Treesearch

Rapid human modification of landscapes around the world has made understanding how humans affect the genetic connectivity of wildlife populations urgent. The consistency of anthropogenic impact on genetic connectivity across taxa is unclear, in part because it is rare to have data representing functional connectivity for multiple taxa on the same landscape. We use microsatellite data for 10 mammalian species in New Jersey, USA, to assess cross‐taxonomic patterns in the impact of urbanization on genetic connectivity. In doing so, we also evaluate the efficacy of species‐specific and...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program provides this resource update yearly as an overview of forest resources in Washington. These estimates are derived from field data collected across a systematic network of fixed-radius forest monitoring plots located on both public and private land. New updates are provided annually as a subset of plots within the State are remeasured. Each year, field crews visit and measure a subset of all FIA plots across the entire State (the size of the subset varies by State and year). Combining all...

Cities increasingly hope to mobilize nature-based solutions in urban sustainability planning because of their wide-ranging ecosystem services. In this critical moment, where failure due to poor implementation could lead policymakers to turn away from nature-based solutions, we investigate the case of urban forestry and ask: how do strategic-level sustainability goals influences site-level decision-making? We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 urban foresters leading advanced programs at municipalities with adopted sustainability goals, framed as ecosystem services, across the US...

During wildland fire spread both slope and wind act together to modify fire dynamics, commonly accelerating the rate of fire spread. To investigate this coupling effect, flow field measurements were conducted on stationary gaseous fires produced over a tilt table in a wind tunnel, with fireline intensities ranging from 41 to 123 kW/m. The angle of inclination (θ) and the wind speed (V) were varied from 0 to 30° and 0.30 to 1.27 m/s, respectively. The surface gas velocity of the fire at various downstream locations was measured using temperature-correlation velocimetry (TCV), which was...

Oak powdery mildew, caused by Erysiphe alphitoides, is a widespread disease that affects oaks. We aimed to understand the complex interactions between extrinsic (environmental) and intrinsic (provenance) factors that influence the infection rate of E. alphitoides on Quercus robur seedlings. In a common garden controlled water experiment, we investigated the natural infection rate of E. alphitoides considering factors such as oak provenance, soil moisture availability, and the seedlings’ location in the microenvironment. We examined infection rates on first- and second-flush leaves,...

Understanding how plants access water is critical to biosphere‐atmosphere interactions. However, it remains challenging to resolve root water uptake in space and time. Here, we introduce (a) a mass balance method that uses depth‐distributed moisture changes in the vadose zone to spatially resolve patterns of evapotranspiration (ET) and (b) an application of this method to a unique data set of continuous moisture dynamics across a deeply weathered root zone in a seasonally dry forest in coastal California. These observations are made possible by a Vadose‐zone Monitoring System on a steep...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program provides this resource update yearly as an overview of forest resources in West Virginia. These estimates are derived from field data collected across a systematic network of fixed-radius forest monitoring plots located on both public and private land. New updates are provided annually as a subset of plots within the State are remeasured. Each year, field crews visit and measure a subset of all FIA plots across the entire State (the size of the subset varies by State and year). Combining...

Groundwater is a major source of stream baseflow during the summer and can supply additional water to plant transpiration, which may be particularly important in Mediterranean environments where the growing season is decoupled from wet season precipitation. However, little is known about how forest management may affect groundwater level. We used a paired watershed design in a northern California coast redwood forest to study how intrinsic and extrinsic factors as well as harvesting affect groundwater level and the connectivity between soils, groundwater, and streams. Geomorphic variables...

In this study, the modulus of elasticity of red maple (Acer rubrum) veneer, a native species abundant in eastern North America, was evaluated. These veneer sheets were 3.5 mm thick by 304 mm wide by 2.44 m long. Over 500 specimens were visually graded and subjected to a nondestructive stress wave test to determine the dynamic modulus of elasticity (MOEd). Subsequently, 60 specimens were selected for tensile testing to measure the static modulus of elasticity (MOEs). The average MOEd was 19.10 GPa, while the MOEs obtained from tensile testing was 11.88 GPa. This tension-based MOE value was...

High spatiotemporal resolution air quality modeling is essential for air quality impact assessments and decision‐making for prescribed burns. Accurate representation of the heterogeneous distribution of fuels and the structure of smoke plumes requires high‐resolution modeling frameworks. In this study, we conducted simulations of prescribed burns in Fort Benning, Georgia, with BlueSky‐CMAQ and WRF‐SFIRE modeling frameworks and compared the differences between the results. BlueSky‐CMAQ was run at a 1‐km resolution, while WRF‐SFIRE operated at a 200‐m resolution, both generating outputs...