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Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Forest Sciences
Sixty Years Of Change In Picea Rubens (Red Spruce) Forests Of Coastal Maine, U.S.A., Camilla Seirup
Sixty Years Of Change In Picea Rubens (Red Spruce) Forests Of Coastal Maine, U.S.A., Camilla Seirup
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Picea rubens is a cold-adapted, sub-boreal species whose existence along Maine’s coast is enabled by the moderating effect of the Gulf of Maine. Picea rubens, and the larger spruce-fir forest type, are highly vulnerable to climate change with studies predicting near complete loss of P. rubens suitable habitat in the USA as early as 2060. However, despite these dire future predictions, P. rubens populations have recently seen positive trends across a range of metrics. In addition, coastal Maine may have served as a refugium for P. rubens during the mid-Holocene warming, remaining cooler and wetter than inland regions. Therefore, …
Climate Interactions Drive Tree Physiology And Growth In A Northeastern Forest Ecotone, Alexandra M. Barry
Climate Interactions Drive Tree Physiology And Growth In A Northeastern Forest Ecotone, Alexandra M. Barry
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Climate change is a threat to global forest ecosystems. In the northeastern United States, forest trees are facing rising temperatures and increasingly inconsistent moisture regimes. In addition to long-term changes in climate conditions, there is concern about the potential for more frequent and intense climate extremes, which can have severe and rapid negative effects on tree physiology and growth. Further, climate extremes may co-occur to produce a greater magnitude of effect than the sum of their parts, with a prominent example being hot droughts, which are increasing in occurrence and severity. The impact of these and other extreme climate interactions …
Influence Of Biochar As A Soil Amendment On Soil Water Content And Wild Blueberry Physiology, Abigayl Novak
Influence Of Biochar As A Soil Amendment On Soil Water Content And Wild Blueberry Physiology, Abigayl Novak
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Maine wild (or lowbush) blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait.) continue to face challenges imposed by climate change. Reduced frequency of precipitation and increased drought conditions have negatively impacted this crop since it resides in sandy soils with limited retention of water and nutrients. The wild blueberry plants growing in water- and nutrient-poor sandy soils are likely to have poor resilience to drought, resulting in a decline in berry yield during drought years. Thus, there is an urgent need to find a drought management solution for wild blueberries. Compared with other drought management practices, such as irrigation systems, mulching, and adopting drought-resistant …
Restoration Through Reassembly: Evaluating The Role Of Native Plants In Combatting Chinese Tallow, Olaniyi Ajala
Restoration Through Reassembly: Evaluating The Role Of Native Plants In Combatting Chinese Tallow, Olaniyi Ajala
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Non-native, invasive species disrupt ecological processes and functions, posing a serious threat to natural ecosystems. By examining the growth metrics of the non-native, invasive tree, Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera [L.] Roxb.), hereafter tallow, across different flooding and light regimes, I investigated how restructuring native communities with valuable native species will prevent the reestablishment of tallow. I studied the changes in morphological and physiological traits of tallow when growing with water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica L.), sugarberry (Celtis occidentalis L.), and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall). I found that in the non-flooded and high irradiance treatments, tallow's growth …
Tree Responses To Moderate And Extreme Drought In The Northeastern United States, Ruth A. Van Kampen
Tree Responses To Moderate And Extreme Drought In The Northeastern United States, Ruth A. Van Kampen
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Climate change is expected to lead to novel drought conditions in the Northeastern United States. Therefore, experimental studies that mimic these conditions are crucial to understand the potential impact on forests. Further, recent large scale dendrochronological studies suggest that spring and summer droughts may immediately impact tree growth while fall droughts may cause delayed impacts on growth the following growing season. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the impacts of six-week-long spring, summer, and fall droughts on the physiology and intra-annual growth on 288 saplings of six tree species native to the Northeastern United States. These species (deciduous broadleaf angiosperms, …
Microsite Requirements For Successful Regeneration In Lowland Northern White-Cedar (Thuja Occidentalis) Forests, Jeanette Allogio
Microsite Requirements For Successful Regeneration In Lowland Northern White-Cedar (Thuja Occidentalis) Forests, Jeanette Allogio
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Declines in stands of northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis L., hereafter cedar) have been observed as both shifts in species composition and reductions in cedar densities, particularly those stands in lowland sites (Curtis 1946, Boulfroy 2012). While several factors inhibiting cedar regeneration have been identified, a thorough understanding of the conditions that best promote regeneration is lacking. Our objectives for the first chapter were to characterize the site conditions associated with successful regeneration in lowland cedar stands and to describe how spatial patterns of various cedar size classes relate to site preference and to regeneration dynamics. These objectives were achieved …
Subalpine Forest Tree Seedling Response To Drought, Alex Goke
Subalpine Forest Tree Seedling Response To Drought, Alex Goke
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Knowledge of tree species’ ability to tolerate drought is necessary to anticipate future forest dynamics with climate change, especially at the seedling stage given their role in shaping forest structure. We used precipitation reduction shelters to mimic drought for subalpine conifer seedlings (A. lasiocarpa and P. engelmannii) in the Rocky Mountains and compared survivorship and morphological and physiological responses to assess relative degrees of drought tolerance. We detected no significant investment in morphological tolerance traits (e.g. root biomass, leaf:stem area ratio) but substantial reductions in net photosynthesis. While shading partially ameliorated drought effects when precipitation reduction was moderate, …
Quantifying The Morphological And Physiological Effects Of Drought, Grass Invasion, And Fire On Longleaf, Loblolly, And Slash Pine, Laura Young
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Climate change is altering ecosystems on a global scale, creating novel ecological scenarios with which plant species must cope. Factors such as altered precipitation and fire regimes and non-native plant invasion may negatively affect native plant species, while interactions between these stressors could magnify their impacts. The complexity of multiple stressors and the effects they have on native pine seedlings are difficult to predict without evaluating their combinations in field experiments. In a multi-year study, I investigated the effects of drought and plant invasion on three southeastern pine species under pre and post-fire conditions. We planted longleaf (Pinus palustris …
Monitoring Soft-Mast Production In Pine Woodland Restoration Areas On The Ouachita National Forest, Tamara B. Wood
Monitoring Soft-Mast Production In Pine Woodland Restoration Areas On The Ouachita National Forest, Tamara B. Wood
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The use of prescribed fire is integral to the restoration of open woodland habitats in the southeast, including shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) woodlands in the Ouachita Mountains. Mature pine habitats maintained with recurrent disturbances have an open understory with a rich floristic diversity that provides quality habitat for many wildlife species, including the endemic and endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis). Fire has many potential benefits for wildlife; however, the effects of fire on several important woody soft-mast producing species are not fully understood. Soft-mast quantity and quality is a key component in determining year-round habitat quality …
Range-Wide Prevalence And Impacts Of Pseudocercosporella Inconspicua On Lilium Grayi And An Assessment Of L. Superbum And L. Michauxii As Reservoirs, Cindy L. Barrett
Range-Wide Prevalence And Impacts Of Pseudocercosporella Inconspicua On Lilium Grayi And An Assessment Of L. Superbum And L. Michauxii As Reservoirs, Cindy L. Barrett
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Lilium grayi (Gray’s Lily), a southern Appalachian endemic species, is threatened by a Lilium-specific fungal pathogen, Pseudocercosporella inconspicua. The disease is characterized by tan lesions that can cause early senescence, while also lowering seed production and viability. This project tested for P. inconspicua conidia and accessed health at nine locations. The disease was present and ubiquitous across the range of L. grayi. Through identification of P. inconspicua conidia in the field, L. superbum (Turk’s Cap Lily) was identified as an additional host, while L. michauxii (Michaux’s Lily) was disease-free. However, infection was inducible in both species. With …
Long-Term Changes In Four Plant Communities Along An Elevational Gradient In The Front Range Of Colorado, Gregory J. Sproull
Long-Term Changes In Four Plant Communities Along An Elevational Gradient In The Front Range Of Colorado, Gregory J. Sproull
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
We surveyed four plant communities along an elevational gradient in the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains for long-term overstory and understory changes. Our results were compared to those found in 1981 and 1996. We evaluated changes in succession, elevational species migration and range expansion, community diversity, and composition. We related temporal floristic shifts to prior literature on disturbance history at each site. Over time, all communities changed significantly, though in different manners. This analysis shows that plant communities are changing in dynamic and idiosyncratic ways that correspond to individualistic distribution shifts. Moreover, we exhibit the necessity of comprehensively …
Localization Of Expansin Expression During Adventitious And Lateral Rooting In Response To Auxin In Loblolly Pine, Fuyu Xu
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Loblolly Pine is the most important and widely cultivated timber species in the southern United States. Due to its fast growth, it is extensively planted for lumber and pulpwood. Vegetative propagation will enhance gains from genetic improvement of tree species. Rooted-cutting is at present the most reliable non-somatic embryogenesis method for cloning specific genotypes. However, an abrupt decline of adventitious rooting capacity has hindered the application of vegetative propagation in loblolly pine. Unraveling the rooting mechanism may facilitate a way to overcome this barrier. Regulation of lateral and adventitious root formation by auxin has been demonstrated through the application of …
Characterization Of Biochelators, Membrane Redox Systems, And Quinone Reductases From Wood Degrading Basidiomycetes, Weihong Qi
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Biodegradation of wood by brown rot fungi is dependent upon a non-enzymatic system involving Fenton chemistry. Iron biochelators with molecular weights lower than 1kD are important components in this process. Phenolate biochelators drive a hydroxyl radical generating Fenton reaction by reducing ferric iron. Biochelators may be mineralized or alternately, in some cases oxidized biochelators may be regenerated via a quinone redox cycle. Electron donors for this postulated regeneration have not been identified. Extracellular cellobiose dehydrogenase has also been found to drive the Fenton reaction by generating ferrous iron and hydrogen peroxide. This research compared the production of biochelators and the …