Life Sciences Commons^™

Crop Tree Enhancement Of Green Ash (Fraxinus Pennsylvanica) In A West Tennessee Hardwood Bottom, John Luke Bowers

Masters Theses

Crop tree enhancement is a forest management technique undertaken to maintain, enhance, and improve the species composition, growth rate, and stem quality of stands so that management objectives may be better and more quickly accomplished. In 1996, a crop tree enhancement study involving green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) in a 16-year-old, naturally regenerated, mixed-species, pole-sized, bottomland hardwood stand was initiated at Ames Plantation in West TN. Treatments included a crown-touching release, a crown-touching release plus one-time fertilizer application, and a control, applied in a randomized block design with five 25-crop tree repetitions of the three treatments. Initial crop tree …

Lignin Maximization: Analyzing The Impact Of Different Feedstocks And Feedstock Ratios Using Organosolv Fractionation, Marc Banholzer

Masters Theses

Over-exploitation of fossil fuels coupled with increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions are prompting a transition from conventional petrochemical feedstocks to sustainable and renewable sourced carbon. The use of lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock for integrated biorefining is of current high interest, as separation into its component parts affords process streams of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, each of which can serve as a starting point for the production of biobased chemicals and fuels. Given the large number of potential sources of lignocellulosic feedstocks, the biorefinery will need to adapt to the supplies available over a normal growing season. Of particular …

Vegetation Response To Canopy Disturbance And Season Of Burn During Oak Woodland And Savanna Restoration In Tennessee, Andrew Lee Vander Yacht, Seth A. Barrioz, Patrick D. Keyser, Craig A. Harper, David Buckley, David A. Buehler, Roger D. Applegate

UT Extension publication

The removal of fire’s influence on plant community succession has resulted in the near disappearance of oak woodlands and savannas from the Appalachian region. Negative trends in associated plant and wildlife species could be reversed if these communities are restored, but management has been limited by inadequate canopy disturbance, resprouting of woody plants, and a lack of empirical research. To address these issues, we evaluated herbaceous and woody vegetation response on the

Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee to 5 replicated treatments involving canopy reduction and fire-season combinations and unmanaged controls. All categories of woody vegetation except large saplings density, but resprouting …

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 …

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 …

Benefits And Risks Of Imidacloprid-Based Management Programs For Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Elizabeth Paige Benton

Doctoral Dissertations

Hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae (Annand) (HWA) (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), has caused widespread decline of eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriére. This collaborative retrospective analysis with Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) provides research-based management guidance on imidacloprid treatments and nontarget risks to aquatic systems.

Imidacloprid and olefin concentrations were assessed in foliage from different diameter at breast height (DBH) size hemlocks 4 – 7 yr post-imidacloprid treatment. Imidacloprid concentrations were below the LC₅₀ [lethal concentration] for HWA, but olefin was above the LC₅₀ 4 yr post-treatment. HWA populations were suppressed, and hemlock canopies were healthy. Treatment efficacy can …