Treesearch

Investigating plant structure is fundamental in botanical science and provides crucial knowledge for the theories of plant evolution, ecophysiology and for the biotechnological practices. Modern plant anatomy often targets the formation, localization and characterization of cellulosic, lignifed or suberized cell walls. While classical methods developed in the 1960s are still popular, recent innovations in tissue preparation, fuorescence staining and microscopy equipment offer advantages to the traditional practices for investigation of the complex lignocellulosic walls. Our goal is to...

Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana Decne.) is rapidly spreading in the United States, gaining attention in the last two decades as a serious invasive pest. Recommended control methods include foliar, basal bark, cut stump, and hack-and-squirt application of herbicides, but there are few published studies with replicated data on efficacy. Four readily available herbicidal active ingredients and a combination of two active ingredients were tested for control efficacy against P. calleryana in old-field areas and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) understory. Basal bark applications (triclopyr,...

The 20th Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference was held in Shreveport, LA, March 12–14, 2019. This conference provided a forum for silviculturists, researchers, and practitioners to exchange the latest research information on the ecology and management of southern forests. Of the 68 oral presentations and 35 posters presented during the conference, 44 papers and 6 extended abstracts were submitted for these proceedings. The papers cover eight topics, which include Forest Measurements and Modeling; Fire; Longleaf Pine; Soils, Disturbance, and Genetics; Hardwood Regeneration;...

The Sixth International Workshop on the Genetics of Host-Parasite Interactions in Forestry: Tree Resistance: Putting Promise into Practice was held the first week of August 2018 at Deer Creek State Park in Mt. Sterling, Ohio. The workshop provided a continuing conduit for bringing together researchers, tree breeders, and forest managers to focus on perhaps the most salient action society can take to restore tree species imperiled by invasive pests and pathogens—developing and deploying resistant tree populations. The 95 presentations (oral and poster) covered a wide range of tree species...

Field and laboratory emission factors (EFs) of wildland fire emissions for 276 known air pollutants sampled across Canada and the US were compiled. An online database, the Smoke Emissions Repository Application (SERA), was created to enable analysis and summaries of existing EFs to be used in smoke management and emissions inventories. We evaluated how EFs of select pollutants (CO, CO2, CH4, NOx, total particulate matter (PM), PM2.5 and SO2) are influenced by combustion phase, burn type and fuel type. Of the 12 533 records in the database, over a third (n = 5637) are represented by 23 air...

The African baobab (Adansonia digitataL.), also referred to as the “Tree of Life”, is a majestic, long-lived and multipurpose tree of sub-Saharan Africa. Internationally, a growing demand for baobab products in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries has been observed. Considering this, there is a need for scientific information on the genetics and breeding of A. digitata, including cytogenetics, genetic diversity and reproductive biology. The objectives of our cytogenetic research were to determine the genome size, chromosome number, and organization of ribosomal DNA (45S and...

Forest tree species are increasingly subject to severe mortalities from exotic pests, pathogens, and invasive organisms, accelerated by climate change. Such forest health issues are threatening multiple species and ecosystem sustainability globally. One of the most extreme examples of forest ecosystem disruption is the extirpation of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata) caused by the introduction of chestnut blight and root rot pathogens from Asia. Asian species of chestnut are being employed as donors of disease resistance genes to restore native chestnut species in North America and...

Nearshore ecosystems (e.g., mangrove forests, sea grass beds, coral reefs) are some of the most biologically diverse and ecologically productive on Earth, while providing essential goods and services to human communities. Because these ecosystems are subject to threats from both land and sea, their conservation and management requires a ridge to reef approach. Here, we developed a watershed decision support tool (DST) for Babeldaob Island, Republic of Palau, aimed at prioritizing catchments for reforestation of fire degraded savanna or protection of native forest against conversion to...

Wildland fire management agencies are responsible for assigning suppression resources to control fire spread and mitigate fire risks. This study implements a principle component analysis and an association rule analysis to study wildland fire response resource requests from 2016 to 2018 in the western US to identify daily resource ordering and assignment patterns for large fire incidents. Unsupervised learning can identify patterns in the assignment of individual resources or pairs of resources. Three national Geographic Area Coordination Centers (GACCs) are studied, including California...

Tropical forests are of global importance even though they only cover around 10% of the Earth’s land surface. They store large amounts of carbon and host between one-half and two-thirds of the world’s species (Lewis 2006). Small changes in the tropical moist forest - the most biodiverse biome within the tropical forests - may lead to global impacts on climate dynamics and warming, water cycles, and the loss of biodiversity. If the current rates of deforestation and clearing patterns continue, many tropical moist forests could face an imminent regime shift towards an alternative tropical...