Forest Sciences Commons^™

Socioecological Assessment Of Birds In Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve, Eli Taub

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Effective management of natural resources requires consideration of the environment through both a physical and a sociological lens. In this study, the birds in Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve were examined through both a biological mist-net survey and a socioecological series of interviews with people living in the surrounding villages. The mist-net survey compared the understory species in undisturbed and disturbed area of the forest, as well as analyzing birds caught for biologically meaningful information on subspecies and sexual dimorphism. While the mist-net survey was largely unsuccessful, highlighting the need for alternative bird capture methods in Ngezi, it found a decrease …

White-Fronted Capuchins (Cebus Albifrons Aequatorialis) In La Hesperia Cloud Forest Reserve: A Study Of Aggressive Behaviors In Response To Human Presence, Marin Lynch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Ecuadorian white-fronted capuchin, Cebus albifrons aequatorialis, is a critically endangered primate species native to Ecuador and northern Peru. Their population consists of only a handful of surviving troops spread out across this region. One surviving population exists in La Hesperia Cloud Forest Reserve in Ecuador. This reserve serves as an education and volunteer site for dozens of international travelers every year. I studied the effect of the presence of humans and the lodging they have constructed. Specifically, I investigated the effect on behavior of the proximity of the troops alpha male to manmade structures in the reserve. I …

Variations In Salinity And Forest Structure Between Marginal And Cloistered Mangrove Forests In Boca Del Drago, Bocas Del Toro, Panama, Mary Elizabeth Hodge

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mangroves are incredibly important ecosystems that have an outsized impact on their surroundings, providing crucial ecosystem services like carbon sequestration and coastal protection. At the same time, mangroves are some of the most threatened habitats due to their valuable position along tropical coastlines. Globally, mangrove forests are deforested and degraded by aquaculture, tourism developments, urbanization, and overharvesting. Due to high rates of mangrove loss, mangrove deforestation is now illegal in Panama, though this legislation is inconsistent and allows for exceptions, especially in tourism developments. This study aims to probe the impacts of localized coastal developments on a small mangrove forest …

Vertebrate Diversity In The La Amistad International Park Buffer Zone, Guadalupe, Chiriqui, Panamá, Mina Olson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Forest fragmentation and increasing agricultural land use are posing threats to the diversity of vertebrates in Panama and across the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Protected areas are crucial for providing connectivity and maintaining vertebrate populations. For endemic species with small native ranges, these protected areas are critical for their survival due to sensitivity of habitat change. Higher species diversity and occupancy has been reported for both birds and mammals in protected and forested areas. This pilot survey of vertebrate species was conducted to determine which species live in a primary forest within the buffer zone of La Amistad International Park near …

Vascular Epiphyte Population Dynamics Within Human-Modified Landscapes Of Guadalupe, Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panamá, Lucine Tashjian

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants non-parasitically, and globally, epiphytes compose a very large and diverse group. They are especially abundant and species-rich in the tropics- particularly, in tropical montane forest ecosystems. Human population growth in the tropics, however, has resulted in significant declines in forest cover with land being converted largely for agricultural purposes. Studies on epiphytes have traditionally been undertaken in pristine, undisturbed forest ecosystems, yet terrestrial land conversion has increased the need to understand the value of human-modified ecosystems for epiphytic populations and biodiversity conservation. This study sought to understand the relationship between human modification …

Non-Native Rhizophora Mangle As Sinks For Coastal Contamination On Moloka’I, Hawai’I, Geoffrey Szafranski, Elise F. Granek, Michelle L. Hladik, Mia Hackett

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coastal mangrove forests provide a suite of environmental services, including sequestration of anthropogenic contamination. Yet, research lags on the environmental fate and potential human health risks of mangrove-sequestered contaminants in the context of mangrove removal for development and range shifts due to climate change. To address this, we conducted a study on Moloka'i, Hawai'i, comparing microplastic and pesticide contamination in coastal compartments both at areas modified by non-native red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) and unmodified, open coastline. Sediment, porewater, and mangrove plant tissues were collected to quantify microplastic and pesticide concentrations across ecosystem type. Average microplastics were similar between …

Assessing The Progress And Effects Of Exotic Plant Invasions In A Sustainably Used Littoral Forest Fragment In Southeastern Madagascar, Grant Gerhardt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

While it is important to conserve Madagascar’s unique natural forest environments and the biodiversity they contain, it is also essential that populations reliant on these ecosystems for their income and survival have access to the resources they provide. Sustainable use forests, designated by the IUCN as category VI protected areas, are the solution to meeting both of these conditions. At the same time, it is often the case that the use of forests invites disturbance, which in turn encourages the introduction and establishment of nonnative or invasive plant species. This study examines the degree to which the intensity of use …

Mushroom Composition Across An Elevational Gradient During The 2024 Wet Season In Mazumbai Forest Reserve, Tanzania, Christopher Brady

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mushrooms are key bioindicators that contribute greatly to ecological health, and their diversity is indicative of a healthy ecosystem. However, even with the vital role they play in ecological health, there are few studies which measure the diversity of mushrooms in Mazumbai Forest Reserve (MFR), Tanzania, Africa, and none which focus on diversity along the elevational gradient within the reserve (1300-1900m). This study measures the diversity and equitability of mushrooms growing in six elevational zones within MFR during the rainy season of 2024. A species checklist of mushrooms growing in MFR during the 2024 rainy season was created, tracking the …

Automated Tree Mortality Detection Using Ubiquitously Available Public Data, Michael T. Huggins

Master's Theses

Understanding the dynamic interplay between fire severity, topography, and tree mortality, is crucial for predicting future forest dynamics and enhancing resilience against climate change-induced wildfire regimes. This thesis develops a multi-sensor approach for automated estimation of tree mortality, then applies it to examine trends in tree mortality over a six-year period across a fire affected study site in the Trinity River basin in Northern California. The Random Forest model uses publicly available USGS 3D Elevation Program Lidar (3DEP) and NAIP imagery as inputs and is likely to be easily adaptable to other landscapes. The model had a Receiver Operating Characteristic …

Toward A Coordinated Understanding Of Hydro-Biogeochemical Root Functions In Tropical Forests For Application In Vegetation Models, Daniela F. Cusack, Bradley Christoffersen, Chris M. Smith-Martin, Kelly M. Andersen, Amanda L. Cordeiro, Katrin Fleischer, S. Joseph Wright, Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramírez, Laynara F. Lugli, Lindsay A. Mcculloch, Mareli Sanchez-Julia, Sarah A. Batterman, Caroline Dallstream, Claire Fortunel, Laura Toro, Lucia Fuchslueger, Michelle Y. Wong, Daniela Yaffar, Joshua B. Fisher, Marie Arnaud, Lee H. Dietterich, Shalom D. Addo-Danso, Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes, Monique Weemstra, Jing Cheng Ng, Richard J. Norby

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Tropical forest root characteristics and resource acquisition strategies are underrepresented in vegetation and global models, hampering the prediction of forest–climate feedbacks for these carbon-rich ecosystems. Lowland tropical forests often have globally unique combinations of high taxonomic and functional biodiversity, rainfall seasonality, and strongly weathered infertile soils, giving rise to distinct patterns in root traits and functions compared with higher latitude ecosystems. We provide a roadmap for integrating recent advances in our understanding of tropical forest belowground function into vegetation models, focusing on water and nutrient acquisition. We offer comparisons of recent advances in empirical and model understanding of root characteristics …

Forensic Archaeology Protocols For Wildfires And Fire Related Scenes, Erik Schulz

Nebraska Anthropologist

Forensic Archaeology Protocols for Wildfires and Fire-Related Scenes

Forensic archaeology is a relatively new area of study and focuses on the medical legal aspects of archaeology. This paper will focus on how forensic archaeology should be used for wildfire and other fire-related fatalities or investigations, what happens to bone when exposed to heat, what protocols should be in place and how an excavation should look, and finally the challenges of fire-related investigations. This report will focus on the larger scale of the investigation and will be using several sources from different wildfire and fire fatality reports.

Africa’S Overlooked Top Predator: Towards A Better Understanding Of Martial Eagle Feeding Ecology In The Maasai Mara, Kenya, Richard Stratton Hatfield, Allison G. Davis, Ralph Buij, John J. Cox, Shiv Kapila, Lemein Parmuntoro, Simon Thomsett, Munir Z. Virani, Peter Njoroge, Frank Van Langevelde

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Raptors exert top-down influences on ecosystems via their effects on prey population dynamics and community composition. Most raptors are sympatric with other predators, thus complicating our understanding of their relative influence in these systems. Estimates of kill rates and prey biomass recycling have been used as predation metrics that allow quantitative comparison among species and assessment of the relative role of single species within complex food webs. Few studies have produced findings of kill rates or prey biomass recycling for raptors. We used a supervised machine learning algorithm to behaviourally classify high resolution accelerometer informed GPS locations of tagged adult …

Communicating Climate Change: Adaptive Silviculture In Central Appalachian Kentucky, Logan Baker

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Climate change communication is an emerging field that requires a multidisciplinary understanding of both climate and social science. Communicating with underrepresented woodland owners about climate change, specifically climate change adaptation in forestry applications, necessitates appropriately adjusted approaches. In Central Appalachian Kentucky, outreach with underrepresented woodland owners on forest adaptation topics has not been examined in depth. The recent establishment of an Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change research site in the University of Kentucky’s Robinson Forest has created an opportunity to generate regionally specific climate adaptation information for Appalachian Kentucky forests. It is imperative to investigate how best to approach communicating …

Measuring And Modeling Riparian Wetland Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity, Nutrient Concentrations And Shallow Groundwater Dynamics In An Appalachian Mixed Land Use Catchment, Bidisha Faruque Abesh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The paucity of research on accurate predictions of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), spatiotemporal analysis of nutrient concentrations relative to water source types (stream and shallow groundwater (SGW)), water flow directions, and land use in riparian wetlands of Appalachian mixed land use catchments underscored the need for this study. Additionally, the lack of SGW flow simulations and stream-SGW interactions using three-dimensional (3D) numerical models (i.e., MODFLOW) in these riparian wetlands further highlighted the research gap. Observed data including soil properties, Ksat, surface water (SW) and SGW levels, and nutrient concentrations, including nitrate (NO3-N), nitrite (NO2-N), ammonium (NH4-N), orthophosphate (PO43-P), total nitrogen …

Late Holocene Fire History Reconstruction Of Beaver Lake In The Northwest Lowlands Of The Olympic Peninsula, Grace Mckenney

All Master's Theses

Fire is an essential component of the landscapes and forests of the Pacific Northwest, including the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula. Previous fire history reconstructions from the peninsula show that fire return intervals varied throughout the postglacial period, primarily in response to climatic changes and corresponding shifts in vegetation. However, much less is known about the fire history of the low-elevation forests of the Olympic Peninsula and the role of cultural fire regimes in these environments. The purpose of this study was to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental history of a low-elevation study site, Beaver Lake, located in the northwestern part …

Effects Of Timber Harvest On Understory Vegetation Succession: A Time Series Study, Reese A. Poindexter, Trevor Weeks, Chad Bishop, Akasha Faist

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Timber harvest, as a necessary and common global practice, can significantly affect the ecosystems being harvested through opening the canopy, disturbing the understory, and resetting successional trajectories. This study examined how timber harvest influenced understory plant functional group dominance, understory species richness, and understory species dominance along a 40-year, or older, harvest timeline across two forest types (mesic and xeric) in Northwestern Montana, U.S.A. In our two forest types, vegetation sampling was completed at 208 sites with 1,040 quadrats across six timber-harvest timelines. Harvest timelines varied from the most recent at 1-5 years post-harvest to over 40 years as the …

Stabilization Of Pfas-Contaminated Soil With Sewage Sludge- And Wood-Based Biochar Sorbents, Erlend Sørmo, Clara Benedikte Mader Lade, Julie Zhang, Alexandros G. Asimakopoulos, Geir Wold Åsli, Michel Hubert, Aleksandar I. Goranov, Hans Peter H. Arp, Gerard Cornelissen

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Sustainable and effective remediation technologies for the treatment of soil contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are greatly needed. This study investigated the effects of waste-based biochars on the leaching of PFAS from a sandy soil with a low total organic carbon content (TOC) of 0.57 ± 0.04% impacted by PFAS from aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) dispersed at a former fire-fighting facility. Six different biochars (pyrolyzed at 700–900°C) were tested, made from clean wood chips (CWC), waste timber (WT), activated waste timber (aWT), two digested sewage sludges (DSS-1 and DSS-2) and de-watered raw sewage sludge (DWSS). Up-flow column …

Hydrologic Pathways Of A Northern Hardwood Catchment In The Great Lakes Basin Using End Member Mixing Analysis, Cory C. Burkwald

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study investigated the seasonality of hydrologic pathways, the role of wetlands in streamflow generation, and how hydrologic pathways affect the export of nutrients by streamflow in the Sturgeon River using endmember mixing analysis. The results indicated that streamflow consists of three main components: shallow subsurface water from wetland soils, shallow groundwater, and surface runoff from precipitation. Snowmelt plays a dominating role in regulating stream water chemistry (~80% volume at peak) during the snowmelt season and likely also after that. Wetland soils store snowmelt, together with rainwater though the fraction is unknown, and then gradually release through summer in the …

Characterizing Prescribed Fire With Terrestrial Lidar In The New Jersey Pine Barrens, Samuel Rhule Stockton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Prescribed burning has become a commonly used tool in the mitigation of wildfire, though monitoring the way it changes ecosystems has historically been a time-intensive process. Rapid change across ecosystems has necessitated advancements in remote sensing technologies to quantify the changes taking place. Single-scan terrestrial LiDAR scanning is one such method of monitoring these changes through the quantification of ecosystem structural characteristics. Acute disturbance events such as fire can transform the structure of an ecosystem, and by extension, change the way that ecosystem functions. The purpose of this study is to analyze the changes in vegetation density and distribution following …

Long Oligodeoxynucleotides: Chemical Synthesis, Isolation Via Catching-By-Polymerization, Verification Via Sequencing, And Gene Expression Demonstration, Yipeng Yin, Reed Arneson, Alexander Apostle, Adikari M.D.N. Eriyagama, Komal Chillar, Emily Burke, Martina Jahfetson, Yinan Yuan, Shiyue Fang

Michigan Tech Publications

Long oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) are segments of DNAs having over one hundred nucleotides (nt). They are typically assembled using enzymatic methods such as PCR and ligation from shorter 20 to 60 nt ODNs produced by automated de novo chemical synthesis. While these methods have made many projects in areas such as synthetic biology and protein engineering possible, they have various drawbacks. For example, they cannot produce genes and genomes with long repeats and have difficulty to produce sequences containing stable secondary structures. Here, we report a direct de novo chemical synthesis of 400 nt ODNs, and their isolation from the complex …

Quantifying The Influences Of Abiotic And Biotic Factors On Post-Fire Vegetation In The Southwestern Us, Joseph Lafayette Crockett

Biology ETDs

The ongoing warming associated with climate change is increasing the flammability of southwestern US dry forests. As larger fractions of the landscape are impacted by high-severity fire, the potential exists for forests to convert to non-forest. Given that the forested area in the southwestern US is an important contributor of ecosystem services, quantifying limitations to vegetation establishment is critical to informing post-fire recovery efforts and understanding how ongoing climate change will limit seedling establishment in the future. To that end, this dissertation focuses on post-fire vegetation recovery of southwestern forests. First, I report on the influence of precipitation and topography …

Celestial Bodies, Rebecca L. Rand, Mark Popinchalk

Capstones

Most of us will never come close to touching space. But space touches us every day. On Celestial Bodies, journalist Rebecca Rand and astronomer Mark Popinchalk explore the ways outer space interacts with life on earth.

In Episode 1, hosts Rebecca Rand and Mark Popinchalk explore how, for millions of years, trees have been recording celestial events in space. Within the rings of their trunks, trees store radiation from solar flares, supernovae, and changes in the earth’s magnetic field. The hosts talk to Dr. Ben Pope to learn more about what we can discover by looking at radioactive molecules …

Human Dimensions Of Woody Encroachment Management In Nebraska, Emily Rowen

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Woody plant encroachment (WPE) is a social-ecological problem that will challenge conservation professionals and agricultural producers to adapt their management strategies. This research first examined WPE from the perspective of individual conservation professionals through an online survey. Conservation professionals’ attitudes about adaptation to vegetation transitions, such as WPE, were of interest because these attitudes are one measure of how prepared this group is to respond to WPE. Hypothesized predictors of adaptation attitude were tested through linear regression modeling. These predictors included ecological change, observation of WPE, or risk perception. It was found that risk perception was the strongest predictor of …

Data From: Climate Change-Driven Cumulative Mountain Pine Beetle-Caused Whitebark Pine Mortality In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, William W. Macfarlane

Browse all Datasets

In 2018-2019 the Landscape Assessment System (LAS), an aerial survey method was used to assess mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae; MPB) - caused mortality of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (59000 km2; GYE). This consisted of 11,942 km of flightlines, along which 4,434 geo-tagged, oblique aerial photos were captured and processed. A mortality rating of none to severe (0 to 4 nt attack or 5.0 5.4 old attack) was assigned to each photo based on the amount of red (recent attack) and gray (old attack) trees visible. The method produced a photo inventory of 74 percent …

Regulation Of Regeneration In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Md Khairul Islam, Sai Teja Mummadi, Sanzhen Liu, Hairong Wei

Michigan Tech Publications

We employed several algorithms with high efficacy to analyze the public transcriptomic data, aiming to identify key transcription factors (TFs) that regulate regeneration in Arabidopsis thaliana. Initially, we utilized CollaborativeNet, also known as TF-Cluster, to construct a collaborative network of all TFs, which was subsequently decomposed into many subnetworks using the Triple-Link and Compound Spring Embedder (CoSE) algorithms. Functional analysis of these subnetworks led to the identification of nine subnetworks closely associated with regeneration. We further applied principal component analysis and gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis to reduce the subnetworks from nine to three, namely subnetworks 1, 12, and 17. …

Impacts Of Forest Fire Carbon Emission And Mitigation Strategies, Zhihua Liu, Hongshi He, Wenru Xu, Yu Liang, Jiaojun Zhu, Geoff G. Wang, Wei Wei, Zifa Wang, Yongming Han

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Between 2000 and 2020, global wildfires contributed to approximately 7.32 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, accounting for about 18.5% of CO2 emissions released from fossil fuels. Forest fires alone contributed to around 20% of these wildfire emissions, approximately 1.5 billion metric tons of CO2. Due to climate change and human activities, carbon emissions from forest fires are on the rise. For example, the 2023 Canadian fires have emitted 1.268 billion metric tons of CO2 up to August 29th. Despite the simultaneous increase in forest area and volume, the frequency and extent of forest fires have significantly decreased …

Intelligence Versus Inferno: How Artificial Intelligence Can Be Used To Monitor And Manage Wildfires In Europe, Maxwell Feldman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Escalating wildfire occurrences in Europe, particularly in the southern Mediterranean region, are presenting significant challenges to socioeconomic, environmental, and ecosystem services. The increasing frequency and severity of these wildfires are straining resources and emphasizing the need for a better understanding of the relationship between suppression capacity and fire behavior in wildfire management. The following research addresses the urgent need for more proactive, knowledge-based, and technologically driven fire management strategies, throughout all four stages of wildfire response – fuel and land management, fire preparedness, fire suppression, and post-fire management. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly significant in climate change adaptation, especially …

Soil Succession: Short And Long-Term Impacts Of Grazing On Soil Properties In A Tropical Montane Cloud Forest, June Curtis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in South America, causing long-lasting alterations to the continent's landscape and ecology. Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs) are a rare ecosystem particularly vulnerable to the effects of land conversion to pasture, a process which has implications ranging from biodiversity loss to soil degradation. Grazing is known to significantly alter soils' physical structure through processes of compaction and erosion as well as significant additions of organic matter. Silvopasture, or the integration of pasture and forest, has emerged as an alternative to traditional grazing practices with the hope of mitigating environmental and soil degradation. …

Variation Of Carbon Stock Of Boca Del Drago Mangrove Forests Based On Salinity And Seaward Proximity, Fiona Wyrtzen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mangrove forests, at the intersection of land and sea, are considered one of the most important marine environments for their variety of ecosystem services and their ability to sequester large amounts of carbon in their biomass and adjacent soils. With a changing climate, many of the abiotic and biotic factors influencing mangroves will begin to shift, potentially impacting resilience, growth capacity, and distribution of mangroves worldwide. This study aimed to examine the influence of changing salinity on the carbon stock capacity for Rhizophora mangle and Laguncularia racemosa forests, and the distribution of biomass in each species relative to salinity in …

Fire Effects On Soil Organic Matter In The Creek Fire, Gracie E. Doolin

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

Wildfires have increased in frequency and severity over the past few decades due to the increased concertation of CO2 emissions from anthropogenic influence. Soil carbon (C) sequestration has been identified as a climate change mitigation strategy; however, the influx of large-scale wildfires has accelerated landscape processes such as erosion, reducing soil aggradation, and soil C and nitrogen (N) protection. This trend is highlighted by the Creek Fire that occurred in September 2020 and burned 379,895 acres in the Sierra National Forest. This research is designed to close the knowledge gap regarding the impact of burn severity on soil organic matter …