Treesearch

Forest ecosystems are notably influenced by: 1) the rate and spatial distribution of forest land development, and 2) how remaining undeveloped forest lands are managed. Regarding this second factor, economics and ecology research conducted in different locations in the U.S. suggests that increasing housing development can reduce the profitability of commercial timber production and thus the intensity with which landowners manage their forest lands. Some studies, however, suggest that in some locations these effects are not evident. We sought to consider what contextual factors might...

Captive breeding is an effective conservation strategy, but it has risks, especially when a life history stage of an organism is bypassed. Freshwater mussels (Unionida) are critically imperiled, and their larvae are parasites on fishes. Traditional mussel captive breeding involves artificially infesting fishes with larvae (in vivo), but increasingly used in vitro methods allow larval metamorphosis in culture media, bypassing the parasitic stage. We provide the first comparisons of mussel performance between in vitro and in vivo methods in the wild and throughout the mussel life cycle using...

Tree spatial patterns in dry coniferous forests of the western United States, and analogous ecosystems globally, were historically aggregated, comprising a mixture of single trees and groups of trees. Modern forests, in contrast, are generally more homogeneous and overstocked than their historical counterparts. As these modern forests lack regular fire, pattern formation and maintenance is generally attributed to fire. Accordingly, fires in modern forests may not yield historically analogous patterns. However, direct observations on how selective tree mortality among pre‐existing forest...

Reaction surveys were collected during over 300 logger training courses issued between 2007 and 2015 in Piemonte (north western Italy). In the reaction surveys, trainees were asked to rate several course attributes, which were grouped under the following items: utility, outcome, teaching, content, and amenities. Reaction scores were intersected with participant demographics and course type, and the relationships were tested through a general model and path analysis. Results indicated a general level of satisfaction, as well as stratification of results for different participant groups. In...

Pastoralists and researchers (and others) are finding new ways of working together worldwide, attempting to sustain pastoral livelihoods and rangelands in the face of rapid and profound changes driven by globalization, growing consumption, land-use change, and climate change. They are doing this partly because of a greater need to address increasing complex or “wicked” problems, but also because local pastoral voices (and sometimes science) still have little impact on decision-making in the governmental and private sectors. We describe here, using six worldwide cases, how collaborative...

According to the latest available forest resource estimates, approximately 40 percent of the roundwood harvested in the United States is utilized in the production of solid wood products and 38 percent in the production of wood pulp for paper and paper products (Oswalt and others 2019). The demand for solid wood products is motivated by activity in end-use markets such as new housing construction and furniture manufacturing. The demand for paper and paperboard products arises by activity in a wide range of industries, from businesses that need to print paper to the retailer’s demand for...

Comparisons were made of the effects of temperature and duration of low temperature on hatch of newly laid egg masses of the invasive spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (White). Egg masses were collected in mid- October 2019 and estimated to be less than 14 d old. There was a significant positive nonlinear relationship between temperature and developmental rate (1/d) for eggs held at constant temperatures. The lower threshold for egg development was estimated as 7.39°C. Eggs held at constant 10, 15, and 20°C were estimated to require 635, 715, and 849 DD7.39, respectively, to develop....

Changing forest disturbance regimes and climate are driving accelerated tree mortality across temperate forests. However, it remains unknown if elevated mortality has induced decline of tree populations and the ecological, economic, and social benefits they provide. Here, we develop a standardized forest demographic index and use it to quantify trends in tree population dynamics over the last two decades in the western United States. The rate and pattern of change we observe across species and tree size-distributions is alarming and often undesirable. We observe significant population...

Managing tree health in urban environments is complicated due to the disconnect that exists between novel environmental conditions created by urbanization and those under which tree species evolved. Soils influence tree health and growth, but optimal nutrient and pH recommendations are often informed by agricultural and horticultural norms which do not typically include norms for forest tree species. At the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, we investigated the relationships between tree health, foliar chemistry, and soil chemistry for three native forest tree species (Acer...

Plants have long been cultivated to improve quality of life in dense human settlements, mitigating the environmental stresses of urban living. Urban landscape elements include gardens, trees and lawns designed to provide aesthetic and functional benefits to local residents, as well as urban natural areas that reflect the native biome vegetation. Different types of informal green space are typically found in interstitial urban areas wherever plants find space, light, water and nutrients to grow (Rupprecht and Byrne, 2014). A growing body of literature evaluates the health and well- being...