Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons^™

Are Northeastern U.S. Forests Vulnerable To Extreme Drought?, Adam P. Coble, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Z. Carter Berry, Katie A. Jennings, Cameron D. Mcintire, John L. Campbell, Lindsey E. Rustad, Pamela H. Temper, Heidi Asbjornsen

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

In the Northeastern U.S., drought is expected to increase in frequency over the next century, and therefore, the responses of trees to drought are important to understand. There is recent debate about whether land-use change or moisture availability is the primary driver of changes in forest species composition in this region. Some argue that fire suppression from the early twentieth century to present has resulted in an increase in shade-tolerant and pyrophobic tree species that are drought intolerant, while others suggest precipitation variability as a major driver of species composition. From this debate, an emerging hypothesis is that mesophication and …

The Effects Of Disturbance And Species Specific Interactions On Diversity In An Agent Based Forest Simulation, Matthew E. Mills

Theses and Dissertations

In ecology literature, there is much data which suggests that conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) and abiotic disturbances increase biodiversity in forests. This thesis elucidates the notion that not only do these two forces increase diversity, but they may also interact with one another in order to achieve higher levels of biodiversity. Abiotic disturbances, like fires and hurricanes, can indirectly impact conspecific effects because when these forces remove individuals from the landscape, the role of the conspecific effects will change. The interaction of these two factors in biodiversity are explored in an agent based forest simulation through a resource surface. …

1979 Lilley Cornett Woods Overstory Data, Ryan W. Mcewan, Julia I. Chapman, Robert N. Muller

Data Files: Big Everidge Hollow Permanent Plots

Data collected in 1979 on the overstory in the Big Everidge Hollow portion of the Lilley Cornett Woods Appalachian Ecological Research Station in southeastern Kentucky. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Accompanying photo by Julia I. Chapman.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26890/lcw.s2qvt68sox

Molecular Diversity Of Foliar Fungal Endophytes In Relation To Defense Strategies And Disease In Whitebark Pine, Lorinda Bullington

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An invasive fungal pathogen, Cronartium ribicola (the causative agent of white pine blister rust) infects and kills whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) throughout the western US. Blister rust has decreased whitebark pine populations by over 90% in some areas. Whitebark pine, a keystone species, has been proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act in the U.S., and the loss of this conifer is predicted to have severe impacts on forest composition and function in high elevations. Hundreds of asymptomatic fungal species live inside whitebark pine tissue, and recent studies suggest that these fungi can influence the frequency and …

Overstory 2017, Mitchell J. Kukla, Corey M. Kuminecz, Julia I. Chapman, Taylor M. Sparbanie, Katherine Schrader, Michelle N. Little, Keith E. Gilland, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Overstory data (woody species ≥2.5 centimeters in diameter at breast height) collected in 2017 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Saplings 2017, Mitchell J. Kukla, Corey M. Kuminecz, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Sapling data (woody species >50 centimeters in height and <2.5 cm diameter at breast height) collected in 2017 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Effects Of Excess Nitrogen On Biogeochemistry Of A Temperate Hardwood Forest: Evidence Of Nutrient Redistribution By A Forest Understory Species, Frank S. Gilliam, Jake H. Billmyer, Christopher A. Walter, William T. Peterjohn

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Excess nitrogen (N) in terrestrial ecosystems can arise from anthropogenically-increased atmospheric N deposition, a phenomenon common in eastern US forests. In spite of decreased N emissions over recent years, atmospheric concentrations of reactive N remain high in areas within this region. Excess N in forests has been shown to alter biogeochemical cycling of essential plant nutrients primarily via enhanced production and leaching of nitrate, which leads to loss of base cations from the soil. The purpose of our study was to investigate this phenomenon using a multifaceted approach to examine foliar nutrients of two herbaceous layer species in one N-treated …

Timber Talk, Vol. 54, No. 4, December 2016

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market Reports 1

Hardwood Lumber Prices 2

Note from the Editor - EAB Meeting Discussion 3

THE CHALLENGE - Using Forest Residues from Forest Operations 4

2016 Tax Tips Bulletin Available 4

Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight 5

Alaska Airlines’ first flight with biofuel made from forest residuals 7

The Four “P’s” of Marketing Your Small Sawmill Business 7

Trading Post 8

Silica Uptake And Release In Live And Decaying Biomass In A Northern Hardwood Forest, Wim Clymans, Daniel J. Conley, John J. Battles, Patrick J. Frings, Mary Margaret Koppers, Gene E. Likens, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

In terrestrial ecosystems, a large portion (20–80%) of the dissolved Si (DSi) in soil solution has passed through vegetation. While the importance of this “terrestrial Si filter” is generally accepted, few data exist on the pools and fluxes of Si in forest vegetation and the rate of release of Si from decomposing plant tissues. We quantified the pools and fluxes of Si through vegetation and coarse woody debris (CWD) in a northern hardwood forest ecosystem (Watershed 6, W6) at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) in New Hampshire, USA. Previous work suggested that the decomposition of CWD may have significantly …

The Variation Of Productivity And Its Allocation Along A Tropical Elevation Gradient: A Whole Carbon Budget Perspective, Yadvinder Malhi, Cécile A. J. Girardin, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Christopher E. Doughty, Norma Salinas, Daniel B. Metcalfe, Walter Huaraca Huasco, Javier E. Silva-Espejo, Jhon Del Aguilla-Pasquell, Filio Farfán Amézquita, Luiz E.O.C. Aragão, Rossella Guerrieri, Françoise Yoko Ishida, Nur Bahar, William Farfan-Rios, Oliver L. Phillips, Patrick Meir, Miles Silman

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

• Why do forest productivity and biomass decline with elevation? To address this question, research to date generally has focused on correlative approaches describing changes in woody growth and biomass with elevation.
  
  
• We present a novel, mechanistic approach to this question by quantifying the autotrophic carbon budget in 16 forest plots along a 3300 m elevation transect in Peru.
  
  
• Low growth rates at high elevations appear primarily driven by low gross primary productivity (GPP), with little shift in either carbon use efficiency (CUE) or allocation of net primary productivity (NPP) between wood, fine roots and canopy. The lack of trend in …

Secretarial Order 3336 Science Priorities: The Role Of Science Past, Present, And Future, Stephen W. Barrett

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

Within sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems, which are home to more than 350 species of plants and animals, potentially more frequent and severe fires are causing an increased threat to human safety, property, rural economies, and wildlife habitat. In particular, the habitat of the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), an iconic sagebrush-dependent species, is at risk. In response to this reality, on January 15, 2015, Secretary Sally Jewell signed Secretarial Order 3336 (S.O. 3336), titled “Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management, and Restoration.” The main purpose of the order is to implement enhanced policies and strategies for managing rangeland fire and …

Timber Talk, Vol. 54, No. 3, September 2016

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market Reports 1

Hardwood Lumber Prices 2

Green Star Gasifier Seeking Wood Fuel 3

Emerald Ash Borer Discovered in Eastern Nebraska 4

Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight 5

Timber Sales 7

Trading Post 8

The Effect Of Prescribed Fires On Vernal Herbs, Janis Lemaster

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The effects of fire on vernal herbs are little known. David Kem attempted to assess the influences of spring and winter prescribed fires on vernal herbs by collecting abundance data on three sets of research plots located at the WKU Green River Preserve in Hart County, KY, on April 9-10, 2010. On April 10 he conducted spring burns, and on February 22, 2011, he conducted winter burns. He then collected post-fire data on the abundance of the herbs on the 12-19 of March, 2011. He found little influence of fire on overall species richness and the density of common species. …

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 …

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

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.

Changes In Floristic Composition In The State Forests In Worcester County (Massachusetts) Over 34 Years, Flor A. Monroe

Sustainability and Social Justice

ABSTRACT

CHANGES IN FOREST DIVERSITY OF STATE FOREST IN WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, OVER 34 YEARS PERIOD

The forest in Massachusetts has changed since the earliest colonial settlement and today the floristic composition is more homogeneous. This study investigates the potential change in the floristic composition over thirty years in Worcester County State Forests. Shannon, richness and evenness indices for two periods were compared, and Jaccard index was used to analyze similarity in composition between the periods. The possible influence of severe weather events was also analyzed.

It was found Changes in the floristic composition, but the magnitude of the changes …

Timber Talk, Vol. 53, No. 4, March 2016

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market News 1

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green 2

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried 2

Open for Business 3

Tips to Reduce Drying Defect 5

Forest Industry Spotlight 6

The Trading Post 8

Timber Sales 9

Global Synthesis Of The Classifications, Distributions, Benefits And Issues Of Terracing, Wei Wei, Die Chen, Lixin Wang, Stefani Daryanto, Liding Chen, Yang Yu, Yonglong Lu, Ge Sun, Tianjiao Feng

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

For thousands of years, humans have created different types of terraces in different sloping conditions, meant to mitigate flood risks, reduce soil erosion and conserve water. These anthropogenic landscapes can be found in tropical and subtropical rainforests, deserts, and arid and semiarid mountains across the globe. Despite the long history, the roles of and the mechanisms by which terracing improves ecosystem services (ESs) remain poorly understood. Using literature synthesis and quantitative analysis, the worldwide types, distributions, major benefits and issues of terracing are presented in this review. A key terracing indicator, defined as the ratio of different ESs under terraced …

Semiochemicals In The Natural History Of Southern Pine Beetle Dendroctonus Frontalis Zimmermann And Their Role In Pest Management, B. T. Sullivan

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann is generally considered to be one of the most significant biotic mortality agents of pines within North America, with a range stretching from New England to eastern Texas and from Arizona south to Nicaragua. As with other aggressive pine beetles, it relies on semiochemicals for coordinating the mass attacks necessary for colonization of healthy pines. Over the past 50 years its chemical ecology has received extensive study aimed at development of effective and practical semiochemical-based management strategies which might replace the destructive and costly techniques in practice. I review the literature on the …

A Forest Vulnerability Index Based On Drought And High Temperatures, David Mildrexler, Zhiqiang Yang, Warren B. Cohen, David M. Bell

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Increasing forest stress and tree mortality has been directly linked to combinations of drought and high temperatures. The climatic changes expected during the next decades – large increases in mean temperature, increased heat waves, and significant long-term regional drying in the western USA – will likely increase chronic forest stress and mortality. The aim of this research is to develop and apply a new forest vulnerability index (FVI) associated with drought and high temperatures across the Pacific Northwest region (PNW; Oregon and Washington) of the USA during the MODIS Aqua era (since 2003). Our technique incorporates the alterations to canopy …

Improved Bulk Density Of Bamboo Pellets As Biomass For Energy Production, Zhijia Liu, Bingbing Mi, Zehui Jiang, Benhua Fei, Zhiyong Cai, Xing'e Liu

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

To the best of our knowledge, there is the lack of sufficient information concerning bamboo pellets. In the preliminary research, bamboo pellets showed a low bulk density which could not meet requirement of Pellet Fuels Institute Standard Specification for Residential/Commercial Densified (PFI). To improve its bulk density, pellets were manufactured using mixtures of bamboo and pine particles and the properties were investigated. It was found that adding pine particles to bamboo particles was an effective way to improve bulk density of bamboo pellets. When adding 40% pine particles to bamboo particles, bulk density of pellets increased from 0.54 …

Pronghorn Habitat Suitability In The Texas Panhandle, Nathan P. Duncan, Samantha S. Kahl, Shawn S. Gray, Christopher J. Salice, Richard D. Stevens

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Habitat quality is an important factor that can greatly affect wildlife populations. Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) habitat in the Texas Panhandle, USA has been lost through growth of human settlements and agricultural lands. We determined the most pertinent environmental variables affecting habitat selection using multiple methods, including a search of peer-reviewed literature, expert opinion ranking, and habitat suitability modeling. We determined quality and extent of pronghorn habitat in the Texas Panhandle using the MAXENT modeling environment to build a presence-only habitat suitability model based on global positioning system (GPS) locations collected via aerial surveys. Our habitat suitability model indicated …

Scanning The Future Of Wildfire: Resilience Ahead…Whether We Like It Or Not?, Rachel Clark

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

The field of so-called “futures research” provides researchers and stakeholders in a given subject area or system a way to map out and plan for alternate possible scenarios of the future. A recent research project supported by the Joint Fire Science Program brought together futures researchers and wildfire specialists to envision what the future holds for wildfire impacts and how the wildfire community may respond to the complex suite of emerging challenges. The consensus of the project’s foresight panel suggests that an era of resilience is ahead: but that this resilience may come either with a very high cost (after …

Ecosystem Services Of Woody Crop Production Systems, Ronald S. Zalesny Jr., John A. Stanturf, Emile S. Gardiner, James H. Perdue, Timothy M. Young, David R. Coyle, William L. Headlee, Gary S. Bañuelos, Amir Hass

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Short-rotation woody crops are an integral component of regional and national energy portfolios, as well as providing essential ecosystem services such as biomass supplies, carbon sinks, clean water, and healthy soils. We review recent USDA Forest Service Research and Development efforts from the USDA Biomass Research Centers on the provisioning of these ecosystem services from woody crop production systems. For biomass, we highlight productivity and yield potential, pest susceptibility, and bioenergy siting applications. We describe carbon storage in aboveground woody biomass and studies assessing the provision of clean and plentiful water. Soil protection and wildlife habitat are also mentioned, in …

Agroforestry Horizons: Experiences And Reflections: Report-Out, Steve Rasmussen

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The USDA National Agroforestry Center (NAC) is charting a course for the next five years. As part of this process, NAC and the USDA Interagency Agroforestry Team hosted a meeting of leaders in the fields of agroforestry, agriculture, and forestry, from government, universities, and the private sector, to share experiences and insights on agroforestry opportunities and challenges. The meeting occurred on April 27th and 28th, 2016, in Washington, DC, and entailed presentations and discussions on current and potential roles of agroforestry in supporting water quality, soil health, economic diversification, food security, and pollinator/wildlife habitat. This report-out provides a summary of …

Pyrodiversity Promotes Avian Diversity Over The Decade Following Forest Fire, Morgan W. Tingley, Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, Robert L. Wilkerson, Christine A. Howell, Rodney B. Siegel

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

An emerging hypothesis in fire ecology is that pyrodiversity increases species diversity.We test whether pyrodiversity—defined as the standard deviation of fire severity—increases avian biodiversity at two spatial scales, and whether and how this relationship may change in the decade following fire. We use a dynamic Bayesian community model applied to a multi-year dataset of bird surveys at 1106 points sampled across 97 fires in montane California. Our results provide strong support for a positive relationship between pyrodiversity and bird diversity. This relationship interacts with time since fire, with pyrodiversity having a greater effect on biodiversity at 10 years post-fire than …

Contributing Factors For Drought In United States Forest Ecosystems Under Projected Future Climates And Their Uncertainty, Charles H. Luce, James M. Vose, Neil Pederson, John Campbell, Connie Millar, Patrick Kormos, Ross Woods

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Observations of increasing global forest die-off related to drought are leading to more questions about potential increases in drought occurrence, severity, and ecological consequence in the future. Dry soils and warm temperatures interact to affect trees during drought; so understanding shifting risks requires some understanding of changes in both temperature and precipitation. Unfortunately, strong precipitation uncertainties in climate models yield substantial uncertainty in projections of drought occurrence. We argue that disambiguation of drought effects into temperature and precipitation-mediated processes can alleviate some of the implied uncertainty. In particular, the disambiguation can clarify geographic diversity in forest sensitivity to multifarious drivers …

Riparian Trees And Aridland Streams Of The Southwestern United States: An Assessment Of The Past, Present, And Future, D. Max Smith, Deborah M. Finch

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Riparian ecosystems are vital components of aridlands within the southwestern United States. Historically, surface flows influenced population dynamics of native riparian trees. Many southwestern streams has been altered by regulation, however, and will be further affected by greenhouse warming. Our analysis of stream gage data revealed that decreases in volume of annual discharge and mean peak discharge and a shift to earlier peak discharge will occur in the Southern Rockies region of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. These changes will likely decrease rates of reproduction and survival of cottonwood (Populus fremontii and Populus deltoides ssp. wislizenii), Goodding's willow …