Treesearch

We estimated the efficiency of electrofishing for collecting crayfishes in southern Appalachian Mountain streams (Alabama, USA). We conducted electrofishing depletion surveys at 20 sites in five large, species-rich streams in two drainages. We collected five crayfish species during the depletion surveys. On average, catchability was 34%, with depletion surveys collecting 73% of the individuals that were estimated to reside within stream sections. Catchabilities were lower for pass 1 than for the subsequent passes in 21% of the depletion surveys. The number of species that was collected...

Invasive species experience biotic and abiotic conditions that may (or may not) resemble their native environment. We explored the methodology of determining climatic niches and compared the native and post-invasion niches of four invasive forest pests to determine if these species experienced shifts or changes in their new climatic niches. We used environmental principle components analysis (PCA-env) method to quantify climatic niche shifts, expansions, and temporal changes. Furthermore, we assessed the e ect of variable selection in the delineation and comparison of niche space. We found...

Considerable resources have been invested in ecological restoration projects across the globe to restore ecosystem integrity. Restoration strategies are often diverse and have been met with mixed success. In this article, we describe the Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) decision-support models developed by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act Science Integration Team as part of a larger structured decision-making effort aimed at maximizing natural adult production of Chinook salmon in California’s Central Valley, the United States. We then describe the decision-analytic...

Managers of detection programs for bark and wood-boring beetles require costeffective trap lure combinations that maximize species detections. A trapping study was conducted in 2012 to determine the effects of ethanol and a-pinene lures on beetle catches in traps baited with ipsenol and ipsdienol lures in a stand of Pinus taeda L. in north-central Georgia. Traps with all four compounds worked well for 20 of 25 species of bark and woodboring beetles, and associated predators. Catches of Acanthocinus obsoletus (LeConte) and Monochamus titillator (F.) (Cerambycidae), Hylastes porculus...

Machine lumber grading has been applied in commercial operations in North America since before 1963, and research has shown that machine grading can improve the efficient use of wood. However, industry had been reluctant to apply research findings without clear evidence that the change from visual to machine grading would be a profitable one. Since 2000, when the most recent version (FPL-GTR-7) of this report was published, new equipment, production scenarios, forest resource changes, and other issues have arisen, resulting in the need for another update. This new report provides key...

This study aims to estimate the effect of different land uses around watercourses on runoff following extreme precipitation events and, consequently, on the mitigation of these effects. The study area is a rural watershed in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. After characterizing the area, we estimated the surface runoff of the January 2009 precipitation event, which caused two casualties: losses in soil and productive area, as well as over US$ 300,000.00 in damages to the water supply system. Subsequently, simulations were performed considering different land uses and riparian areas...

The global COVID-19 pandemic will pose unique challenges to the management of wildland fire in 2020. Fire camps may provide an ideal setting for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. However, intervention strategies can help minimize disease spread and reduce the risk to the firefighting community. We developed a COVID-19 epidemic model to highlight the risks posed by the disease during wildland fire incidents. Our model accounts for the transient nature of the population on a wildland fire incident, which poses unique risks to the management of communicable...

There is a widely expressed need to improve upon the legacy pyrolysis and combustion properties of forest litter and live foliage developed two to three decades ago (e.g., Burgan and Susott 1991; Rothermel 1972; Sussott 1980, 1982; Shafizadeh et al. 1975, 1977) to adapt to the physical fire models (i.e., Fire Dynamic Simulator [FDS]), as well as accommodate the unusual properties of live and dead vegetation involved in wildfires that suggest improving the fire physics itself. Although the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture has been developing...

Summary of presentation given at the RTA annual meeting in 2019. The presentation discussed the use of born rods as a form of passive dual treatment for borate/creosote treated ties/timbers.

Mangrove forest conservation can help reduce global C emissions. Despite this benefit to climate change mitigation and adaptation, mangrove forests are being deforested or degraded at an alarming rate, though restoration efforts may offset these losses. The impacts of deforestation to C stocks are relatively intuitive and result in significant decreases in C stocks. It remains unclear how degradation from selective harvesting of trees affects C stocks or how effective restoration efforts are at restoring C stocks. Furthermore, total ecosystem C (TEC) stocks of pristine mangroves can...