Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Competition And Burn Severity Determine Post-Fire Sapling Recovery In A Nationally Protected Boreal Forest Of China: An Analysis From Very High-Resolution Satellite Imagery, Lei Fang, Ellen V. Crocker, Jian Yang, Yan Yan, Yuanzheng Yang, Zhihua Liu

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Anticipating how boreal forest landscapes will change in response to changing fire regime requires disentangling the effects of various spatial controls on the recovery process of tree saplings. Spatially explicit monitoring of post-fire vegetation recovery through moderate resolution Landsat imagery is a popular technique but is filled with ambiguous information due to mixed pixel effects. On the other hand, very-high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery accurately measures crown size of tree saplings but has gained little attention and its utility for estimating leaf area index (LAI, m²/m²) and tree sapling abundance (TSA, seedlings/ha) in post-fire landscape remains …

Potential Economic Impacts Of Allocating More Land For Bioenergy Biomass Production In Virginia, Thomas O. Ochuodho, Janaki R. R. Alavalapati, Pankaj Lal, Domena A. Agyeman, Bernabas Wolde, Pralhad Burli

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

The growing attention to renewable energy and rural development has created greater demand for production of biomass feedstock for bioenergy. However, forest growth rates and the amount of land in most existing forests may not be sufficient to sustainably supply the forest biomass required to support existing forest products industries and the expanding bioenergy industry. Additionally, concerns about agricultural land use competition have dampened expansion of biomass production on agricultural land base. One of the ways to meet the growing forest biomass feedstock demand for bioenergy production is by allocating currently marginal non-forested land for growing bioenergy feedstocks. In Virginia, …

Wildfire Alters Spatial Patterns Of Available Soil Nitrogen And Understory Environments In A Valley Boreal Larch Forest, Jianjian Kong, Jian Yang, Bo Liu, Lin Qi

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Wildfire, a primary natural disturbance in many forests, affects soil nutrient availability and spatial distributions of forest plants. However, post-fire changes in soil nutrients and spatial patterns of understory environments at fine scales are poorly understood. Here, we characterized spatial patterns of soil nitrogen availability and site characteristics at a 3-year-post-fire and an unburned site in a valley boreal larch forest. We also examined the relationship between soil nitrogen availability and site characteristics. The results showed that the burned site had higher NO₃⁻ and lower NH₄⁺ than the control. The herb, litter and coarse wood debris …

Evaluating Reforestation Options For Surface Mines In Appalachia, Joseph Frederick

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

During the last century coal extraction has degraded ecosystems in Appalachia, converting forested land into other cover types that have a diminished capacity to naturally progress to later stages of succession. This projects objective was to examine two options for land-use that can assist in returning the reclaimed surface mines to forested cover types, with increased ecosystem services, and a potential for economic gain.

This project examined a biomass plantation and an American chestnut trial. In the biomass trial, greatest heights for American sycamore (12.3 m) and black locust (8.0 m) were found in the fertilizer plots. Mean individual tree …