Treesearch

October housing data were mostly negative, with several monthly declines in single-family starts, permits, and completions, and new single-family sales. Total private and single-family construction spending also were minimally negative. Total and single-family housing under construction remained positive, except for multifamily yearly data. Total and single-family housing completions declined on both month-over-month and yearly bases. New and existing sales continued their stagnant trend, monthly and yearly.

November housing data were mixed, with month-over-month increases and declines noted in single-family starts, completions, and spending. Total permits, total and single-family housing under construction, and expenditures remained positive. The new SF construction market needs consistent improvement to influence the housing construction market upward. Existing sales continued their stagnating trend, on both monthly and yearly bases.

For temperate forests, Michigan, USA, we asked: (1) does evidence exist for a height-dependent sapling recruitment bottleneck caused by shrub layer competition and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) browsing and, if so, (2) how do these factors interact with light availability in shaping species-specific sapling recruitment niches? The combination of deer browsing effects on tree population height structure and the effects of deer and shrubs on tree seedling height and mortality indicate a shrub-deer bottleneck for sapling recruitment. The maximum height of deer browsing and shrub...

This assessment was conducted to provide information on the current conditions of riparian and groundwater-dependent ecosystems in relation to their natural range of variation on the Bridger-Teton National Forest. We summarized dominant riparian community types that are present on the Forest and described riparian fish and wildlife habitat. We used peer-reviewed literature, data from the Forest and other partners, and site visits to evaluate the status of five key ecosystem characteristics: (1) surface water and groundwater fluctuations, (2) water quality, (3) channel and floodplain...

Between 2016 and 2018, the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute hosted a team of scholars to reflect on how Federal agencies can best prescribe restoration for conditions associated with climate change-induced disturbance to protect sustainability in mixed-ownership lands, with a focus on the Upper Missouri River Basin. Phase 1 of this project was a review of natural resources and current threats to these resources on mixed-ownership lands adjacent to the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and Wyoming, USA. Phase 2 was aimed at...

Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii(Mirb.) Franco, trees and stands can be protected from Douglas-fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugaeHopkins (DFB)-caused mortality by application of synthetic formulations of the beetle’s antiaggregation pheromone, 3-methylcyclohex-2-en-1-one (MCH). A biodegradable formulation of MCH, SPLAT MCH, was developed and evaluated for protecting individual Douglas-fir trees and small stands from colonization and mortality by DFB. In an individual-tree experiment in Idaho, both MCH bubble capsules and SPLAT MCH significantly reduced the proportion of treated trees...

Streamflow controls many freshwater and marine processes, including salinity profiles, sediment composition, fluxes of nutrients, and the timing of animal migrations. Watersheds that border the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) comprise over 400,000 km2 of largely pristine freshwater habitats and provide ecosystem services such as reliable fisheries for local and global food production. Yet no comprehensive watershed‐scale description of current temporal and spatial patterns of streamflow exists within the coastal GOA. This is an immediate need because the spatial distribution of future streamflow...

Increasing activity levels permit greater food intake for use towards growth and reproduction, consequently increasing predation risk via increased detection. Larval anurans are models to examine activity level-predation risk tradeoffs, as they occupy a variety of lentic habitats that impose constraints on the distribution and abundance of species. Ephemeral ponds have a low abundance and diversity of predators and as a result tadpole species tend to have high foraging rates for rapid development. Permanent ponds generally possess a greater diversity and abundance of predators and tadpoles...

The annual national report of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi-State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed Evaluation Monitoring projects funded through the FHM national program. In this 19th edition in a series of annual reports, national survey data are used to identify recent geographic patterns of insect and disease activity. Satellite data...

Throughout its range, A. bilineatus usually completes its life cycle in a single year, although some individuals can require 2 years (Cote & Allen, 1980), which may be attributed to slower larval developmental rates in vigorous hosts, populations that occur where summers are cool and short, or individuals that develop from eggs that are laid in late summer (Chamorro et al., 2015). Last-instar larvae need to experience an extended cold period before they will pupate and transform to adults, as is common in many Agrilus species that develop in temperate latitudes (Chamorro et al., 2015; Reed...