Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons^™

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 …

Invasive Earthworms In The Crown Of The Continent System And Implications For Land Management, Meghan Elizabeth Scott

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The United States contains invasive earthworms originating from Europe and Asia; the majority are European lumbricids. Direct introduction occurs primarily through human activity and, once established, earthworm populations are difficult to address. When exotic earthworms engage in bioturbation, they negatively alter subterranean food webs and nutrient cycling by disrupting soil layering systems. The most prominent form of physical alteration is the change and removal of the topmost organic layer. This disruption is associated with altered nitrogen and carbon cycling, as well as altered forest floor plant communities.

The Crown of the Continent ecosystem is located in southwestern Alberta, southeastern British …

Seasonal Flammability Comparisons Of Native And Exotic Plants In The Post Oak Savannah, Blackland Prairie, And Pineywoods Ecoregions Of Texas, Michael Tiller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

East Texas’ diverse landscape can present year-round wildfire seasons that can be influenced by seasonal and regional differences in climate and physiography. Greater insight into the fundamental thermal behavior of wildland fuels can aid in fire behavior prediction and development of fire-resistant plant lists. This study focused on estimating seasonal and regional flammability characteristics of five evergreen species: yaupon (Ilex vomitoria), Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense), greenbrier (Smilax spp.), eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), and escarpment live oak (Quercus fusiformis); and two deciduous species: Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) and southern …

Identification And Characterization Of Forest Fire Risk Zones Leveraging Machine Learning Methods, Joshua Balson, Matt Chinchilla, Cam Lu, Jeff Washburn, Nibhrat Lohia

SMU Data Science Review

Across the United States, record numbers of wildfires are observed costing billions of dollars in property damage, polluting the environment, and putting lives at risk. The ability of emergency management professionals, city planners, and private entities such as insurance companies to determine if an area is at higher risk of a fire breaking out has never been greater. This paper proposes a novel methodology for identifying and characterizing zones with increased risks of forest fires. Methods involving machine learning techniques use the widely available and recorded data, thus making it possible to implement the tool quickly.

Pitch Canker In The Año Nuevo Monterey Pine Stand: A Retrospective Analysis, Davis Harrison

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) is a closed cone conifer tree native to California. Although it is an ecologically and economically valuable tree, there are only five remaining native populations, including, the Año Nuevo stand along California’s central coast. All the remaining native populations have faced threats to their survival, none more than the non-native disease pitch canker (Fusarium circinatum). This fungal infection causes lesions, dead branches, tree top death, and can be potentially fatal to infected trees. This paper is a continuation of a study beginning in 2001, aimed at evaluating the impact of silvicultural management practices on pitch canker …

Post-Fire Tree Mortality And Regeneration Patterns As Proxies Of Conifer Forest Resilience, Sebastian Upton Busby

Dissertations and Theses

Shifting wildfire patterns and climate conditions, magnified by anthropogenic climate change, are threatening the resilience of conifer forests in North America and more specifically, the western US. If native conifer species are functionally maladapted to novel fire patterns and post-fire climate conditions, large-scale shifts in conifer forest structure, composition, and extent may occur as warming intensifies. Forest resilience in the context of fire and climate can be understood and quantified by the survival of trees through fire events and success of trees to regenerate post-fire and maintain population levels. In this dissertation, I use field observations and remote sensing to …

Natural Regeneration Dynamics And Survival Influenced By Abiotic And Biotic Factors In A Bottomland Hardwood Forest, Lydia J. Voth Rurup

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Riparian ecosystems are vital to the landscape, providing critical services including water filtration and purification, flood and erosion control, carbon sequestration, biodiversity support, and aesthetic value. Bottomland hardwood forests, however, are threatened by invasive species, land loss/conversion, inconsistent or absence of harvesting disturbances, and altered hydrological patterns, leading to reduced success of desired, native species. This research assessed regeneration dynamics and one-year survival in a seasonally-flooded bottomland hardwood forest at Boggy Slough Conservation Area in East Texas to identify abiotic and biotic factors important for successful establishment of native regeneration. Areas sampled included two that were previously treated with herbicide …

Forest Disturbance And Occupancy Patterns Of Carnivores: Results Of A Large-Scale Field Study In Maine, Usa, Bryn E. Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding trends in the abundance and distribution of carnivores is important at global, regional and local scales due to their ecological role, their aesthetic and economic value, and the numerous threats to their populations. Carnivores in Maine range from the American black bear (Ursus americanus), to numerous native mesocarnivore species, such as American marten (Martes americana), fisher (Pekania pennanti), coyote (Canis latrans), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), bobcat (Lynx rufus), Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) and to two small weasel species (Mustela erminea and Neogale frenata). …

Post-Czu Lightning Complex Regeneration In The Año Nuevo Monterey Pine Stand, Allison Trutna

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

Climate induced increases in fire frequency and severity along with years of fire suppression and drought are predicted for California. The recent CZU Lightning Complex, a high severity wildfire, burned in the Santa Cruz Mountains on California’s central coast and affected an assortment of vegetation, including the survival and recovery of the native Año Nuevo Monterey pine (Pinus radiata (D. Don)) stand. This stand is partially located in Cal Poly’s Swanton Pacific Ranch and has been monitored for over 20 years for the presence of pitch canker (Fusarium circinatum) fungal disease. This study characterized the survival and initial recovery of …

Growth, Browsing And Mortality In Mixed Oak And Pine Plantings, Heather Slayton

Masters Theses

The purpose of this project was to determine if different oak/pine arrangements elicited potential beneficial interactions that affected seedling growth, mortality and overall protection from deer browsing. Northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) and shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) were planted together and alone in six different planting patterns and spacings, replicated over three blocks in recent clearcuts in east Tennessee, USA. Each block consisted of two monocultures planted at a 3.0 by 3.0 meter (m) spacing and four multi-cropped treatments planted at varying spatial arrangements (0.3 m, 1.0 m, 1.5 m, and 3.0 m) from neighboring shortleaf …

Interpolating Missing Data And Comparing Performance Of Common Interpolation Techniques From A 30-Year Water Quality Dataset, Wako Bungula, Danelle M. Larson Dr., Killian Davis, Richard Erickson Dr., Amber Lee, Casey Mckean, Frederick Miller, Alaina Stockdill, Enrika Hlavacek

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Modeling Environmental Factors Related To Drought-Induced Tree Mortality Based On Lidar And Hyperspectral Imagery, Lauren Nicole Sharwood

Dissertations and Theses

Climate change is projected to bring more frequent and prolonged droughts, causing widespread forest die-off. Identifying tree mortality over large spatial extents in response to the most recent California drought will help forest managers and conservationists understand where there may be a greater likelihood of future die-offs. In order to find more at-risk areas, this study evaluated how interacting site-specific topographic, climate, substrate, and stand characteristics mediated tree mortality in the Central Sierra Nevada during the 2012-2016 drought. The author used lidar and hyperspectral imagery provided by the National Ecological Observatory Network to identify individual dead trees using the Random …

Genome-Wide Snp Identification In Fraxinus Linking Genetic Characteristics To Tolerance Of Agrilus Planipennis, Cecelia E. Hale, Mark A. Jordan, Gloria Iriarte, Kirk Broders, Andrew J. Storer, Vamsi J. Nalam, Jordan M. Marshall

Michigan Tech Publications

Ash (Fraxinus spp.) is one of the most widely distributed tree genera in North America. Populations of ash in the United States and Canada have been decimated by the introduced pest Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae; emerald ash borer), having negative impacts on both forest ecosystems and economic interests. The majority of trees succumb to attack by A. planipennis, but some trees have been found to be tolerant to infestation despite years of exposure. Restriction site-associated DNA (RAD) sequencing was used to sequence ash individuals, both tolerant and susceptible to A. planipennis attack, in order to identify single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) …

Assessing The Structure And Function Of Utility Forests In Massachusetts, Ryan Suttle

Masters Theses

Trees in a community provide numerous benefits, including reducing ambient temperature, removing gaseous and particulate pollutants from the air, sequestering atmospheric carbon, and improving stormwater retention and filtration. However, trees also pose risks, especially in proximity to overhead utility lines. Trees near utility lines cause a large proportion of electrical power outages. As such, trees must be frequently and often severely pruned away from lines to minimize this risk. Presumably, community trees not growing near overhead utility lines are not pruned as frequently or severely. The objectives of this study are to (i) assess factors related to both individual trees …

The Efficacy Of Habitat Conservation Assistance Programs For Family Forest Owners In Vermont, Margaret E. Harrington

Masters Theses

The future of Vermont’s 1.8 million hectares (4.5 million acres) of forest habitat will be largely determined by the decisions of family forest owners, who collectively own 60% of the state’s forested land. To promote management for wildlife habitat, government agencies and non-governmental partnerships provide technical and financial support to family forest owners in the form of conservation assistance programs. In Chapter 1, I qualitatively compared the efficacy of two types of conservation assistance programs available in Vermont: traditional programs offered through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and a simplified, accelerated program offered through a non-governmental partnership called Woods, Wildlife, …

Modeling Reproduction Influencers Of An Endangered Oak, Camila Cortez

DePaul Discoveries

The endemic oak, Quercus brandegeei has been labeled as endangered by the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species due to its limited genetic diversity and lack of regeneration. The oak (Quercus) species is a keystone species in many parts of the world and has been facing various challenges to their survival (Westwood 2017) making efforts to support and protect endemic oaks all the more ecologically and socially imperative. There are challenges to identifying threats as there are many unknown characteristics of Q. brandegeei’s biology that are essential to carrying out conservation efforts. To develop a greater understanding of …

Community Structure And Dynamics Of Benthic Macroinvertebrates In A Recreated Headwater Stream System On A Valley Fill In A Retrofitted Watershed Located In The Appalachian Coalfields Of Southeastern Kentucky (U.S.A.), Steven W. Bailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The extraction of coal from steep-gradient surface mining sites such as in the Appalachian Coalfields of the U.S. produces excess debris that is often placed in adjacent valleys resulting in the creation of valley fills. Not only are headwater streams buried in the process, but watershed functions are either destroyed outright, or become fragmented and disconnected from adjacent ecosystems resulting in adverse effects to downstream biological communities. In this dissertation, the dynamics of stream macroinvertebrate community structure, composition, diversity, and biotic integrity are assessed at a “proof of concept” stream system recreated on a retrofitted valley fill. For comparison, two …

Intensive Hunting Pressure Changes Local Distribution Of Wild Boar, Jakub Drimaj, Jiří Kamler, Radim Plhal, Přemysl Janata, Zdeněk Adamec, Miloslav Homolka

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) is now an important species of wild ungulates in Central Europe. Next to conflicts of wild boar with agriculture, the main threat of wild boar presence lies in the expansion of African swine fever across Europe. The regulation of the wild boar population is complicated by the high reproduction rate and intelligent behavior of the species, which limits hunting effectiveness. We analyzed the spatial behavior of wild boar in an environment with a lack of natural food resources. The study area consisted of a forest complex (1,283 ha) with 2 areas. In the “risk” …

Urban Forests And Their Potential To Combat Food Insecurity: Analyzing Street Trees In Baltimore, Md For Their Edibility, Victoria Bearden

Environment and Sustainability Summer Fellows

Food insecure environments, in which residents lack consistent access to nutritious food materials, can occur in urban settings. Literature on urban forests suggests that trees can provide a range of provisioning ecosystem services, including edible uses. We consider this to determine if street trees in Baltimore, Maryland have the potential to provide nutritious food materials to address food insecurity in Healthy Food Priority Areas (HFPA), designated by Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

What Is Biochar And How Is It Used?, Marion Murray

All Current Publications

Biochar is a charcoal-like product that contains no petroleum. It is made by heating biomass such as herbaceous or woody crop residues, non-salvageable timber, and slash, or animal manure, in a contained system. There are many potential uses for biochar including water treatment, land reclamation, and carbon sequestration. Biochar may also be used as a soil amendment for two purposes – to improve plant health and to store carbon.