Life Sciences Commons^™

Variations In Stomatal Traits Of 14 Bornean Tree Species Growing On Soils With Different Moisture Contents In Lambir Hills National Park, Whitney Logan Cannon

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

The goal of this study was to look at variations in stomatal traits of tree species on soils with different moisture contents and fertility at Lambir Hills National Park. Stomates are important structures on the surface of leaves that mediate conduction of moisture and gassesin and out of the leaf. If stomatalt raits are important for regulation, then there should be variation in stomatal traits in regards to their soil specialization. The 14 Borneant ree speciess ampledi ncluded6 sandyl oam specialists6, clay specialistsa nd 2 generalistsfo und growing with equald istributionso n both sandyl oam and clay. Confocal microscopy was …

Working Trees For Livestock

Working Trees (USDA-NAC)

Working Trees protect livestock from the stressful effects of winter and offer relief in the summer. They can also create diversified income opportunities.

Conventional wisdom in the past has been that livestock and trees can’t co-exist. Yet moderm agricultural practice is showing their livestock and trees not only can co-exist, but, if properly managed, can provide additional income from land formerly used for a single crop.

Trees can provide livestock with protection from cold wind and blowing snow in winter, as well as from the hot sun and drying winds of summer. And, if commercially desirable timber or nut trees …

Working Trees For Agriculture

Working Trees (USDA-NAC)

Working Trees help make agricultural systems more sustainable by protecting crops and livestock, conserving natural resources, improving human environments, and providing sources of income.

Putting trees to work in conservation and production systems for farms, ranches, and nearby communities means planting the right trees, in the right places, and in the correct design to achieve desired objectives.

Agroforestry is a unique land management approach for landowners and anyone who cares about working lands and natural resources. Agroforestry practices provide opportunities to integrate productivity and profitability with environmental stewardship and result in healthy and sustainable agricultural systems that can be passed …

Working Trees: Silvopasture, An Agroforestry Practice

Working Trees (USDA-NAC)

Silvopasture integrates trees, livestock, and forage into a single system on one site.

These components diversify income sources. Annual income from grazing and long-term profits from trees respond to different market pressures and reduce risk when combined in the same operation.

Shade from the trees lengthens the forage growing season and improves forage quality. It also increases the comfort level for livestock which reduces stress.

The structure and plant diversity of silvopastures is attractive to many wildlife species including wild turkey, quail, deer, and many songbirds.

Silvopastures are inherently sustainable systems. They increase biological diversity, protect water quality, reduce soil …

Working Trees For Community

Working Trees (USDA-NAC)

Working Trees for Communities is the adaptation of agroforestry technologies to assist communities of all sizes achieve environmental, social, and economic goals, especially at the rural/urban interface.

Today, communities are challenged with accommodating new growth while maintaining the integrity of existing neighborhoods. Accommodating health, safety, transportation, quality of life, economics, environmental quality, and infrastructure development can often lead to land use conflicts. Compromises are often needed to achieve a workable plan.

Today, community residents, businesses, rural landowners, and local leaders must look beyond their own backyards. What is done by one resident or business can affect the community and the …

Transient Physiological Responses Of Planting Frozen Root Plugs Of Douglas-Fir Seedlings, M. Anisul Islam, Douglass F. James, Kent G. Apostol, A. Kasten Dumroese

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Short-term physiological responses of planting frozen (FR) and rapidly thawed (TR) root plugs of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga rnenziesii (Mirb.) Franco) seedlings were examined through time series (0 h, 6 h, 12 h, 1 day, 3 days, and 7 days) measurements in two separate experiments: 10 °C day : 6 °C night, RH 75% and 30 °C day : 20 °C night, RH 50%, respectively. Net photosynthesis, transpiration, shoot water potential, and root hydraulic conductance were lower in FR compared with TR seedlings under both growing conditions. Magnitude of difference in root hydraulic conductance was higher under warm-dry conditions. Chlorophyll fluorescence …

Water Resources Impact - Volume 10, Number 3, May 2008

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

FEATURE ARTICLES:
3 Riparian Ecosystems and Buffers: Working at the Water’s Edge ... Albert H. Todd Introduces the dynamic interrelationship between streams and the lands through which they pass, and the role buffers play today.

6 Riparian Zones: They Aren’t Just for Buffers Any More ... Mark P. Smith, Roy Schiff, and Jeff Opperman Describes the active river area as a dynamic and useful framework for managing critical river and riparian ecosystems

9 Living Shorelines: Restoring Multi-Function Buffers on Coastal Shorelines ... William G. Reay and Scott Lerberg Living Shoreline design offers a comprehensive solution to anthropogenic degradation of coastal …

Forest Nursery Notes

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Contents:

Nursery Meetings

Maintaining Stock Quality After Harvesting by Thomas D. Landis and Diane Haase

Root Culturing in Bareroot Nurseries by Thomas D. Landis

Mechanical Root Pruning in Container Nurseries by Thomas D. Landis and Don Willis

Hot-planting Opens New Outplanting Windows at High Elevations and Latitudes by Thomas D. Landis and Douglass F. Jacobs

Horticultural Humor

New Nursery Literature:
NEW PROCEDURE—ELECTRONIC COPIES ONLY
Bareroot Production
Container Production
Business Management
Diverse Species
Fertilization and Nutrition
General and Miscellaneous
Nursery Structures And Equipment
Genetics and Tree Improvement
Mycorrhizae and Beneficial Microorganisms
Outplanting Performance
Pest Management
Pesticides
Seedling Physiology And Morphology
Seeds …

Agroforestry: Working Trees For Sequestering Carbon On Agricultural Lands, Michele M. Schoeneberger

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Agroforestry is an appealing option for sequestering carbon on agricultural lands because it can sequester significant amounts of carbon while leaving the bulk of the land in agricultural production. Simultaneously, it can help landowners and society address many other issues facing these lands, such as economic diversification, biodiversity, and water quality. Nonetheless, agroforestry remains under-recognized as a greenhouse gas mitigation option for agriculture in the US. Reasons for this include the limited information base and number of tools agroforestry can currently offer as compared to that produced from the decades-worth of investment in agriculture and forestry, and agroforestry’s cross-cutting nature …

Modeling Runoff And Sediment Yield From A Terraced Watershed Using Wepp, Mary Carla Mccullough, Dean E. Eisenhauer, Mike Dosskey

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

The watershed version of WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Project) was used to estimate 50-year runoff and sediment yields for a 291 ha watershed in eastern Nebraska that is 90% terraced and which has no historical gage data. The watershed has a complex matrix of elements, including terraced and non-terraced subwatersheds, multiple combinations of soils and land management, a grassed-waterway network, and natural stream channels leading to the outlet. The objectives of this study were to model the study watershed using WEPP and to evaluate model results compared to literature values. WEPP estimated the sediment yield to be 1.9 T/ha/yr, the …

Effects Of Gregariousness, Conspicuousness, And Novelty On Blue Jay (Cyanocitta Cristata) Learned Avoidance And Stimulus Generalization Of Unpalatable Prey, Joyce M. Dykema

Avian Cognition Papers

I examined a variety of factors hypothesized to be important in the evolution and maintenance of aposematism. Aposematism occurs when prey individuals advertise their toxic or otherwise aversive nature to potential predators via evolved conspicuous signals. I conducted three experiments in which blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) were allowed to search a printed grayscale pixilated background for grayscale pixilated moths in an open room. I manipulated moth appearance and food reward, and recorded jay predation on the varying moth stimuli. In my first experiment, I repeated Alatalo & Mappes’ (1996) study examining the effects of prey gregariousness, or grouping, …

Filling The Gap: Improving Estimates Of Working Tree Resources In Agricultural Landscapes, C. H. Perry, C. W. Woodall, G. C. Liknes, Michele M. Schoeneberger

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Agroforestry plantings and other trees intentionally established in rural and urban areas are emerging as innovative management options for addressing resource issues and achieving landscape-level goals. An understanding of the ecosystem services contributed by these and future plantings would provide critical information to policy and program developers, and a comprehensive inventory would contribute to estimating the cumulative effects of these plantings. Trees used in these practices are not explicitly inventoried by the primary national forest resource inventory of the United States: the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service. The FIA program currently limits its inventories …

Buffers And Vegetative Filter Strips, Matthew J. Helmers, Thomas M. Isenhart, Mike Dosskey, Seth M. Dabney, Jeffrey S. Strock

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

This chapter describes the use of buffers and vegetative filter strips relative to water quality. In particular, we primarily discuss the herbaceous components of the following NRCS Conservation Practice Standards:
Filter Strip (393)
Alley Cropping (311)
Riparian Forest Buffer (391)
Vegetative Barrier (601)
Conservation Cover (327)
Riparian Herbaceous Cover (390)
Contour Buffer Strips (332)
Grassed Waterway (412)

Placement of most of these practices is illustrated in figure 4-1. Common purposes of these herbaceous components (as defined by the NRCS Conservation Practice Standards) are to:
• Reduce the sediment, particulate organics, and sediment-adsorbed contaminant loadings in runoff.
• Reduce dissolved contaminant …

Silvopasture: Establishment & Management Principles For Pine Forests In The Southeastern United States

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Silvopasture is an agroforestry practice that integrates livestock, forage production, and forestry on the same land management unit. Silvopasture systems are deliberately designed and managed to produce a high-value timber product (such as sawtimber) in the long term while providing short-term annual economic benefit from a livestock component through the management of forage or an annual crop component.

Well-managed silvopasture systems may also:

• Improve overall economic performance of a farm enterprise through diversification and maintaining biodiversity

• Maintain or increase tree growth

• Improve cool-season grass production

• Allow warm-season grass production with careful canopy management

• Provide shade …

The Rural Firefighter, Issue 01-08--February 2008

The Rural Firefighter

Fire Season is Right Around the Corner - Are You Ready? Red Card Offered at Fire School; 50/50 Grant Status; New Years Resolutions; Something to Think About; Calendar of Events; Tips from Tex; Skills Crosswalk?; New Face at NFS Fire; Sandy’s Corner

The Wetlands Reserve Program Supports Migrating Waterfowl In Nebraska’S Rainwater Basin Region

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

The Rainwater Basin region (RWB) consists of a 6,150 mi2 area of loess plains in south-central Nebraska (figure 1). The area is characterized by rolling plains formed by deep deposits of windblown silt with a high density of claypan playa wetlands. More than 200,000 acres of wetlands once existed in this region. As a result of agricultural and other development, only 17 percent of the original playa wetland area remains, most with hydrologic alterations. Siltation and colonization by invasive plant species (e.g., reed canary grass, narrow-leaved cattail, river bulrush) continue to threaten remaining wetland habitats in the RWB.

Despite historic …

A Synthesis Of Live Fuel Moisture And Wildland Fire And Development Of A National Historical Live Fuel Moisture Database, William M. Jolly Dr.

JFSP Research Project Reports

Live fuels are a key component to the wildland fuel complex but little is know about their contribution to fire danger or fire behavior. This review attempts to quantify our current understanding of the role that live fuels play in combustion and how those characteristics are quantified into prediction systems that fire managers use to assess fire danger or fire behavior as well as how live fuel parameters for those systems are measured. We review how live fuels are incorporated into three fire danger and fire behavior prediction systems that have found widespread use throughout the world. We discuss the …

Bringing The Fire Effects Information System Up-To-Date And Improving Service To Land Managers, Jane Kapler Smith, Fire Modeling Institute Information Team

JFSP Research Project Reports

This project delivers up-to-date, science-based information about species nominated by wildland managers for revision in or addition to the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). FEIS now provides 1,081 literature reviews covering 1,139 taxa. This JFSP task has supported the rewriting of 9% of FEIS reviews, addition of reviews that increase FEIS content by 9%, and small updates to 25% of the database. Each FEIS species review addresses the basic biology of the species, fire regimes, fire's role in the life history and persistence of the species, competition and successional patterns, and issues regarding fuel management, prescribed fire, and postfire rehabilitation. …

Carbon Cycling At The Landscape Scale: The Effect Of Changes In Climate And Fire Frequency On Age Distribution, Stand Structure, And Net Ecosystem Production., Michael G. Ryan, Daniel M. Kashian, Erica A.H. Smithwick, William H. Romme, Monica G. Turner, Daniel B. Tinker

JFSP Research Project Reports

Understanding the interactions between climate, fire and forest characteristics-- and how carbon dynamics are affected by these factors--remains an important challenge in ecology. As the size and severity of fires in the western US continues to increase (Westerling et al. 2006), it has become increasingly important to understand carbon dynamics in response to fire. In this study, we investigated these key interactions in the landscape of Yellowstone National Park (YNP). We asked how initial post-fire heterogeneity in forest structure (especially tree density and stand age) controls carbon dynamics over the full life cycle of individual forest stands, and how climate-mediated …

Behaveplus And Flammap Technology Transfer, Patricia Andrews, Mark Finney

JFSP Research Project Reports

This project was conducted in response to the need identified under Task 1 (RFP 2005-4)—extension of technology transfer activities beyond the conclusion of successfully completed JFSP funded projects or other applicable wildland fire research. Development of the BehavePlus fire modeling system and the FlamMap fire behavior analysis and mapping system and supporting technology transfer material was funded in part under JFSP project #98-1-8-02. After successful completion of that project, development of those systems and supporting material continued under other funding. FlamMap was used in JFSP project #01-1-3-21 “Cumulative effects of fuel management on landscape-scale fire behavior and effects.” A significant …

Delayed Tree Mortality Following Fire In Western Conifers, Sheri Smith, Danny Chuck, Elizabeht Reinhardt, Kevin Ryan, Charles Mchugh

JFSP Research Project Reports

We developed 3-year post-fire mortality models for 12 western conifer species by pooling data collected from multiple fire-injury studies. Models were developed for white fir, red fir, subalpine fir, incense cedar, western larch, lodgepole pine, whitebark pine, ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, Engelmann spruce, and Douglas-fir. Two sets of models were created, one for use in pre-fire planning where only crown injury and DBH were potential variables, and a second, optimal model for use in post-fire planning that used all significant variables. Predictive accuracy of all models was compared to the accuracy of the mortality model currently used in …

Burn Severity Mapping Using Simulation Modeling And Satellite Imagery, Robert E. Keane, Eva C. Karau, Elizabeth Reinhardt

JFSP Research Project Reports

As wildfires becomes an increasingly important issue affecting our nation’s landscapes, fire managers must quickly assess possible adverse fire effects to efficiently allocate resources for rehabilitation or remediation. While burn severity maps derived from satellite imagery can provide a landscape view of relative fire impacts, fire effects simulation models can also provide spatial fire severity estimates along with the biotic context in which to interpret severity. In this project, we evaluated two methods of mapping burn severity for four wildfires in western Montana using 64 plots as field reference: 1) an image-based burn severity mapping approach using the Differenced Normalized …

Effects Of Fuels Treatments And Wildfire On Understory Species And Fuels In The Ponderosa Pine Zone Of The Colorado Front Range, Paula Fornwalt, Merrill Kaufmann

JFSP Research Project Reports

The first clear indication that unnaturally dense forest conditions existed in ponderosa pine – Douglas-fir forests of the Colorado Front Range was the Buffalo Creek Fire, a large, catastrophic wildfire that burned in 1996. Ongoing research in the Front Range indicated that the Buffalo Creek Fire likely would have burned very differently under pre-settlement forest conditions; early photographs and written descriptions, as well as fire history and stand reconstruction data, all suggested that historically these forests were characterized by a matrix of low-density forests and shrubland or grassland openings that was created and maintained by a mixed-severity fire regime. As …

Effects Of Mechanically Generated Slash Particle Size On Prescribed Fire Behavior And Subsequent Vegetation Effects, Richy J. Harrod, David W. Peterson, Roger Ottmar, Peter Ohlson, Brad Flatten, Arlo Vanderwoude

JFSP Research Project Reports

Forest managers have begun to restore ecosystem structure and function in fire-prone ecosystems that have experienced fire exclusion, commodity based resource extraction, and extensive grazing during much of the 20th century. Mechanical thinning and prescribed burning are the primary tools for thinning dense stands and restoring pre-settlement forest structure, reducing the likelihood of devastating crown fires. Mechanical thinning can be costly when trees are nonmerchantable and prescribed burning can be risky unless fuel loadings are first reduced. Furthermore, stands that remain dense after commercial thinning can produce undesirable wildland fire- or even prescribed fire- effects on vegetation and soils. Land …

Expansion Of The Southern Variant Of The Fire And Fuels Extension For The Forest Vegetation Simulator, S. M. Zedaker, S. A. Rebain, P. J. Radtke

JFSP Research Project Reports

This project specifically addressed AFP 2006-3, Task 3, by providing guidance for maintaining effective fire and non-fire fuels treatments, with the aim of supporting long-term fuels management. The overall goals of the project were to parameterize, expand, and improve the Southern Variant of the Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE) to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) with the best data currently available, to identify data weaknesses and gaps that may require additional research to reduce the uncertainty of Southern FFE model predictions, and to determine a validation framework for the Southern FFE. A wide variety of fire and fuels data and …

Evaluation Of Science Delivery Of Joint Fire Science Program Research, David Seesholtz

JFSP Research Project Reports

Since its inception in 1998, the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) has funded over 400 projects. The Joint Fire Science Program has long recognized that the investments made in wildland fire science need to be accompanied by an emphasis on science interpretation and delivery. Program success is ultimately measured by how well information from research efforts is being conveyed to resource managers and end users, and whether this information is improving management decisions. This study reviewed a sample of environmental documents from three JFSP sponsoring agencies to determine to what extent JFSP research is being incorporated into local planning efforts …

Evaluating The Efficacy And Ecological Impacts Of Baer Slope Stabilization Treatments On The Pot Peak/Deep Harbor Wildfire Complex, David W. Peterson, Richy J. Harrod, Terry Lillybridge, Mel Bennett

JFSP Research Project Reports

Post-fire slope stabilization treatments are often prescribed for severely burned areas of a wildfire, through burned area emergency response (BAER), to reduce erosion, maintain soil productivity, protect water quality, and reduce risks to human life and property. Prescribed slope stabilization treatments can include seeding of cereal grains or grasses, fertilization, mulching, and installation of physical barriers across slope contours (e.g., contour-felled logs and straw wattles). Seeding and fertilization treatments have been proposed following several high severity wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. These treatments are designed to reduce erosion by supplementing native vegetation recovery with additional populations of fast-growing species (seeding) …

Big Changes In The Great Basin, Gail Wells

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

JFSP-funded researchers are exploring the ecological functioning of sagebrush-steppe communities in the Great Basin and other places in the dry Intermountain West. Their work is helping managers effectively use tools such as tree mastication and prescribed fire to help these communities become more resilient in the face of invasive weeds. Other research is finding ways to reestablish native vegetation on sites where weedy invaders have pushed the community past the point where it can recover on its own.

Sagebrush Steppe: A Story Of Encroachment And Invasion

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

Sagebrush steppe has been rapidly changing into woodlands of western juniper and pinyon pine since Euroamerican settlement of the West in the middle of the nineteenth century. The change from the dry scattered shrub and grasslands to woodlands has changed more than plants—it has also changed the fi re regime. Studies have revealed a threshold at which understory plants may not rebound after a disturbance—when trees have reached 40- to 50-percent cover. Disturbance—by fi re and overgrazing—also makes resources such as nutrients and soil water available for weeds to exploit, allowing invasives such as cheatgrass to establish and expand into …

Testing The Conventional Wisdom: Fuel Management Approaches For The Central Hardwood Region, Jake Delwiche

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

It’s not for nothing that Missouri calls itself the “Show Me State.” The name implies a common-sense insistence on seeing the evidence, an interest in seeing the proof. Thus, it is appropriate that an important long-term forestry research project is taking place in Southeastern Missouri. The goal is to test widely held opinions on the role and effectiveness of various forest fuel management strategies. Research results continue to be collected on the effects of overstory thinning and prescribed burning on forest fuelloads, and on using these tools to change the permanent character of the forest itself. The project began in …