Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons^™

The Importance Of Rivers In Protected Areas: Macroinvertebrate Sampling Reveals The Impact Of Humans And Highways On Water Quality, Marie-Claire Harrison

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The water quality and level of contamination of two rivers in a cloud forest ecosystem in the Mejía region of Ecuador, the Tupí River and the Pilatón River were assessed through benthic macroinvertebrate sampling at various sites along the rivers. Many different biological indices were then used to assess water quality at each site. Pollution in the form of grey water, black water, and petroleum negatively impacted the water quality of the both rivers as they pass through the town of La Esperie. Differences in river structure and size also played a role in determining the prevalence of certain benthic …

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

Riparian Fuel Treatments In The Western Usa: Challenges And Considerations, Kathleen A. Dwire, Kristen E. Meyer, Gregg Riegel, Timothy Burton

Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports

Fuel reduction treatments are being conducted throughout watersheds of the western United States to reduce hazardous fuels in efforts to decrease the risk of high-severity fire. The number of fuel reduction projects that include near-stream environments is increasing, bringing new challenges to riparian management. Riparian areas are protected by administrative regulations, some of which are largely custodial and restrict active management. However, riparian areas have also been affected by fire suppression, land use, and human disturbance, so manipulative treatments of vegetation and other fuels may be needed in some locations to maintain riparian biodiversity and restore valued functions. This report …

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. …

Breeding Season Avian Community Composition And Prey Availability In Eucalyptus And Slash Pine Plantations Of Southwestern Louisiana, Elizabeth J. Messick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increased demand for wood products related to industries such as bioenergy and paper has resulted in a need for a consistent supply of raw materials. Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) plantations have the potential to boost wood production for pulpwood and biomass feedstocks. Species characteristics such as rapid, indeterminate growth, coppice regrowth, resistance to disease and insects, and tolerance of a range of environmental conditions make these species successful short-rotation woody crops (SRWCs). Camden white gum (Eucalyptus benthamii), a more cold tolerant species, has made management of eucalyptus plantations viable in southern portions of the United States such …

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 …

An Assessment Of The Competitive Ability Of Oak Species In The Central Hardwood Region Using Both Pre-Harvest Treatment Data And Stem Analysis Techniques, Robert William Edward Quackenbush

Open Access Theses

The density of advance regeneration of oak species has been in decline across the Central Hardwood Region (CHR) for the past 50 years. This phenomenon has been accredited to many different factors, ranging from predation and browse by wildlife, to human induced changes in the environment which include massive clearcutting, land use change from forest to agriculture, and suppression of fires which played an intricate role in the development of oak systems across the CHR. The objectives of this research project were to compare densities of oak advance regeneration across two different environmental gradients within the CHR, in particular the …

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

Exploring Data Mining Techniques For Tree Species Classification Using Co-Registered Lidar And Hyperspectral Data, Julia K. Marrs

Theses and Dissertations

NASA Goddard’s LiDAR, Hyperspectral, and Thermal imager provides co-registered remote sensing data on experimental forests. Data mining methods were used to achieve a final tree species classification accuracy of 68% using a combined LiDAR and hyperspectral dataset, and show promise for addressing deforestation and carbon sequestration on a species-specific level.

An Investigation Of Hydrogeologic, Stratigraphic, And Structural Controls On Acer Grandidentatum Communities In A Karst Landscape, Owl Mountain Province, Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas, Melinda S. Faulkner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Owl Mountain Province is located within the Fort Hood Military Installation, an approximately 880 km2 installation established in the 1940s in Bell and Coryell counties, Texas, which has undergone extensive land use changes associated with military training, maintaining much of the vegetation in early succession. This study investigates thelithologic, stratigraphic, and structural controls on the hydrologic, hydrogeologic, and geomorphologic evolution of the Owl Mountain Province as expressed by mesic vegetation communities, including Pleistocene relicts Acer grandidentatum, within karst terrains. These systems exhibit complexly overprinted speleogenetic evolutions within a dynamic groundwater regime resulting from regional climate shifts throughout the …

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 …

Assessment Of The Environmental Sector And Climate Change In Malawi: Relationships Between Environmental Policy, Scientific Literature, And Development Projects, Esther A. Baumann

Sustainability and Social Justice

As funding increases for climate change related issues in Sub-Saharan Africa there should also be an increase in research to understand how scientific literature in the environmental sector can assist in developing policy and implementing development projects. Using secondary research, this paper centers on Malawi to develop an understanding of what is occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole in regards to climate change and environmental policy, science and development projects. It sought to determine if scientific thematic areas of research and recommended courses of action were being incorporated into actual government policies and on the ground development projects. This …

Synthesis Of Knowledge Of Extreme Fire Behavior: Volume 2 For Fire Behavior Specialists, Researchers, Paul A. Werth, Brian E. Potter, Martin E. Alexander, Craig B. Clements, Miguel G. Cruz, Mark A. Finney, Jason M. Forthofer, W. Matt Jolly, Sara S. Mcallister, Russel A. Parsons, Scott L. Goodrick, Chad Hoffman, Roger D. Ottmar

Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s definition of extreme fire behavior indicates a level of fire behavior characteristics that ordinarily precludes methods of direct control action. One or more of the following is usually involved: high rate of spread, prolific crowning/spotting, presence of fire whirls, and strong convection column. Predictability is difficult as such fires often influence their environment to some degree and behave erratically, sometimes dangerously. Alternate terms include “blow up” and “fire storm.” Fire managers examining fires over the last 100 years have come to understand many of the factors necessary for extreme fire behavior development. This effort produced …

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

A Model Of The Effects Of Deforestation On Local Climate In The North Cascades, Monica R. H. Jasper

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Changes in areal extent of land cover types may lead to alterations in the surface energy budget that contribute to anthropogenic climate forcing. This study examines the effects of deforestation in the Cascade Range on local temperature. Temperature sensors were installed in 14 forest stands, taking measurements for one year. Estimated tree age, circumference, and species were recorded to calculate stand density index. Satellite imagery was used to calculate shade fraction from spectral mixture analysis, which is a proxy for canopy structure and density. These data were used to construct seasonal cycles of temperature to model variation with stand density …

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 …

Review Of Broad-Scale Drought Monitoring Of Forests: Toward An Integrated Data Mining Approach, Steven P. Norman, Frank H. Koch, William W. Hargrove

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

Efforts to monitor the broad-scale impacts of drought on forests often come up short. Drought is a direct stressor of forests as well as a driver of secondary disturbance agents, making a full accounting of drought impacts challenging. General impacts can be inferred from moisture deficits quantified using precipitation and temperature measurements. However, derived meteorological indices may not meaningfully capture drought impacts because drought responses can differ substantially among species, sites and regions. Meteorology-based approaches also require the characterization of current moisture conditions relative to some specified time and place, but defining baseline conditions over large, ecologically diverse regions can …