Forest Sciences Commons^™

Meeting Minutes, June 4th, 2021, National Smokejumper Association Board Of Directors

National Smokejumper Association Meeting Minutes

Agenda: Call to order, review and approval of Agenda; Consent Agenda; Information Items; Investment Report; Budget; Request for NSA Endorsement of USFS Covid 19 Preparedness Letter from National Wildfire Institute to Secretary Perdue; Trails Report; Scholarship Report; Keep the Flame Legacy Jump List; Q & A on Written Report; Identifying and Recruiting New Board Members; Information and Odds and Ends; In Attendance via Zoom;

A Baseline Documentation Report For The Delta Wind Birds Sky Lake Nature Reserve, James Dubberly

Honors Theses

The purpose of this baseline documentation is to conduct a report on our subject property and discuss the findings. A conservation easement is established by upholding a certain standard of a property’s current condition which makes a baseline documentation necessary for an easement to be enacted. Baseline documentation reports are used as a resource to monitor and enforce the legal agreements of the conservation easement. The subject property is currently owned by the Delta Wind Birds organization. In our scenario, this documentation report will serve to aid in the conversion of our subject property into a conservation easement in ...

A Study Of Old Field Succession At The Center For Environmental Education And Research (Ceer), Noah Vincent

Senior Scholars Day

Using the successional plots located at the Center for Environmental Education and Research (CEER), the species composition and distribution of woody plant species were determined for four of these plots. Old field succession has large implications conservation considering how much land is used by humans for agricultural practice. Invasive species are also a growing threat to conservation, particularly in early successional environments, such as old fields, that allow them to have a foothold to grow. How these invasives impact native populations and the trajectory of succession is critical to conserving biodiversity of native organisms. Understanding how species abundance and distribution ...

Exploration Of The Food Forest Outreach Team, Victoria Bearden

Environmental Studies Presentations

At Whittaker Environmental Research Station, the first iteration of the Ursinus Food Forest was planted in 2019. The Ursinus Food Forest includes over 15 species of edible species and embraces lessons in urban agriculture, urban forestry, and agroforestry. The site has now been planted for over a year, and is monitored by Dr. Patrick Hurley, student researchers, and Ursinus facilities. There are two separate student research teams involved with the food forest, one focusing on stewardship of the site and the other focusing on outreach for the site. The goal of the outreach team is to build a community around ...

A Baseline Documentation Report For The Delta Wind Birds Sky Lake Nature Reserve, Preston T. Perkins, J Hays Dubberly, Michael J. Thomas

Honors Theses

The purpose of this baseline documentation is to conduct a report on our subject property and discuss the findings. A conservation easement is established by upholding a certain standard of a property’s current condition which makes a baseline documentation necessary for an easement to be enacted. Baseline documentation reports are used as a resource to monitor and enforce the legal agreements of the conservation easement. The subject property is currently owned by the Delta Wind Birds organization. In our scenario, this documentation report will serve to aid in the conversion of our subject property into a conservation easement in ...

Fagus Sylvatica (European Beech), #1009, Megan L. Trafford

BIO 140 Arboretum Project

No abstract provided.

Tilia Cordata (Littleleaf Linden) #1059, Heather Noel Mckee

BIO 140 Arboretum Project

In this paper I studied the Tilia cordata, more commonly known as the Littleleaf Linden, over the course of three months. I included the history and uses of the Linden tree along with its symbolic value in European culture. This tree symbolizes friendship and peace which coincides with the critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy.

Development Of Mine Soils In A Chronosequence Of Forestry-Reclaimed Sites In Eastern Kentucky, Kenton L. Sena, Kevin M. Yeager, Christopher D. Barton, John M. Lhotka, William E. Bond, Kimberly J. Schindler

Lewis Honors College Faculty Publications

Surface mining for coal has contributed to widespread deforestation and soil loss in coal mining regions around the world, and particularly in Appalachia, USA. Mined land reforestation is of interest in this and other regions where forests are the dominant pre-mining land use. This study evaluated mine soil development on surface-mined sites reforested according to the Forestry Reclamation Approach, representing a chronosequence of time ranging from 0 to 19 years after reclamation. Soils were sampled in depth increments to 50 cm and analyzed for a suite of soil physical and chemical characteristics. Overall, soil fines (silt + clay) tended to increase ...

Pine Habitat Characteristics Associated With Variation In Chuck-Will’S-Widow Communities, Hannah E. Beckett

Undergraduate Research Conference

This study explores the potential impact of variation in forest habitats and management on Chuck-will’s-widow density.

B10: Controlling Saltwater Intrusion: Aiding The Recovery Of Freshwater Ecosystems, Willem Maniago, Stefanie Whitmire, Dan Hitchcock

Annual Research Symposium

As sea levels rise, it is imperative to understand the effects of saltwater intrusion on freshwater ecosystems. This is especially true in the coastal wetlands of the SE US, where freshwater forests are dying from exposure to salinity. One management strategy that could prevent salinity intrusion in surface waters are water control structures (WCS). The Great Reserve, located outside of Georgetown, SC, represents a biodiverse freshwater forested wetland affected by saltwater intrusion from the adjacent tidal Black River. Several years ago, scientists and landowners observed the degradation of the ecosystem. The owners of the property installed a WCS at the ...

Seed Rain–Successional Feedbacks In Wet Tropical Forests, Nohemi Huanca Nuñez, Robin L. Chazdon, Sabrina E. Russo

Faculty Publications in the Biological Sciences

Abstract

Tropical forest regeneration after abandonment of former agricultural land depends critically on the input of tree seeds, yet seed dispersal is increasingly disrupted in contemporary human-modified landscapes. Here, we introduce the concept of seed rain–successional feedbacks as a deterministic process in which seed rain is shaped by successional dynamics internal to a forest site and that acts to reinforce priority effects. We used a combination of time series and chronosequence approaches to investigate how the quantity and taxonomic and functional composition of seed rain change during succession and to evaluate the strength of seed rain–successional feedbacks, relative ...

Mining 30 Years Of Conifer Records At The Baker Arboretum, Monika Decker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Only limited data had been published on the survivability of specimens within public gardens. This may be due to not enough data collected or how vast the plant selections are in the gardens. The Baker Arboretum has collected data by accessioning plant collections over a period of 30 years. The Baker Arboretum has its specimens GIS mapped on the 115-acre property for easy location and detection of the the woody ornamental plants. However, little research is available to understand which coniferous specimens have the best success in the garden. In this study, six separate binomial logistic regressions were run to ...

Niche Differentiation Of Bacteria And Fungi In Carbon And Nitrogen Cycling Of Different Habitats In A Temperate Coniferous Forest: A Metaproteomic Approach, Robert Starke, Rubén López Mondéjar, Zander Rainer Human, Diana Navrátilová, Martina Štursová, Tomáš Větrovský, Heather M. Olson, Daniel J. Orton, Stephen J. Callister, Mary S. Lipton, Adina Howe, Lee Ann Mccue, Christa Pennacchio, Igor Grigoriev, Petr Baldrian

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications

Temperate coniferous forests sustain the highest levels of biomass of all terrestrial ecosystems and belong to the major carbon sinks on Earth. However, the community composition and its functional diversity depending on the habitat have yet to be unveiled. Here, we analyzed the proteomes from litter, plant roots, rhizosphere, and bulk soil in a temperate coniferous forest at two time points to improve the understanding of the interplay between bacterial and eukaryotic communities in different habitats. Our metaproteomic approach yielded a total of 139,127 proteins that allowed to differentiate the contribution of microbial taxa to protein expression as well ...

Performance Analysis And Drying Kinetics Of Maize In An Aflastop Dryer, Ernest Owusu-Sekyere, George Obeng-Akrofi, Joseph O. Akowuah, Dirk Maier

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications

The performance of an AflaSTOP dryer which utilises biomass energy for drying maize was investigated. The drying behaviour of maize grains in the dryer was also investigated using ten (10) thin-layer mathematical models. The models were compared based on coefficient of determination (R²) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values between experimental and predicted moisture ratios. At an average drying air temperature of 50˚C and drying air velocity of 2.5 m/s, maize at average moisture content (MC) of 17.5% (wb) was dried to an average MC of 11.5% (wb) in three (3) hours. The ...

Pando: Charismatic Megaflora And The Populus Paradox, Paul C. Rogers, Lance Oditt

Aspen Bibliography

Within the field of landscape ecology, the Pando aspen grove on the Fishlake National Forest of Utah is legendary—and it is in danger of dying from hotter, drier temperatures and other threats. Pando is one of the largest and oldest known still-living organisms on Earth. Quaking aspen are an important tree species in Greater Yellowstone and the Rocky Mountain West. Enjoy this essay written by a scientist who studies Pando and a photographer who celebrates this arboreal mega-being.

Finding Purpose In The Conservation Of Biodiversity By The Commingling Of Science And Ethics, John A. Vucetich, Ewan A. Macdonald, Dawn Burnham, Jeremy T. Bruskotter, Dominic D.P. Johnson, David W. Macdonald

Michigan Tech Publications

Averting the biodiversity crisis requires closing a gap between how humans tend to behave, individually and collectively, and how we ought to behave—“ought to” in the sense of behaviors required to avert the biodiversity crisis. Closing that gap requires synthesizing insight from ethics with insights from social and behavioral sciences. This article contributes to that synthesis, which presents in several provocative hypotheses: (i) Lessening the biodiversity crisis requires promoting pro-conservation behavior among humans. Doing so requires better scientific understanding of how one’s sense of purpose in life affects conservation-relevant behaviors. Psychology and virtue-focused ethics indicate that behavior is ...

Distribution Pattern And Phytosociological Study Of Trees Associated With Agroforestry In Poonch District Of Jammu And Kashmir, India, Javed Manzoor, Mohd Junaid Jazib

Journal of Bioresource Management

The focus of present study was to find the phytosociology, distribution pattern, and diversity of different species of trees associated with traditional agroforestry in the district of Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Data was collected through quadrat survey method. A total of fifty quadrats of the size (10x10m) each were thrown randomly in agriculture fields. Total 26 tree species belonging to 16 families and 21 genera were encountered in the agricultural fields with Grewia optiva, Pyrus persica and Celtis australis being the tree species in dominance. The most dense species of tree recorded was Grewia optiva with a density value ...

Fuller's Fiddlehead Sustainability Research Featured In Northern Woodlands Magazine., University Of Maine Division Of Marketing And Communications

General University of Maine Publications

A study of sustainable fiddlehead harvesting practices by David Fuller, an Agriculture and Non-Timber Forest Products Professional with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, was cited in the Spring 2021 issue of Northern Woodlands magazine.

Bird Communities In African Cocoa Agroforestry Are Diverse But Lack Specialized Insectivores, Crinan Jarrett, Thomas B. Smith, Tabe T.R. Claire, Diogo F. Ferreira, Melanie Tchoumbou, Malange N.F. Elikwo, Jared D. Wolfe, Kristin Brzeski, Andreanna J. Welch, Rachid Hanna, Luke L. Powell

Michigan Tech Publications

Forests are being converted to agriculture throughout the Afrotropics, driving declines in sensitive rainforest taxa such as understorey birds. The ongoing expansion of cocoa agriculture, a common small-scale farming commodity, has contributed to the loss of 80% rainforest cover in some African countries. African cocoa farms may provide habitat for biodiversity, yet little is known about their suitability for vertebrate fauna, or the effect of farm management on animal communities. Here, we report the first in-depth investigation into avian diversity and community composition in African cocoa, by assembling a dataset of 9,566 individual birds caught across 83 sites over ...

S4e2: What’S Your Relationship With The Forest?, Ron Lisnet, Jessica Leahy

The Maine Question

Maine is the most forested state in the country, and its residents interact with forests regularly in many different ways. They provide supplies for various products, which fuels industry and job creation, and space for outdoor recreation. These interactions, which help define Maine’s identity, are the subject of Jessica Leahy’s research. As a professor in UMaine’s School of Forest Resources, she studies the human dimensions of forestry and other natural resources. In this episode of “The Maine Question,” Leahy discusses her work, the ways forests impact our lives and how our actions affect them.