Treesearch

Climate change will have profound effects on recreation, infrastructure, and related opportunities over the 21st century. This assessment evaluates how changes in climate, hydrology, and ecosystems influence the overall vulnerability of the Mark Twain National Forest’s recreation opportunities and related infrastructure under a range of future climates. We synthesized and summarized information on the contemporary landscape (physiography and recreation assets), provided information on observed climate trends (including extreme events and hydrologic changes), described a range of projected...

The US Forest Services (USFS) under the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program estimates resource characteristics and statistics regarding forest attributes and ecosystem processes at various strategic scales with different levels of precision and refinement. A vital forest resource attribute is tree size-density, which informs regional and national policies and project-scale management. To enhance the development and distribution of key forest tree-size density metrics, a 30 × 30 m wall to wall spatial dataset for stand density index (SDI), maximum SDI (SDIMAX) and relative density...

Four undescribed species or subspecies of Reticulitermes Holmgren 1913 in northern California have been identified by chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses of voucher specimens used for chemotaxonomy. To date, useful morphological keys do not exist. We present eight direct and 22 derived measures and indices of soldier head capsules of multiple colonies of each of five cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) phenotypes. Our objective was to identify one or more morphological measurements of soldier head capsules that would unequivocally separate taxa previously identified by CHCs and phylogenetic...

It can be challenging to deploy and monitor biocontrol for invasive species, particularly in remote forest settings. One of the most abundant and disruptive invasive tree species in Hawai‘i and across the Pacific is Psidium cattleyanum Sabine (strawberry guava), which replaces native vegetation and negatively impacts forest structure and ecosystem services. A Brazilian leaf-galling insect named Tectococcus ovatus Hempel (Homoptera: Eriococcidae) is an approved biocontrol for strawberry guava, but its introduction to date has been restricted to areas with established road and trail networks...

Native dry forest habitat is one of the most threatened and rare ecosystems in the Hawaiian Islands. The Ka‘ūpūlehu Dry Forest Preserve, on the west coast of Hawai‘i Island, is one of the few remaining intact examples of this low elevation habitat. To aid restoration efforts, flowering phenology of nine native species was estimated monthly from 2001 to 2007. Some species flowered prolifically, others seldom. Two dioecious tree species are in the survey, one only has female flowering trees, the second has both male and female trees. Each gender is treated as a separate species, making ten...

The genome of the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) is presented in 10 chromosomal pseudomolecules along with 132 unplaced scaffolds for a combined length of 216.56 Mb. The genome is highly contiguous with an N50 of 20.54 Mb and its longest scaffold 37.41 Mb in length. The assembly recovered 97.7% of benchmarked universal single-copy Hemiptera orthologs (BUSCO) with an overall completion score of 98.6%. On the basis of chromosomal synteny with other aphid genomes, the hemlock woolly adelgid's genome is composed of eight autosomes and two sex (X) chromosomes. Annotation of the...

Modern tools in genetic engineering are enabling the development of diverse and exciting strategies for the genetic control of pest insects. This technological development takes time. Communicating where along the developmental timeline a nascent technology exists, and how long the technology might take to reach the next stage, is important for managing expectations between key stakeholders. Importantly, while the key stages in technology development can be standardized with different metrics or stage-gates, the residence time that different technologies will require at each stage is not...

In northeastern North America, episodic eastern spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) outbreaks extensively defoliate balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and spruces (Picea glauca, Picea rubens, Picea mariana). We investigated eastern spruce budworm defoliation in eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), a reported alternate host species, during previously documented outbreaks in Maine, USA. We compiled red spruce and hemlock tree-ring series from nine sites, seven of which showed synchronous radial growth reductions in spruce and hemlock during documented budworm outbreaks. Outbreak evidence...

We used field measurements and sampling simulations with existing tree-level data to assess the precision of the estimates and data measurement costs for ground-based sampling inventory for above-ground tree biomass (AGB) and basal area estimation. Data were obtained from primary wet tropical forests using field measurements in Costa Rica and, for simulations, published tree-level data on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Plot configurations and costs were compared using criteria commonly used by forest carbon offset project developers to meet precision of +/−10% at 90% confidence interval...

In snow‐dominated areas, runoff from winter precipitation can comprise up to 80% of the annual water budget. Warming winters are shifting snow precipitation to rain, shortening the snow accumulation and melt seasons, and increasing midwinter melt events and flooding during rain‐on‐snow events. At the same time, forests are changing in species composition and geographical extent, and forest‐dominated catchments can mediate the effects of increased winter temperatures on snow dynamics. Here, we combine climatic data and high‐resolution forest and snow observations to investigate the complex...