Treesearch

Urban residents who cultivate relationships with nature tend to experience: enhanced wellbeing, cognitive function, social cohesion and sense of place; reduced stress; strengthened socio-ecological resilience; and, in some cases, improved sustenance via the gathering of foods and medicines as well as materials for cultural practices. The goal of strategic planning in urban areas is to design networks of green and blue spaces that deliver wide-ranging benefts across spatial scales (Hansen et al. 2017). By urban nature, we refer to the green (land) and blue (water) spaces in cities, suburbs...

Forest resource use efficiencies (RUEs) can vary with tree age, but the nature of these trends and their underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Understanding the age dynamics of forest RUEs and their drivers is vital for assessing the trade-offs between forest functions and resource consumption, making rational management policy, and projecting ecosystem carbon dynamics. Here we used the FLUXNET2015 and AmeriFlux datasets and published literature to explore the age-dependent variability of forest light use efficiency (LUE) and inherent water use efficiency as well as their main...

Outdoor and nature-based recreation provides countless social benefits, yet public land managers often lack information on the spatial and temporal extent of recreation activities. Social media is a promising source of data to fill information gaps because the amount of recreational use is positively correlated with social media activity. However, despite the implication that these correlations could be employed to accurately estimate visitation, there are no known transferable models parameterized for use with multiple social media data sources. This study tackles these issues by examining...

Researchers have developed various methods and tools for nondestructively testing urban trees for decay and stability. A general review of these methods includes simple visual inspection, acoustic measuring devices, microdrills, pull testing, ground penetrating radar, x-ray scanning, remote sensing, electrical resistivity tomography and infra-red thermography. Along with these testing methods have come support literature to interpret the data.

Monitoring drought impacts in forest ecosystems is a complex process because forest ecosystems are composed of di erent species with heterogeneous structural compositions. Even though forest drought status is a key control on the carbon cycle, very few indices exist to monitor and predict forest drought stress. The Forest Drought Indicator (ForDRI) is a new monitoring tool developed by the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) to identify forest drought stress. ForDRI integrates 12 types of data, including satellite, climate, evaporative demand, ground water, and soil moisture, into a...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) derived from renewable plant-based materials exhibit strong potential for improving properties of polymers by their dispersal in the polymer matrix as a composite phase. However, the hydrophilicity and low thermal stability of CNCs lead to compromised particle dispersibility in common polymers and limit the processing conditions of polymer−CNC composites, respectively. One route that has been explored is the modification of CNCs to alter surface chemistry. Acrylic materials are used in a broad class of polymers and copolymers with wide commercial applications....

Resistant trees are one important strategy for managing diseases, such as chestnut blight and Phytophthora root rot (PRR). However, waiting for disease symptoms to develop in order to identify resistant trees can be a lengthy process. So, alternative, more rapid approaches for identifying disease resistant trees are needed.

Ten species of bark- and wood-infesting Coleoptera (borers) and five parasitoid species (Hymenoptera) were reared from shagbark hickory [Carya ovata (Mill.) K. Koch] branches 1-2 years after tree death, and similarly, seven borers and eight parasitoids were reared from slippery elm (Ulmus rubra Muhl.) branches one year after tree death in Ingham County, Michigan, in 1986-87. The borers were species of bostrichids, buprestids, cerambycids, and curculionids (including Scolytinae). The parasitoids were braconids, chalcidids, eurytomids, ichneumonids, and pteromalids. One new larval host...

Overall, 409 Coleoptera species (369 identified to species, 24 to genus only, and 16 to subfamily only), representing 275 genera and 58 beetle families, were collected from late May through late September 2017 at the Grass River Natural Area (GRNA), Antrim County, Michigan, using baited multi-funnel traps (210 species), pitfall traps (104 species), and sweep nets (168 species). All three collecting methods were used in three distinct habitats: a rich conifer swamp (cedar), near the edge of a red pine plantation (pine), and within a mesic northern hardwood forest (hardwoods). Additional...

Large-scale terrestrial carbon (C) estimating studies using methods such as atmospheric inversion, biogeochemical modeling, and field inventories have produced different results. The goal of this study was to integrate fine-scale processes including land use and land cover change into a large-scale ecosystem framework. We analyzed the terrestrial C budget of the conterminous United States from 1971 to 2015 at 1-km resolution using an enhanced dynamic global vegetation model and comprehensive land cover change data. Effects of atmospheric CO2 fertilization, nitrogen deposition, climate,...