Forest Sciences Commons^™

Environmental Biology Masters Capstone, Antonio Gonzalez-Pita

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Human wildlife interactions (HWI) pose a complex challenge for wildlife managers. Human encroachment into wildlife habitat and the growing number of outdoor recreationists are increasing the frequency of contact and conflict, especially in regions such as the Front Range of Colorado. Geographic information systems (GIS), which use a combination of remote sensing and environmental survey data, allow for predictive spatial analyses of where human wildlife interactions are likely to occur. I used publicly reported observations of moose to create spatial predictive maps in a species distribution model framework. Slope and elevation were shown to be the strongest predictors of HWI, …

Supporting Information For “Using Drones Equipped With Thermal Cameras To Locate And Count Quail Individuals And Coveys: A Case Study Using Northern Bobwhite Colinus Virginianus In Mississippi, Usa”, Jared A. Elmore

Publications

Drone flights were conducted over bobwhite individuals and coveys and information was collected on the date, time of flight, number of individuals estimated in the covey, and number of individuals flushed from the covey (i.e., actual number of individuals). We also report season of flight and the thermal sensor used for each flight. NA denotes that flush or capture was not attempted.

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 1, March 2024

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 1, March 2024

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 4, December 2024

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 4, December 2024

Short-Term Impacts Of Biochar And Mycorrhizal Inoculation For Pinus Echinata Reforestation On Strip-Mined Soils, Casey Iwamoto, Courtney Siegert, Joshua J. Granger, Adam Polinko, Krishna P. Poudel, Zachary Freedman

FWRC Publications

Coal strip mining has left widespread degraded soils throughout the southeastern US. These soils tend to have low pH, high bulk density, impacted hydrologic processes, and an accumulation of heavy metals that limit revegetation efforts. Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) is an ideal species for these reforestation efforts as it can tolerate the poor conditions on post-mined sites and has the largest native pine range in the southeastern US, overlapping with many post-mined areas. However, limited empirical field studies have been conducted on the success of soil amendments for soil physical, chemical, biological properties and tree growth. To fill …

Felling For Photovoltaics: Remote Sensing For The Detection Of Solar Facilities In Maine, James A. Lane

Honors Theses

Solar power is an area with increasing development in the State of Maine. Photovoltaic solar, which uses large arrays of panels constructed on facilities of several hectares, is an ideal renewable energy source for Maine, because of its low population density and small proportion of conserved lands. Since most of the state of Maine is forested, the development of photovoltaic solar will require increasing amounts of deforestation. Environmental impacts of this deforestation include loss of carbon sequestration, erosion, damage to habitat, and inhibition of other forest benefits. This study uses Landsat data and remote sensing to analyze a large portion …

Important Factors Contributing To The Burn Severity Of The 2021 Wooroloo Bushfire, Jarrad Mckercher, Eddie Van Etten, David Blake

Research Datasets

Increases in consecutive days that meteorological, climatic and biophysical variables combine to influence fire is projecting an increase in fire size and intensity. This prompts investigation into the severity of recent fires to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence fire severity. Using a highly accurate spectral index, a geospatial analysis was undertaken to identify key variables that control the variability in fire severity of the 2021 Wooroloo Bushfire. Random Forest regression and General Additive Model (GAM) were utilised to determine variable importance in modelling fire severity and to create parsimonious models. Elevation and the Soil Dryness Index …

Spatiotemporal Patterns For Agroforestry Tree Crops In The U.S. Corn Belt For Usda Census Of Agriculture Periods 2012–2022, Andria Caruthers, Justin Dijak, Robin M. Rotman

Faculty Publications

Within the U.S., there is a growing need to integrate environmentally friendly practices into conventional agriculture. Agroforestry enhances environmental and resource stewardship in agricultural landscapes while offering potential economic benefits to farmers. Despite rising interest, limited information on its application in the U.S. hinders development efforts. A spatiotemporal analysis of current farm operations can provide crucial insights. This study examined patterns of agroforestry and tree crop adoption in the U.S. Corn Belt using USDA Census data (2012, 2017, and 2022) and spatial tools (Global Moran’s I, Local Moran’s I, and Moran scatterplots). The tree crops included in the analysis were …

Forensic Archaeology Protocols For Wildfires And Fire Related Scenes, Erik Schulz

Nebraska Anthropologist

Forensic Archaeology Protocols for Wildfires and Fire-Related Scenes

Forensic archaeology is a relatively new area of study and focuses on the medical legal aspects of archaeology. This paper will focus on how forensic archaeology should be used for wildfire and other fire-related fatalities or investigations, what happens to bone when exposed to heat, what protocols should be in place and how an excavation should look, and finally the challenges of fire-related investigations. This report will focus on the larger scale of the investigation and will be using several sources from different wildfire and fire fatality reports.

Aspen Forest Condition Assessment And Restoration Guidance, Paul C. Rogers

Aspen Bibliography

This preliminary report is the first installment of an ongoing aspen assessment at Bryce Canyon National Park (BCNP). Over a 1.5-year period beginning in 2021, I assembled available BCNP and conducted a preliminary field survey to gain a better understanding of the quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) resource within the Park. Findings suggest a long history of vegetation mapping with mixed results in terms of highlighting aspen presence a notable species of overall low coverage as well as aspen importance, at BCNP. In brief, though this species has limited presence, it is of high biodiversity conservation value. According to …

Africa’S Overlooked Top Predator: Towards A Better Understanding Of Martial Eagle Feeding Ecology In The Maasai Mara, Kenya, Richard Stratton Hatfield, Allison G. Davis, Ralph Buij, John J. Cox, Shiv Kapila, Lemein Parmuntoro, Simon Thomsett, Munir Z. Virani, Peter Njoroge, Frank Van Langevelde

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Raptors exert top-down influences on ecosystems via their effects on prey population dynamics and community composition. Most raptors are sympatric with other predators, thus complicating our understanding of their relative influence in these systems. Estimates of kill rates and prey biomass recycling have been used as predation metrics that allow quantitative comparison among species and assessment of the relative role of single species within complex food webs. Few studies have produced findings of kill rates or prey biomass recycling for raptors. We used a supervised machine learning algorithm to behaviourally classify high resolution accelerometer informed GPS locations of tagged adult …

An Rnai-Based Approach To Ips Calligraphus Management: A Promising Strategy For Forest Protection, Mary Wallace

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

As climate change leads to more frequent and severe extreme weather, host tree stress is increasing the occurrence of large-scale bark beetle outbreaks. One such beetle, Ips calligraphus (Germar), a native bark beetle in the southeastern United States, has traditionally been considered a secondary pest of pine trees. Management has relied on silvicultural practices that enhance forest resilience, enabling host trees to effectively use natural defenses to deter beetle infestation. However, during periods of forest stress caused by storms, droughts, human disturbance, and other factors, beetle outbreaks can cause considerable ecological and economic damage.

Addressing worsening I. calligraphus outbreaks will …

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 2, June 2024

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 2, June 2024

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 3, September 2024

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 3, September 2024

Determining The Quality And Quantity Of California Sitka Spruce (Picea Sitchensis) On Private Commercial Timberland For Use In Domestic Acoustic Steel-String Guitars, Ryan Eugene Cooper

Undergraduate Scholarship

Development of additional revenue streams for timber products with relatively low profitability is an important step in securing future economic success for the forestry sector in Humboldt county. Utilization of California Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) for use in domestic acoustic steel-string guitar manufacturing may provide exactly that. Determining the quality and quantity of California Sitka spruce is the logical first step in achieving this.

Quality was determined from tree core samples gathered at sites on Green Diamond Resource Company’s (GDRco) California timberlands and the Arcata Community Forest (ACF) with high basal area of Sitka spruce. Rings Per Inch …

Data From: Phylogenomic Species Delimitation Of Studfishes (Fundulidae: Fundulus): Evidence For Cryptic Species In Agreement With The Central Highlands Vicariance Hypothesis, Kayla M. Fast, Peter J. Hundt, Zachariah D. Alley, Michael W. Sandel

CFR Publications

The Central Highlands ecoregion of the eastern United States represents a hotspot of freshwater biodiversity, with replicated patterns of vicariant speciation east and west of the Mississippi River. Previous phylogeographic investigation of the studfishes (Fundulus subgenus Fundulus) revealed evidence for vicariant speciation in the Central Highlands, but data were limited to a small number of gene sequences generated with Sanger sequencing. We used double digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) to improve resolution of phylogeographic patterns and better characterize population genetic variation. Our sample design included individuals from the Fundulus catenatus species group (F. catenatus, F. bifax, …

Assessing Understory Vegetation Response And Fuel Load Levels Following Silvicultural Treatments In Headwaters Forest Reserve, Humboldt County, California, Kyle James Railton, Madison Tatar

Undergraduate Scholarship

Old growth forests are important for ecological resilience, especially in temperate rainforest ecosystems. There are presently 3,000 acres of old growth forest within the 7,472 acres of the Headwaters Forest Reserve (HFR) in Humboldt County, California. Remaining acres were subjected to unsustainable logging practices, such as clearcutting, that resulted in a severely overstocked second-growth forest. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) created a management plan for the reserve to restore previously harvested areas to their historic condition. The goal for the BLM is to accelerate growth rates of residual forests, to align them on a trajectory of achieving old-growth forest …

Stabilization Of Pfas-Contaminated Soil With Sewage Sludge- And Wood-Based Biochar Sorbents, Erlend Sørmo, Clara Benedikte Mader Lade, Julie Zhang, Alexandros G. Asimakopoulos, Geir Wold Åsli, Michel Hubert, Aleksandar I. Goranov, Hans Peter H. Arp, Gerard Cornelissen

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Sustainable and effective remediation technologies for the treatment of soil contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are greatly needed. This study investigated the effects of waste-based biochars on the leaching of PFAS from a sandy soil with a low total organic carbon content (TOC) of 0.57 ± 0.04% impacted by PFAS from aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) dispersed at a former fire-fighting facility. Six different biochars (pyrolyzed at 700–900°C) were tested, made from clean wood chips (CWC), waste timber (WT), activated waste timber (aWT), two digested sewage sludges (DSS-1 and DSS-2) and de-watered raw sewage sludge (DWSS). Up-flow column …

Practical Challenges In Delivering Dsrna For Woody Plant Protection, Zachary Bragg

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Unprecedented weather events associated with climate change, coupled with extensive anthropogenic stresses, have reduced the effectiveness of traditional forest pest management approaches, which can no longer keep pace with invasive species overwhelming naïve landscapes and native pests experiencing eruptive and expansive outbreaks. Double-stranded RNA-(dsRNA) mediated gene silencing, a type of RNA interference (RNAi), has been coopted for use as a biopesticide against a multitude of agricultural and horticultural pests and could serve as a powerful tool for woody plant protection. While effective initiation of gene silencing and subsequent mortality have been demonstrated in multiple tree pests, effective and efficient methods …

Surface Mining Interacts With Timber Harvesting To Facilitate The Invasion Of Woody Invasive Species In A Temperate Forest Of Central Appalachia, Usa, William Wittenbraker

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Appalachian forests are subjected to various short- and long-term anthropogenic disturbances. Surface mining is among the most potent drivers of land use change in the Appalachian region, reducing native forest cover and causing landscape fragmentation. Furthermore, the ecological footprint of surface mining could be expanded to adjacent forests, and such spill-over effects may be exacerbated by in-situ forest disturbances such as timber harvesting. However, it remains elusive how these two disturbance agents may be compounded to degrade forest health and landscape integrity. One of the major threats to forest health in the Appalachian forests is the invasive species. Many woody …