Forest Biology Commons^™

Natural Establishment Of Earthworms On Reclaimed Lignite Mine Soils, Lacey Russell, Kenneth Farrish, Jerry Leon Young, George Damoff, Brian Oswald

Student Publications

This two-year field study surveyed earthworm community characteristics on a chronosequence under afforested pine and hardwood lignite mine soils at the Beckville and Oak Hill lignite coal mines in east Texas. The following were used as indicators of earthworm community characteristics: reclamation type, forest cover type, age since reclamation and physical and chemical soil properties. The Beckville mine was sampled from February 2012 through March 2013; the Oak Hill mine was sampled from April 2013 through March 2014. The study was a 2x2x3 factorial design with reclamation type (mixed overburden vs. haul back), cover-type ((pine plantation (pp) and mixed pine …

Long-Term Overstory Vegetation Responses To Prescribed Fire Management For Longleaf Pine At Big Thicket National Preserve, Deanna M. Boensch

Student Publications

At the western edge of the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) range, federal land managers have burned the forests of Big Thicket National Preserve to bring back the structure and diversity of the longleaf pine forest. In the early 1990’s, a four year study was conducted by Rice University, and the National Park Service continued monitoring the study’s fire ecology research plots. After two decades of data collection, ordination was applied to species abundance data to examine changes in vegetation communities from a variety of prescribed fire treatments and controls. The vegetation data was separated by size class to …

Do Novel Weapons That Degrade Mycorrhizal Mutualisms Explain Invasive Species Success?, Philip L. Pinzone Mr.

Biology Theses

Invasive plants often dominate novel habitats where they did not co-evolve with local species. Several hypotheses suggest mechanisms that explain increased exotic plant success, including 'novel weapons' and 'degraded mutualisms'. Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) and European buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) are widespread plant invaders in North America that can dominate ecosystems. The goal of this study is to test whether these impacts are more consistent with novel weapons or degraded mutualism hypotheses. I examine tree seedling recruitment, (germination and initial survival) growth, (biomass) and mycorrhizal invasion (AMF content) as a function of F. japonica and R. cathartica …

Forest Islands In A Sea Of Urban Habitat, Michael J. Olejniczak

Biology Theses

Urban forests are poorly defined as ecological communities. Substantive links between anthropogenic landscape features and forest ecology are lacking. ‘Urbaness’ is commonly defined by human population density or land use classifications, but their use is inconsistent throughout the literature, and rarely is linked with ecological processes. Furthermore, it is unknown whether urban forests are functioning parts of a patchy urban woodland system or isolated islands amidst an ocean of unsuitable habitat. I first used digital satellite imagery and publicly available U.S. National Park data to link urban land use with forest processes. I then linked those land use classifications with …

Testing The Temporal Stability Of The Climate Response Of Tree Species At Norris Dam State Park, Tennessee, U.S.A., Allison Elizabeth Ingram

Masters Theses

Temporal stability of the climate-tree growth relationship means that over time, tree species were responding to a specific climate variable and continue to respond to that variable into the present. The stability of this response is important to test prior to attempting to reconstruct past climate. In this study, I sampled oaks (white oak = Quercus alba L. and chestnut oak = Quercus montana Willd.) and pines (Virginia pine = Pinus virginiana Mill. and shortleaf pine = Pinus echinata Mill.) growing in Norris Dam State Park in eastern Tennessee and tested the temporal stability of these species and their potential …

Long-Term Overstory Vegetation Responses To Prescribed Fire Management For Longleaf Pine At Big Thicket National Preserve, Deanna M. Boensch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At the western edge of the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) range, federal land managers have burned the forests of Big Thicket National Preserve to bring back the structure and diversity of the longleaf pine forest. In the early 1990’s, a four year study was conducted by Rice University, and the National Park Service continued monitoring the study’s fire ecology research plots. After two decades of data collection, ordination was applied to species abundance data to examine changes in vegetation communities from a variety of prescribed fire treatments and controls. The vegetation data was separated by size class to include overstory, …

Effects Of Fire On Soil Co₂ Efflux In A Mature Longleaf Pine Forest, Knox Lemee Flowers

Master's Theses

This study was conducted from 2012-2013 in a 96 year old longleaf pine at the Lake Thoreau Environmental Center located Lamar County, MS. Measurements of soil CO₂ efflux (i.e., soil respiration or SR) rates (µmol m^-2 sec^-1) were taken across 8 field plots (4 burned, 4 unburned) before and after a prescribed fire on that occurred in May, 2012. These measurements were taken over diurnal cycles using a LICOR LI-8100A automated soil gas flux system with long term chambers. SR rates and soil temperature measurements were collected during 3 sampling periods in 2012 and 1 sampling period …

Forage Availability And Nutritional Carrying Capacity For Cervids Following Prescribed Fire And Herbicide Applications In Young Mixed-Hardwood Forest Stands In The Cumberland Mountains, Tennessee, Jordan Scott Nanney

Masters Theses

I evaluated the influence of timber harvest combined with prescribed fire and/or herbicide in young mixed-hardwood forest on forage availability and nutritional carrying capacity (NCC) for elk (Cervus elaphus) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area (WMA), July-August, 2013-15. I combined land cover data, forest management data, field management data, and forage availability data to model summer elk forage availability across the WMA.

I compared forage availability, NCC (animal days/ha) using 12 and 14% crude protein (CP) nutritional constraints, and vegetation composition among 6 young forest treatments, reclaimed surface mines (MINE), and closed-canopy mature forest …

The Cytotoxic And Antimicrobial Properties Of Pine Essential Oils: A Characterization And Comparison, Richard Sakul

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the forestry industry, the pine tree species are important because of their durable timber and fast growth. In Arkansas, trees such as the loblolly pine compose almost a third of the timberland, seven million acres. In addition to the lignocellulosic biomass, pine bark and needles potentially have industrial importance as a waste stream from which high value (e.g., pharmaceutical, cosmetics) chemicals could be extracted, which could potentially increase the profit margin of forestry operations. In this research, the possibility that pine needles harvested from industry processed pine tree residues could be used as an antibacterial or cytotoxic chemical agent …

Understory Plant Community Structure In Forests Invaded By Garlic Mustard (Alliaria Petiolata), Jason Aylward

Masters Theses

ABSTRACT

UNDERSTORY PLANT COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN FORESTS INVADED BY GARLIC MUSTARD (ALLIARIA PETIOLATA)

MAY 2016

JASON ALLEN AYLWARD, B.S., PAUL SMITH’S COLLEGE

M.S. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

Directed by: Professor Kristina Stinson

Plant invasions represent a significant threat to the structure and function of natural ecosystems. Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) has been identified as a threat to native communities mostly through small-scale studies and focused experiments. In this in situ observational study I examined the effects of garlic mustard invasion on species composition across multiple sites by comparing plant diversity and composition in invaded and adjacent …

Utilization Of Woody Browse By White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) In Valley Forge National Park, Joanne T. Pomerantz, Joan M. Welch

Joan Welch

No abstract provided.

Invasive And Native Plant Response To Fire In A Pennsylvania Piedmont Woodland, Joan M. Welch

Joan Welch

No abstract provided.

Analisis De La Fragmentacion De Los Espacios Naturales En El Sector Sur Del Area Urbana De Girona, Josep Pinta, Josep Vila, Joan M. Welch

Joan Welch

No abstract provided.

Deer Browse In The Interior Forest Of Warwick County Park, Jacquelyn Arnold, Joan M. Welch

Joan Welch

No abstract provided.

Dynamics Of Resprouting And Forest Regeneration Following Anthropogenic Land Use In The Central Amazon Basin, Scott Lawrence Kosiba

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Tree mortality is increasing with the effects of climate change and drought across the Amazon Basin while intense fires are becoming more prevalent. Tropical moist forest trees generally lack adaptations that protect against mortality during an intense fire, so anthropogenic burning typically kills high percentages of trees. Following disturbances where prescribed burning is used to limit woody encroachment and to fertilize the soil, abandoned land in central Amazonia becomes dominated by the pioneer tree genus, Vismia. Although the mechanisms by which Vismia comes to dominate previously-burned areas are not known, previous studies on anthropogenic land use and forest succession …

Timber Talk, Vol. 53, No. 5, June 2016

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market Reports 1

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green 2

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried 2

Neiman Restoring Pine Ridge Timber Purchasing 3

Open for Business: Redcedar 4

Kiln-Drying Multiple Thicknesses and Species 5

Forest Industry Spotlight 6

Timber Sales 7

Trading Post 8

Evaluating The Myth Of Allelopathy In California Blue Gum Plantations, Kristen Marie Nelson

Master's Theses

It is widely accepted that allelopathy is not only significant, but more or less singular, in the inhibition of understory vegetation in California Eucalyptus globulus (blue gum) plantations. However, there is no published documentation of allelopathy by blue gums against California native species. Here, we present evidence that germination and early seedling growth of five California native species are not inhibited by chemical extracts of blue gum foliage, either at naturally-occurring or artificially concentrated levels. In the greenhouse, seeds were germinated in field-collected soil from mature blue gum plantations and the adjacent native, coastal scrub communities. In petri plates, seeds …

The Mexican Water Forest: Benefits Of Using Remote Sensing Techniques To Assess Changes In Land Use And Land Cover, Maria F. Lopez Ornelas

Master's Projects and Capstones

In the past 30 years, anthropogenic activities like urbanization, agriculture, road fragmentation and deforestation have resulted in changes in the land use and land cover (LULC) in the Mexican Water Forest. Due to the important ecosystem services, and the natural resources this forest provides, in Mexico, it has become increasingly necessary to use new technologies and tools to support the planning, implementation and integration of forest management and conservation plans, as well as ecological and socioeconomic analysis of this ecosystem. Remote Sensing techniques and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been a true technological and methodological revolution in the acquisition, management …

Herbaceous 2016, Julia I. Chapman, Keith E. Gilland, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2016 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Nitrogen Addition Shapes Soil Phosphorus Availability In Two Reforested Tropical Forests In Southern China, Xiankai Lu, Jiangming Mo, Frank S. Gilliam, Hua Fang, Feifei Zhu, Yunting Fang, Wei Zhang, Juan Huang

Frank S. Gilliam

Scant information is available on how soil phosphorus (P) availability responds to atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, especially in the tropical zones. This study examined the effect of N addition on soil P availability, and compared this effect between forest sites of contrasting land-use history. Effects of N addition on soil properties, litterfall production, P release from decomposing litter, and soil P availability were studied in a disturbed (reforested pine forest with previous understory vegetation and litter harvesting) and a rehabilitated (reforested mixed pine/broadleaf forest with no understory vegetation and litter harvesting) tropical forest in southern China. Experimental N-treatments (above ambient) …