Treesearch

Invasive species are a historical, long-term, and continually growing threat to the ecology, economy, and infrastructure of the United States. Widely recognized as one of the most serious threats to the health, sustainability, and productivity of native ecosystems, invasive species issues have commonly been viewed as problems specific to Federal, State, and private landowners. However, it is increasingly apparent that the impacts from these species are all encompassing, affecting ecosystem processes in addition to the economics of land management, public and private infrastructure, the...

In this chapter, we describe current understanding of and identify research gaps on how invasive species directly, and indirectly, affect ecosystem processes. Specifically, we focus on how invasive species can alter the terrestrial carbon, nitrogen, and hydrologic cycles and how changes to these terrestrial cycles cascade to affect water quantity and quality. While invasive species may alter other ecosystem processes, we focus on these due to their importance to policy, to the public, and to their likely interaction with climate change effects. For example, carbon sequestration and surface...

We apply airborne measurements across three seasons (summer, winter and spring 2017–2018) in a multiinversion framework to quantify methane emissions from the US Corn Belt and Upper Midwest, a key agricultural and wetland source region. Combing our seasonal results with prior fall values we find that wetlands are the largest regional methane source (32 %, 20 [16–23] Gg/d), while livestock (enteric/manure; 25 %, 15 [14–17] Gg/d) are the largest anthropogenic source. Natural gas/petroleum, waste/landfills, and coal mines collectively make up the remainder. Optimized fluxes improve model...

Stream solute monitoring has produced many insights into ecosystem and Earth system functions. Although new sensors have provided novel information about the fine-scale temporal variation of some stream water solutes, we lack adequate sensor technology to gain the same insights for many other solutes. We used two machine learning algorithms – Support Vector Machine and Random Forest – to predict concentrations at 15-min resolution for 10 solutes, of which eight lack specific sensors. The algorithms were trained with data from intensive stream sensing and manual stream sampling (weekly) for...

The management of species that occur in low densities is a conservation concern worldwide across taxa with consequences for managers and policymakers. The distribution boundary at the upper extent of fish in North America receives extra attention because stream reaches with fish are managed differently and often have more protections than fishless reaches. Here, we examine the relative reliability of water environmental DNA (eDNA), polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified for Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) to detect the upper extent of fish across streams as a...

Forests in North America are threatened by a myriad of native and nonnative pests and pathogens, the latter of which are largely introduced via the international trade of raw wood products and live plants. The early twentieth-century arrival of white pine blister rust (WPBR) (Cronartium ribicola) and chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) on imported seedlings devastated forests across North America. Invasive species notably affect entire genera. For example, WPBR has now infected all North American five-needle pine (Pinus) species across the entire United States, which has affected...

Because of the profound ecological and economic impacts of many non-native insect species, early detection and eradication of newly founded, isolated populations is a high priority for preventing damages. Though successful eradication is often challenging, the effectiveness of several treatment methods/tactics is enhanced by the existence of Allee dynamics in target populations. Historically, successful eradication has often relied on the application of two or more tactics. Here, we examine how to combine three treatment tactics in the most cost-effective manner, either simultaneously or...

The logging industry relies on owner-operators and employed commercial drivers, who comprise up to 40% of logging employment, to transport products from the forest to the mill gate. Truck drivers are exposed to many of the same risks as logging workers as well as additional risks from vehicle crashes. Vehicle crash risks contribute to risk of personal injury and liability related to public safety, which are critical reasons for enhancing driver qualifications. Driver qualifications can be influenced by hiring better drivers and improving drivers’ skills through training even after they...

The introduction of the Asian gypsy moth into novel environments continues with frequent interceptions in North America. There is a concern that these subspecies will pose a greater threat to the forests and urban environments of North America than the established gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar dispar L.), due to their greater capacity for female flight. Asian gypsy moth populations vary in many key traits, including female flight capabilities. The potential impacts of female flight, in combination with the other key traits, on the ecology and spread of this insect are first discussed in...

The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) was established in 1955 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service out of concerns about the effects of logging increasing flooding and erosion. To address this issue, within the HBEF hydrological and micrometeorological monitoring was initiated in small watersheds designated for harvesting experiments. The Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES) originated in 1963, with the idea of using the small watershed approach to study element fluxes and cycling and the response of forest ecosystems to disturbances, such as forest management...