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Full-Text Articles in Forest Sciences

Relating Occupancy Patterns To Multi-Life-History Scales For Pond-Breeding Anurans In Eastern Virginia, Patrick A. Hardner May 2022

Relating Occupancy Patterns To Multi-Life-History Scales For Pond-Breeding Anurans In Eastern Virginia, Patrick A. Hardner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Amphibians are experiencing population declines worldwide due to a multitude of factors, including habitat loss. Therefore, assessments of breeding habitat occupancy are important to determine which environmental characteristics are crucial for conservation of amphibians. While most research assesses habitat conditions at the breeding site (i.e., pond or wetland), for many species this misrepresents annual habitat use as many migrate to terrestrial habitats once breeding is completed. To provide a comprehensive assessment of annual habitat use, we evaluated how anuran (i.e., frog and toad) breeding site occupancy related to three life-history scales: breeding, migration and dispersal. Basically, the three scales define …


Using Deep Learning With Satellite Imagery To Estimate Deforestation Rates, Maeve Naughton-Rockwell May 2022

Using Deep Learning With Satellite Imagery To Estimate Deforestation Rates, Maeve Naughton-Rockwell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Previous studies have used Convolutional Neural Networks for regional detection of deforestation breaks. However, there is limited research into the capability of deep neural networks to identify sudden shifts in global forest cover from satellite imagery. Additionally, many deforestation detection models are trained on region specific data and need manual input thresholds. In this work, we develop a deep learning model to predict the percent of deforestation in a region between two points in time, trained on globally sourced data. Using the before and after satellite images of a deforestation event as inputs, we implemented a two input Convolutional Neural …


The Role Of Edge Effects On Emerald Ash Borer Infestation And Forest Responses, Bronte Hoefer Jan 2022

The Role Of Edge Effects On Emerald Ash Borer Infestation And Forest Responses, Bronte Hoefer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The emerald ash borer (EAB; Agrilus planipennis) is a buprestid beetle native to Asia, classified as an invasive species in North America. EAB infests trees of genus Fraxinus (ash) and has spread to 35 states since its introduction in the early to mid-1990s. Notably, EAB has the potential to functionally extirpate all native ash species in North America. Our study aims to characterize the ecological impacts of EAB infestation in the Roanoke Valley of Southwest Virginia, to quantify the impact of edge effects on EAB forest invasion and mortality of ash trees, as well as investigate the role that …


Three Centuries Of Vegetation Change In The William & Mary College Woods Reconstructed Using Phytoliths, Timothy Terlizzi May 2021

Three Centuries Of Vegetation Change In The William & Mary College Woods Reconstructed Using Phytoliths, Timothy Terlizzi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The College Woods, west of William & Mary’s campus, consists of ~900 acres of protected southern mixed hardwood forest. The woods surround Lake Matoaka, a former millpond established in ~1700. Despite the rich history of the area, little is known about how the dominant vegetative landcover has shifted over the last 300 years. This study set out to quantify the modern vegetation within the College Woods via the phytolith assemblages within the soil and identify shifts in the assemblages since the creation of Lake Matoaka and whether these changes are distinct from the vegetation that existed in the area before …


Demography And Disease Of The Rare Shrub Buckleya Distichophylla (Santalaceae) In Northeastern Tennessee, William Seth Ratliff Dec 2015

Demography And Disease Of The Rare Shrub Buckleya Distichophylla (Santalaceae) In Northeastern Tennessee, William Seth Ratliff

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Piratebush (Buckleya distichophylla (Nutt.) Torr.) is a rare, hemiparasitic shrub with the only extant populations in western North Carolina, northeastern Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia. The preferred natural hosts of piratebush, Carolina and eastern hemlocks, have seen sharp declines over the last decade due to the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid. Virginia pine, another important host of piratebush, is also susceptible to disease, specifically Cronartium appalachianum, a rust fungus for which piratebush is the secondary host. This study described and analyzed current demographic parameters of three Tennessee piratebush populations. Additionally, spatial patterns of disease and demographic characters were analyzed. These …


Forest Change And Balsam Woolly Adelgig Infestation In High Elevation Forests Of Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina., Laura Lusk Dec 2009

Forest Change And Balsam Woolly Adelgig Infestation In High Elevation Forests Of Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina., Laura Lusk

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Black Mountain range of western North Carolina supports some of the most extensive, but threatened high elevation forests in the southern Appalachians. Of particular note, the insect pathogen, balsam woolly adelgid (Adelges piceae Ratzeburg) has been present on Mt. Mitchell for over fifty years. In anticipation of potential changes in forest composition, vegetation surveys were first conducted in 1966 on nine one-acre plots near the summit of Mt. Mitchell. These plots were re-surveyed in 1978, 1985 and 2002. The purpose of this study was to re-census those plots and use those data to analyze long-term trends in forest …