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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Associations Between Avian Spruce-Fir Species, Harvest Treatments, Vegetation, And Edges, Brian W. Rolek Dec 2018

Associations Between Avian Spruce-Fir Species, Harvest Treatments, Vegetation, And Edges, Brian W. Rolek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Habitat loss is the primary cause of species loss and declines of global biodiversity. Several birds associated with the spruce-fir forest type (hereafter spruce-fir birds) have declining populations across the continent in the Atlantic Northern Forest, and the extent of coniferous forest has declined in some areas. This region is extensively and intensively managed for timber products.

To investigate the influence from harvest treatments on the spruce-fir bird assemblage during the breeding and post-breeding period in lowland conifer and mixed-wood forests, we used avian point count detection data to test for associations between avian assemblages and seven common harvest treatments. …


Drivers Of Tree Growth And Mortality In An Uneven-Aged, Mixed-Species Conifer Forest Of Northeastern United States, Erin Fien Aug 2018

Drivers Of Tree Growth And Mortality In An Uneven-Aged, Mixed-Species Conifer Forest Of Northeastern United States, Erin Fien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individual tree growth and mortality drive forest stand dynamics and are important, universal metrics of tree success. Studying the factors that affect growth and mortality is particularly challenging in mixed-species, uneven-aged systems due to their defining heterogeneity and strong temporal and spatial variability. However a better understanding of the factors driving growth and mortality in mixed-species, uneven-aged forest is crucial to managing and maintaining these valuable systems for the future.

The goal of this study was to determine the relative importance of individual tree attributes (e.g., species, size, neighborhood crowding, crown position) and environmental characteristics (e.g., soil moisture) in driving …


New Approaches To Mapping Forest Conditions And Landscape Change From Moderate Resolution Remote Sensing Data Across The Species-Rich And Structurally Diverse Atlantic Northern Forest Of Northeastern North America, Kasey R. Legaard May 2018

New Approaches To Mapping Forest Conditions And Landscape Change From Moderate Resolution Remote Sensing Data Across The Species-Rich And Structurally Diverse Atlantic Northern Forest Of Northeastern North America, Kasey R. Legaard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The sustainable management of forest landscapes requires an understanding of the functional relationships between management practices, changes in landscape conditions, and ecological response. This presents a substantial need of spatial information in support of both applied research and adaptive management. Satellite remote sensing has the potential to address much of this need, but forest conditions and patterns of change remain difficult to synthesize over large areas and long time periods. Compounding this problem is error in forest attribute maps and consequent uncertainty in subsequent analyses. The research described in this document is directed at these long-standing problems.

Chapter 1 demonstrates …


Immersed In Fire: The Use Of Virtual Reality As An Attitude Assessor And Boundary Object In Wildland Fire Management, Casey Olechnowicz May 2018

Immersed In Fire: The Use Of Virtual Reality As An Attitude Assessor And Boundary Object In Wildland Fire Management, Casey Olechnowicz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interest in using prescribed burning as a forest management tool to promote forest health and regeneration is growing in Maine. The goal for this research was to better understand the way that the public perceives prescribed burning practices in wildland-urban interfaces, with an emphasis placed on how immersive imagery, closely related to virtual reality (VR), compares to traditional communication methods. We specifically focus on the social acceptability of prescribed burning and analyze how the level of immersive imagery is related to that acceptability (Ahn, 2015; Bricken, 1990; Fogg, Cuellar, and Danielson, 2009; Smith 2015; Wiederhold, Davis, and Wiederhold, 1998). The …


Big Data For Small Parks: Examining Regional Vegetation Patterns To Assess The Current Condition And Vulnerability Of Eastern National Parks To Climate Change, Kathryn M. Miller May 2018

Big Data For Small Parks: Examining Regional Vegetation Patterns To Assess The Current Condition And Vulnerability Of Eastern National Parks To Climate Change, Kathryn M. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States National Park Service mission is to preserve natural and cultural resources unimpaired for future generations. Given climate change, the paradigm of restoring natural resources to their pre-European settlement condition is no longer appropriate or achievable management. Instead, we must promote resilience and plan for adaptation. This approach poses many challenges, including knowledge gaps about the current condition of park ecosystems including wetlands, and lack of information about the matrix surrounding parks, which will strongly influence park ecosystem response to climate change. My dissertation research focused on filling these knowledge gaps to provide much needed information to managers …