Motschulsky, is a highly destructive defoliator that threatens forest and urban trees in both its native Asian range and where introduced. This moth goes through outbreak periods with very high population numbers resulting in defoliation of almost all deciduous and coniferous trees and potentially severe human allergic reactions to the insect hairs and scales. Adult females are capable of strong ascending flight and at night are attracted to lights where they lay their egg masses on surrounding...

The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis, EAB) poses an unprecedented threat to North American Fraxinus species and has already decimated ash populations in large parts of the natural range in the northeastern US. In some forest stands, a few trees remain alive with healthy crowns years after mortality from EAB has killed the majority of ash trees. These trees, called lingering ash, have been identified, replicated by grafting, and screened for resistance to EAB larvae in controlled greenhouse bioassays. This study showed that the proportion of larvae killed by tree defenses, and the...

Warming and elevated atmospheric CO2 profoundly impact peatland ecosystems, particularly through changes in plant species composition. Plants regulate the initial input of organic compounds to peatland belowground systems, controlling the availability of electron donors and electron acceptors that fuel microbially mediated organic matter decomposition to CO2 and CH4. However, explicit links between porewater CO2 and CH4 dynamics and plant‐derived chemical compounds remain relatively undefined. In a whole ecosystem warming experiment, we investigated how warming affects plant leaf chemical...

Introduction: Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) is a nitrogen-fixing legume that is native to Asia and was promoted in the central United States for forage, wildlife habitat, and to mitigate erosion and mine spoils. It has since become a high-impact invasive plant,especially in tallgrass prairie ecosystems. Traditionally, herbicide is the common tool to control Sericea lespedeza’s spread and manage its impact; however, herbicide treatments come at a cost to other restoration efforts.Objectives: This research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of management to control Sericea...

Headwater streams play critical roles in hydrologic and biogeochemical processes and functions, yet their spatial distribution and land cover context remain poorly understood at continental scales, and no dedicated geospatial dataset exists. Building from a high-resolution conterminous United States (CONUS) hydrography network dataset, we quantified the spatial extent, density, and upstream catchment characteristics of headwater stream segments across the CONUS. We identified approximately 8.4 million kilometers of headwater streams, finding that 77% of the total stream network consists of...

Objective: Although increasing evidence highlights the health benefits of living near green environments, little research has focused on physical interventions that increase the provision of greenspace. City, park, school, and forest managers are in need of program and practice guidance with health endpoints in mind.Material and methods: We conducted a systematic review of longitudinal evaluations of place-based greening interventions and their effects on health outcomes or behaviors. Included studies evaluated the effects of changes in outdoor spaces intended to increase the quantity,...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program provides this resource update yearly as an overview of forest resources in South Carolina. These estimates are derived from field data collected across a systematic network of fixed-radius forest monitoring plots located on both public and private land. New updates are provided annually as a subset of plots within the State are remeasured. Each year, field crews visit and measure a subset of all FIA plots across the entire State (the size of the subset varies by State and year). Combining...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program provides this resource update yearly as an overview of forest resources in Missouri. These estimates are derived from field data collected across a systematic network of fixed-radius forest monitoring plots located on both public and private land. New updates are provided annually as a subset of plots within the State are remeasured. Each year, field crews visit and measure a subset of all FIA plots across the entire State (the size of the subset varies by State and year). Combining all...

Nuisance species are typically managed using mechanical removal, biological, cultural, or chemical treatments, applied either individually or in combination. Applications of synthetic pesticides may result in significant non-target effects that reduce biodiversity or result in pesticide drift, and target organisms can rapidly develop pesticide resistance. Biological control has less physical impact on ecosystems than mechanical removal, and none of the human health concerns of synthetic pesticides, but relies on coevolved antagonists that are introduced to the invaded environments and can...

Aim: The biogeography and distribution of irruptive forest insect herbivores are driven by population level responses to host availability, temperature, and precipitation. Because the irruptive dynamics of tree‐killing insects such as spruce beetle are regulated by climate, it is imperative to quantify biogeographic drivers and limiters to develop informed predictions and forecasts of future outbreaks. Here, we: (1) identify subcontinental drivers of spruce beetle outbreak distributions, (2) compare drivers and limiters of outbreaks across regions, and (3) develop geospatial hindcasts and...