Treesearch

Drivers of change are overarching forces that have changed conditions in the past, are influencing the present, and are anticipated to influence the future. For this report, we define drivers of change as influential direct or indirect forces expected to shape the future of U.S. forests and the forest sector over the next 20 years. This report explores eight drivers of change expected to influence forests and forestry in the United States over the next two decades: climate change, economic drivers of change, the forest products sector, technological change, demographic change, society's...

i-Tree is a suite of computer software tools developed through a collaborative publicprivate partnership. These tools are designed to assess and value the urban forest resource, understand forest risk, and develop sustainable forest management plans to improve environmental quality and human health. This report provides details about the underlying methods and calculations of these tools, as well their potential limitations. Also discussed are the history of i-Tree, its future goals, and opportunities to facilitate new science and international collaboration. This report was revised in...

In Mediterranean-type climates, asynchronicity between energy and water availability means that ecosystems rely heavily on the water-storing capacity of the subsurface to sustain plant water use over the summer dry season. The root-zone water storage capacity (Smax[L]) defines the maximum volume of water that can be stored in plant accessible locations in the subsurface, but is poorly characterized and difficult to measure at large scales. Here, we develop an ecohydrological modeling framework to describe how Smaxmediates root zone water storage (S[L]), and thus dry season plant water use....

Quaking aspen is found in western forests of the United States and is currently at risk of loss due to conifer competition at within-stand scales. Wildfires in these forests are impactful owing to conifer infilling during prolonged fire suppression post-Euro-American settlement. Here, restoration cuttings seek to impact wildfire behavior and aspen growing conditions. In this study, we explored how actual and hypothetical cuttings with a range of conifer removal intensity altered surface fuel and overstory structure at stand and fine scales. We then simulated wildfires, examining fire...

Global demand for renewable and sustainable materials such as wood products is growing. To support this growth, a scientific approach is necessary to illustrate the environmental benefits of wood products. This report contains a detailed cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment method including data collection, development of life-cycle inventory, and life-cycle impact assessment for production of redwood lumber in the United States. The results illustrated that redwood lumber production has a very low carbon footprint (37.97 kg CO2e/m3 of lumber) and stores about 18 times more carbon compared...

Many subclades within the large North American freshwater fish genus Etheostoma (Percidae) show brilliant male nuptial coloration during the spring spawning season. Traditionally, perceived differences in color were often used to diagnose closely related species. More recently, perceived differences in male nuptial color have prompted further investigation of potential biodiversity using genetic tools. However, cryptic diversity among Etheostoma darters renders male nuptial color as unreliable for detecting and describing diversity, which is foundational for research and conservation...

Habitat connectivity is essential for maintaining populations of wildlife species, especially as climate changes. Knowledge about the fate of existing habitat networks in a changing climate and in light of land-use change is critical for determining which types of conservation actions must be taken to maintain those networks. However, information is lacking about how multiple focal species that use similar habitats overlap in the degree and geographic patterns of threats to linkages among currently suitable habitat patches. We sought to address that gap. We assessed climate change threat...

Changes in thermal regimes that disparately affect hosts and parasitoids could release hosts from biological control. When multiple natural enemy species share a host, shifts in host–parasitoid dynamics could depend on whether natural enemies interact antagonistically vs. synergistically. We investigated how biotic and abiotic factors influence the population ecology of larch casebearer (Coleophora laricella), a nonnative pest, and two imported parasitoids, Agathis pumila and Chrysocharis laricinellae, by analyzing (1) temporal dynamics in defoliation from 1962 to 2018, and (2) historical,...

Sustainable fuels legislation and volatility in energy prices have put additional pressures on the forestry sector to intensify the harvesting of biomass for "advanced biofuel" production. To better understand how residual biomass removal after harvest affects forest hydrology in relatively low slope terrain, a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) study was conducted in the USDA Forest Service's Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, USA. Hydrological measurements were made from 2010–2013 on a forested hillslope that was divided into three treatment blocks, where one block was harvested and...

Continuing long and extensive wildfire seasons in the Western US emphasize the need for better understanding of wildfire impacts including post-fire management scenarios. Advancements in our understanding of post-fire hillslope erosion and watershed response such as flooding, sediment yield, and debris flows have recently received considerable attention. The potential impacts of removing dead trees, called salvage logging, has been studied, however the use of remotely sensed imagery after salvage logging to evaluate spatial patterns and recovery is novel. The 2015 North Star Fire provided...