Forest Sciences Commons^™

Urban Trees In The Urban Hydrology Cycle, Jorge R. Vera

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In urban forestry, trees provide numerous economic, ecological, and aesthetic benefits to the surrounding community. One of their key roles is intercepting stormwater runoff, reducing flooding risk, and improving water quality. Chapter 1 of this thesis characterized the ecological and economic contributions of urban trees on the Marshall University campus and provides guidance on their management and conservation in the future. Chapter 2 examined how urban tree species modify the urban hydrology cycle by altering the volume and timing of precipitation delivery. In Chapter 1, we inventoried 114 acres of Marshall University's main campus in Huntington, WV, from June 28 …

Assessing Forest Health And Small Mammals After A Limited Suppression Wildfire In Colville National Forest, Samantha J. Kennel

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

In the face of a wildfire crisis, there is a growing need to expand the pace and scale of forest treatments, including the strategic use of wildfire as a management tool. However, ecological outcomes remain uncertain in forests shaped by more than a century of fire suppression. The 2022 Thor Fire, a managed wildfire in the Colville National Forest, Washington, provides an opportunity to evaluate forest health in a relatively understudied system. Using a control–impact design, I established 100 monitoring plots in burned and adjacent unburned forests to assess how wildfire and fire severity influence forest structure, fuels, and tree …

Study Of Fire Regimes In Southwestern Australia Using Geospatial Techniques, Ana Do Carmo Carvalho

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The Northern Jarrah Forest in Southwestern Australia (SWA), part of a global biodiversity hotspot, is home to fire-sensitive tree species such as marri (Corymbia calophylla) and jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata). As climate change intensifies drought and extreme fire events, understanding the drivers of fire severity is increasingly critical. This thesis analyses fire regimes within the Mundaring drinking water catchment to better understand the spatiotemporal complexity of fire severity in relation to fire history and environmental factors.

The thesis commences with a review of three Fire History Databases (FHDs) used in SWA, highlighting significant inconsistencies and data gaps across time and space. …

Real-Time Immersive Wildfire Simulation: A Game Engine Approach, Jake Bova

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildfires are growing in frequency, size, and severity, placing escalating demands on firefighting resources and putting lives, property, and ecosystems at risk. Accurate prediction of fire behavior is critical to suppression planning, evacuation decisions, and firefighter training, yet the operational models that fire managers rely upon face a persistent tradeoff. High-fidelity physics-based models capture fire–atmosphere interactions faithfully but are computationally expensive, often running far slower than real time on CPU hardware, while faster empirical models sacrifice the dynamic coupling between a fire and the wind field it generates. Furthermore, most existing tools produce abstract, two-dimensional outputs that offer limited visual …

The Conservation Value Of Silvicultural Systems For Breeding And Post-Fledging Bird Communities In Northeastern North America, Christopher Andrew Liazos

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Forest bird community decline in the eastern United States is partly due to the lack of early-and-late-successional forests stemming from historic land use. Silviculture can create underrepresented forest age classes and structures to support avian communities during the breeding and post-fledging periods. In southwestern New Hampshire, we conducted a case study evaluating avian conservation value indices across silvicultural systems. Our goal was to observe how avian conservation value indexes and abundance differed between recently managed and unmanaged stands. We surveyed 215 breeding and 118 post-fledging points across 22 sites using point counts and vegetation surveys. Conservation values in the breeding …

Managing The Legacy Of Historical Land Use In Central Appalachia: Soil Health, Carbon Storage, And Restoration Across Disturbed Ecosystems, Kyra R. Dukich

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Historical mining, intensive timber harvesting, agriculture, and atmospheric acid deposition have left lasting impacts on soil health throughout the Central Appalachian region, reducing soil productivity, carbon storage, and ecosystem resilience. This thesis evaluated restoration strategies across two long-term research systems in West Virginia to determine how land-use history and soil amendments influence soil health, carbon dynamics, and ecosystem recovery. The first study examined reclaimed mine lands and marginal agricultural soils planted with switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) or willow (Salix spp.) and treated with biochar or inorganic fertilizer. Soil greenhouse gas production, aggregate stability, total soil C:N, pH, and soil organic matter …

Plant Invasion Patterns In Understory And Soil Microbial Communities Of North Central West Virginia Mixed Hardwood Forests, Isabelle Marie Uganski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Invasive plants alter forest ecosystems by reducing species richness, habitat heterogeneity, and nutrient cycling as they rapidly displace native plants. Invasive plant composition can influence soil health through altering soil microbial associations and communities. By studying the mechanisms in which invasives alter above- and below-ground communities, we can better understand whole-ecosystem impacts and inform management decisions. This study examined the relationships between co-occurring invasion on above and belowground communities of mixed hardwood forests of north central West Virginia. Despite distinctive associations with aboveground characteristics (native diversity, native tree regeneration, and leaf litter density) we detected limited changes to soil microbial …

Green Connectivity In Metropolitan Jabodetabek: Climate Change And The Challenge Of Urban Forest, Safira Maharani Putri, Hendricus Andy Simarmata

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

Urban areas in Indonesia, particularly the Greater Jakarta metropolitan region (Jabodetabek), are increasingly experiencing the adverse effects of climate change, such as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon. Rapid urbanization has contributed significantly to rising greenhouse gas emissions and deteriorating environmental quality. Urban forests are one of the key solutions to mitigate these impacts; however, their spatial distribution in Jabodetabek remains suboptimal and poorly connected. This study uses NDVI as a proxy for urban forest density, where “urban forest” refers to vegetated areas within cities as defined by Presidential Regulation No. 60/2020. The research addresses the following question: How has …

Baseline Assessment Of Insect Biodiversity And Distribution In La Salle Botanical Gardens, Pampanga, Philippines, Amir Lyndon Gavriell C. Beup, Kaleela Euan G. Jayson, Alyssa Ira Z. Tan, Ronielle Elisha S. Pascual, Alexi Gabrielle S. Henson, Esperidion Josef P. Ladao Iii, Juan Carlo T. Gumangan

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

Insects are crucial for ecosystem functions, such as pollination and food web maintenance. This study aims to assess insect biodiversity in La Salle Botanical Gardens (LSBG) in Porac, Pampanga, focusing on its grassland and forestland areas. Using rapid biodiversity assessment, this study provides baseline data on insect diversity, abundance, dominance, and evenness for conservation. Sampling employed transect line intercept and quadrat methods. Specimens were collected using different collection and preservation techniques. Insects (n = 184) were collected from August to October 2024, with specimens (n = 46) belonging to seven insect orders in the grassland and specimens (n = 138) …

Effect Of Nettle (Urtica Dioica L.) Seed Powder Supplementation On Some Important Quality Characteristics Of Cakes, Esra İrem Can, Kadi̇r Çebi̇

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The nutritional adjustment of food products has gained popularity in recent years as consumer interest in healthy eating has increased. Cake is a widely consumed cereal-based product containing such key nutrients as carbohydrate, fat, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. In the present study, crust and crumb color, specific volume, microstructure, antimicrobial activity, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and sensory analyses were evaluated in four cake groups: a control cake (IT0) and cakes supplemented with 1% (IT1), 3% (IT2), and 5% (IT3) nettle seed powder. The addition of nettle seed powder to the cakes significantly reduced the crust (L*, a* and …

Mango Leaf Disease Detection And Classification Using A Federated Learning Based Lightweight Vision Transformer Model, Vinay Gautam, Prabhjot Kaur, Anand Muni̇ Mishra, Achyut Shankar, Laxman Singh

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The detection and management of horticultural crop diseases is crucial for enhancing productivity, reducing costs, and promoting environmentally sustainable practices. Recently, various techniques have been developed for managing crop-related issues, including leaf diseases and pest control. A centralized control approach has been implemented for disease detection. This centralized system faced significant challenges, including concerns over data privacy and the costs associated with data migration. This study addressed the problems with centralized solutions through a federated learning approach enhanced by the attention mechanism of the vision transformer (ViT). We investigated the key features of the federated learning method and propose a …

Jujubenet: A Dual-Stage Spectral Reconstruction Network For Rapid Jujube Moisture Content Estimation, Yalei Xu, Yang Li, Jing Nie, Jingbin Li

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Spectral analysis methods can nondestructively assess the quality of agricultural products but are limited by imaging speed and equipment costs. Therefore, they have not yet been fully integrated into engineering practices. This paper presents JujubeNet, a two-stage hyperspectral reconstruction model for detecting moisture content in jujubes. The first stage utilizes a generative pretrained Pix2Pix generative adversarial network (GAN) to generate RGB images of jujubes that mimic real camera styles and are pixel-to-pixel aligned with hyperspectral images. The second stage uses a transformer-based spectral reconstruction model to achieve hyperspectral reconstruction. Additionally, we developed a moisture content detection model based on hyperspectral …

Effects Of Different Perfluoroalkyl Substances On Rice Morphology, Physiology, And Biochemistry, Maryam M. Alomran, Muhammad Aqeel, Noreen Khalid, Noreen Akhter, Muhammad Kashif Irshad, Suliman Mohammed Suliman Alghanem, Fahad Mohammed Alzuaibr, Saher Nawaz, Omar Mahmoud Alzoubi, Muhammad Usman Akbar, Ali Noman

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are synthetic organic compounds that have not been extensively studied in natural environments. The current study aimed to explore how PFASs, including perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), perfluorohexanoate (PFHxA), perfluorotetradecanoate (PFTeDA), and perfluorobutanoate (PFBA), affect rice plants and influence their metabolism. These substances had a notable impact on root and shoot growth, reducing fresh and dry weights across various treatments compared to the control. These attributes were the least affected by PFOS treatment. PFBA treatment had significant adverse effects on chlorophyll a, b, and total chlorophyll levels, followed by the effects of PFHxA and PFTeDA. …

Exploring Bioactive Components Of Sugar Bean With Some Data Mining Algorithms: Relationships Between Antioxidants, Enzyme Inhibitors, And Minerals, İrem Ayran Çolak

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Sugar bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a legume of notable nutritional and functional value, and its genotypes have substantial variation in bioactive compounds, antioxidant activity, mineral composition, and enzyme inhibition properties. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the biochemical and functional diversity of 10 sugar bean genotypes using data mining algorithms to identify superior candidates for functional food and nutraceutical development. Associations between the phytochemical profiles of sugar bean genotypes and their bioactivity, antioxidant capacity, and enzyme inhibition were modeled with classification and regression trees (CART), random forests (RF), and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), while one-way ANOVA quantified varietal …

A New Longidoridae Member, Xiphinema Brevicolle, From Citrus Orchards In Türkiye, Adem Özarslandan, Ayşenur Aslan, Lerzan Öztürk

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Individuals of the genus Xiphinema were recovered from soil samples collected during citrus surveys in south-eastern Türkiye. Morphological examination using light microscopy identified the species as X. brevicolle. The female individuals measured 2000–2050 μm in length, and displayed a slightly flattened lip region, an amphidelphic reproductive system with two well-developed branches, and a short conoid tail ending in a rounded tip. These morphometric and morphological features were consistent with those of previously described X. brevicolle specimens. For molecular confirmation, the D2–D3 segment of the 28S rDNA was amplified using the D2AD3B primer pair, and sequenced; the resulting sequence has been …

Utilization Of Phytogenic Silver Nanoparticles And Bacterial Agents For The Management Of Citrus Canker Disease, Zainab Jamil, Tariq Mukhtar, Muhammad Usman Raja, Muhammad Shahbaz, Jaya Seelan S. Seelan, Muhammed Tatar, Amjad Ali, Noor Fatima, Rahma Bejaoui, Ayşe Usanmaz Bozhüyük

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Citrus is one of the most important and widely cultivated fruit crops globally. However, its productivity is increasingly threatened by various diseases, with bacterial infections being particularly the most destructive. Among these, citrus canker, caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Xac), poses a significant challenge, requiring effective management strategies. Traditional approaches have shown limited success, but nanotechnology has emerged as a promising alternative for disease control. In this study, Xanthomonas spp. was isolated from two locations: Koont Farm and the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) citrus orchards in Islamabad, Pakistan. The isolates were identified through morpho-biochemical methods. Moreover, three Bacillus …

Effects Of Different Mixing Ratios Of Common Vetch And Oats On Forage Yield And Quality, Meli̇h Okcu, Sedat Severoğlu, İbrahi̇m Kavuncu

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

This study investigates the optimal mixing ratios of common vetch (Vicia sativa L., CV) and oats (Avena sativa L., O) for enhanced forage yield and quality in the ecological conditions of Erzurum Province. The research was conducted over two growing seasons with three replications in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Specifically, three common vetch cultivars (Gülhan, Albayrak, Kubilay) and one oat cultivar (Kupa) were evaluated by sowing as sole crops and in different ratios (25% vetch + 75% oat, 50% vetch + 50% oat, 75% vetch + 25% oat). The analyzed parameters included hay forage yield (HFY), dry matter …

Optimizing Cultivated Land Productivity Through Integrated Fertilization Strategies And Uav-Assisted Management, Kejun Wang

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

This study investigates the impact of long-term fertilization modes on crop health and productivity using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted monitoring and a Q-learning-based approach for optimized fertilization strategies. An approximate state-matching Q-learning algorithm was developed to improve the efficiency of agricultural UAVs in fertilization tasks. The spatiotemporal patterns of cultivated land productivity under different fertilization regimes were analyzed in a long-term experiment. An evaluation system for cultivated land health productivity was established. The results indicated that the Q-learning algorithm enabled UAVs to achieve efficient task completion. QLASM outperformed traditional methods on all metrics. QLASM achieved a 92% task completion rate …

Some New Ecological Aspects Of The Lesser Sunda Endemic Drepanosticta Berlandi (Odonata: Zygoptera: Platystictidae), Muhammad Zulhariadi, Muhammad Setyo Nugroho, Nurul Hidayani

Makara Journal of Science

Drepanosticta berlandi is an endemic damselfly in the Lesser Sunda region of Indonesia, which was first recorded on Lombok Island in the 19th century. Albeit recognized for a century, information on its ecology is still lacking; hence, this study aims to reveal its distribution and habitat preferences. The research was conducted at the Tibu Ijo Waterfall tourist area in West Lombok Regency using line transects combined with field survey in the Kekait River and on footpaths on both sides of the river. Vegetation density, topography, and land survey temperature (LST) were measured at the sampling area using ArcGIS 10.4.1 software. …

Developing A Tool To Measure Resistance To Sustainable Food Choices: A Pilot Study In Ireland And The Netherlands, Kate Flanagan, Bart Sinteur, Patricia J. Bulsing, John M. Kearney

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

Consumer uptake of a sustainable diet is critical for addressing environmental challenges and promoting public health. Understanding why consumers resist adopting sustainable eating habits can inform targeted interventions and policies. This pilot study examines whether a newly developed scale can effectively detect consumer resistance to a sustainable diet. Currently, there is a lack of research on a tool to measure consumer resistance to a sustainable diet, highlighting the need for a reliable instrument.

The aim of this study is to develop a scale, based on existing literature, to measure consumer resistance to a sustainable diet. Additionally, the study aims to …