Forest Sciences Commons^™

Can We Help Coast Redwood Adapt To Climate Change? A Provenance Study On Genetic Variation And Climate Transfer Distance, Aidan J. Murphy

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The climate is changing more rapidly than many species can adapt or migrate. Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is a unique, long-lived conifer and remains California’s most valuable and economically important timber species. The species is threatened in its natural range due to anthropogenic climate change and human activity. Redwood favors asexual reproduction which restricts its ability to migrate naturally. The consequences of asexual reproduction when faced with a rapidly changing climate may make some form of assisted migration necessary for long-lived organisms like redwood.

This study evaluates drivers of variation in redwood growth and the influence of climate …

Effects Of Experimental Structural Retention Position And Aggregation On Avian Communities In Managed Forests Of The Pacific Northwest, U.S., Aidan M. Healey

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Managed forest lands in Oregon and Washington produce wood products and host diverse bird communities, though standing dead snags are often limited. State forest practices rules governing forest harvest dictate retention of a minimum number of trees when forests are clearcut harvested. However, little research has explored how the slope position and aggregation of retention, and the supplemental inclusion of mechanically created snags, affects use of these forest units by wildlife, especially highly mobile taxa such as birds. I used an avian point count sampling approach, within a replicate-block experiment dictating unit-level slope position, aggregation, and snag retention treatments, to …

Modeling Forest Stewardship In Goukdi’N: An Assessment Of Carbon, Wildlife Habitat, And Fire Resilience In A University Forest, Benjamin Stock

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis presents a forest management plan for Goukdi’n (also known as the Jacoby Creek Forest University Tract), a coast redwood–tanoak–Douglas-fir forest within the ancestral homelands of the Wiyot Tribe. This project addresses the need for a forest stewardship approach that supports ecological resilience, cultural values, and long-term forest health in a landscape shaped by industrial logging, fire exclusion, and decades of under-management. To evaluate potential management pathways, forest growth modeling was conducted using the USFS Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) to compare three management prescriptions focused on carbon storage, fire resilience, and structural heterogeneity and a no-action alternative. Model outputs …

Initial Fungal Decomposer Community Determines Wood-Derived Carbon In Discrete Soil Carbon Pools In Aspen Clearcuts, Theresa K. Meyer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Soil carbon storage can be affected by forest management activities that alter the amount of biomass at a site, including slash retention and salvage harvesting. Initial fungal colonization of retained biomass may affect soil carbon storage due to differences in fungal decomposition strategies. To examine the effect of wood addition on wood-derived soil carbon storage and the interaction between initial fungal decomposer communities and wood application depth, δ¹³C modified wood inoculated with white- or brown-rot fungi was applied to soils across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Wood-derived carbon was assessed after 3.5 years in bulk soil samples and in three …

Wildlife Distribution Mapping And Analysis In Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Using Site And Satellite Imagery Data, Pinho Joaquim Munhequeira Mr

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

One of Mozambique's most important conservation sites, Gorongosa National Park has seen critical ecological changes over the past several decades resulting from climate variability, habitat loss, and political instability. This research integrates Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing to examine the relationship between vegetation dynamics and wildlife population, and distribution. The main goals of this study are to evaluate the spatial distribution of particular wildlife species: buffalo (Syncerus caffer), elephant (Loxodonta africana), hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), and zebra (Equus quagga), and determine the impact of vegetation density and land cover on their …

Spatial Analysis Of American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) Distribution And Ecology In Kentucky’S Federal Lands, Jacob Raymond Pease

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic factors have been the cause of the decline of tree species across the globe. From unsustainable logging and development to disease and improper management, threats to forests have taken their toll. The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once an integral basal tree species in Appalachian forests, but chestnut blight drove the species to functional extinction by the mid-1900s. The recent creation of genetically modified chestnuts gives hope for future restoration of the species throughout its historical range. Despite blight resistance, effective restoration will require optimal site selection for finding and planting chestnuts, which will maximize limited resources. …

Modelling The Hydrologic Impact Of Land Cover On Stormwater Detention Basins In Harris County, Tx, Kabita Sapkota

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Harris County on the upper Gulf Coast in Southeast Texas is susceptible to both riverine and coastal flooding due to intense, short-duration thunderstorms, slow-moving frontal systems, and tropical hurricanes. Low-lying terrain, clay soils with poor drainage, high annual rainfall, and a widespread network of bayous and streams all contribute to frequent flooding. To reduce the impacts of urbanization and the loss of surface storage, the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) built detention basins throughout the county to temporarily store stormwater runoff and release it slowly, lowering peak flows and preventing downstream flooding and erosion. These basins vary in land …

Potential Of Using Trembling Aspen To Make Structural Engineered Wood Products, Dawei Wang

Aspen Bibliography

Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) is abundant in Canada but is widely considered an underutilized species. This study was aimed at evaluating the potential of using aspen lumber to produce cross-laminated timber (CLT), glued-laminated timber (glulam), and wood I-joists. The key mechanical properties of these engineered wood products, which were fabricated using a modified grading criterion, were examined. It was found that 1) The mean effective bending stiffness and characteristic bending moment resistance of 5-layer CLT specimens in the major-strength direction were 5,069x10⁹ N·mm²/m and 97.65x10⁶ N·mm/m; 2) The mean apparent MOE and characteristic modulus …

Collaborative Wildfire Governance Within The Southwest Idaho Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape: Survey Results 2025, Mahmood Muttaqee, Cody R. Evers, Lindsay K. Campbell, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Olivia Awbrey, Kathryn Hixson, Michelle Johnson, Erika Svendsen

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Collaboration plays a critical role in wildfire risk mitigation efforts. This study examines collaborative wildfire governance networks within Southwest Idaho, a priority landscape designated in 2022 under the USDA Forest Service's Wildfire Crisis Strategy (WCS). Through survey data from 64 respondents, the Fueling Adaptation study aimed to identify the structure, capacity, and gaps in governance networks addressing wildfire risk in Southwest Idaho and understand how WCS investments have influenced wildfire management in the area. The findings reveal a growing governance network centered on the USDA Forest Service and the Idaho Department of Lands and supported by numerous non-governmental organizations and …

Timber Talk, Vol. 63, No. 1, March 2025

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Timber Talk, Vol. 63, No. 1, March 2025

Timber Talk, Vol. 63, No. 2, June 2025

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Timber Talk, Vol. 63, No. 2, June 2025

Assessing The Potential For Bigleaf Maple Syrup Production In Humboldt County, Ca, David A. Reinhart, Juan A. Ramos-Cool, Liam H. Richardson

Undergraduate Scholarship

The bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum, Pursh) is the largest maple of the Pacific Northwest. While it has generally been treated as a nuisance in timber harvesting operations, a small amount of research has been conducted on its sugaring ability in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. This research has yet to reach further south in the species' range. This study aims to help a California landowner understand which maple trees on his property produce the most maple sap, to gauge what environmental factors contribute to maple sap production, and to find greater implications for the production of maple sap …

Datasets And Script Associated With S. B. Correa Et Al. 2025. Floodplain Forests Drive Fruit-Eating Fish Diversity At The Amazon Basin Scale, Sandra B. Correa, Karold V. Coronado-Franco, Celine Jézéquel, Amanda Cantarute Rodrigues, Kristine O. Evans

CFR Publications

Datasets and script associated with S. B. Correa et al. 2025. Floodplain forests drive fruit-eating fish diversity at the Amazon Basin scale. File 1 (amazonfish_dist.csv) is a Comma-delimited file that includes occurrences of fruit-eating fish species per subbasin. File 2 (sp_frug_all.csv) is a Comma-delimited file that includes the scientific names of 29 fruit-eating fish species. File 3 (sp_frug_serrasal.csv) is a Comma-delimited file that includes the scientific names of 12 fruit-eating fish species of the family Serrasalmidae. File 4 (veget_data.csv) is a Comma delimited file that includes tree species richness per subbasin. File 5 (Script_analyses_plots_tables.docx) is a Microsoft Word file that …

Two-Year Biomass And Productivity Data For Populus Trials In Mississippi, Courtney M. Siegert, Heidi Renninger, Austin Himes, Waqar Shafqat, Andrea Drager

CFR Publications

This dataset contains two years of biomass and productivity data for field trials of Populus in Mississippi.

How Forest Stand Conditions Influence Whitebark Pine And Clark’S Nutcracker: A Systematic Review, Bryan Mathew Cohen

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), a keystone species of high-elevation ecosystems of western North America, is threatened with extinction due to disease (Blister rust), pests (Mountain pine beetle), and climate change. Regeneration of the species depends nearly exclusively on the seed-caching behavior of Clark’s nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana, Family Corvidae). Because of this, conservation of whitebark ecosystems requires restoring stand structures that favor nutcrackers. Although there are increasing numbers of studies on the relationship between nutcrackers and whitebark pine, findings have not yet been synthesized, limiting knowledge for application to management. I did a systematic literature review to answer the following questions: …

Predicting Patterns Of Species Presence In Eastern Kentucky Using Fine- And Broad-Scale Site-Species Relationships, Kyra L. Shrout

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Understanding site-species relationships is integral to effective forest management, as landscape factors influence both the presence of mature trees and the regeneration of future trees. This study examined the influence of topographic, soil, and canopy variables on species presence at both fine (i.e., stand-level) and broad (i.e., forest-wide) scales within Robinson Forest, Kentucky. At the fine-scale, using vegetation data from permanent sampling plots, LiDAR-derived topographic data, and historical soils data, the relationships between the species of interest and the landscape variables within a single watershed were analyzed using conditional inference tree (CTree) models. Elevation and slope aspect were the most …

Tree Crown Economics Of Broadleaf Deciduous Forests, Yiting Fan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Tree crown architecture, a critical determinant of forest ecosystem processes such as photosynthesis, evapotranspiration, and spectral reflectance, is shaped by adaptive trade-offs in resource use and environmental responses. However, significant gaps remain in our understanding of how these traits vary across species, environmental gradients, and temporal scales. This dissertation addresses these gaps by employing remote sensing data across three interconnected studies. Together, these studies advance tree crown economic theory, highlighting how crown traits mediate trade-offs between light capture and water-use efficiency and how these traits influence forest responses to global change. Collectively, this dissertation offer insights for improving models that …

Machine Learning And Uass For Managing Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus Umbellata) On Reclaimed Surface Mines, Sean Michael Keane

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research introduces an innovative approach for managing autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) on reclaimed surface mines through the integration of machine learning algorithms and unmanned aerial systems. The proliferation of autumn olive presents significant ecological challenges on disturbed landscapes, necessitating more efficient detection and control methods. This study evaluated Random Forest classification and deep learning approaches using the U-Net architecture for identifying autumn olive across four phenological stages using high-resolution imagery. The RGB U-Net model achieved F1-scores of 0.927, 0.912, and 0.871 for autumn olive detection during peak, late, and senescence stages respectively, outperforming both multispectral and vegetation …

Mangroves: A Lesson On Modeling Changing Shorelines, Willa Skye

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson is an overview of storm barriers, specifically mangroves and how they maintain shorelines. It is meant to offer a visual experience of coastline protection and provide a background for deeper understanding about intertidal zones and their conservation. Students will spend time creating a solution to a flooding problem by making a mock coast and storm barrier. To wrap-up the lesson, students will pair up, then reflect on their model and then individually write or draw their takeaways.

Impacts Of Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus Frontalis Zimmerman) On Loblolly Pine (Pinus Taeda L.) Canopy And Water Use In The Homochitto National Forest, Mississippi, Usa, Sasha Goodnow, Yun Yang, Hui Liu, Ashley Schulz

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

Abiotic and biotic forest disturbances can have many impacts to forest ecosystem services, including to forest water use. Studies on impacts to forest evapotranspiration have been conducted on the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) in western North America, but not on the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis), which is a native pest of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), in the southeastern United States. Stressed pine trees produce pheromones that attract southern pine beetles and, with enough stressed trees, beetle populations can quickly grow to epidemic levels and attack healthy trees, which results in widespread tree mortality. …