Forest Sciences Commons^™

Exocysteine Application Mitigates Salt Stress In Chickpea (Cicer Arietinum L.), Ece Ni̇sa İmamoğlu, Murat Erdem Güzel, Asi̇m Kadioğlu, Aykut Sağlam

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Environmental factors such as salt stress inhibit the growth of plants and agricultural productivity. Exogenous amino acid application has been shown to benefit plants. However, the effect of cysteine application on salt stress reduction in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is unknown. This study examined how exogenous cysteine could reduce salt stress in 2 chickpea cultivars with different salt tolerances. Salt-resistant Gökçe and salt-sensitive Küsmen cultivars were subjected to 100 mM NaCl stress with or without a 100 μM Cys pretreatment. Without Cys pretreatment, salt stress caused the sensitive Küsmen variety to lose 1.49 times its dry weight and 1.35 times …

Nitrogen Management In Enhancing Raspberry (Rubus Idaeus L.) Productivity And Sustainable Development In Fruit Cultivation, Aleksandar Leposavić, Žaklina Karaklajić-Stajić, Sezai̇ Erci̇şli̇, Darko Jevremović, Ivana S. Glišić, Branko Popović, Olga Mitrović

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

This study investigated the effect of reduced nitrogen (N) fertilizer dosage on the vegetative and generative potential, physical and chemical characteristics, and fruit yield of raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.). Two raspberry cultivars (Willamette and Meeker) were treated with low and high doses of calcium ammonium nitrate and urea over 3 consecutive years (2021–2023) in Western Serbia. Basic floricane traits and fruit quality parameters were analyzed using widely accepted methodologies. The results showed significant variations in primocane growth, floricane traits, and berry quality in response to different N fertilizer doses, whereas soluble solid content (SSC) was more stable. Lower N fertilizer …

Development Of Functional Cottage Cheese Enriched With Elderberry Pomace Powder: Nutritional And Antioxidant Enhancement, Roxana Nicoleta Ratu, Florina Stoica, Ioana Cristina Crivei, Ionut Dumitru Velescu, Florin Daniel Lipsa, Andreea Bianca Balint, Romina Alina Marc, Petru Marian Cârlescu, Marius Giorgi Usturoi, Emi̇ne Maci̇t

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The increasing demand for sustainable and functional foods has driven interest in utilising agro-industrial by-products, such as elderberry pomace, to enhance the nutritional and antioxidant properties of food products. This study aimed to develop a functional cottage cheese enriched with elderberry pomace powder (EPP) and evaluate its nutritional composition, antioxidant potential, sensory acceptability, and textural properties. Cottage cheese samples were formulated with EPP at concentrations of 3% and 5%, alongside a control sample devoid of EPP. The results showed that the inclusion of EPP significantly increased the levels of anthocyanins, flavonoids, and polyphenols, along with enhanced antioxidant activity, compared to …

Study On The Flow Field Characteristics Of The Air-Suction Jujube Harvester Pipeline Based On Magnetohydrodynamic Airflow Control, Jing Nie, Qi Zhang, Jiashun Jiang, Jingbin Li, Longpeng Ding, Shufeng Li, Liming Xu, Mehmet Çeçen, Savaş Tanrisever

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

This study aimed to address the issue of suction force attenuation in the air-suction jujube (red date) harvester due to pipeline pressure loss. The active flow control method based on magnetohydrodynamics was used to optimize the pipeline flow field and reduce pressure loss. Through multiphysics field coupling theory modeling and numerical simulation, the regulatory effects of different electromagnetic field parameters on the pipeline flow field were characterized. An experimental platform was established to verify that the optimized electrode tip density, electrode voltage, and magnetic induction intensity could significantly increase the outflow gas velocity, pressure difference, and harvesting efficiency of the …

Determinants Of Job Performance In Forestry Organizations: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach On Technical Staff In The Mediterranean Region, Mehmet Pak, Ari̇f Okumuş

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

This study aimed to explore the individual, institutional, and job-related factors influencing the job performance of technical staff in the Regional Forestry Directorates located in the Mediterranean Region of Türkiye. Data were collected through a mixed-method approach, including mostly face-to-face interviews, complemented by partially online questionnaires. Data were obtained from 650 technical staff, including regional directors, enterprise managers, section chiefs, and forest engineers. Structural equation modeling was applied, and variables were validated using confirmatory factor analysis. Model fit indices were within acceptable limits (e.g., RMSEA = 0.069, CFI = 0.838, GFI = 0.809). The results indicate that institutional factors had …

Allometric And Mobile Terrestrial Lidar Modeling Of Above-Ground Woody Biomass Of Populus In Coppice Production, Heidi Renninger, Krishna P. Poudel

Research Data

Poplars (Populus spp.) and their hybrids are increasingly being grown in coppice production to generate bioenergy feedstocks at frequent intervals. Allometric equations are required to predict aboveground biomass (AGB) of coppiced individuals with minimal field measurements. Likewise, remote sensing tools like LiDAR (light detection and ranging) can be used if models are available to predict AGB from point cloud data. Therefore, this study sought to develop equations to predict dry woody AGB from field measurements and LiDAR data from coppiced poplar field trials containing eastern cottonwood (P. deltoides) and hybrid poplar taxa. We found that taxa-specific allometric …

Decadal Changes In Ground-Layer Plant Communities Reflect Maple Dieback And Earthworm Invasion In National Forests In The Lake Superior Region, Usa, Tara Bal, Manuel Eduardo Anderson, Mattison E. Brady, Julia I. Burton, Christopher R. Webster

Michigan Tech Publications

Northern hardwood forests of the Lake Superior region face a series of novel disturbance pressures including canopy dieback. Previous studies have linked regional sugar-maple (Acer saccharum) canopy dieback to introduced earthworms, which may have coinciding impacts on the ground-layer plant community. Dieback–earthworm interactions may lead to important longer-term changes in forest structure and function, but these relationships but have not been characterized. We sampled ground-layer plant communities in five national forest units in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in 2010, and again just over a decade later in 2021. Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination and indicator species analysis were used to assess …

The Isolation And Dna Extraction Of Phytophthora From Four Wildland Soil Types In Northern California, Humboldt County, Angelina Lasko, Christopher Lee, David S. Baston, Susan E. Marshall

Creative Publications and Manuals

Phytophthora species are of global importance (Sinclair and Lyon, 2005). For most Phytophthora species, the natural mechanism of how these pathogens travel and spread long distances is not fully understood. They are have been shown to travel by air, water, nursery stock, and via inadvertent human transport. The purpose of this study was to identify the presence of Phytophthora species in four different Northern California forest/wildland soil types. Soils from Franciscan complex parent material (riparian, mixed conifer, and oak woodland), and serpentine parent material (mixed conifer) were sampled in Humboldt County (Fig 1). Phytophthora and other pathogens were baited from …

Flawed Analysis Invalidates Claim Of A Strong Yellowstone Trophic Cascade After Wolf Reintroduction: A Comment On Ripple Et Al. (2025), Dan R. Macnulty, David Cooper, Michael Procko, T.J. Clark-Wolf

Aspen Bibliography

Ripple et al. (2025) recently argued that large carnivore recovery in Yellowstone National Park triggered one of the world’s strongest trophic cascades, citing a ∼1500 % increase in willow crown volume derived from plant height data. In this comment, we show that their conclusion is invalid due to fundamental methodological flaws. These include use of a tautological volume model, violations of key modeling assumptions, comparisons across unmatched plots, and the misapplication of equilibrium-based metrics in a non-equilibrium system. Additionally, Ripple et al. rely on selectively framed photographic evidence and omit critical drivers such as human hunting in their causal attribution. …

Factors Influencing Plant Community Structure And Composition Of Restored Tamaulipan Thornscrub Forests, Jerald T. Garrett, Audrey J. Hicks, Christopher A. Gabler

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of Texas is a biodiversity hotspot due to its high alpha, beta, and gamma diversity and high regional endemism, which are at high risk of degradation. The region has lost 95% of its native thornforest habitat primarily due to agricultural and urban expansion. This study aims to evaluate the current vegetative structure and composition of restored thornforest sites located in the LRGV to identify restoration methods and site characteristics that affect forest restoration outcomes. Twelve restored thornforest sites were selected for this study that varied in time since restoration, patch size, degree of isolation, …

A Multidecadal Analysis Of Groundwater Level And Streamflow Decline In Southern Forest Catchments, Western Australia, Richard J. George, Rose-Anne Bell, W. Lachlan Mccaw, Gregory Paul Raper

Natural Resources Research Articles

Previous analysis of hydrological data in the eucalypt dominated forests of Western Australia’s Darling Ranges show that reduced winter rainfall over the last 50 years has lowered groundwater levels and diminished streamflow by up to 70%. Consequently, climate-independent reverse osmosis seawater desalination and groundwater resources now supply Perth and nearby regional areas, as runoff from forested catchments is no longer sufficient or reliable. In the high rainfall (~1200 mm/yr) mixed forest areas dominated by Eucalyptus diversicolor (karri) and Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah) 200 km to the south of Perth (the ‘Southern Forest’), similar analysis of climate impacts on watertables has not …

Attitudes Toward The Continued Protection Of Gray Wolves Under The Endangered Species Act, John A. Vucetich, Jeremy T. Bruskotter

Michigan Tech Publications

In February 2024, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced their intention to develop – for the first time – a National Recovery Plan under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for gray wolves in the lower 48 states. In August 2025, a federal judge vacated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) decision denying ESA protections for gray wolves in the Western U.S.

Those events represent key context for this report, which describes the results of a web-based survey implemented in July and August of 2025 and designed to assess the attitudes of residents of the contiguous United States, as …

Where The Buffalo Roam: Ungulate Influences On Quaking Aspen And Willow Communities In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, J. Boone Kauffman, Dian L. Cummings, Robert L. Beschta, William J. Ripple

Aspen Bibliography

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) and willows (Salix spp.) are keystone species of montane and shrub-steppe landscapes of the Western United States. Intact communities dominated by these species provide a wide range of ecosystem services, harboring an exceptional proportion of landscape biodiversity. Land use, especially overgrazing by large ungulates, is among the greatest threats to these ecosystems. To examine the effects of wild ungulates and levels of grazing at Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and the adjacent Gallatin National Forest, we sampled plant community composition and vegetation structure of aspen and willow communities both inside and outside of exclosures. …

Warming Induces Unexpectedly High Soil Respiration In A Wet Tropical Forest, Tana E. Wood, Colin Tucker, Aura M. Alonso-Rodríguez, M. Isabel Loza, Iana F. Grullón-Penkova, Molly A. Cavaleri, Christine S. O'Connell, Sasha C. Reed

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Tropical forests are a dominant regulator of the global carbon cycle, exchanging more carbon dioxide with the atmosphere than any other terrestrial biome. Climate models predict unprecedented climatic warming in tropical regions in the coming decades; however, in situ field warming studies are severely lacking in tropical forests. Here we present results from an in situ warming experiment in Puerto Rico, where soil respiration responses to ⁺4 ^oC warming were assessed half-hourly for a year. Soil respiration rates were 42-204% higher in warmed relative to ambient plots, representing some of the highest soil respiration rates reported for any …

Effects Of Elevated Nutrient Supply On Litter Decomposition Are Robust To Impacts Of Mammalian Herbivores Across Diverse Grasslands, Adrienne B. Keller, Elizabeth T. Borer, Christopher R. Buyarski, Elsa E. Cleland, Allison Gill, Andrew S. Macdougall, Joslin L. Moore, John W. Morgan, Rebecca L. Mcculley, Anita C. Risch, Eric W. Seabloom, Justin Wright, Sarah E. Hobbie

Michigan Tech Publications

Litter decomposition is one of the largest carbon (C) fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems and links aboveground biomass to soil C pools. In grasslands, decomposition drivers have received substantial attention but the role of grassland herbivores in influencing decay rates is often ignored despite their potentially large effects on standing biomass and nutrient cycling. Recent work has demonstrated that nutrient addition increases early-stage decay and suppresses late-stage decay. Mammalian herbivores can mediate the effects of nutrient supply on biomass, suggesting herbivores may alter the effects of nutrients on decomposition, though this is largely unknown. We examined how herbivory mediates the effects …

Relaxation Of The Leaf Economics Spectrum Within And Across Quaking Aspen Populus Tremuloides Genotypes, Jolanta Rieksta, Bente J. Graae, Kenny Helsen, Rozália E. Kapás, Richard Strimbeck, Benjamin W. Blonder

Aspen Bibliography

Plant functional traits typically show strong covariation, e.g. as in the worldwide leaf economics spectrum (LES). Covariation is thought to arise from selective forces and physical constraints. However, processes shaping covariation at interspecific scales may differ from those at intraspecific scales. Potential sources of intraspecific trait variation include variation in genetics, abiotic environment, and biotic environment; any of these factors may cause divergence from interspecific patterns. Quaking aspen, Populus tremuloides (Salicaceae), is a widespread tree species ideal for assessing these processes' role in the intraspecific LES, due to its clonal growth along environmental gradients, intraspecific variation in cytotype (ploidy level), …

Tapping The Urban Forest: Integrating Tree Canopy Runoff (Stemflow) Into Blue-Green Infrastructure, Jalayna Antoine, Meimei Lin, Alia M. El-Kulak, John T. Van Stan Ii

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

As urbanization accelerates and climate change intensifies, cities increasingly turn to green infrastructure to manage stormwater and enhance resilience. Urban trees not only sequester carbon and reduce heat island effects but also partition rainfall into interception, throughfall, and stemflow. Stemflow (the water channeled down tree trunks) is often voluminous and nutrient-rich in urban settings, yet remains largely overlooked in conventional stormwater management. In this paper, we propose that repurposing stemflow can complement blue-green infrastructure by reducing runoff and providing supplemental irrigation for urban agriculture. We offer a brief review of stemflow's contribution to the city surface, its nutrient composition (which …

Comparative Analysis Of Vermicomposting Practices Utilizing Agroforestry Farm Materials, Theresa Nemesis P. Ocampo Maria, Armie Janica R. Pleto Ma., Reden D. Macalagay, Wilfredo O. Banasihan

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

Vermicomposting is an effective and eco-friendly method of converting biodegradable materials into fertilizers that promote plant growth and development. This study aimed to assess the efficiency and quality of vermicompost and vermiworms produced using combinations of biodegradable farm materials in agroforestry systems. The materials used for the 6 treatments included combinations of the following materials: fresh leaves of leguminous plants (Gliricidia sepium, Flemingia macrophylla, and Senna spectabilis), fresh cattle manure, and other plant materials (rice straw and banana trunk). Using a 90:10 ratio of plant residues and cattle manure, respectively, a substrate of 100 kg was prepared for each treatment …

Wood-Water Relationship And Micro-Chemical Properties Of Huminated Archaeological European Elm (Ulmus Laevis P.), Amir Ghavidel, Shennan Wang, Miklós Bak, Lauri Rautkari, Reza Hosseinpourpia

Michigan Tech Publications

Archaeological wood requires effective conservation to prevent further degradation, and traditional modifications such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) have limitations, including hygroscopicity and chemical degradation over time. To explore alternative modification, this study was conducted to investigate the suitability of humins, crosslinked with different concentrations of succinic acid (SA), to protect archaeological elm wood from the Agapia Monastery against water and to determine the modification mechanism. Key parameters such as dimensional stability, moisture sorption isotherms, and determination of accessible hydroxy groups as a function of humination modification were analyzed using dynamic vapor sorption (DVS). The modification mechanism was studied by microstructural …

Durability Of Tannin-Citric Acid Modified Scots Pine Against Weathering And Fungal Exposures, Sheikh Ali Ahmed, Gianluca Tondi, Reza Hosseinpourpia

Michigan Tech Publications

Wood modification is essential to enhance the performance and longevity of wood as a material while maintaining its natural and sustainable characteristics. By modifying wood, its properties can be significantly improved without the need for toxic preservatives. Thus bio-based wood modification is vital for enhancing wood properties sustainably, reducing environmental impact, and meeting the demand for eco-friendly, non-toxic, and renewable material solutions. In this study, bio-based formulae were used on pine sapwood for enhanced decay and weathering resistance. Quebracho tannin solutions (20 %) with different concentrations of citric acid (CA) as a cross-linker were prepared and then vacuum-pressure impregnated in Scots …