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Sample records for severely insect-damaged forest

  1. Incidence of insects, diseases, and other damaging agents in Oregon forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul A. Dunham

    2008-01-01

    This report uses data from a network of forest inventory plots sampled at two points in time, annual aerial insect and disease surveys, and specialized pest damage surveys to quantify the incidence and impact of insects, diseases, and other damaging agents on Oregon's forests. The number and volume of trees damaged or killed by various agents is summarized....

  2. Forest Health Management and Detection of Invasive Forest Insects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaelyn Finley

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The objectives of this review paper are to provide an overview of issues related to forest health and forest entomology, explain existing methods for forest insect pest detection, and provide background information on a case study of emerald ash borer. Early detection of potentially invasive insect species is a key aspect of preventing these species from causing damage. Invasion management efforts are typically more feasible and efficient if they are applied as early as possible. Two proposed approaches for detection are highlighted and include dendroentomology and near infrared spectroscopy (NIR. Dendroentomology utilizes tree ring principles to identify the years of outbreak and the dynamics of past insect herbivory on trees. NIR has been successfully used for assessing various forest health concerns (primarily hyperspectral imaging and decay in trees. Emerald ash borer (EAB (Agrilus planipennis, is a non-native beetle responsible for widespread mortality of several North American ash species (Fraxinus sp.. Current non-destructive methods for early detection of EAB in specific trees are limited, which restricts the effectiveness of management efforts. Ongoing research efforts are focused on developing methods for early detection of emerald ash borer.

  3. Forest insect and disease conditions, Vancouver forest region, 1987. Annual publication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Humphreys, N; Ferris, R L

    1988-01-01

    The Forest Insect and Disease Survey (FIDS) is a nation-wide network within Forestry Canada with the responsibility of producing an overview of forest pest conditions and their implications; maintaining records and surveys to support quarantine and facilitate predictions; supporting forestry research with records, insect collections and herbaria; providing advice on forest insect and disease conditions; developing and testing survey techniques; and conducting related biological studies. This report outlines the status of forest pest conditions in the Vancouver Forest Region, and forecasts population trends of some potentially damaging pests. Pests are listed by host in order of importance.

  4. Forest insects and diseases in Kouchibouguac National Park in 1994. Technical note No. 306

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lemieux, G.R.

    1995-11-01

    Personnel of the Forest Insect and Disease Survey regularly survey national parks for forest insect and disease conditions. This document presents some of the conditions encountered in Kouchibouguac National Park in 1992, including balsam twig aphids, gypsy moth, whitespotted sawyer bettle, white pine weevil, frost damage, Eastern tent caterpiller, uglynest caterpillar, hypoxylon canker, spruce budmoth, Eastern spruce gall adelgid, and other pests encountered.

  5. Forest insects and diseases in Kouchibouguac National Park in 1993. Technical note No. 295

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lemieux, G.R.

    1994-01-01

    Personnel of the Forest Insect and Disease Survey regularly survey national parks for forest insect and disease conditions. This document presents some of the conditions encountered in Kouchibouguac National Park in 1992, including balsam twig aphids, gypsy moth, whitespotted sawyer bettle, white pine weevil, frost damage, Eastern tent caterpiller, uglynest caterpillar, hypoxylon canker, spruce budmoth, Eastern spruce gall adelgid, and other pests encountered.

  6. Economic impacts of non-native forest insects in the continental United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliann E Aukema

    Full Text Available Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately $830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors.

  7. Results of forest insect and disease surveys in the central region of Ontario, 1994. Information report No. O-X-448. Annual publication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evans, H.J.

    1995-12-31

    Report summarizing forest damage by insects, diseases and abiotic conditions in the Central Region of Ontario. Textual descriptions of pests are accompanied by maps and statistical tables. Pest conditions covered include pine false webworm, budworms, shoot borers, leafcutters, armillaria root rot and other diseases and insects. Abiotic damage reported on covers forest decline, frost injury, salt and wind damage, and winter drying. Forest health reports and special surveys are also described.

  8. Combined effects of environmental disturbance and climate warming on insect herbivory in mountain birch in subarctic forests: Results of 26-year monitoring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozlov, M V; Zverev, V; Zvereva, E L

    2017-12-01

    Both pollution and climate affect insect-plant interactions, but the combined effects of these two abiotic drivers of global change on insect herbivory remain almost unexplored. From 1991 to 2016, we monitored the population densities of 25 species or species groups of insects feeding on mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) in 29 sites and recorded leaf damage by insects in 21 sites in subarctic forests around the nickel-copper smelter at Monchegorsk, north-western Russia. The leaf-eating insects demonstrated variable, and sometimes opposite, responses to pollution-induced forest disturbance and to climate variations. Consequently, we did not discover any general trend in herbivory along the disturbance gradient. Densities of eight species/species groups correlated with environmental disturbance, but these correlations weakened from 1991 to 2016, presumably due to the fivefold decrease in emissions of sulphur dioxide and heavy metals from the smelter. The densities of externally feeding defoliators decreased from 1991 to 2016 and the densities of leafminers increased, while the leaf roller densities remained unchanged. Consequently, no overall temporal trend in the abundance of birch-feeding insects emerged despite a 2-3°C elevation in spring temperatures. Damage to birch leaves by insects decreased during the observation period in heavily disturbed forests, did not change in moderately disturbed forests and tended to increase in pristine forests. The temporal stability of insect-plant interactions, quantified by the inverse of the coefficient of among-year variations of herbivore population densities and of birch foliar damage, showed a negative correlation with forest disturbance. We conclude that climate differently affects insect herbivory in heavily stressed versus pristine forests, and that herbivorous insects demonstrate diverse responses to environmental disturbance and climate variations. This diversity of responses, in combination with the

  9. Forest health in a changing world: Effects of globalization and climate change on forest insect and pathogen impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    T. D. Ramsfield; Barbara Bentz; M. Faccoli; H. Jactel; E. G. Brockerhoff

    2016-01-01

    Forests and trees throughout the world are increasingly affected by factors related to global change. Expanding international trade has facilitated invasions of numerous insects and pathogens into new regions. Many of these invasions have caused substantial forest damage, economic impacts and losses of ecosystem goods and services provided by trees. Climate...

  10. Forest insects and diseases in Kouchibouguac National Park in 1992. Technical note No. 275. Annual publication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lemieux, G.R.

    1993-01-01

    Personnel of the Forest Insect and Disease Survey regularly survey national parks for forest insect and disease conditions. This document presents some of the conditions encountered in Kouchibouguac National Park in 1992, including balsam twig aphids, gypsy moth, whitespotted sawyer bettle, white pine weevil, frost damage, Eastern tent caterpiller, uglynest caterpillar, hypoxylon canker, spruce budmoth, Eastern spruce gall adelgid, and other pests encountered.

  11. Dispersal of forest insects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mcmanus, M. L.

    1979-01-01

    Dispersal flights of selected species of forest insects which are associated with periodic outbreaks of pests that occur over large contiguous forested areas are discussed. Gypsy moths, spruce budworms, and forest tent caterpillars were studied for their massive migrations in forested areas. Results indicate that large dispersals into forested areas are due to the females, except in the case of the gypsy moth.

  12. Forest insect pest management and forest management in China: an overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Lanzhu; Wang, Zhen; Wang, Xiaowei; An, Linli

    2011-12-01

    According to the Seventh National Forest Inventory (2004-2008), China's forests cover an area of 195.45 million ha, or 20.36% of the total land area. China has the most rapidly increasing forest resources in the world. However, China is also a country with serious forest pest problems. There are more than 8,000 species of potential forest pests in China, including insects, plant diseases, rodents and lagomorphs, and hazardous plants. Among them, 300 species are considered as economically or ecologically important, and half of these are serious pests, including 86 species of insects. Forest management and utilization have a considerable influence on the stability and sustainability of forest ecosystems. At the national level, forestry policies always play a major role in forest resource management and forest health protection. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of both achievements and challenges in forest management and insect pest control in China. First, we summarize the current status of forest resources and their pests in China. Second, we address the theories, policies, practices and major national actions on forestry and forest insect pest management, including the Engineering Pest Management of China, the National Key Forestry Programs, the Classified Forest Management system, and the Collective Forest Tenure Reform. We analyze and discuss three representative plantations-Eucalyptus, poplar and Masson pine plantations-with respect to their insect diversity, pest problems and pest management measures.

  13. Forest Insect Pest Management and Forest Management in China: An Overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Lanzhu; Wang, Zhen; Wang, Xiaowei; An, Linli

    2011-12-01

    According to the Seventh National Forest Inventory (2004-2008), China's forests cover an area of 195.45 million ha, or 20.36% of the total land area. China has the most rapidly increasing forest resources in the world. However, China is also a country with serious forest pest problems. There are more than 8,000 species of potential forest pests in China, including insects, plant diseases, rodents and lagomorphs, and hazardous plants. Among them, 300 species are considered as economically or ecologically important, and half of these are serious pests, including 86 species of insects. Forest management and utilization have a considerable influence on the stability and sustainability of forest ecosystems. At the national level, forestry policies always play a major role in forest resource management and forest health protection. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of both achievements and challenges in forest management and insect pest control in China. First, we summarize the current status of forest resources and their pests in China. Second, we address the theories, policies, practices and major national actions on forestry and forest insect pest management, including the Engineering Pest Management of China, the National Key Forestry Programs, the Classified Forest Management system, and the Collective Forest Tenure Reform. We analyze and discuss three representative plantations— Eucalyptus, poplar and Masson pine plantations—with respect to their insect diversity, pest problems and pest management measures.

  14. Forest insects and diseases in Fundy National Park in 1992. Technical note No. 276. Annual publication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cormier, J.R.; McPhee, D.A.

    1993-01-01

    Personnel of the Forest Insect and Disease Survey regularly survey national parks for forest insect and disease conditions. This document discusses briefly some of the conditions encountered in Fundy National Park in 1992, including insects and diseases found throughout the Park that are likely to recur: Balsam gall midge, balsam twig aphid, birch casebearer, gypsy moth, porcupines, sirococcus shoot blight, white pine weevil, whitespotted sawyer beetle, yellowheaded spruce sawfly, leaf blister of yellow birch, snow damage, yellow witches' broom of balsam fir, and fall webworm.

  15. Productivity and diversity of morel mushrooms in healthy, burned, and insect damaged forests of northeastern Oregon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    David Pilz; Nancy S. Weber; M. Carol Carter; Catherine G. Parks; Randy. Molina

    2004-01-01

    Large commercial crops of morels are harvested annually from montane coniferous forests of the Northwestern United States. Although some morels fruit annually in nondisturbed forests, others fruit copiously in areas experiencing fire, insect infestations, tree mortality, and soil disturbance. Many forest managers currently use thinning and prescribed fire to re-create...

  16. Water stress and harmful insects in agri-forest ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario Solinas

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Present knowledge on ecological services supplied by insects to natural terrestrial ecosystems, allow us to identify many homeostatic mechanisms regulating biological balance as well as life perpetuation of the said ecosystems; at the same time, that knowledge represents a sound referring point to understanding how those mechanisms do work so as to manage them in the anthropized ecosystems (i.e., agriculture and forests, and especially in order to identify in the latter the natural meaning of the so called insect outbreaks, so as to forecast and possibly prevent them; as well as, when needed, to conceive and formulate efficient control strategies having minimal environmental impact. Water factor is crucial with genesis, configuration and conservation of a terrestrial ecosystem (both natural or anthropized as a whole or in its individual components, but especially concerning plant life as well as plant interactions with phytophagous invertebrates, mainly insects. Insect-plant trophic interactions are principally influenced by the water conditions in the ecosystem, and the impact of phytophagous insects on crops is markedly affected. Extremely severe water stress, especially if prolonged, prevent insect life just like plant’s life but a moderate and not so prolonged water stress, while depressing plant vigour, paradoxically can improve development and multiplication of phytophagous arthropods, with severe consequences on woody plants especially, and forest trees markedly.

  17. Water stress and harmful insects in agri-forest ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario Solinas

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Present knowledge on ecological services supplied by insects to natural terrestrial ecosystems, allow us to identify many homeostatic mechanisms regulating biological balance as well as life perpetuation of the said ecosystems; at the same time, that knowledge represents a sound referring point to understanding how those mechanisms do work so as to manage them in the anthropized ecosystems (i.e., agriculture and forests, and especially in order to identify in the latter the natural meaning of the so called insect outbreaks, so as to forecast and possibly prevent them; as well as, when needed, to conceive and formulate efficient control strategies having minimal environmental impact. Water factor is crucial with genesis, configuration and conservation of a terrestrial ecosystem (both natural or anthropized as a whole or in its individual components, but especially concerning plant life as well as plant interactions with phytophagous invertebrates, mainly insects. Insect-plant trophic interactions are principally influenced by the water conditions in the ecosystem, and the impact of phytophagous insects on crops is markedly affected. Extremely severe water stress, especially if prolonged, prevent insect life just like plant’s life but a moderate and not so prolonged water stress, while depressing plant vigour, paradoxically can improve development and multiplication of phytophagous arthropods, with severe consequences on woody plants especially, and forest trees markedly.

  18. Water stress and harmful insects in agri-forest ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario Solinas

    Full Text Available Present knowledge on ecological services supplied by insects to natural terrestrial ecosystems, allow us to identify many homeostatic mechanisms regulating biological balance as well as life perpetuation of the said ecosystems; at the same time, that knowledge represents a sound referring point to understanding how those mechanisms do work so as to manage them in the anthropized ecosystems (i.e., agriculture and forests, and especially in order to identify in the latter the natural meaning of the so called insect outbreaks, so as to forecast and possibly prevent them; as well as, when needed, to conceive and formulate efficient control strategies having minimal environmental impact. Water factor is crucial with genesis, configuration and conservation of a terrestrial ecosystem (both natural or anthropized as a whole or in its individual components, but especially concerning plant life as well as plant interactions with phytophagous invertebrates, mainly insects. Insect-plant trophic interactions are principally influenced by the water conditions in the ecosystem, and the impact of phytophagous insects on crops is markedly affected. Extremely severe water stress, especially if prolonged, prevent insect life just like plant’s life but a moderate and not so prolonged water stress, while depressing plant vigour, paradoxically can improve development and multiplication of phytophagous arthropods, with severe consequences on woody plants especially, and forest trees markedly.

  19. Forest insect & disease conditions in the Northeast - 1956

    Science.gov (United States)

    W. E. Waters; Alma M. Waterman

    1957-01-01

    This annual report on forest pest conditions in the Northeast combines, for the first time, information about both the major forest insects and the major forest diseases in the region. It was prepared as an aid to those who have a concern for protecting our forests from insect and disease attacks.

  20. Insight into the genetic components of community genetics: QTL mapping of insect association in a fast-growing forest tree.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer DeWoody

    Full Text Available Identifying genetic sequences underlying insect associations on forest trees will improve the understanding of community genetics on a broad scale. We tested for genomic regions associated with insects in hybrid poplar using quantitative trait loci (QTL analyses conducted on data from a common garden experiment. The F2 offspring of a hybrid poplar (Populus trichocarpa x P. deltoides cross were assessed for seven categories of insect leaf damage at two time points, June and August. Positive and negative correlations were detected among damage categories and between sampling times. For example, sap suckers on leaves in June were positively correlated with sap suckers on leaves (P<0.001 but negatively correlated with skeletonizer damage (P<0.01 in August. The seven forms of leaf damage were used as a proxy for seven functional groups of insect species. Significant variation in insect association occurred among the hybrid offspring, including transgressive segregation of susceptibility to damage. NMDS analyses revealed significant variation and modest broad-sense heritability in insect community structure among genets. QTL analyses identified 14 genomic regions across 9 linkage groups that correlated with insect association. We used three genomics tools to test for putative mechanisms underlying the QTL. First, shikimate-phenylpropanoid pathway genes co-located to 9 of the 13 QTL tested, consistent with the role of phenolic glycosides as defensive compounds. Second, two insect association QTL corresponded to genomic hotspots for leaf trait QTL as identified in previous studies, indicating that, in addition to biochemical attributes, leaf morphology may influence insect preference. Third, network analyses identified categories of gene models over-represented in QTL for certain damage types, providing direction for future functional studies. These results provide insight into the genetic components involved in insect community structure in a fast

  1. Remote Monitoring of Forest Insect Defoliation -A Review-

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C.D. Rullan-Silva

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Aim of study: This paper reviews the global research during the last 6 years (2007-2012 on the state, trends and potential of remote sensing for detecting, mapping and monitoring forest defoliation caused by insects.Area of study: The review covers research carried out within different countries in Europe and America.Main results: A nation or region wide monitoring system should be scaled in two levels, one using time-series with moderate to coarse resolutions, and the other with fine or high resolution. Thus, MODIS data is increasingly used for early warning detection, whereas Landsat data is predominant in defoliation damage research. Furthermore, ALS data currently stands as the more promising option for operative detection of defoliation.Vegetation indices based on infrared-medium/near-infrared ratios and on moisture content indicators are of great potential for mapping insect pest defoliation, although NDVI is the most widely used and tested.Research highlights: Among most promising methods for insect defoliation monitoring are Spectral Mixture Analysis, best suited for detection due to its sub-pixel recognition enhancing multispectral data, and use of logistic models as function of vegetation index change between two dates, recommended for predicting defoliation.Key words: vegetation damage; pest outbreak; spectral change detection.

  2. Tree diversity promotes insect herbivory in subtropical forests of south-east China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuldt, Andreas; Baruffol, Martin; Böhnke, Martin; Bruelheide, Helge; Härdtle, Werner; Lang, Anne C; Nadrowski, Karin; von Oheimb, Goddert; Voigt, Winfried; Zhou, Hongzhang; Assmann, Thorsten; Fridley, Jason

    2010-07-01

    1.Insect herbivory can strongly affect ecosystem processes, and its relationship with plant diversity is a central topic in biodiversity-functioning research. However, very little is known about this relationship from complex ecosystems dominated by long-lived individuals, such as forests, especially over gradients of high plant diversity.2.We analysed insect herbivory on saplings of 10 tree and shrub species across 27 forest stands differing in age and tree species richness in an extraordinarily diverse subtropical forest ecosystem in China. We tested whether plant species richness significantly influences folivory in these highly diverse forests or whether other factors play a more important role at such high levels of phytodiversity.3.Leaf damage was assessed on 58 297 leaves of 1284 saplings at the end of the rainy season in 2008, together with structural and abiotic stand characteristics.4.Species-specific mean damage of leaf area ranged from 3% to 16%. Herbivory increased with plant species richness even after accounting for potentially confounding effects of stand characteristics, of which stand age-related aspects most clearly covaried with herbivory. Intraspecific density dependence or other abiotic factors did not significantly influence overall herbivory across forest stands.5.Synthesis.The positive herbivory-plant diversity relationship indicates that effects related to hypotheses of resource concentration, according to which a reduction in damage by specialized herbivores might be expected as host plant concentration decreases with increasing plant diversity, do not seem to be major determinants for overall herbivory levels in our phytodiverse subtropical forest ecosystem. We discuss the potential role of host specificity of dominant herbivores, which are often expected to show a high degree of specialization in many (sub)tropical forests. In the forest system we studied, a much higher impact of polyphagous species than traditionally assumed might

  3. Detection of insect damage in almonds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Soowon; Schatzki, Thomas F.

    1999-01-01

    Pinhole insect damage in natural almonds is very difficult to detect on-line. Further, evidence exists relating insect damage to aflatoxin contamination. Hence, for quality and health reasons, methods to detect and remove such damaged nuts are of great importance in this study, we explored the possibility of using x-ray imaging to detect pinhole damage in almonds by insects. X-ray film images of about 2000 almonds and x-ray linescan images of only 522 pinhole damaged almonds were obtained. The pinhole damaged region appeared slightly darker than non-damaged region in x-ray negative images. A machine recognition algorithm was developed to detect these darker regions. The algorithm used the first order and the second order information to identify the damaged region. To reduce the possibility of false positive results due to germ region in high resolution images, germ detection and removal routines were also included. With film images, the algorithm showed approximately an 81 percent correct recognition ratio with only 1 percent false positives whereas line scan images correctly recognized 65 percent of pinholes with about 9 percent false positives. The algorithms was very fast and efficient requiring only minimal computation time. If implemented on line, theoretical throughput of this recognition system would be 66 nuts/second.

  4. Outbreaks of forest defoliating insects in Japan, 1950-2000.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamata, N; Kamata, N

    2002-04-01

    In Japan, several forest-defoliating insects reach outbreak levels and cause serious defoliation. Stand mortality sometimes occurs after severe defoliation. However, in general, tree mortality caused by insect defoliation is low because of the prevailing moist climate in Japan. Evergreen conifers are more susceptible to tree mortality as a result of insect defoliation whereas deciduous broad-leaved trees are seldom killed. Insect defoliation occurs more frequently in man-made environments such as among shade trees, orchards, and plantations than in natural habitats. Outbreaks of some defoliators tend to occur in stands of a particular age: e.g. outbreaks of the pine caterpillar, Dendrolimus spectabilis Butler (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) occur more frequently in young pine plantations. In contrast, defoliation caused by outbreaks of lepidopterous and hymenopterous pests in larch plantations is more frequent with stand maturation. There is a relationship between outbreaks of some defoliators and altitude above sea level. Most outbreaks of forest defoliators were terminated by insect pathogens that operated in a density-dependent fashion. Since the 1970s, Japan has been prosperous and can afford to buy timber from abroad. More recently, there has been an increasing demand for timber in Japan, that coincides with a huge demand internationally, so that the country will need to produce more timber locally in the future. The increasing pressure on the forestry industry to meet this demand will require more sophisticated methods of pest control coupled with more sustainable methods of silviculture.

  5. Forest habitat conservation in Africa using commercially important insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raina, Suresh Kumar; Kioko, Esther; Zethner, Ole; Wren, Susie

    2011-01-01

    African forests, which host some of the world's richest biodiversity, are rapidly diminishing. The loss of flora and fauna includes economically and socially important insects. Honey bees and silk moths, grouped under commercial insects, are the source for insect-based enterprises that provide income to forest-edge communities to manage the ecosystem. However, to date, research output does not adequately quantify the impact of such enterprises on buffering forest ecosystems and communities from climate change effects. Although diseases/pests of honey bees and silk moths in Africa have risen to epidemic levels, there is a dearth of practical research that can be utilized in developing effective control mechanisms that support the proliferation of these commercial insects as pollinators of agricultural and forest ecosystems. This review highlights the critical role of commercial insects within the environmental complexity of African forest ecosystems, in modern agroindustry, and with respect to its potential contribution to poverty alleviation and pollination services. It identifies significant research gaps that exist in understanding how insects can be utilized as ecosystem health indicators and nurtured as integral tools for important socioeconomic and industrial gains.

  6. Remote monitoring of forest insect defoliation. A review

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rullan-Silva, C. D.; Olthoff, A. E.; Delgado de la Mata, J. A.; Pajares-Alonso, J. A.

    2013-07-01

    Aim of study: This paper reviews the global research during the last 6 years (2007-2012) on the state, trends and potential of remote sensing for detecting, mapping and monitoring forest defoliation caused by insects. Area of study: The review covers research carried out within different countries in Europe and America. Main results: A nation or region wide monitoring system should be scaled in two levels, one using time-series with moderate to coarse resolutions, and the other with fine or high resolution. Thus, MODIS data is increasingly used for early warning detection, whereas Landsat data is predominant in defoliation damage research. Furthermore, ALS data currently stands as the more promising option for operative detection of defoliation. Vegetation indices based on infrared-medium/near-infrared ratios and on moisture content indicators are of great potential for mapping insect pest defoliation, although NDVI is the most widely used and tested. Research highlights: Among most promising methods for insect defoliation monitoring are Spectral Mixture Analysis, best suited for detection due to its sub-pixel recognition enhancing multispectral data, and use of logistic models as function of vegetation index change between two dates, recommended for predicting defoliation. (Author)

  7. Probabilistic risk models for multiple disturbances: an example of forest insects and wildfires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haiganoush K. Preisler; Alan A. Ager; Jane L. Hayes

    2010-01-01

    Building probabilistic risk models for highly random forest disturbances like wildfire and forest insect outbreaks is a challenging. Modeling the interactions among natural disturbances is even more difficult. In the case of wildfire and forest insects, we looked at the probability of a large fire given an insect outbreak and also the incidence of insect outbreaks...

  8. Effects of forest conversion on the assemblages' structure of aquatic insects in subtropical regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tiago R.N. Bertaso

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The effects of forest conversion to agricultural land uses on assemblages of aquatic insects were analyzed in subtropical streams. Organisms and environmental variables were collected in six low-order streams: three streams located in a forested area, and three in areas converted to agricultural land uses. We expected that the aquatic insects' assemblage attributes would be significantly affected by forest conversion, as well as by environmental variables. Streams in converted areas presented lower species richness, abundance and proportion of sensitive insect taxa. The ANOSIM test evidenced strong difference in EPT assemblage structure between streams of forested and converted areas. The ISA test evidenced several EPT genera with high specificity to streams in forested areas and only one genus related to streams in converted areas. Thus, the impacts of the conversion of forested area to agricultural land uses have significantly affected the EPT assemblages, while environmental variables were not affected. We suggest that the effects detected can be influenced by two processes related to vegetation cover: i lower input of allochthonous material, and ii increased input of fine sediments in streams draining converted areas.

  9. Living with storm damage to forests

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gardiner, B.; Schuck, A.; Schelhaas, M.J.; Orazio, C.; Blennow, K.; Nicoll, B.

    2013-01-01

    Windstorms are a major disturbance factor for European forests. In the past six decades wind storms have damaged standing forest volume, which on a yearly average equals about the size of Poland's annual fellings. The evedence also indicates that the actual severity of storms in the wake of climatic

  10. Herbivorous insect response to group selection cutting in a southeastern bottomland hardwood forest.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Michael D. Ulyshen; James L. Hanula; Scott Horn; Christopher E. Moorman.

    2005-04-01

    ABSTRACT Malaise and pitfall traps were used to sample herbivorous insects in canopy gaps created by group-selection cutting in a bottomland hardwood forest in South Carolina. The traps were placed at the centers, edges, and in the forest adjacent to gaps of different sizes (0.13, 0.26, and 0.50 ha) and ages (1 and 7 yr old) during four sampling periods in 2001. Overall, the abundance and species richness of insect herbivores were greater at the centers of young gaps than at the edge of young gaps or in the forest surrounding young gaps. There were no differences in abundance or species richness among old gap locations (i.e., centers, edges, and forest), and we collected significantly more insects in young gaps than old gaps. The insect communities in old gaps were more similar to the forests surrounding them than young gap communities were to their respective forest locations, but the insect communities in the two forests locations (surrounding young and old gaps) had the highest percent similarity of all. Although both abundance and richness increased in the centers of young gaps with increasing gap size, these differences were not significant.Weattribute the increased numbers of herbivorous insects to the greater abundance of herbaceous plants available in young gaps.

  11. Dynamics of combined forest damage risks for 21st century (SRES A1B, B1)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panferov, Oleg; Merklein, Johannes; Sogachev, Andrey; Junghans, Udo; Ahrends, Bernd

    2010-05-01

    The ongoing climate change can result in increasing frequency of weather extremes (Leckebusch et al., 2008) which in turn can produce wide area forest damage (windthrows, droughts, insect attacks) within forest ecosystems in Europe. The probability and extent of damage, depend not only on a strength of a driving force itself but especially on combinations of effecting agents and their interactions with forest ecosystem structure and soil properties. The combined effect of several factors which are not the extremes themselves can lead to the biotic and/or abiotic damage so that the combination becomes an extreme event. As soon as a damage event occurs, the forest structure is changed. The changes in forest structure in their turn strengthen or inhibits the influence of different climatic factors thus increase or decrease the probability of the next damage event creating positive or negative feedbacks. To assess the roles of separate meteorological factors and their combinations in forest damage under present and future climatic conditions the coupled model was created in University of Goettingen, as a part of a Decision Support System (Jansen et al, 2008, Panferov et al., 2009). The model combines the 3D ABL Model SCADIS (Panferov and Sogachev, 2008) with modified soil hydrology model BROOK 90 (Federer, 2003, Ahrends et al. 2009) and the model of climate dependent biotic damage. The projected future developments of forest damage events in 21st Century were carried out under conditions of SRES scenarios A1B and B1; the present conditions were evaluated using the measured data of German Weather Service. Climate scenario data of coupled ECHAM5-MPIOM were downscaled by the regional climate model Climate Local Model (CLM) to the spatial resolution of 0.2° x 0.2° and temporal resolution of 24 hours. Using these data as input the small-scale coupled process based modeling was then carried out for example region of Solling, Germany calculating the water and energy balance

  12. Forest insects and diseases in Fundy National Park in 1994. Technical note No. 310

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meikle, O.A.

    1995-11-01

    Personnel of the Forest Insect and Disease Survey regularly survey national parks for forest insect and disease conditions. This document discusses briefly some of the conditions encountered in Fundy National Park during the year, including insects and diseases found throughout the Park that are likely to recur: Gypsy moth, winter drying, sirococcus shoot blight, forest tent caterpillar, balsam fir needle cast and yellow witches` broom, birch decline, and hemlock looper.

  13. Forest insects and diseases in Fundy National Park in 1993. Technical note No. 296

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meikle, O.A.

    1994-01-01

    Personnel of the Forest Insect and Disease Survey regularly survey national parks for forest insect and disease conditions. This document discusses briefly some of the conditions encountered in Fundy National Park during the year, including insects and diseases found throughout the Park that are likely to recur: Gypsy moth, winter drying, sirococcus shoot blight, forest tent caterpillar, balsam fir needle cast and yellow witches' broom, birch decline, and hemlock looper.

  14. EUFODOS: European Forest Downstream Services - Improved Information on Forest Structure and Damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirschmugl, M.; Gallaun, H.; Wack, R.; Granica, K.; Schardt, M.

    2013-05-01

    Forests play a key role in the European economy and environment. This role incorporates ecological functions which can be affected by the occurrence of insect infestations, forest fire, heavy snowfall or windfall events. Local or Regional Authorities (LRAs) thus require detailed information on the degradation status of their forests to be able to take appropriate measures for their forest management plans. In the EUFODOS project, state-of-the-art satellite and laser scanning technologies are used to provide forest authorities with cost-effective and comprehensive information on forest structure and damage. One of the six test sites is located in the Austrian province of Styria where regional forest authorities have expressed a strong need for detailed forest parameters in protective forest. As airborne laser-scanning data is available, it will be utilized to derive detailed forest parameters such as the upper forest border line, tree height, growth classes, forest density, vertical structure or volume. At the current project status, the results of (i) the forest border line, (ii) the segmentation of forest stands and (iii) the tree top detection are available and presented including accuracy assessment and interim results are shown for timber volume estimations. The final results show that the forest border can be mapped operationally with an overall accuracy of almost 99% from LiDAR data. For the segmentation of forest stands, a comparison of the automatically derived result with visual-manual delineation showed in general a more detailed segmentation result, but for all visual-manual segments a congruence of 87% within a 4 m buffer. Tree top detections were compared to stem numbers estimated based on angle-count samplings in a field campaign, which led to a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.79.

  15. Insect-induced tree mortality of boreal forests in eastern Canada under a changing climate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiongqing; Lei, Yuancai; Ma, Zhihai; Kneeshaw, Dan; Peng, Changhui

    2014-06-01

    Forest insects are major disturbances that induce tree mortality in eastern coniferous (or fir-spruce) forests in eastern North America. The spruce budworm (SBW) (Choristoneura fumiferana [Clemens]) is the most devastating insect causing tree mortality. However, the relative importance of insect-caused mortality versus tree mortality caused by other agents and how this relationship will change with climate change is not known. Based on permanent sample plots across eastern Canada, we combined a logistic model with a negative model to estimate tree mortality. The results showed that tree mortality increased mainly due to forest insects. The mean difference in annual tree mortality between plots disturbed by insects and those without insect disturbance was 0.0680 per year (P eastern Canada but that tree mortality induced by insect outbreaks will decrease in eastern Canada under warming climate.

  16. Insect fauna of the scheduled regeneration forests in Samcheok, Gangwon-do, Korea in summer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Hyoung Jeon

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available In the present study, insect fauna in forests around Samcheok, Gangwon-do that were designated as regeneration forests, were investigated from August to October in 2012. This study was carried out to collect the basic data on changes in insect fauna by period. The main groups of forest insects including moths, ground beetles, and stem living insects were collected. Bucket traps, pitfall traps, and funnel traps were used in the study. The following results were obtained: 531 individuals in 48 species of moths were investigated by bucket traps; 92 individuals in eight species of ground beetles by pitfall traps; and 17 individuals in nine species of insects by funnel traps.

  17. Influence of forest fires on insect diversity: a case study in Apulia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elia M

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we analyze the relationship between forest fires and insect diversity in the Mediterranean environment. Using “distance from the ignition point” as explanatory variable, we developed a number of regression models predicting insect abundance and family richness, as well as some of the most common measures of biodiversity (e.g., Shannon index, Simpson index, Margalef index. We report a case study in a forest area (Bosco “Il Quarto” - 600 ha located in the National Park of Alta Murgia, Apulia Region (southern Italy. Results show a significant influence of forest fire on insect abundance and family richness and a positive linear relationship between biodiversity and distance from the point of ignition for Coleoptera. Simpson’s index, in particular, appears the most suitable indicator for measuring the effects of fires on insect biodiversity in the short term.

  18. Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juliann E. Aukema; Brian. Leung; Kent Kovacs; Corey Chivers; Jeffrey Englin; Susan J. Frankel; Robert G. Haight; Thomas P. Holmes; Andrew M. Liebhold; Deborah G. McCullough; Betsy. Von Holle

    2011-01-01

    Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United...

  19. EUFODOS: European Forest Downstream Services – Improved Information on Forest Structure and Damage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Hirschmugl

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Forests play a key role in the European economy and environment. This role incorporates ecological functions which can be affected by the occurrence of insect infestations, forest fire, heavy snowfall or windfall events. Local or Regional Authorities (LRAs thus require detailed information on the degradation status of their forests to be able to take appropriate measures for their forest management plans. In the EUFODOS project, state-of-the-art satellite and laser scanning technologies are used to provide forest authorities with cost-effective and comprehensive information on forest structure and damage. One of the six test sites is located in the Austrian province of Styria where regional forest authorities have expressed a strong need for detailed forest parameters in protective forest. As airborne laser-scanning data is available, it will be utilized to derive detailed forest parameters such as the upper forest border line, tree height, growth classes, forest density, vertical structure or volume. At the current project status, the results of (i the forest border line, (ii the segmentation of forest stands and (iii the tree top detection are available and presented including accuracy assessment and interim results are shown for timber volume estimations. The final results show that the forest border can be mapped operationally with an overall accuracy of almost 99% from LiDAR data. For the segmentation of forest stands, a comparison of the automatically derived result with visual-manual delineation showed in general a more detailed segmentation result, but for all visual-manual segments a congruence of 87% within a 4 m buffer. Tree top detections were compared to stem numbers estimated based on angle-count samplings in a field campaign, which led to a correlation coefficient (R of 0.79.

  20. Remote sensing of forest insect disturbances: Current state and future directions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senf, Cornelius; Seidl, Rupert; Hostert, Patrick

    2017-08-01

    Insect disturbance are important agents of change in forest ecosystems around the globe, yet their spatial and temporal distribution and dynamics are not well understood. Remote sensing has gained much attention in mapping and understanding insect outbreak dynamics. Consequently, we here review the current literature on the remote sensing of insect disturbances. We suggest to group studies into three insect types: bark beetles, broadleaved defoliators, and coniferous defoliators. By so doing, we systematically compare the sensors and methods used for mapping insect disturbances within and across insect types. Results suggest that there are substantial differences between methods used for mapping bark beetles and defoliators, and between methods used for mapping broadleaved and coniferous defoliators. Following from this, we highlight approaches that are particularly suited for each insect type. Finally, we conclude by highlighting future research directions for remote sensing of insect disturbances. In particular, we suggest to: 1) Separate insect disturbances from other agents; 2) Extend the spatial and temporal domain of analysis; 3) Make use of dense time series; 4) Operationalize near-real time monitoring of insect disturbances; 5) Identify insect disturbances in the context of coupled human-natural systems; and 6) Improve reference data for assessing insect disturbances. Since the remote sensing of insect disturbances has gained much interest beyond the remote sensing community recently, the future developments identified here will help integrating remote sensing products into operational forest management. Furthermore, an improved spatiotemporal quantification of insect disturbances will support an inclusion of these processes into regional to global ecosystem models.

  1. Effect of emergent aquatic insects on bat foraging in a riparian forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukui, Dai; Murakami, Masashi; Nakano, Shigeru; Aoi, Toshiki

    2006-11-01

    1. Riparian zones serve several ecological functions for bats. They provide a source of prey and likely provide favourable structural habitats and shelter from predators. Many studies have shown that bats use the space above streams, ponds or riparian vegetation as feeding habitat. These studies, however, have never distinguished between the effects of habitat structure and prey availability on the foraging activities of bats. Such effects can only be distinguished by an experimental approach. We predicted that bat activity along a stream is influenced by the number of emerged aquatic insects. 2. We evaluated the response of terrestrial consumers, insectivorous bats, to changes in the abundance of emergent aquatic insects by conducting a manipulative field experiment. In a deciduous riparian forest in Japan, aquatic insect flux from the stream to the riparian zone was controlled with an insect-proof cover over a 1.2 km stream reach. 3. We estimated the abundance of emergent aquatic and flying terrestrial arthropods near the treatment and control reaches using Malaise traps. The foraging activity of bats was evaluated in both treatment and control reaches using ultrasonic detectors. 4. The insect-proof cover effectively reduced the flux of emergent aquatic insects to the riparian zone adjacent to the treatment reach. Adjacent to the control reach, adult aquatic insect biomass was highest in spring, and then decreased gradually. Terrestrial insect biomass increased gradually during the summer at both treatment and control reaches. 5. Foraging activity of bats was correlated with insect abundance. In spring, foraging activity of bats at the control reach was significantly greater than at the treatment reach, and increased at both sites with increasing terrestrial insect abundance. 6. Our result suggests that the flux of aquatic insects emerging from streams is one of the most important factors affecting the distribution of riparian-foraging bats. As is the case with

  2. Assessment of Forest Damage in Croatia using Landsat-8 OLI Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anita Simic Milas

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Background and Purpose: Rapid assessments of forest damage caused by natural disasters such as ice-break, wind, flooding, hurricane, or forest fires are necessary for mitigation and forest management. Forest damage directly impacts carbon uptake and biogeochemical cycles, and thus, has an impact on climate change. It intensifies erosion and flooding, and influences socio-economic well-being of population. Quantification of forest cover change represents a challenge for the scientific community as damaged areas are often in the mountainous and remote regions. Forested area in the western Croatia was considerably damaged by ice-breaking and flooding in 2014. Satellite remote sensing technology has opened up new possibilities for detecting and quantifying forest damage. Several remote sensing tools are available for rapid assessment of forest damage. These include aerial photographic interpretation, and airborne and satellite imagery. This study evaluates the capability of Landsat-8 optical data and a vegetation index for mapping forest damage in Croatia that occurred during the winter of 2014. Materials and Methods: The change detection analysis in this study was based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI difference approach, where pre- and post- event Landsat-8 images were employed in the ENVI image change workflow. The validation was done by comparing the satellite-generated change detection map with the ground truth data based on field observations and spatial data of forest management units and plans. Results: The overall damage assessment from this study suggests that the total damaged area covers 45,265.32 ha of forest. It is 19.20% less than estimated by Vuletić et al. [3] who found that 56,021.86 ha of forest were affected. Most damage was observed in the mixed, broadleaf and coniferous forest. The change errors of commission and omission were calculated to be 35.73% and 31.60%, respectively. Conclusions: Landsat-8 optical

  3. Disentangling factors that control the vulnerability of forests to catastrophic wind damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dracup, E.; Taylor, A.; MacLean, D.; Boulanger, Y.

    2017-12-01

    Wind is an important driver of forest dynamics along North America's north-eastern coastal forests, but also damages many commercially managed forests which society relies as an important source of wood fiber. Although the influence of wind on north-eastern forests is well recognized, knowledge of factors predisposing trees to wind damage is less known, especially in the context of large, powerful wind storm events. This is of particular concern as climate change is expected to alter the frequency and severity of strong wind storms affecting this region. On 29 September 2003, Hurricane Juan made landfall over Nova Scotia, Canada as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 158 km/h, and gusts of up to 185 km/h. Hurricane Juan variously damaged a swath of over 600,000 ha of forest. The damaged forest area was surveyed using aerial photography and LandSAT imagery and categorized according to level of wind damage sustained (none, low, moderate, severe) at a resolution of 15 x 15 m square cells. We used Random Forest to analyze and compare level of wind damage in each cell with a myriad of abiotic (exposure, depth to water table, soil composition, etc.) and biotic (tree species composition, canopy closure, canopy height, etc.) factors known or expected to predispose trees to windthrow. From our analysis, we identified topographic exposure, precipitation, and maximum gust speed as the top predictors of windthrow during Hurricane Juan. To our surprise, forest stand factors, such as tree species composition and height, had minimal effects on level of windthrow. These results can be used to construct predictive risk maps which can help society to assess the vulnerability of forests to future wind storm events.

  4. A Moveable Feast: Insects Moving at the Forest-Crop Interface Are Affected by Crop Phenology and the Amount of Forest in the Landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González, Ezequiel; Salvo, Adriana; Defagó, María Teresa; Valladares, Graciela

    2016-01-01

    Edges have become prevailing habitats, mainly as a result of habitat fragmentation and agricultural expansion. The interchange of functionally relevant organisms like insects occurs through these edges and can influence ecosystem functioning in both crop and non-crop habitats. However, very few studies have focused on the directionality of insect movement through edges, and the role of crop and non-crop amount has been ignored. Using bi-directional flight interception traps we investigated interchange of herbivore, natural enemy, pollinator and detritivore insects between native forest fragments and soybean crops, simultaneously considering movement direction, forest cover in the landscape and crop phenology. In total, 52,173 specimens and 877 morphospecies were collected. We found that, within most functional and taxonomic groups, movement intensity was similar (richness and/or abundance) between directions, whereas a predominantly forest-to-crop movement characterized natural enemies. Insect movement was extensively affected by crop phenology, decreasing during crop senescence, and was enhanced by forest cover particularly at senescence. Mainly the same herbivore species moved to and from the forest, but different natural enemy species predominated in each direction. Finally, our analyses revealed greater forest contribution to natural enemy than to herbivore communities in the crop, fading with distance to the forest in both groups. By showing that larger amounts of forest lead to richer insect interchange, in both directions and in four functional groups, our study suggests that allocation to natural and cultivated habitats at landscape level could influence functioning of both systems. Moreover, natural enemies seemed to benefit more than pests from natural vegetation, with natural enemy spillover from forests likely contributing to pest control in soybean fields. Thus consequences of insect interchange seem to be mostly positive for the agroecosystem

  5. Nonnative forest insects and pathogens in the United States: impacts and policy options

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gary M. Lovett; Marissa Weiss; Andrew M. Liebhold; Tom Holmes; Brian Leung; Kathy-Fallon Lambert; David A. Orwig; Faith T. Campbell; Jonathan Rosenthal; Deborah G. McCullough; Radka Wildova; Matthew P. Ayres; Charles D. Canham; David R. Foster; Shannon L. LaDeau; Troy Weldy

    2016-01-01

    We review and synthesize information on invasions of nonnative forest insects and diseases in the United States, including their ecological and economic impacts, pathways of arrival, distribution within the United States, and policy options for reducing future invasions. Nonnative insects have accumulated in United States forests at a rate of ~2.5 per yr over the last...

  6. Forest insect and disease conditions, Vancouver forest region, 1986. Annual publication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Humphreys, N; Ferris, R L

    1987-01-01

    This report outlines the status of forest pest conditions in the Vancouver Forest Region, and forecasts population trends of some potentially damaging pests. Pests are listed by host in order of importance.

  7. Spatial Patterns of Aflatoxin Levels in Relation to Ear-Feeding Insect Damage in Pre-Harvest Corn

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alisa Huffaker

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Key impediments to increased corn yield and quality in the southeastern US coastal plain region are damage by ear-feeding insects and aflatoxin contamination caused by infection of Aspergillus flavus. Key ear-feeding insects are corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea, fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, and brown stink bug, Euschistus servus. In 2006 and 2007, aflatoxin contamination and insect damage were sampled before harvest in three 0.4-hectare corn fields using a grid sampling method. The feeding damage by each of ear/kernel-feeding insects (i.e., corn earworm/fall armyworm damage on the silk/cob, and discoloration of corn kernels by stink bugs, and maize weevil population were assessed at each grid point with five ears. The spatial distribution pattern of aflatoxin contamination was also assessed using the corn samples collected at each sampling point. Aflatoxin level was correlated to the number of maize weevils and stink bug-discolored kernels, but not closely correlated to either husk coverage or corn earworm damage. Contour maps of the maize weevil populations, stink bug-damaged kernels, and aflatoxin levels exhibited an aggregated distribution pattern with a strong edge effect on all three parameters. The separation of silk- and cob-feeding insects from kernel-feeding insects, as well as chewing (i.e., the corn earworm and maize weevil and piercing-sucking insects (i.e., the stink bugs and their damage in relation to aflatoxin accumulation is economically important. Both theoretic and applied ramifications of this study were discussed by proposing a hypothesis on the underlying mechanisms of the aggregated distribution patterns and strong edge effect of insect damage and aflatoxin contamination, and by discussing possible management tactics for aflatoxin reduction by proper management of kernel-feeding insects. Future directions on basic and applied research related to aflatoxin contamination are also

  8. Spatial patterns of aflatoxin levels in relation to ear-feeding insect damage in pre-harvest corn.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Xinzhi; Wilson, Jeffrey P; Buntin, G David; Guo, Baozhu; Krakowsky, Matthew D; Lee, R Dewey; Cottrell, Ted E; Scully, Brian T; Huffaker, Alisa; Schmelz, Eric A

    2011-07-01

    Key impediments to increased corn yield and quality in the southeastern US coastal plain region are damage by ear-feeding insects and aflatoxin contamination caused by infection of Aspergillus flavus. Key ear-feeding insects are corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea, fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, and brown stink bug, Euschistus servus. In 2006 and 2007, aflatoxin contamination and insect damage were sampled before harvest in three 0.4-hectare corn fields using a grid sampling method. The feeding damage by each of ear/kernel-feeding insects (i.e., corn earworm/fall armyworm damage on the silk/cob, and discoloration of corn kernels by stink bugs), and maize weevil population were assessed at each grid point with five ears. The spatial distribution pattern of aflatoxin contamination was also assessed using the corn samples collected at each sampling point. Aflatoxin level was correlated to the number of maize weevils and stink bug-discolored kernels, but not closely correlated to either husk coverage or corn earworm damage. Contour maps of the maize weevil populations, stink bug-damaged kernels, and aflatoxin levels exhibited an aggregated distribution pattern with a strong edge effect on all three parameters. The separation of silk- and cob-feeding insects from kernel-feeding insects, as well as chewing (i.e., the corn earworm and maize weevil) and piercing-sucking insects (i.e., the stink bugs) and their damage in relation to aflatoxin accumulation is economically important. Both theoretic and applied ramifications of this study were discussed by proposing a hypothesis on the underlying mechanisms of the aggregated distribution patterns and strong edge effect of insect damage and aflatoxin contamination, and by discussing possible management tactics for aflatoxin reduction by proper management of kernel-feeding insects. Future directions on basic and applied research related to aflatoxin contamination are also discussed.

  9. Spatial Patterns of Aflatoxin Levels in Relation to Ear-Feeding Insect Damage in Pre-Harvest Corn

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Xinzhi; Wilson, Jeffrey P.; Buntin, G. David; Guo, Baozhu; Krakowsky, Matthew D.; Lee, R. Dewey; Cottrell, Ted E.; Scully, Brian T.; Huffaker, Alisa; Schmelz, Eric A.

    2011-01-01

    Key impediments to increased corn yield and quality in the southeastern US coastal plain region are damage by ear-feeding insects and aflatoxin contamination caused by infection of Aspergillus flavus. Key ear-feeding insects are corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea, fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, and brown stink bug, Euschistus servus. In 2006 and 2007, aflatoxin contamination and insect damage were sampled before harvest in three 0.4-hectare corn fields using a grid sampling method. The feeding damage by each of ear/kernel-feeding insects (i.e., corn earworm/fall armyworm damage on the silk/cob, and discoloration of corn kernels by stink bugs), and maize weevil population were assessed at each grid point with five ears. The spatial distribution pattern of aflatoxin contamination was also assessed using the corn samples collected at each sampling point. Aflatoxin level was correlated to the number of maize weevils and stink bug-discolored kernels, but not closely correlated to either husk coverage or corn earworm damage. Contour maps of the maize weevil populations, stink bug-damaged kernels, and aflatoxin levels exhibited an aggregated distribution pattern with a strong edge effect on all three parameters. The separation of silk- and cob-feeding insects from kernel-feeding insects, as well as chewing (i.e., the corn earworm and maize weevil) and piercing-sucking insects (i.e., the stink bugs) and their damage in relation to aflatoxin accumulation is economically important. Both theoretic and applied ramifications of this study were discussed by proposing a hypothesis on the underlying mechanisms of the aggregated distribution patterns and strong edge effect of insect damage and aflatoxin contamination, and by discussing possible management tactics for aflatoxin reduction by proper management of kernel-feeding insects. Future directions on basic and applied research related to aflatoxin contamination are also discussed. PMID

  10. Interactions of predominant insects and diseases with climate change in Douglas-fir forests of western Oregon and Washington, U.S.A.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agne, Michelle C; Beedlow, Peter A; Shaw, David C; Woodruff, David R; Lee, E Henry; Cline, Steven P; Comeleo, Randy L

    2018-02-01

    Forest disturbance regimes are beginning to show evidence of climate-mediated changes, such as increasing severity of droughts and insect outbreaks. We review the major insects and pathogens affecting the disturbance regime for coastal Douglas-fir forests in western Oregon and Washington State, USA, and ask how future climate changes may influence their role in disturbance ecology. Although the physiological constraints of light, temperature, and moisture largely control tree growth, episodic and chronic disturbances interacting with biological factors have substantial impacts on the structure and functioning of forest ecosystems in this region. Understanding insect and disease interactions is critical to predicting forest response to climate change and the consequences for ecosystem services, such as timber, clean water, fish and wildlife. We focused on future predictions for warmer wetter winters, hotter drier summers, and elevated atmospheric CO 2 to hypothesize the response of Douglas-fir forests to the major insects and diseases influencing this forest type: Douglas-fir beetle, Swiss needle cast, black stain root disease, and laminated root rot. We hypothesize that 1) Douglas-fir beetle and black stain root disease could become more prevalent with increasing, fire, temperature stress, and moisture stress, 2) future impacts of Swiss needle cast are difficult to predict due to uncertainties in May-July leaf wetness, but warmer winters could contribute to intensification at higher elevations, and 3) laminated root rot will be influenced primarily by forest management, rather than climatic change. Furthermore, these biotic disturbance agents interact in complex ways that are poorly understood. Consequently, to inform management decisions, insect and disease influences on disturbance regimes must be characterized specifically by forest type and region in order to accurately capture these interactions in light of future climate-mediated changes.

  11. Field guide to diseases & insects of the Rocky Mountain Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forest Health Protection. Rocky Mountain Region

    2010-01-01

    This field guide is a forest management tool for field identification of biotic and abiotic agents that damage native trees in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming, which constitute the USDA Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Region. The guide focuses only on tree diseases and forest insects that have significant economic, ecological, and/ or...

  12. Agricultural and forest means to reduce damage caused by air pollution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Knabe, W

    1971-01-01

    Agriculture and forestry may try to reduce damage caused by air pollution by the following means: under heavy pollution sensitive crops can be replaced by more tolerant ones through changes in land use; at lower grades of air pollution the kind of land use may be maintained by planting relatively tolerant species and strains; breeding of plant material which is more tolerant than the present average is necessary to meet future requirements; certain damage may be decreased by soil amelioration, fertilization and watering of plants; the impact of certain air pollutants can be reduced by planting shelterbelts and by silvicultural means which affect the structure of a stand; and a strict control of insect pests and plant diseases is of special value in air polluted regions. Any special case has to be handled individually. It has to be asked whether one of the means mentioned above will be successful and in what area it should be applied. Several methods for the delineation of polluted regions are listed. Agricultural and forest means to adapt to a given situation of air pollution is gaining increasing importance because of the large areas with a medium high level of pollution, even if the general prospects of success are not regarded as very high.

  13. Insects and their life cycle: Steps to take to assess threats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alicia M. Bray; Jason B. Oliver

    2013-01-01

    This paper provides a brief overview of the importance of wood-boring insects to the forest nursery industry. Descriptions of the major insect groups are provided with special attention to the life stages that are most problematic within each group. Steps are provided to guide individuals to mitigate potential threats if a new insect is detected causing damage to trees...

  14. The Analysis of Insects Population on Fields in Forest Belts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gribust Irina Romuvaldovna

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The introduction into the agricultural and ecological system of multifunctional forest belts contributes to the formation of a qualitatively new environment, and, as a consequence, to the transformation of insects populations. Change of the faunal diversity in transformed agro-ecosystems and identification of entomofauna characteristics by a number of biotic indices, which undergo cumulative impact of organized farm ecosystem components, have not been sufficiently studied. This question is the basis for development of measures aimed at the restoration, maintenance of biodiversity and the activation of regulatory mechanisms of agricultural ecosystems. The article describes the ecological peculiarities and characteristics of insects population in the protected farm ecosystems in the Volgograd region. The article presents data on the change in abundance of the main trophic groups of fauna (entomophages and phytophages on crops in open steppe and forest-protected fields. The author analyzes the biotopic location of pests and entomophages across the width of the fields protected by forest plantations.

  15. Secondary damages to forests caused by industrial exhausts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Donaubauer, E

    1966-01-01

    Acute and chronic damages of diverse origins modify the susceptibility of trees to certain insects and infectious diseases. Especially in connection with air pollution damages, it must be pointed out that such predisposition may occur long before any symptoms become visible or before any growth losses can be measured. In many instances, it is very difficult to evaluate these secondary damages. Very extensive regional comparisons are necessary in order to obtain evidence of damage. Increased occurrence of parasites and/or disease within the emission area must be compared with the frequency and intensity of occurrence outside of said area; this may then serve as circumstantial proof of a demonstrated secondary damage. Examples of these kinds of effects caused by parasitic fungi and insects are discussed in detail. 27 references.

  16. Title: Status of coffee berry damaging insects in the afromontane

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Administrator

    populations, which is relatively low incidences in less disturbed ecosystem. ..... Insect pests associated with forest coffee berries in south western Ethiopia. .... parasitoid was introduced to Latin American countries, .... indicators of ecological diversity, so more detailed studies .... western Ethiopia: Impacts of human use and.

  17. Changes of forest stands vulnerability to future wind damage resulting from different management methods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Panferov, O.; Sogachev, Andrey; Ahrends, B.

    2010-01-01

    The structure of forests stands changes continuously as a result of forest growth and both natural and anthropogenic disturbances like windthrow or management activities – planting/cutting of trees. These structure changes can stabilize or destabilize forest stands in terms of their resistance...... to wind damage. The driving force behind the damage is the climate, but the magnitude and sign of resulting effect depend on tree species, management method and soil conditions. The projected increasing frequency of weather extremes in the whole and severe storms in particular might produce wide area...... damage in European forest ecosystems during the 21st century. To assess the possible wind damage and stabilization/destabilization effects of forest management a number of numeric experiments are carried out for the region of Solling, Germany. The coupled small-scale process-based model combining Brook90...

  18. Root damage by insects reverses the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on Eucalypt seedlings.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scott N Johnson

    Full Text Available Predicted increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 are widely anticipated to increase biomass accumulation by accelerating rates of photosynthesis in many plant taxa. Little, however, is known about how soil-borne plant antagonists might modify the effects of elevated CO2 (eCO2, with root-feeding insects being particularly understudied. Root damage by insects often reduces rates of photosynthesis by disrupting root function and imposing water deficits. These insects therefore have considerable potential for modifying plant responses to eCO2. We investigated how root damage by a soil-dwelling insect (Xylotrupes gideon australicus modified the responses of Eucalyptus globulus to eCO2. eCO2 increased plant height when E. globulus were 14 weeks old and continued to do so at an accelerated rate compared to those grown at ambient CO2 (aCO2. Plants exposed to root-damaging insects showed a rapid decline in growth rates thereafter. In eCO2, shoot and root biomass increased by 46 and 35%, respectively, in insect-free plants but these effects were arrested when soil-dwelling insects were present so that plants were the same size as those grown at aCO2. Specific leaf mass increased by 29% under eCO2, but at eCO2 root damage caused it to decline by 16%, similar to values seen in plants at aCO2 without root damage. Leaf C:N ratio increased by >30% at eCO2 as a consequence of declining leaf N concentrations, but this change was also moderated by soil insects. Soil insects also reduced leaf water content by 9% at eCO2, which potentially arose through impaired water uptake by the roots. We hypothesise that this may have impaired photosynthetic activity to the extent that observed plant responses to eCO2 no longer occurred. In conclusion, soil-dwelling insects could modify plant responses to eCO2 predicted by climate change plant growth models.

  19. Field damage of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) with reduced lignin levels by naturally occurring insect pests and pathogens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mutant lines of sorghum with low levels of lignin are potentially useful for bioenergy production, but may have problems with insects or disease. Field grown normal and low lignin bmr6 and bmr12 sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) were examined for insect and disease damage in the field, and insect damage in ...

  20. Predicting forest insect flight activity: A Bayesian network approach.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen M Pawson

    Full Text Available Daily flight activity patterns of forest insects are influenced by temporal and meteorological conditions. Temperature and time of day are frequently cited as key drivers of activity; however, complex interactions between multiple contributing factors have also been proposed. Here, we report individual Bayesian network models to assess the probability of flight activity of three exotic insects, Hylurgus ligniperda, Hylastes ater, and Arhopalus ferus in a managed plantation forest context. Models were built from 7,144 individual hours of insect sampling, temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, photon flux density, and temporal data. Discretized meteorological and temporal variables were used to build naïve Bayes tree augmented networks. Calibration results suggested that the H. ater and A. ferus Bayesian network models had the best fit for low Type I and overall errors, and H. ligniperda had the best fit for low Type II errors. Maximum hourly temperature and time since sunrise had the largest influence on H. ligniperda flight activity predictions, whereas time of day and year had the greatest influence on H. ater and A. ferus activity. Type II model errors for the prediction of no flight activity is improved by increasing the model's predictive threshold. Improvements in model performance can be made by further sampling, increasing the sensitivity of the flight intercept traps, and replicating sampling in other regions. Predicting insect flight informs an assessment of the potential phytosanitary risks of wood exports. Quantifying this risk allows mitigation treatments to be targeted to prevent the spread of invasive species via international trade pathways.

  1. Decadal-scale ecosystem memory reveals interactive effects of drought and insect defoliation on boreal forest productivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Itter, M.; D'Orangeville, L.; Dawson, A.; Kneeshaw, D.; Finley, A. O.

    2017-12-01

    Drought and insect defoliation have lasting impacts on the dynamics of the boreal forest. Impacts are expected to worsen under global climate change as hotter, drier conditions forecast for much of the boreal increase the frequency and severity of drought and defoliation events. Contemporary ecological theory predicts physiological feedbacks in tree responses to drought and defoliation amplify impacts potentially causing large-scale productivity losses and forest mortality. Quantifying the interactive impacts of drought and insect defoliation on regional forest health is difficult given delayed and persistent responses to disturbance events. We developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate forest growth responses to interactions between drought and insect defoliation by species and size class. Delayed and persistent responses to past drought and defoliation were quantified using empirical memory functions allowing for improved detection of interactions. The model was applied to tree-ring data from stands in Western (Alberta) and Eastern (Québec) regions of the Canadian boreal forest with different species compositions, disturbance regimes, and regional climates. Western stands experience chronic water deficit and forest tent caterpillar (FTC) defoliation; Eastern stands experience irregular water deficit and spruce budworm (SBW) defoliation. Ecosystem memory to past water deficit peaked in the year previous to growth and decayed to zero within 5 (West) to 8 (East) years; memory to past defoliation ranged from 8 (West) to 12 (East) years. The drier regional climate and faster FTC defoliation dynamics (compared to SBW) likely contribute to shorter ecosystem memory in the West. Drought and defoliation had the largest negative impact on large-diameter, host tree growth. Surprisingly, a positive interaction was observed between drought and defoliation for large-diameter, non-host trees likely due to reduced stand-level competition for water. Results highlight the

  2. Tropical forest loss and its multitrophic effects on insect herbivory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Morante-Filho, José Carlos; Arroyo-Rodríguez, Víctor; Lohbeck, Madelon; Tscharntke, Teja; Faria, Deborah

    2016-01-01

    Forest loss threatens biodiversity, but its potential effects on multitrophic ecological interactions are poorly understood. Insect herbivory depends on complex bottom-up (e.g., resource availability and plant antiherbivore defenses) and top-down forces (e.g., abundance of predators and

  3. Diversity of gall-inducing insects in the high altitude wetland forests in Pernambuco, Northeastern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JC Santos

    Full Text Available We report on the richness of galling insects in the altitudinal wetland forests of Pernambuco State, Northeastern Brazil. We found 80 distinct types of insect galls on 49 species of host plants belonging to 28 families and 35 genera. Most of the galled plant species belong to Nyctaginaceae, Fabaceae, Meliaceae, Sapindaceae and Myrtaceae. The most common gall were spheroid and globoid; most galls were glabrous, predominantly green and with one chamber, and on the leaves. Most galls were induced by Cecidomyiidae (Diptera. The results of this study contribute to existing knowledge richness of galling insects and host-plant diversity in the altitudinal wetland forests of Northeastern Brazil.

  4. Changes in forest biomass and linkage to climate and forest disturbances over Northeastern China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yuzhen; Liang, Shunlin

    2014-08-01

    The forests of northeastern China store nearly half of the country's total biomass carbon stocks. In this study, we investigated the changes in forest biomass by using satellite observations and found that a significant increase in forest biomass took place between 2001 and 2010. To determine the possible reasons for this change, several statistical methods were used to analyze the correlations between forest biomass dynamics and forest disturbances (i.e. fires, insect damage, logging, and afforestation and reforestation), climatic factors, and forest development. Results showed that forest development was the most important contributor to the increasing trend of forest biomass from 2001 to 2010, and climate controls were the secondary important factor. Among the four types of forest disturbance considered in this study, forest recovery from fires, and afforestation and reforestation during the past few decades played an important role in short-term biomass dynamics. This study provided observational evidence and valuable information for the relationships between forest biomass and climate as well as forest disturbances. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. Sap-feeding insects on forest trees along latitudinal gradients in northern Europe: a climate-driven patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozlov, Mikhail V; Stekolshchikov, Andrey V; Söderman, Guy; Labina, Eugenia S; Zverev, Vitali; Zvereva, Elena L

    2015-01-01

    Knowledge of the latitudinal patterns in biotic interactions, and especially in herbivory, is crucial for understanding the mechanisms that govern ecosystem functioning and for predicting their responses to climate change. We used sap-feeding insects as a model group to test the hypotheses that the strength of plant-herbivore interactions in boreal forests decreases with latitude and that this latitudinal pattern is driven primarily by midsummer temperatures. We used a replicated sampling design and quantitatively collected and identified all sap-feeding insects from four species of forest trees along five latitudinal gradients (750-1300 km in length, ten sites in each gradient) in northern Europe (59 to 70°N and 10 to 60°E) during 2008-2011. Similar decreases in diversity of sap-feeding insects with latitude were observed in all gradients during all study years. The sap-feeder load (i.e. insect biomass per unit of foliar biomass) decreased with latitude in typical summers, but increased in an exceptionally hot summer and was independent of latitude during a warm summer. Analysis of combined data from all sites and years revealed dome-shaped relationships between the loads of sap-feeders and midsummer temperatures, peaking at 17 °C in Picea abies, at 19.5 °C in Pinus sylvestris and Betula pubescens and at 22 °C in B. pendula. From these relationships, we predict that the losses of forest trees to sap-feeders will increase by 0-45% of the current level in southern boreal forests and by 65-210% in subarctic forests with a 1 °C increase in summer temperatures. The observed relationships between temperatures and the loads of sap-feeders differ between the coniferous and deciduous tree species. We conclude that climate warming will not only increase plant losses to sap-feeding insects, especially in subarctic forests, but can also alter plant-plant interactions, thereby affecting both the productivity and the structure of future forest ecosystems. © 2014

  6. Grain, silage and forage sorghum hybrid resistance to insect and bird damage, 2017

    Science.gov (United States)

    A total of 32 grain and 30 forage type sorghum hybrids were evaluated for resistance to insect, disease, and bird damage in Tifton, Georgia. These hybrids plus 33 silage type and 5 pearl millet hybrids also were evaluated for sugarcane aphid resistance near Griffin, Georgia. A total of 10 insect pes...

  7. Effects of intensive forest management practices on insect infestation levels and loblolly pine growth

    Science.gov (United States)

    John T. Nowak; C. Wayne Berisford

    2000-01-01

    Intensive forest management practices have been shown to increase tree growth and shorten rotation time. However, they may also lead to an increased need for insect pest management because of higher infestation levels and lower action thresholds. To investigate the relationship between intensive management practices arid insect infestation, maximum growth potential...

  8. Forest health conditions on the Allegheny National Forest (1989-1999): Analysis of forest health monitoring surveys

    Science.gov (United States)

    R.S. Morin; A.M. Liebhold; K.W. Gottschalk; D.B. Twardus; R.E. Acciavatti; R.L. White; S.B. Horsley; W.D. Smith; E.R. Luzader

    2001-01-01

    This publication describes the forest vegetation and health conditions of the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). During the past 15 years, the ANF has experienced four severe droughts, several outbreaks of exotic and native insect defoliators, and the effects of other disturbance agents. An increase in tree mortality has raised concerns about forest health. Historical...

  9. Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Exotic Invasive Insect Pests in Northeastern Forests of the USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gouli, Vladimir; Gouli, Svetlana; Marcelino, José A. P.; Skinner, Margaret; Parker, Bruce L.

    2013-01-01

    Mycopathogens of economically important exotic invasive insects in forests of northeastern USA have been the subject of research at the Entomology Research Laboratory, University of Vermont, for the last 20 years. Elongate hemlock scale, European fruit lecanium, hemlock woolly adelgid and pear thrips were analyzed for the presence of mycopathogens, in order to consider the potential for managing these pests with biological control. Fungal cultures isolated from insects with signs of fungal infection were identified based on morphological characters and DNA profiling. Mycopathogens recovered from infected insects were subdivided into three groups, i.e., specialized entomopathogenic; facultative entomopathogens; ubiquitous opportunistic contaminants. Epizootics were caused by fungi in the specialized group with the exception of M. microspora, P. marquandii and I. farinosa. Inoculation of insects in laboratory and field conditions with B. bassiana, L. muscarium and Myriangium sp. caused insect mortality of 45 to 95%. Although pest populations in the field seemed severely compromised after treatment, the remnant populations re-established themselves after the winter. Although capable of inducing high mortality, a single localized aerial application of a soil-dwelling fungus does not maintain long-time suppression of pests. However, it can halt their range expansion and maintain populations below the economic threshold level without the use of expensive insecticides which have a negative impact on the environment. PMID:26462527

  10. New technology for using meteorological information in forest insect pest forecast and warning systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Jiang-Lin; Yang, Xiu-Hao; Yang, Zhong-Wu; Luo, Ji-Tong; Lei, Xiu-Feng

    2017-12-01

    Near surface air temperature and rainfall are major weather factors affecting forest insect dynamics. The recent developments in remote sensing retrieval and geographic information system spatial analysis techniques enable the utilization of weather factors to significantly enhance forest pest forecasting and warning systems. The current study focused on building forest pest digital data structures as a platform of correlation analysis between weather conditions and forest pest dynamics for better pest forecasting and warning systems using the new technologies. The study dataset contained 3 353 425 small polygons with 174 defined attributes covering 95 counties of Guangxi province of China currently registering 292 forest pest species. Field data acquisition and information transfer systems were established with four software licences that provided 15-fold improvement compared to the systems currently used in China. Nine technical specifications were established including codes of forest districts, pest species and host tree species, and standard practices of forest pest monitoring and information management. Attributes can easily be searched using ArcGIS9.3 and/or the free QGIS2.16 software. Small polygons with pest relevant attributes are a new tool of precision farming and detailed forest insect pest management that are technologically advanced. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

  11. An Automated Approach to Map the History of Forest Disturbance from Insect Mortality and Harvest with Landsat Time-Series Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher S.R. Neigh

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Forests contain a majority of the aboveground carbon (C found in ecosystems, and understanding biomass lost from disturbance is essential to improve our C-cycle knowledge. Our study region in the Wisconsin and Minnesota Laurentian Forest had a strong decline in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI from 1982 to 2007, observed with the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA series of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR. To understand the potential role of disturbances in the terrestrial C-cycle, we developed an algorithm to map forest disturbances from either harvest or insect outbreak for Landsat time-series stacks. We merged two image analysis approaches into one algorithm to monitor forest change that included: (1 multiple disturbance index thresholds to capture clear-cut harvest; and (2 a spectral trajectory-based image analysis with multiple confidence interval thresholds to map insect outbreak. We produced 20 maps and evaluated classification accuracy with air-photos and insect air-survey data to understand the performance of our algorithm. We achieved overall accuracies ranging from 65% to 75%, with an average accuracy of 72%. The producer’s and user’s accuracy ranged from a maximum of 32% to 70% for insect disturbance, 60% to 76% for insect mortality and 82% to 88% for harvested forest, which was the dominant disturbance agent. Forest disturbances accounted for 22% of total forested area (7349 km2. Our algorithm provides a basic approach to map disturbance history where large impacts to forest stands have occurred and highlights the limited spectral sensitivity of Landsat time-series to outbreaks of defoliating insects. We found that only harvest and insect mortality events can be mapped with adequate accuracy with a non-annual Landsat time-series. This limited our land cover understanding of NDVI decline drivers. We demonstrate that to capture more subtle disturbances with spectral trajectories

  12. An Automated Approach to Map the History of Forest Disturbance from Insect Mortality and Harvest with Landsat Time-Series Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudasill-Neigh, Christopher S.; Bolton, Douglas K.; Diabate, Mouhamad; Williams, Jennifer J.; Carvalhais, Nuno

    2014-01-01

    Forests contain a majority of the aboveground carbon (C) found in ecosystems, and understanding biomass lost from disturbance is essential to improve our C-cycle knowledge. Our study region in the Wisconsin and Minnesota Laurentian Forest had a strong decline in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from 1982 to 2007, observed with the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) series of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). To understand the potential role of disturbances in the terrestrial C-cycle, we developed an algorithm to map forest disturbances from either harvest or insect outbreak for Landsat time-series stacks. We merged two image analysis approaches into one algorithm to monitor forest change that included: (1) multiple disturbance index thresholds to capture clear-cut harvest; and (2) a spectral trajectory-based image analysis with multiple confidence interval thresholds to map insect outbreak. We produced 20 maps and evaluated classification accuracy with air-photos and insect air-survey data to understand the performance of our algorithm. We achieved overall accuracies ranging from 65% to 75%, with an average accuracy of 72%. The producer's and user's accuracy ranged from a maximum of 32% to 70% for insect disturbance, 60% to 76% for insect mortality and 82% to 88% for harvested forest, which was the dominant disturbance agent. Forest disturbances accounted for 22% of total forested area (7349 km2). Our algorithm provides a basic approach to map disturbance history where large impacts to forest stands have occurred and highlights the limited spectral sensitivity of Landsat time-series to outbreaks of defoliating insects. We found that only harvest and insect mortality events can be mapped with adequate accuracy with a non-annual Landsat time-series. This limited our land cover understanding of NDVI decline drivers. We demonstrate that to capture more subtle disturbances with spectral trajectories, future observations

  13. Insects and diseases

    Science.gov (United States)

    John W. Couston

    2009-01-01

    Insects and diseases are a natural part of forested ecosystems. Their activity is partially regulated by biotic factors, e.g., host abundance, host quality; physical factors, e.g., soil, climate; and disturbances (Berryman 1986). Insects and diseases can influence both forest patterns and forest processes by causing, for example, defoliation and mortality. These...

  14. Insect pests' incidence and variations due to forest landscape ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    No differences were found between the intensification zones, except for weeds, which appeared to be a greater constraint in the slightly degraded area. Within the insect pest, the greatest damage to crops according to farmers originated from borers and scales, followed by variegated grasshopper. Only the termites showed ...

  15. Radioisotope labelling of several major insect pest

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sutrisno, Singgih

    1981-01-01

    Radioisotope uptake by insects could take place through various parts i.e. mouth, cuticula, intersegmental, secretion and excretion organs. Usually insects are labelled internally by feeding them on an artificial diet containing radioisotope solution. Labelling of several insect pests of cabbage (Crocidolomia binotalis) Zell and Plutella maculipennis Curt and rice (Chilo suppressalis Walker) by dipping of the pupae in 32 P solution showed a promising result. Pupae of Crocidolomia binotalis Zell dipped in 3 ml solution of 32 P with specific activities of 1, 3, 5 and 7 μCi/ml had developed labelled adults of sufficiently high radioactivity levels for ecological studies. Similar results were also obtained with Plutella maculipennis Curt and Chilo suppressalis Walker with doses of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 μCi/ml 32 P solution. The best doses for radioisotope labelling by dipping of the insects Crocidolomia binotalis Zell, Plutella maculipennis Curt, and Chilo suppressalis Walker were 1, 9, and 7 μCi/ml respectivelly. (author)

  16. Smoke damages of forest from the biologic standpoint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kisser, J

    1966-01-01

    Biological aspects of smoke damages are reviewed with special regard to forests. Due to the long exposures, smoke is more harmful to forests than to farm plants. Invisible physiological damages due to protoplasm lesions are counteracted by the regenerative effect of certain enzyme systems. Insoluble solid emissions reduce both light and assimilation, while soluble particles may penetrate into the plant or the soil, causing changes in the vegetation. Damage caused by soot and photochemical smog are detailed. Sulfur dioxide and hydrofluoric acid are two basic gaseous pollutants damaging forests. The importance of the damage is primarily determined by concentration and duration of exposure, with emphasis on concentration. In high concentrations, the substances are dissolved in the mesophyll cell wall fluid, causing point-like necroses. Low concentrations lead to necroses on the ends and edges of leaves and needles. The damages are also influenced by climatic factors. The transpiration and consequently the sensitivity for SO/sub 2/ are dependent of the relative humidity. Sharp increase in sensitivity can be observed from 60% to 90% relative humidity. There is no direct connection between transpiration rate and assimilation performance. High transpiration coefficients are characteristic of dry climates. There is no relation between transpiration and sensitivity, while any factor affecting the cuticular openings influences the extent of the damage. The resistance to smoke cannot be improved in forests by means of fertilizers. Different resistances of various species as well as problems of breeding smoke-resistant species are discussed.

  17. Natural vegetation cover in the landscape and edge effects: differential responses of insect orders in a fragmented forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González, Ezequiel; Salvo, Adriana; Valladares, Graciela

    2017-10-01

    Human activities have led to global simplification of ecosystems, among which Neotropical dry forests are some of the most threatened. Habitat loss as well as edge effects may affect insect communities. Here, we analyzed insects sampled with pan traps in 9 landscapes (at 5 scales, in 100-500 m diameter circles) comprising cultivated fields and Chaco Serrano forests, at overall community and taxonomic order level. In total 7043 specimens and 456 species of hexapods were captured, with abundance and richness being directly related to forest cover at 500 m and higher at edges in comparison with forest interior. Community composition also varied with forest cover and edge/interior location. Different responses were detected among the 8 dominant orders. Collembola, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera richness and/or abundance were positively related to forest cover at the larger scale, while Thysanoptera abundance increased with forest cover only at the edge. Hymenoptera abundance and richness were negatively related to forest cover at 100 m. Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera were more diverse and abundant at the forest edge. The generally negative influence of forest loss on insect communities could have functional consequences for both natural and cultivated systems, and highlights the relevance of forest conservation. Higher diversity at the edges could result from the simultaneous presence of forest and matrix species, although "resource mapping" might be involved for orders that were richer and more abundant at edges. Adjacent crops could benefit from forest proximity since natural enemies and pollinators are well represented in the orders showing positive edge effects. © 2016 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

  18. Shifts in Plant Assemblages Reduce the Richness of Galling Insects Across Edge-Affected Habitats in the Atlantic Forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souza, Danielle G; Santos, Jean C; Oliveira, Marcondes A; Tabarelli, Marcelo

    2016-10-01

    Impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on specialist herbivores have been rarely addressed. Here we examine the structure of plant and galling insect assemblages in a fragmented landscape of the Atlantic forest to verify a potential impoverishment of these assemblages mediated by edge effects. Saplings and galling insects were recorded once within a 0.1-ha area at habitat level, covering forest interior stands, forest edges, and small fragments. A total of 1,769 saplings from 219 tree species were recorded across all three habitats, with differences in terms of sapling abundance and species richness. Additionally, edge-affected habitats exhibited reduced richness of both host-plant and galling insects at plot and habitat spatial scale. Attack levels also differed among forest types at habitat spatial scale (21.1% of attacked stems in forest interior, 12.4% in small fragments but only 8.5% in forest edges). Plot ordination resulted in three clearly segregated clusters: one formed by forest interior, one by small fragments, and another formed by edge plots. Finally, the indicator species analysis identified seven and one indicator plant species in forest interior and edge-affected habitats, respectively. Consequently, edge effects lead to formation of distinct taxonomic groups and also an impoverished assemblage of plants and galling insects at multiple spatial scales. The results of the present study indicate that fragmentation-related changes in plant assemblages can have a cascade effects on specialist herbivores. Accordingly, hyperfragmented landscapes may not be able to retain an expressive portion of tropical biodiversity. © The Authors 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  19. Selective logging and damage to unharvested trees in a hyrcanian forest of Iran

    OpenAIRE

    Farshad Keivan Behjou; Omid Ghafarzade Mollabashi

    2012-01-01

    Selective logging in mature hardwood stands of Caspian forests often causes physical damage to residual trees through felling and skidding operations, resulting in a decline in bole quality and subsequent loss of tree value. This study evaluated the logging damage to residual trees following logging operations. A total density of 5.1 trees/ha and 17.3 m3/ha of wood were harvested. On average, 9.8 trees were damaged for every tree extracted, including 8 trees destroyed or severely damaged. The...

  20. Post-hurricane forest damage assessment using satellite remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    W. Wang; J.J. Qu; X. Hao; Y. Liu; J.A. Stanturf

    2010-01-01

    This study developed a rapid assessment algorithm for post-hurricane forest damage estimation using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements. The performance of five commonly used vegetation indices as post-hurricane forest damage indicators was investigated through statistical analysis. The Normalized Difference Infrared Index (NDII) was...

  1. Forest nursery pest management in Cuba

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rene Alberto Lopez Castilla; Angela Duarte Casanova; Celia Guerra Rivero; Haylett Cruz Escoto; Natividad Triguero Issasi

    2002-01-01

    A systematic survey of methods to detect pests in forest nurseries before they damage plants was done. These surveys recorded the most important forest nursery pests during 18 years (from 1980 to 1998) and their geographical and temporal distribution in the principal enterprises in Cuba. Approximately a dozen insect species and three fungi species responsible for the...

  2. Investigations into the fungal flora of forest stands under severe stress from immissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Butin, H.

    1992-01-01

    This finalized research project on the fungal flora of forest stands under severe stress form immissions looked into the question of the contribution of fungi to the triggering of topical forest damage and investigated whether correlations between certain symptoms and needle yellowing or root damage can be established. The main tree species selected were spruce and pine; but spot sample checks were also carried out on other tree species. Fungal flora was determined both qualitatively and quantitatively, and the pathogenic significance of the individual species was determined. Further, it was investigated whether fungal species are correlated to certain symptoms of damage, and which fungal species are. For selected fungal species, their pathogenicity was investigated by infection experiments. (RHE) [de

  3. Insects and other invertebrates

    Science.gov (United States)

    John R. Jones; Norbert V. DeByle; Diane M. Bowers

    1985-01-01

    Quaking aspen throughout its range appears to be host to several insect and other invertebrate pests (fig. 1). It is a short-lived species that is palatable to a large variety of animals. Furniss and Carolin (1977) listed 33 insect species that use aspen as a food source. Some are quite damaging and may kill otherwise healthy stands of aspen; others feed on weakened or...

  4. Composition and Elevation of Spruce Forests Affect Susceptibility to Bark Beetle Attacks: Implications for Forest Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Massimo Faccoli

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus (L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae, is one of the most destructive insects infesting spruce forests in Europe. Data concerning infestations of I. typographus occurring over the last 19 years (1994–2012 on the Southern Alps were analyzed in seven spruce forest types: (1 pure spruce plantations; (2 pure spruce reforestations; (3 pure spruce mountain forests; (4 pure spruce alpine forests; (5 spruce-conifer mixed forests; (6 spruce-broadleaf mixed forests; and (7 spruce-conifer-broadleaf mixed forests. The collected data included the amount of I. typographus damage and the location and composition of the infested forests. The results indicate that different forest types are differently susceptible to I. typographus. Plantations, reforestations and mountain spruce forests show mean damage and mean number of infestations higher than other forest types. Within pure spruce forests, alpine forests growing at high elevations (>1300 m suffer low damage. Furthermore, the mean number of infestation spots recorded annually in the different spruce forest types is negatively correlated with a Naturality Index value. The results suggest that forest composition and elevation are the main factors driving the risk of I. typographus damage. A new management strategy for some spruce forest types is needed, with a progressive reduction of pure spruce forests at low altitude and an increase of broadleaf composition.

  5. Abundance of green tree frogs and insects in artificial canopy gaps in a bottomland hardwood forest.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Horn, Scott; Hanula, James L.; Ulyshen, Michael D.; Kilgo, John C.

    2005-01-01

    Horn, Scott, James L. Hanula, Michael D. Ulyshen, and John C. Kilgo. 2005. Abundance of green tree frogs and insects in artificial canopy gaps in a bottomland hardwood forest. Am. Midl. Nat. 153:321-326. Abstract: We found more green tree frogs (Hyla cinerea) in canopy gaps than in closed canopy forest. Of the 331 green tree frogs observed, 88% were in canopy gaps. Likewise, higher numbers and biomasses of insects were captured in the open gap habitat. Flies were the most commonly collected insect group accounting for 54% of the total capture. These data suggest that one reason green tree frogs were more abundant in canopy gaps was the increased availability of prey and that small canopy gaps provide early successional habitats that are beneficial to green tree frog populations.

  6. Root Damage by Insects Reverses the Effects of Elevated Atmospheric CO2 on Eucalypt Seedlings

    OpenAIRE

    Johnson, Scott N.; Riegler, Markus

    2013-01-01

    Predicted increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are widely anticipated to increase biomass accumulation by accelerating rates of photosynthesis in many plant taxa. Little, however, is known about how soil-borne plant antagonists might modify the effects of elevated CO2 (eCO2), with root-feeding insects being particularly understudied. Root damage by insects often reduces rates of photosynthesis by disrupting root function and imposing water deficits. These insects therefore have consi...

  7. Trade-associated pathways of alien forest insect entries in Canada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denys Yemshanov; Frank H. Koch; Mark Ducey; Klaus Koehler

    2012-01-01

    Long-distance introductions of new invasive species have often been driven by socioeconomic factors, such that traditional ‘‘biological’’ invasion models may not be capable of estimating spread fully and reliably. In this study we present a new methodology to characterize and predict pathways of human-assisted entries of alien forest insects. We have developed a...

  8. Analysis of forest health monitoring surveys on the Allegheny National Forest (1998-2001)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randall S. Morin; Andrew M Liebhold; K.W. Gottschalk; Chris W. Woodall; Daniel B. Twardus; Robert L. White; Stephen B. Horsley; Todd E. Ristau

    2006-01-01

    Describes forest vegetation and health conditions on the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). During the past 20 years, the ANF has experienced four severe droughts, several outbreaks of exotic and native insect defoliators, and the effects of other disturbance agents. An increase in tree mortality has raised concerns about forest health. Historical aerial surveys (1984-98...

  9. Environmental Impacts to Residual Stand Damage due to Logging Operations in Hyrcanian Forest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meghdad JOURGHOLAMI

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The development of harvesting systems aims to provide physically feasible, economically viable, and environmentally sound solutions. Residual stand-damage data have been collected from a mixed broadleaved stand in Kheyrud area in Hyrcanian forest in the northern of Iran. After the harvesting operations, for all trees, damage to the bole, roots, extent of the damage, wounding patterns, size and distribution was assessed using stratified systematic sampling with a random start and fixed area plots. Results show that wounding occurred on 16.4% of the remaining trees, but the severity of wounding varied significantly by species. Forty-six percent of wounding for all species combined was considered as small size. The greatest average amount of damage, to a bole, occurred along the first 1m up from the ground and also within 3m of the skid trail centerline (86.4%. Gouges were present on 79% of all scars. The stratification of the study unit would effectively improve accuracy of stand damage surveys. Selection of the appropriate method for damage reduction to trees adjacent skid trails was crucial. According to the results, skidding damage cannot be completely avoided in practice. We suggest that the education and the entertainment of the foresters and workers in forest would be enhanced and the injuries could be explained before the harvesting to the workers. In such a way the damages would be less in the future.

  10. Storm damage in the Black Forest caused by the winter storm "Lothar" – Part 1: Airborne damage assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Schmoeckel

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available An airborne survey of the Black Forest as affected by the winter storm "Lothar" in 1999 is performed by means of a color line scanner (CLS with a CCD sensor, whose data in a visible and a near-infrared channel provide the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI as a measure of the damage in previously intact forest areas. The camera data, height data from a digital evelation model (DEM, land use information, and soil data are georeferenced and processed in a geographic information system (GIS to derive relationship of the damage pattern to the characteristics of the local orography and soil types. The data cover an area of 4900 km2, 2767 km2 of which were forested. The 363 detected storm damage areas with a minimum detection size of 1.5 ha amount to 0.8% of the total forest area. Visual inspections at certain sites prove that none of the larger damage areas are missed, but areas smaller than 1.5 ha cause the total damage area to be up to twice our result, i.e. ≈1.6% of the forest area. More than 50% of the detected damaged areas are smaller than 5 ha and most of them have a size ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 ha. Forests on slopes with an inclination angle between 10 and 15 degrees show the highest fraction of damaged forest, doubling those on plains and below 5 degrees inclination angle. Forests on northwestern slopes are more affected than those on southwestern and western slopes, which faced the wind during highest wind speed occurrence. In contrast to other studies, this paper shows, that in steep areas, lee slopes are more damaged than the luv slopes. As expected, wet to moist soils represent an unstable location for the trees. But also medium-dry to dry locations that were considered to be relatively stable exhibited a highly damaged forest fraction. This can be attributed to mostly saturated soil from previous rain.

  11. Nonmarket economic values of forest insect pests: An updated literature review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randall S. Rosenberger; Lauren A. Bell; Patricia A. Champ; Eric. L. Smith

    2012-01-01

    This report updates the literature review and synthesis of economic valuation studies on the impacts of forest insect pests by Rosenberger and Smith (1997). A conceptual framework is presented to establish context for the studies. This report also discusses the concept of ecosystem services; identifies key elements of each study; examines areas of future research; and...

  12. INSECT AS BIOLOGICAL INDICATOR FROM PROTECTED TO THE DISTURB LANDSCAPE IN CENTRAL JAVA INDONESIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karuniawan Puji Wicaksono

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available In the biological science, invertebrate (especially insect diversity is relatively well known. Yet, little study about their interaction with specific land use or specific system function. With the rapid changes of landscape, biodiversity is also changes in response to human impact; due to each organism have the specific interaction with certain environment. In this research, the assessment of insect order in the different landscape types was conducted using several method of trapping to understand the specific pattern of insect which are inhabited the landscape. The objectives of this research were monitored the Insect diversity, its ecological importance to agro-forestry ecosystem, and compare it with other forest type in this area. Another objective was determined the insect characteristic as the indicator of environmental quality on each land-use system (forest, agro-forestry, plantation and monoculture. Monoculture agriculture has the largest number of Lepidoptera and Hemiptera order (herbivore insect dominated while in agro-forest system has the largest number of Diptera and coleoptera order. Protected forest, plantation forest and agro-forestry showed the similar index number which shows the similar ecological services for the insect as their habitat. However, in the monoculture agriculture, there was an unbalance insect composition and high dominance.

  13. Mercury in terrestrial forested systems with highly elevated mercury deposition in southwestern China: The risk to insects and potential release from wildfires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, Jun; Wang, Zhangwei; Sun, Ting; Zhang, Huan; Zhang, Xiaoshan

    2016-01-01

    Forests are considered a pool of mercury in the global mercury cycle. However, few studies have investigated the distribution of mercury in the forested systems in China. Tieshanping forest catchment in southwest China was impacted by mercury emissions from industrial activities and coal combustions. Our work studied mercury content in atmosphere, soil, vegetation and insect with a view to estimating the potential for mercury release during forest fires. Results of the present study showed that total gaseous mercury (TGM) was highly elevated and the annual mean concentration was 3.51 ± 1.39 ng m"−"2. Of the vegetation tissues, the mercury concentration follows the order of leaf/needle > root > bark > branch > bole wood for each species. Total ecosystem mercury pool was 103.5 mg m"−"2 and about 99.4% of the mercury resides in soil layers (0–40 cm). The remaining 0.6% (0.50 mg m"−"2) of mercury was stored in biomass. The large mercury stocks in the forest ecosystem pose a serious threat for large pluses to the atmospheric mercury during potential wildfires and additional ecological stress to forest insect: dung beetles, cicada and longicorn, with mercury concentration of 1983 ± 446, 49 ± 38 and 7 ± 5 ng g"−"1, respectively. Hence, the results obtained in the present study has implications for global estimates of mercury storage in forests, risks to forest insect and potential release to the atmosphere during wildfires. - Highlights: • Mercury in air, soil, biomass and insect were studied at a subtropical forest. • 99.4% of the total ecosystem mercury pools was resided in soil layers. • High mercury pools were large pulses to the atmosphere during potential wildfires. • High mercury deposition in forest pose an ecological stress to insect. - Large mercury pools in forest pose a serious threat for large pluses to the atmospheric mercury during potential wildfires and ecological stress to insect.

  14. Evaluation of spatial and temporal patterns of insect damage and aflatoxin level in the pre-harvest corn fields to improve management tactics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Xinzhi; Wilson, Jeffrey P; Toews, Michael D; Buntin, G David; Lee, R Dewey; Li, Xin; Lei, Zhongren; He, Kanglai; Xu, Wenwei; Li, Xianchun; Huffaker, Alisa; Schmelz, Eric A

    2014-10-01

    Spatial and temporal patterns of insect damage in relation to aflatoxin contamination in a corn field with plants of uniform genetic background are not well understood. After previous examination of spatial patterns of insect damage and aflatoxin in pre-harvest corn fields, we further examined both spatial and temporal patterns of cob- and kernel-feeding insect damage, and aflatoxin level with two samplings at pre-harvest in 2008 and 2009. The feeding damage by each of the ear/kernel-feeding insects (i.e., corn earworm/fall armyworm damage on the silk/cob, and discoloration of corn kernels by stink bugs) and maize weevil population were assessed at each grid point with five ears. Sampling data showed a field edge effect in both insect damage and aflatoxin contamination in both years. Maize weevils tended toward an aggregated distribution more frequently than either corn earworm or stink bug damage in both years. The frequency of detecting aggregated distribution for aflatoxin level was less than any of the insect damage assessments. Stink bug damage and maize weevil number were more closely associated with aflatoxin level than was corn earworm damage. In addition, the indices of spatial-temporal association (χ) demonstrated that the number of maize weevils was associated between the first (4 weeks pre-harvest) and second (1 week pre-harvest) samplings in both years on all fields. In contrast, corn earworm damage between the first and second samplings from the field on the Belflower Farm, and aflatoxin level and corn earworm damage from the field on the Lang Farm were dissociated in 2009. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  15. Bet-hedging dry-forest resilience to climate-change threats in the western USA based on historical forest structure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William Lawrence Baker

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Dry forests are particularly subject to wildfires, insect outbreaks, and droughts that likely will increase with climate change. Efforts to increase resilience of dry forests often focus on removing most small trees to reduce wildfire risk. However, small trees often survive other disturbances and could provide broader forest resilience, but small trees are thought to have been historically rare. We used direct records by land surveyors in the late-1800s along 22,206 km of survey lines in 1.7 million ha of dry forests in the western USA to test this idea. These systematic surveys (45,171 trees of historical forests reveal that small trees dominated (52-92% of total trees dry forests. Historical forests also included diverse tree sizes and species, which together provided resilience to several types of disturbances. Current risk to dry forests from insect outbreaks is 5.6 times the risk of higher-severity wildfires, with small trees increasing forest resilience to insect outbreaks. Removal of most small trees to reduce wildfire risk may compromise the bet-hedging resilience, provided by small trees and diverse tree sizes and species, against a broad array of unpredictable future disturbances.

  16. Forest health in Canada, Montane cordillera ecozone 2003

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allen, E.; Garbutt, R.; Hirvonen, H.; Pinnell, H.

    2004-07-01

    This paper describes the key forest health issues affecting the 6 main forest types in Canada's Montane Cordillera ecozone in the central interior of British Columbia and the Alberta Foothills. In order to protect and conserve biological diversity, the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers adopted national criteria to measure sustainable forest management. This report describes the Montane Cordillera landscape conditions, pre-industrial ecological influences, current ecological influences, and the impact of invasive alien insects and diseases on the diversity of tree species. Pine forests in the Montane Cordillera ecozone are threatened by the mountain pine beetle. Fire suppression has also resulted in ecological changes to forests in the Montane Cordillera, including an increase in Douglas-firs, gradual replacement of Lodgepole pine forests, and reduced health of Ponderosa pine ecosystems. Alien insects are being monitored by provincial forestry agencies through annual surveys. They are also being controlled through localized treatment programs. The impact of land use practices such as forest harvesting on forest structure and composition was also addressed. It was noted that the unrestricted movement of wood and forestry products also increases the threat of invasive alien diseases and insects. The trees in this ecozone have not been damaged by air pollution. refs., tabs., figs.

  17. Insect herbivores associated with an evergreen tree Goniorrhachis marginata Taub. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) in a tropical dry forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, J O; Neves, F S

    2014-08-01

    Goniorrhachis marginata Taub. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) is a tree species found in Brazilian tropical dry forests that retain their leaves during the dry season. That being, we addressed the following question: i) How do insect diversity (sap-sucking and chewing), leaf herbivory and defensive traits (tannin and leaf sclerophylly) vary on the evergreen tree species G. marginata between seasons? The abundance of sap-sucking insects was higher in the dry season than in the rainy season. However, we did not verify any difference in the species richness and abundance of chewing insects between seasons. Leaf herbivory was higher in the rainy season, whereas leaf sclerophylly was higher in the dry season. However, herbivory was not related to sclerophylly. Insect herbivores likely decrease their folivory activity during the dry season due to life history patterns or changes in behaviour, possibly entering diapause or inactivity during this period. Therefore, G. marginata acts as a likely keystone species, serving as a moist refuge for the insect fauna during the dry season in tropical dry forest, and the presence of this evergreen species is crucial to conservation strategies of this threatened ecosystem.

  18. The indirect impact of long-term overbrowsing on insects in the Allegheny National Forest region of Pennsylvania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael J. Chips; Ellen H. Yerger; Arpad Hervanek; Tim Nuttle; Alex Royo; Jonathan N. Pruitt; Terrence P. McGlynn; Cynthia L. Riggall; Walter P. Carson

    2015-01-01

    Overbrowsing has created depauperate plant communities throughout the eastern deciduous forest. We hypothesized these low-diversity plant communities are associated with lower insect diversity. We compared insects inside and outside a 60-year-old fenced deer exclosure where plant species richness is 5x higher inside versus outside. We sampled aboveground and litter...

  19. Dispersal of invasive forest insects via recreational firewood: a quantitative analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koch, Frank H; Yemshanov, Denys; Magarey, Roger D; Smith, William D

    2012-04-01

    Recreational travel is a recognized vector for the spread of invasive species in North America. However, there has been little quantitative analysis of the risks posed by such travel and the associated transport of firewood. In this study, we analyzed the risk of forest insect spread with firewood and estimated related dispersal parameters for application in geographically explicit invasion models. Our primary data source was the U.S. National Recreation Reservation Service database, which records camper reservations at > 2,500 locations nationwide. For > 7 million individual reservations made between 2004 and 2009 (including visits from Canada), we calculated the distance between visitor home address and campground location. We constructed an empirical dispersal kernel (i.e., the probability distribution of the travel distances) from these "origin-destination" data, and then fitted the data with various theoretical distributions. We found the data to be strongly leptokurtic (fat-tailed) and fairly well fit by the unbounded Johnson and lognormal distributions. Most campers ( approximately 53%) traveled 500 km (and as far as 5,500 km). Additionally, we examined the impact of geographic region, specific destinations (major national parks), and specific origin locations (major cities) on the shape of the dispersal kernel, and found that mixture distributions (i.e., theoretical distribution functions composed of multiple univariate distributions) may fit better in some circumstances. Although only a limited amount of all transported firewood is likely to be infested by forest insects, this still represents a considerable increase in dispersal potential beyond the insects' natural spread capabilities.

  20. Environmental damages of forest road construction by bulldozer on ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    STORAGESEVER

    2009-09-15

    Sep 15, 2009 ... In this study, forest road construction technique by using bulldozer was investigated in forested lands ... example, sediment yield delivered from forest roads to ... minimize the erosional impact of roads on the environ- ... 951 mm. 4570 kg. Figure 2. Proportion of environmental damages on road cross section.

  1. Reduction of fume damage in forests: report on the symposium on fume damage held in Tharandt from 30th September to 2nd October 1965

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Daessler, H G; Ranft, H

    1967-01-01

    Summaries are presented of 15 papers, including: extent of variation in fume resistance in Larix and problems of breeding for resistance (Schoenbach); results of research on fume damage on experimental areas in E. Germany (H. Enderlin) (noting differences in resistance to SO/sub 2/ damage of various species of Picea, Pinus, and Abies, varieties of Pseudotsuga taxifolia and provenances of Pinus contorta and Larix spp., effect of fertilizers on resistance, and mass selection of resistant planting stock in practice); resistance of Pinus omorika to fume damage (K.F. Wentzel); chemical and physiological studies on the metabolism of the assimilation organs of conifers affected by SO/sub 2/ (S. Boertitz); basic physiological and phenological studies on the preliminary selection of conifers for SO/sub 2/ resistance (M. Vogl); fertilizer trials in fume-damaged pine stands on Dueben Heath (H. Krauss); insect pests on young pine stands in fume-damaged regions in Poland (Z. Sierpinski); birch and alder pests in industrial regions (Z. Schnaider); management of young fume-damaged spruce stands (E. Pelz); effect of fumes from the potash industry on forest stands in East Germany (E. Ewert); the distribution of injurious substances in leaves (G. Halbwachs); emission of SO/sub 2/ absorbed by spruce needles (J. Materna); and estimating fume damage expected near future power stations (H. Lux).

  2. Insight into the Genetic Components of Community Genetics: QTL Mapping of Insect Association in a Fast-Growing Forest Tree

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    DeWoody, J.; Viger, M.; Lakatos, F.; Tuba, K.; Taylor, G.; Smulders, M.J.M.

    2013-01-01

    Identifying genetic sequences underlying insect associations on forest trees will improve the understanding of community genetics on a broad scale. We tested for genomic regions associated with insects in hybrid poplar using quantitative trait loci (QTL) analyses conducted on data from a common

  3. Guide to insect borers in North American broadleaf trees and shrubs

    Science.gov (United States)

    J.D. Solomon

    1995-01-01

    This book is an illustrated guide to 300 species of inset borers that attack hardwood trees, shrubs, and other woody angiosperms in North America. The major purposes of this guide are to identify insect borers and theri damage to provide information for controlling them. Readers most likely to find this guide useful are practiving foresters, entomologists, and others...

  4. Persistence of long-distance, insect-mediated pollen movement for a tropical canopy tree species in remnant forest patches in an urban landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noreen, A M E; Niissalo, M A; Lum, S K Y; Webb, E L

    2016-12-01

    As deforestation and urbanization continue at rapid rates in tropical regions, urban forest patches are essential repositories of biodiversity. However, almost nothing is known about gene flow of forest-dependent tree species in urban landscapes. In this study, we investigated gene flow in the insect-pollinated, wind-dispersed tropical tree Koompassia malaccensis in and among three remnant forest patches in the urbanized landscape of Singapore. We genotyped the vast majority of adults (N=179) and a large number of recruits (N=2103) with 8 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers. Spatial genetic structure of the recruit and adult cohorts was significant, showing routine gene dispersal distances of ~100-400 m. Parentage analysis showed that 97% of recruits were within 100 m of their mother tree, and a high frequency of relatively short-distance pollen dispersal (median ~143-187 m). Despite routine seed and pollen dispersal distances of within a few hundred meters, interpatch gene flow occurred between all patches and was dominated by pollen movement: parentage analysis showed 76 pollen versus 2 seed interpatch dispersal events, and the seedling neighborhood model estimated ~1-6% seed immigration and ~21-46% pollen immigration rates, depending on patch. In addition, the smallest patch (containing five adult K. malaccensis trees) was entirely surrounded by >2.5 km of 'impervious' substrate, yet had the highest proportional pollen and seed immigration estimates of any patch. Hence, contrary to our hypothesis, insect-mediated gene flow persisted across an urban landscape, and several of our results also parallel key findings from insect-pollinated canopy trees sampled in mixed agricultural-forest landscapes.

  5. Major losses of nutrients following a severe drought in a boreal forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houle, Daniel; Lajoie, Geneviève; Duchesne, Louis

    2016-11-28

    Because of global warming, the frequency and severity of droughts are expected to increase, which will have an impact on forest ecosystem health worldwide 1 . Although the impact of drought on tree growth and mortality is being increasingly documented 2-4 , very little is known about the impact on nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. Here, based on long-term monitoring data, we report nutrient fluxes in a boreal forest before, during and following a severe drought in July 2012. During and shortly after the drought, we observed high throughfall (rain collected below the canopy) concentrations of nutrient base cations (potassium, calcium and magnesium), chlorine, phosphorus and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), differing by one to two orders of magnitude relative to the long-term normal, and resulting in important canopy losses. The high throughfall fluxes had repercussions in the soil solution at a depth of 30 cm, leading to high DOC, chlorine and potassium concentrations. The net potassium losses (atmospheric deposition minus leaching losses) following the drought were especially important, being the equivalent of nearly 20 years of net losses under 'normal' conditions. Our data show that droughts have unexpected impacts on nutrient cycling through impacts on tree canopy and soils and may lead to important episodes of potassium losses from boreal forest ecosystems. The potassium losses associated with drought will add to those originating from tree harvesting and from forest fires and insect outbreaks 5-7 (with the last two being expected to increase in the future as a result of climate change), and may contribute to reduced potassium availability in boreal forests in a warming world.

  6. Quantification and identification of lightning damage in tropical forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yanoviak, Stephen P; Gora, Evan M; Burchfield, Jeffrey M; Bitzer, Phillip M; Detto, Matteo

    2017-07-01

    Accurate estimates of tree mortality are essential for the development of mechanistic forest dynamics models, and for estimating carbon storage and cycling. However, identifying agents of tree mortality is difficult and imprecise. Although lightning kills thousands of trees each year and is an important agent of mortality in some forests, the frequency and distribution of lightning-caused tree death remain unknown for most forests. Moreover, because all evidence regarding the effects of lightning on trees is necessarily anecdotal and post hoc, rigorous tests of hypotheses regarding the ecological effects of lightning are impossible. We developed a combined electronic sensor/camera-based system for the location and characterization of lightning strikes to the forest canopy in near real time and tested the system in the forest of Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Cameras mounted on towers provided continuous video recordings of the forest canopy that were analyzed to determine the locations of lightning strikes. We used a preliminary version of this system to record and locate 18 lightning strikes to the forest over a 3-year period. Data from field surveys of known lightning strike locations (obtained from the camera system) enabled us to develop a protocol for reliable, ground-based identification of suspected lightning damage to tropical trees. In all cases, lightning damage was relatively inconspicuous; it would have been overlooked by ground-based observers having no knowledge of the event. We identified three types of evidence that can be used to consistently identify lightning strike damage in tropical forests: (1) localized and directionally biased branch mortality associated with flashover among tree and sapling crowns, (2) mortality of lianas or saplings near lianas, and (3) scorched or wilting epiphytic and hemiepiphytic plants. The longitudinal trunk scars that are typical of lightning-damaged temperate trees were never observed in this study. Given the

  7. System of forest insect pheromone communication: stability of «information» molecules to environmental factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. G. Soukhovolsky

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Features of external environmental factors (such as electromagnetic radiation in certain spectral bands influencing pheromone molecules, which are carriers of information for forest insects in the search of the opposite sex, were examined. Stability of pheromone molecules for external influences has been studied for siberian moth Dendrolimus superans sibiricus Tschetv., pine moth Dendrilimus pini L., gypsy moth Lymantria dispar L., for xylophages Ips typographus L., Monochamus urussovi Fish. and Monochamus galloprovincialis Oliv. Properties of pheromone molecules were evaluated by calculations using quantum-chemical method B3LYP. Existing methods of quantum-chemical calculations are useful for analyzing the properties of quite small and uncomplicated molecules of forest insect pheromones. The calculations showed that the molecules of insect pheromones are able to absorb light in the ultraviolet range and move into an excited state. The values of dipole moments, the wavelengths of the absorption, atomic and molecular electronic properties of pheromones in the ground and excited states were calculated. The calculations showed that for the reaction of pheromones with oxygen an energy barrier is somewhat higher than for reactions of pheromones with water vapor. The worst reaction of pheromones with water molecules likely to pheromones such molecules whose dipole moment is comparable to the dipole moment of water. Quantum-chemical characteristics of the pheromone molecules can be linked to specific behavior of the insects.

  8. Climate analyses to assess risks from invasive forest insects: Simple matching to advanced models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert C. Venette

    2017-01-01

    Purpose of Review. The number of invasive alien insects that adversely affect trees and forests continues to increase as do associated ecological, economic, and sociological impacts. Prevention strategies remain the most cost-effective approach to address the issue, but risk management decisions, particularly those affecting international trade,...

  9. SO/sub 2/ injury to forests

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hontvedt, R

    1970-01-01

    Sulfur dioxide is one of the most important of the air pollutants which has produced damage to trees and other vegetation. This article gives some examples of SO/sub 2/ damage to forests: At Rjukan in Norway, at Naerkes-Kvarntorp in Sweden and in German industrial regions. Then a brief summary is given of the factors which determine the effects of SO/sub 2/ on plants. Significant differences in SO/sub 2/ resistance exist, both between species and between individuals of the same species. Deciduous trees are more resistant than conifers. There appears to be a positive correlation between CO/sub 2/ assimilation and SO/sub 2/ damage in some individuals. Factors which influence co2 assimilation include, for example, the leaf development state and environmental factors (light, water, temperature, etc.). High SO/sub 2/ concentrations in the air over a brief time period are distinctly more injurious than low concentrations over a long time. Fertilization may increase the resistance of forest trees to SO/sub 2/. Some insect types predispose to SO/sub 2/, partly by increasing the number of dead and weakened trees and partially by increasing parasitization by insects.

  10. Estimating of two different kinds of forest damage mechanisms in southeastern Finland. Pt. 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jokinen, J.

    1993-01-01

    Pinus silvestris is a particularly suitable bioindicator, since it is widely distributed and sensitive to many air pollutants. In recent projects we have obtained results which support the so-called nitrogen-sulphur hypothesis. We suggest that the excess of nitrogen compounds like ammonia/ammonium, nitrogen oxides and nitrate together with gaseous sulphur compounds and anthropogenic acids, trigger severe forest damages. The basis of two different kinds of forest damage mechanisms seems to depend on the relationship of N- and S-compounds in ambient air as indicated by the different concentrations of total sulphur and nitrogen in the needles and the relationship thereof. Possible physiological mechanisms by which nitrogen compounds and sulfurcompounds can affect each other (e.g., changes in enzymatic activities) are discussed. (orig./UWA) [de

  11. You'd better walk alone: Changes in forest composition affect pollination efficiency and pre-dispersal cone damage in Iberian Juniperus thurifera forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez-García, E; Mezquida, E T; Olano, J M

    2017-11-01

    Changes in land-use patterns are a major driver of global environmental change. Cessation of traditional land-use practices has led to forest expansion and shifts in forest composition. Consequently, former monospecific forests maintained by traditional management are progressing towards mixed forests. However, knowledge is scarce on how the presence of other tree species will affect reproduction of formerly dominant species. We explored this question in the wind-pollinated tree Juniperus thurifera. We hypothesised that the presence of heterospecific trees would have a negative effect on cone production and on the proportion of cones attacked by specialised predators. We assessed the relative importance of forest composition on cone production, seed development and pre-dispersal cone damage on nine paired pure and mixed J. thurifera forests in three regions across the Iberian Peninsula. The effects of forest composition on crop size, cone and seed characteristics, as well as damage by pre-dispersal arthropods were tested using mixed models. Cone production was lower and seed abortion higher in mixed forests, suggesting higher pollination failure. In contrast, cone damage by arthropods was higher in pure forests, supporting the hypothesis that presence of non-host plants reduces damage rates. However, the response of each arthropod to forest composition was species-specific and the relative rates of cone damage varied depending on individual tree crops. Larger crop sizes in pure forests compensated for the higher cone damage rates, leading to a higher net production of sound seeds compared to mixed forests. This study indicates that ongoing changes in forest composition after land abandonment may impact tree reproduction. © 2017 German Society for Plant Sciences and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

  12. Inventory of rodent damage to forests

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kamler, Jiří; Turek, K.; Homolka, Miloslav; Baňař, P.; Barančeková, Miroslava; Heroldová, Marta; Krojerová, Jarmila; Suchomel, J.; Purchart, L.

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 57, č. 5 (2011), s. 219-225 ISSN 1212-4834 R&D Projects: GA MZe QH72075 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519 Keywords : bank vole * field vole * bark damage * forest protection Subject RIV: GK - Forestry http://www.agriculturejournals.cz/publicFiles/40074.pdf

  13. Climate Risk Modelling of Balsam Woolly Adelgid Damage Severity in Subalpine Fir Stands of Western North America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hrinkevich, Kathryn H; Progar, Robert A; Shaw, David C

    2016-01-01

    The balsam woolly adelgid (Adelges piceae (Ratzeburg) (Homoptera: Adelgidae)) (BWA) is a nonnative, invasive insect that threatens Abies species throughout North America. It is well established in the Pacific Northwest, but continues to move eastward through Idaho and into Montana and potentially threatens subalpine fir to the south in the central and southern Rocky Mountains. We developed a climatic risk model and map that predicts BWA impacts to subalpine fir using a two-step process. Using 30-year monthly climate normals from sites with quantitatively derived BWA damage severity index values, we built a regression model that significantly explained insect damage. The sites were grouped into two distinct damage categories (high damage and mortality versus little or no mortality and low damage) and the model estimates for each group were used to designate distinct value ranges for four climatic risk categories: minimal, low, moderate, and high. We then calculated model estimates for each cell of a 4-kilometer resolution climate raster and mapped the risk categories over the entire range of subalpine fir in the western United States. The spatial variation of risk classes indicates a gradient of climatic susceptibility generally decreasing from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington and the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington moving eastward, with the exception of some high risk areas in northern Idaho and western Montana. There is also a pattern of decreasing climatic susceptibility from north to south in the Rocky Mountains. Our study provides an initial step for modeling the relationship between climate and BWA damage severity across the range of subalpine fir. We showed that September minimum temperature and a metric calculated as the maximum May temperature divided by total May precipitation were the best climatic predictors of BWA severity. Although winter cold temperatures and summer heat have been shown to influence BWA impacts in other locations, these

  14. Surface radiative forcing of forest disturbances over northeastern China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Yuzhen; Liang, Shunlin

    2014-01-01

    Forests provide important climate forcing through biogeochemical and biogeophysical processes. In this study, we investigated the climatic effects of forest disturbances due to changes in forest biomass and surface albedo in terms of radiative forcing over northeastern China. Four types of forest disturbances were considered: fires, insect damage, logging, and afforestation and reforestation. The mechanisms of the influence of forest disturbances on climate were different. ‘Instantaneous’ net radiative forcings caused by fires, insect damage, logging, and afforestation and reforestation were estimated at 0.53 ± 0.08 W m −2 , 1.09 ± 0.14 W m −2 , 2.23 ± 0.27 W m −2 , and 0.14 ± 0.04 W m −2 , respectively. Trajectories of CO 2 -driven radiative forcing, albedo-driven radiative forcing, and net forcing were different with time for each type of disturbance. Over a decade, the estimated net forcings were 2.24 ± 0.11 W m −2 , 0.20 ± 0.31 W m −2 , 1.06 ± 0.41 W m −2 , and −0.47 ± 0.07 W m −2 , respectively. These estimated radiative forcings from satellite observations provided evidence for the mechanisms of the influences of forest disturbances on climate. (paper)

  15. Invasions by two non-native insects alter regional forest species composition and successional trajectories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randall S. Morin; Andrew M. Liebhold

    2015-01-01

    While invasions of individual non-native phytophagous insect species are known to affect growth and mortality of host trees, little is known about how multiple invasions combine to alter forest dynamics over large regions. In this study we integrate geographical data describing historical invasion spread of the hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae...

  16. Decadal-Scale Reduction in Forest Net Ecosystem Production Following Insect Defoliation Contrasts with Short-Term Impacts of Prescribed Fires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kenneth L. Clark; Heidi J. Renninger; Nicholas Skowronski; Michael Gallagher; Karina V.R.  Schäfer

    2018-01-01

    Understanding processes underlying forest carbon dynamics is essential for accurately predicting the outcomes of non-stand-replacing disturbance in intermediate-age forests. We quantified net ecosystem production (NEP), aboveground net primary production (ANPP), and the dynamics of major carbon (C) pools before and during the decade following invasive insect...

  17. Simulated impacts of insect defoliation on forest carbon dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Medvigy, D; Clark, K L; Skowronski, N S; Schäfer, K V R

    2012-01-01

    Many temperate and boreal forests are subject to insect epidemics. In the eastern US, over 41 million meters squared of tree basal area are thought to be at risk of gypsy moth defoliation. However, the decadal-to-century scale implications of defoliation events for ecosystem carbon dynamics are not well understood. In this study, the effects of defoliation intensity, periodicity and spatial pattern on the carbon cycle are investigated in a set of idealized model simulations. A mechanistic terrestrial biosphere model, ecosystem demography model 2, is driven with observations from a xeric oak–pine forest located in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Simulations indicate that net ecosystem productivity (equal to photosynthesis minus respiration) decreases linearly with increasing defoliation intensity. However, because of interactions between defoliation and drought effects, aboveground biomass exhibits a nonlinear decrease with increasing defoliation intensity. The ecosystem responds strongly with both reduced productivity and biomass loss when defoliation periodicity varies from 5 to 15 yr, but exhibits a relatively weak response when defoliation periodicity varies from 15 to 60 yr. Simulations of spatially heterogeneous defoliation resulted in markedly smaller carbon stocks than simulations with spatially homogeneous defoliation. These results show that gypsy moth defoliation has a large effect on oak–pine forest biomass dynamics, functioning and its capacity to act as a carbon sink. (letter)

  18. Diagnosing injury to eastern forest trees

    Science.gov (United States)

    John M. Skelly; Donald D. Davis; William Merrill; E. Alan Cameron; H. Daniel Brown; David B. Drummond; Leon S., eds. Dochinger

    1987-01-01

    The purpose of this manual is to assist members of the National Vegetation Survey in recognizing air pollutant-induced injury and in identifying disease and insect damage that may be confused with air pollutant-induced injury to forest vegetation in the eastern United States. Ozone, sulfur dioxide, and, to a limited geographic extent, hydrogen fluoride, are all...

  19. Gall-inducing insects of deciduous and semideciduous forests in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Paula M. Goetz

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Galls are specific changes induced by insects on plant organs mainly through increases in plant cell number and/or size. Gall diversity is easy to recognize in the field because gallers are mostly species-specific, and thus each gall morphotype can be a proxy for a galling species. Insect galls are virtually unknown in Seasonal Deciduous and Semi-Deciduous forests of southern Brazil. Here, galls and host plants were surveyed between 2015 and 2017 in four forest fragments of Rio Grande do Sul State in these two vegetation types, in secondary-growth and areas under restoration. We recorded 89 gall morphotypes, with gallers belonging to Lepidoptera and Diptera, with the latter represented mainly by Cecidomyiidae. Galls were associated to 46 plant species in 27 families. Asteraceae, Piperaceae, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae and Lauraceae were the richest families in terms of galls, whilst Piper aduncum and Mikania glomerata were superhosts. Most galls occurred in leaves and shoots. The most common shapes were fusiform, globoid and lenticular. Forty-eight gall morphotype records are new for both Rio Grande do Sul and Brazil, an expressive number considering only two seasonal forest types sampled and few sampling points, showing how important surveys still are for these little know fauna both in taxonomic and ecological terms.

  20. Evaluation of Forest Health Conditions using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatfield, M. C.; Heutte, T. M.

    2016-12-01

    US Forest Service Alaska Region Forest Health Protection (FHP) and University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) are evaluating capability of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to monitor forest health conditions in Alaska's Interior Region. In July 2016, the team deployed UAS at locations in the Tanana Valley near Fairbanks in order to familiarize FHP staff with capabilities of UAS for evaluating insect and disease damage. While many potential uses of UAS to evaluate and monitor forest health can be envisioned, this project focused on use of a small UAS for rapid assessment of insect and disease damage. Traditional ground-based methods are limited by distance from ground to canopy and inaccessibility of forest stands due to terrain conditions. Observation from fixed-wing aircraft provide a broad overview of conditions but are limited by minimum safe flying altitude (500' AGL) and aircraft speed ( 100 mph). UAS may provide a crucial bridge to fill in gaps between ground and airborne methods, and offer significant cost savings and greater flexibility over helicopter-based observations. Previous uses of UAS for forest health monitoring are limited - this project focuses on optimizing choice of vehicle, sensors, resolution and area scanned from different altitudes, and use of visual spectrum vs NIR image collection. The vehicle selected was the ACUASI Ptarmigan, a small hexacopter (based on DJI S800 airframe and 3DR autopilot) capable of carrying a 1.5 kg payload for 15 min for close-range environmental monitoring missions. Sites were chosen for conditions favorable to UAS operation and presence of forest insect and disease agents including spruce broom rust, aspen leaf miner, birch leaf roller, and willow leafblotch miner. A total of 29 flights were conducted with 9000+ images collected. Mission variables included camera height, UAS speed, and medium- (Sony NEX-7) vs low-resolution (GoPro Hero) cameras. Invaluable

  1. Wide Ranging Insect Infestation of the Pioneer Mangrove Sonneratia alba by Two Insect Species along the Kenyan Coast.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisha Mrabu Jenoh

    Full Text Available Insect infestation of mangroves currently threatens mangrove forest health and management. In the Western Indian Ocean region, little is known about insect damage to mangroves despite the fact that numerous infestations have occurred. In Kenya, infestations of Sonneratia alba have persisted for almost two decades, yet the taxonomic identity of the infesting pest(s, the extent of infestation, the pests' biology, the impacts of infestation on host and the ecosystem, the host's defensive strategies to the infestation are poorly understood. S. alba is a ubiquitous, pioneer mangrove species of the Indo-Pacific, occurring along the waterfront in a variety of mangrove ecosystem settings. Our main objectives were to identify the pest(s responsible for the current dieback of S. alba in Kenya, and to determine the extent of infestation. To identify the pests responsible for infestation, we trapped emergent insects and reared larvae in the laboratory. To determine the overall extent of infestation within the S. alba zone, we assessed nine sites along the entire Kenyan coastline for the presence or absence of infested mangroves. Insect infestation in two mangrove embayments (Gazi and Mida was quantified in depth. Two wood-boring insects were identified: a metarbelid moth (Lepidoptera, Cossoidea of undescribed genus and the beetle Bottegia rubra (Cerambycidae, Lamiinae.The metarbelid moth infests mangroves in both northern (from Ngomeni to Kiunga and southern regions (from Vanga to Mtwapa of the Kenyan coast. B. rubra appeared in low density in Gazi, and in high density in Mida, Kilifi, and Ngomeni, with densities gradually decreasing northward. Insect infestation levels reached 18% in Gazi and 25% of S. alba stands in Mida. Our results indicate that B. rubra has the ability to infest young mangrove trees and expand its range, posing a danger to rehabilitation efforts where plantations have been established. Thus, there is great need for forest managers to

  2. Damage by insect pests to the Djingarey Ber Mosque in Timbuktu: detection and control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lara Maistrello

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available The Djingarey Ber Mosque in Timbuktu (Mali is one of the most significant earthen construction in West Africa. Originally constructed in 1327, it was included in 1988 on the World Heritage UNESCO List for its unique architecture and historical importance. During its restoration, recently undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the wooden parts of the roof and architraves showed clear signs of threatening insect presence. In order to identify the pests responsible of the damage, evaluate its extent and suggest a proper control strategy, a detailed survey was performed inside the Mosque complex and in its immediate surroundings. The entomological inspection, performed in the dry-cold season, allowed to detect signs of insect damage in most of the wooden elements, even in the recently replaced beams, but also in walls, pillars and the precious decorated panels. Damages in the wood elements could be attributed to Amitermes evuncifer Silvestri (Termitidae, Bostrychoplites zycheli Marseuli (Bostrichidae and Lyctus africanus Lesne (Lyctidae, which were collected alive on site. Injures in the walls and decorated panels appeared to be performed by hymenopterans such as “plasterer bees” (Colletidae and Sphecidae. From the evaluation of the type and extent of damage in relation to the architecture and materials used in its construction and decoration, the most serious pest and the worse threat for the mosque is represented by termites. Control and preventive measures, in the view of a sustainable, long-lasting integrated management are suggested.

  3. Evaluating an Automated Approach for Monitoring Forest Disturbances in the Pacific Northwest from Logging, Fire and Insect Outbreaks with Landsat Time Series Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    R.Neigh, Christopher S.; Bolton, Douglas K.; Williams, Jennifer J.; Diabate, Mouhamad

    2014-01-01

    Forests are the largest aboveground sink for atmospheric carbon (C), and understanding how they change through time is critical to reduce our C-cycle uncertainties. We investigated a strong decline in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from 1982 to 1991 in Pacific Northwest forests, observed with the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) series of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers (AVHRRs). To understand the causal factors of this decline, we evaluated an automated classification method developed for Landsat time series stacks (LTSS) to map forest change. This method included: (1) multiple disturbance index thresholds; and (2) a spectral trajectory-based image analysis with multiple confidence thresholds. We produced 48 maps and verified their accuracy with air photos, monitoring trends in burn severity data and insect aerial detection survey data. Area-based accuracy estimates for change in forest cover resulted in producer's and user's accuracies of 0.21 +/- 0.06 to 0.38 +/- 0.05 for insect disturbance, 0.23 +/- 0.07 to 1 +/- 0 for burned area and 0.74 +/- 0.03 to 0.76 +/- 0.03 for logging. We believe that accuracy was low for insect disturbance because air photo reference data were temporally sparse, hence missing some outbreaks, and the annual anniversary time step is not dense enough to track defoliation and progressive stand mortality. Producer's and user's accuracy for burned area was low due to the temporally abrupt nature of fire and harvest with a similar response of spectral indices between the disturbance index and normalized burn ratio. We conclude that the spectral trajectory approach also captures multi-year stress that could be caused by climate, acid deposition, pathogens, partial harvest, thinning, etc. Our study focused on understanding the transferability of previously successful methods to new ecosystems and found that this automated method does not perform with the same accuracy in Pacific Northwest forests

  4. Catastrophic wind damage to North American forests and the potential impact of climate change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peterson, C.J. [Department of Botany, 2502 Plant Sciences Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7271 (United States)

    2000-11-15

    Catastrophic winds from tornadoes and downbursts are a major cause of natural disturbance in forests of eastern North America, accounting for thousands of hectares of disturbed area annually. Wind disturbance shows substantial regional variation, decreasing from the mid-west to the east and from the south-east to New England. In terms of the relative importance among these types of storms, more forest damage results from tornadoes in the south-east and mid-west, while downbursts are the most important type of wind disturbance in the Great Lakes area. Downbursts vary widely in size, but large ones can damage thousands of hectares, while tornadoes are much smaller, seldom affecting more than several hundred hectares. Tornadoes cause the most severe wind disturbances. Site characteristics such as physiography, soil moisture, and soil depth; stand characteristics like density and canopy roughness; and tree characteristics such as size, species, rooting depth, and wood strength, are the factors most recognized as influencing damage patterns. The consequences of wind damage to forests, such as change in environmental conditions, density, size structure, species composition, and successional status, occur on both immediate (hours-to-days) and long-term (months-to-decades) time scales. Most wind disturbances result in the post-disturbance vegetation being comprised of surviving canopy trees, and varying amounts of sprouts, released understory stems, and new seedlings. Stand size structure is usually reduced, and successional status of a forest is often advanced. Diversity can be either increased or decreased, depending on the measure of abundance used to calculate diversity. Because tornadoes and downbursts are in part products of thermodynamic climatic circumstances, they may be affected by anticipated changes in climatic conditions as the 21st century progresses. However, the current understanding of tornado and downburst formation from supercell storms is very

  5. The spatial distribution of forest damages in southeastern Finland

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jokinen, J.; Maekinen, E.; Meinander, O.; Haarala, S. [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland)

    1995-12-31

    Up to the present time scientists researching the causes of the vast areas of forest damages observed in Europe and North America have presented many different hypotheses. Among the first explanations was the damaging effect of acid rain. Some researchers claimed that of all air pollutants ozone was the most important damaging agent. The stress theory emphasizes the interaction of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide with oxidants, hydrocarbons and heavy metals to be the main cause of toxic effects. In addition to above-mentioned theories, projects carried out by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) have revealed that under northern conditions coniferous forests have been damaged even in situations where the emissions consist of sulphur and nitrogen compounds occurring together. This theory postulates that the interaction of the above pollutants may be responsible by themselves for the effects on coniferous forests. The interaction is supposed to cause damages by two different mechanisms, namely, by causing direct toxic effects or through wintering failures. These mechanisms are indicated by the total nitrogen and sulphur concentration relationships of the needles. In the first case both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides occur at such a high levels in the air that they cause direct damages, while in the second case sulphur dioxide concentration, in particular, is lower and both compounds can then be used as nutrients causing nutrient imbalance and a loss of wintering hardiness of the needles. The study area in these projects was southeastern Finland, which is one of the most polluted areas in our country. Domestic emissions from the paper and pulp industry, as well as the Russian emissions (e g. from the Leningrad region) affect this area. The aim of this study was to test the sulphur-nitrogen hypothesis using data collected from the Kymi province, S.E. Finland. (author)

  6. The spatial distribution of forest damages in southeastern Finland

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jokinen, J; Maekinen, E; Meinander, O; Haarala, S [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland)

    1996-12-31

    Up to the present time scientists researching the causes of the vast areas of forest damages observed in Europe and North America have presented many different hypotheses. Among the first explanations was the damaging effect of acid rain. Some researchers claimed that of all air pollutants ozone was the most important damaging agent. The stress theory emphasizes the interaction of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide with oxidants, hydrocarbons and heavy metals to be the main cause of toxic effects. In addition to above-mentioned theories, projects carried out by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) have revealed that under northern conditions coniferous forests have been damaged even in situations where the emissions consist of sulphur and nitrogen compounds occurring together. This theory postulates that the interaction of the above pollutants may be responsible by themselves for the effects on coniferous forests. The interaction is supposed to cause damages by two different mechanisms, namely, by causing direct toxic effects or through wintering failures. These mechanisms are indicated by the total nitrogen and sulphur concentration relationships of the needles. In the first case both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides occur at such a high levels in the air that they cause direct damages, while in the second case sulphur dioxide concentration, in particular, is lower and both compounds can then be used as nutrients causing nutrient imbalance and a loss of wintering hardiness of the needles. The study area in these projects was southeastern Finland, which is one of the most polluted areas in our country. Domestic emissions from the paper and pulp industry, as well as the Russian emissions (e g. from the Leningrad region) affect this area. The aim of this study was to test the sulphur-nitrogen hypothesis using data collected from the Kymi province, S.E. Finland. (author)

  7. Insects of the riparian

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terrence J. Rogers

    1996-01-01

    This paper describes life histories, defoliation problems and other activities of insects associated with forest tree species growing along high elevation streams and river banks. In addition, examples of insects and diseases associated with lower elevation riparian areas are given.

  8. Some insects affecting Penstemon seed production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert Hammon; Melissa Franklin

    2012-01-01

    Beardtongue (Penstemon Schmidel [Scrophulariaceae)) seeds are often produced without apparent damage from pests, but several species of native insects can adversely impact seed production fields. Tarnished plant bug (Lygus lineolaris (Palisot)) and western plant bug (Lygus hesperus Knight [Hemiptera: Miridae]), penstemon weevil (Hesperobaris sp. Casey [Coleoptera:...

  9. Effects of sevin-4-oil, dimilin, and orthene on forest birds in northeastern Oregon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merle L. Richmond; Charles J. Henny; Randy L. Floyd; William R. Mannan; Deborah M. Finch; Lawrence R. DeWeese

    1979-01-01

    The possible harmful effect of insecticides on nontarget organisms should be a prominent concern in all attempts to control forest pests. Although all wildlife must be considered, birds are particularly vulnerable. The study reported here was part of the effort to find an environmentally safe method to control one of the major sources of insect damage to forest trees...

  10. Defoliating Insect Mass Outbreak Affects Soil N Fluxes and Tree N Nutrition in Scots Pine Forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grüning, Maren M; Simon, Judy; Rennenberg, Heinz; L-M-Arnold, Anne

    2017-01-01

    Biotic stress by mass outbreaks of defoliating pest insects does not only affect tree performance by reducing its photosynthetic capacity, but also changes N cycling in the soil of forest ecosystems. However, how insect induced defoliation affects soil N fluxes and, in turn, tree N nutrition is not well-studied. In the present study, we quantified N input and output fluxes via dry matter input, throughfall, and soil leachates. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of mass insect herbivory on tree N acquisition (i.e., organic and inorganic 15 N net uptake capacity of fine roots) as well as N pools in fine roots and needles in a Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) forest over an entire vegetation period. Plots were either infested by the nun moth ( Lymantria monacha L.) or served as controls. Our results show an increased N input by insect feces, litter, and throughfall at the infested plots compared to controls, as well as increased leaching of nitrate. However, the additional N input into the soil did not increase, but reduce inorganic and organic net N uptake capacity of Scots pine roots. N pools in the fine roots and needles of infested trees showed an accumulation of total N, amino acid-N, protein-N, and structural N in the roots and the remaining needles as a compensatory response triggered by defoliation. Thus, although soil N availability was increased via surplus N input, trees did not respond with an increased N acquisition, but rather invested resources into defense by accumulation of amino acid-N and protein-N as a survival strategy.

  11. Using satellite multispectral imagery for damage mapping armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) in maize damage at a regional scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armyworm, as a destructive insect for maize, causes wide range of damage in both China and U.S. in recent years. To obtain the spatial distribution of damage area and assess the damage severity, a fast and accurate loss assessment method is of great importance for effective management. This study, t...

  12. Forest Health Detectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bal, Tara L.

    2014-01-01

    "Forest health" is an important concept often not covered in tree, forest, insect, or fungal ecology and biology. With minimal, inexpensive equipment, students can investigate and conduct their own forest health survey to assess the percentage of trees with natural or artificial wounds or stress. Insects and diseases in the forest are…

  13. Abundance of Green Tree Frogs and Insects in Artificial Canopy Gaps in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Horn, Scott; Hanula, James, L.; Ulyshen, Michael D.; Kilgo, John, C.

    2005-04-01

    ABSTRACT - We found more green tree frogs ( Hyla cinerea) n canopv gaps than in closed canopy forest. Of the 331 green tree frogs observed, 88% were in canopv gaps. Likewise, higher numbers and biomasses of insects were captured in the open gap habitat Flies were the most commonlv collected insect group accounting for 54% of the total capture. These data suggest that one reason green tree frogs were more abundant in canopy gaps was the increased availability of prey and that small canopy gaps provide early successional habitats that are beneficial to green tree frog populations.

  14. A conceptual framework: Redefining forest soil's critical acid loads under a changing climate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McNulty, Steven G.; Boggs, Johnny L.

    2010-01-01

    Federal agencies of several nations have or are currently developing guidelines for critical forest soil acid loads. These guidelines are used to establish regulations designed to maintain atmospheric acid inputs below levels shown to damage forests and streams. Traditionally, when the critical soil acid load exceeds the amount of acid that the ecosystem can absorb, it is believed to potentially impair forest health. The excess over the critical soil acid load is termed the exceedance, and the larger the exceedance, the greater the risk of ecosystem damage. This definition of critical soil acid load applies to exposure of the soil to a single, long-term pollutant (i.e., acidic deposition). However, ecosystems can be simultaneously under multiple ecosystem stresses and a single critical soil acid load level may not accurately reflect ecosystem health risk when subjected to multiple, episodic environmental stress. For example, the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina receive some of the highest rates of acidic deposition in the eastern United States, but these levels are considered to be below the critical acid load (CAL) that would cause forest damage. However, the area experienced a moderate three-year drought from 1999 to 2002, and in 2001 red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) trees in the area began to die in large numbers. The initial survey indicated that the affected trees were killed by the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm.). This insect is not normally successful at colonizing these tree species because the trees produce large amounts of oleoresin that exclude the boring beetles. Subsequent investigations revealed that long-term acid deposition may have altered red spruce forest structure and function. There is some evidence that elevated acid deposition (particularly nitrogen) reduced tree water uptake potential, oleoresin production, and caused the trees to become more susceptible to insect colonization during the drought period

  15. A mimic of sexually-motivated homicide: insect stings and heat exhaustion in a forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Nancy X; Pollanen, Michael S

    2017-06-01

    We report the case a woman who was found dead in a forest. The body was nude and the position of the body suggested a sexually motivated homicide. We concluded that death was not related to homicide, but was related to the conjunction of environmental factors, including insect stings, and acute psychosis. A medicolegal death investigation with postmortem examination was undertaken to determine cause of death. At the scene, the body was supine with legs spread apart and the knees flexed, exposing the external genitalia. There were multiple apparent bruises on the body and neck. At autopsy, based on macroscopic and microscopic examination, the apparent bruises were found to be hemorrhagic insect bites. No significant injuries were present and no semen was found. Death appeared to be related to heat exhaustion and innumerable insect stings. Investigation of the medical history revealed longstanding schizoaffective disorder with episodic psychotic decompensations. In the past, during an acute psychotic episode the decedent removed her clothing and ran wildly in a forest, until she was rescued in a state of exhaustion and marked agitation, and taken to hospital for treatment. We concluded that the same circumstances had been repeated but with a fatal outcome. This case is an example of a mimic of sexually-motivated homicide and is a reminder to forensic pathologists to avoid tunnel vision. We need to be skeptical of the allure of common sense based on first impressions of the scene and the body. Forensic pathologists must be unafraid to scientifically explore improbable, but true, alternate explanations.

  16. The influence of soil properties on the development of Cephalcia ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The cedar web-spinning sawfly, Cephalcia tannourinensis (Hymenoptera: Pamphiliidae) is considered a major defoliator of the cedar forests in Lebanon. In the early 1990's, a severe damage of the Tannourine Hadath El-Jebbeh cedar forest was caused by the sudden outbreak of this insect. The insect has a complex life ...

  17. Conservation and restoration of forest trees impacted by non-native pathogens: the role of genetics and tree improvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    R.A. Sniezko; L.A. Winn

    2017-01-01

    North American native tree species in forest ecosystems, as well as managed forests and urban plantings, are being severely impacted by pathogens and insects. The impacts of these pathogens and insects often increase over time, and they are particularly acute for those species affected by non-native pathogens and insects. For restoration of affected tree species or for...

  18. Effects of foliar herbivory by insects on the fitness of Raphanus raphanistrum: damage can increase male fitness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strauss, S Y; Conner, J K; Lehtilä, K P

    2001-11-01

    Generally, effects of herbivory on plant fitness have been measured in terms of female reproductive success (seed production). However, male plant fitness, defined as the number of seeds sired by pollen, contributes half of the genes to the next generation and is therefore crucial to the evolution of natural plant populations. This is the first study to examine effects of insect herbivory on both male and female plant reproductive success. Through controlled field and greenhouse experiments and genetic paternity analysis, we found that foliar damage by insects caused a range of responses by plants. In one environment, damaged plants had greater success as male parents than undamaged plants. Neither effects on pollen competitive ability nor pollinator visitation patterns could explain the greater siring success of these damaged plants. Success of damaged plants as male parents appeared to be due primarily to changes in allocation to flowers versus seeds after damage. Damaged plants produced more flowers early in the season, but not more seeds, than undamaged plants. Based on total seed production, male fitness measures from the first third of the season, and flower production, we estimated that damaged and undamaged plants had equal total reproductive success at the end of the season in this environment. In a second, richer environment, damaged and undamaged plants had equal male and female plant fitness, and no traits differed significantly between the treatments. Equal total reproductive success may not be ecologically or evolutionarily equivalent if it is achieved differentially through male versus female fitness. Genes from damaged plants dispersed through pollen may escape attack from herbivores, if such attack is correlated spatially from year to year.

  19. The extent of immission damage to coniferous forests in the GDR around the year 1985

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schuster, E.

    1991-01-01

    The economic effects of air pollution extend to the economic result of forestry and also directly to the state of forests; the latter damage includes loss of supplies, growth and unsuitability for felling and the adverse effect on forests as a place for rest and recreation. In this publication, results of calculations on the extent of this damage to the coniferous forests of the former DDR (differentiated according to spruce and pine and to the degree of damage) are submitted. The knowledge of the amount of this damage is of economic and forestry policy interest and it is gaining increasing trade importance. (orig.) [de

  20. Near-Real-Time Monitoring of Insect Defoliation Using Landsat Time Series

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valerie J. Pasquarella

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Introduced insects and pathogens impact millions of acres of forested land in the United States each year, and large-scale monitoring efforts are essential for tracking the spread of outbreaks and quantifying the extent of damage. However, monitoring the impacts of defoliating insects presents a significant challenge due to the ephemeral nature of defoliation events. Using the 2016 gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar outbreak in Southern New England as a case study, we present a new approach for near-real-time defoliation monitoring using synthetic images produced from Landsat time series. By comparing predicted and observed images, we assessed changes in vegetation condition multiple times over the course of an outbreak. Initial measures can be made as imagery becomes available, and season-integrated products provide a wall-to-wall assessment of potential defoliation at 30 m resolution. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons suggest our Landsat Time Series (LTS products improve identification of defoliation events relative to existing products and provide a repeatable metric of change in condition. Our synthetic-image approach is an important step toward using the full temporal potential of the Landsat archive for operational monitoring of forest health over large extents, and provides an important new tool for understanding spatial and temporal dynamics of insect defoliators.

  1. Defoliating Insect Mass Outbreak Affects Soil N Fluxes and Tree N Nutrition in Scots Pine Forests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maren M. Grüning

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Biotic stress by mass outbreaks of defoliating pest insects does not only affect tree performance by reducing its photosynthetic capacity, but also changes N cycling in the soil of forest ecosystems. However, how insect induced defoliation affects soil N fluxes and, in turn, tree N nutrition is not well-studied. In the present study, we quantified N input and output fluxes via dry matter input, throughfall, and soil leachates. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of mass insect herbivory on tree N acquisition (i.e., organic and inorganic 15N net uptake capacity of fine roots as well as N pools in fine roots and needles in a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L. forest over an entire vegetation period. Plots were either infested by the nun moth (Lymantria monacha L. or served as controls. Our results show an increased N input by insect feces, litter, and throughfall at the infested plots compared to controls, as well as increased leaching of nitrate. However, the additional N input into the soil did not increase, but reduce inorganic and organic net N uptake capacity of Scots pine roots. N pools in the fine roots and needles of infested trees showed an accumulation of total N, amino acid-N, protein-N, and structural N in the roots and the remaining needles as a compensatory response triggered by defoliation. Thus, although soil N availability was increased via surplus N input, trees did not respond with an increased N acquisition, but rather invested resources into defense by accumulation of amino acid-N and protein-N as a survival strategy.

  2. Silvicultural approaches to animal damage management in Pacific Northwest forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hugh C. Black

    1992-01-01

    This book examines the potential of Silvicultural approaches for managing animal damage in forests at two levels: management of free-to-grow stands and sitespecific practices that foster prompt and successful regeneration. Introductory chapters provide a historical perspective of animal damage management in the Pacific Northwest, describe the elements of an integrated...

  3. Assessing insect-induced tree mortality across large areas with high-resolution aerial photography in a multistage sample

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randy Hamilton; Kevin Megown; James Ellenwood; Henry Lachowski; Paul. Maus

    2010-01-01

    In recent years, unprecedented tree mortality has occurred throughout the national forests owing to insect infestations and disease outbreaks. The magnitude and extent of mortality, coupled with the lack of routine monitoring in some areas, has made it difficult to assess the damage, associated ecological impact, and fire hazard in a timely and cost-effective manner....

  4. MILDLY-DAMAGED FOREST AREAS IN BOREAL FORESTS OF THE WORLD. THE ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT, IMPOTANCE AND PROBABLE FUTURE OF THE CONCEPT OF MILDLY-DAMAGED FOREST AREAS WITH REGARD TO BOREAL FORESTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I.V. Zhuravleva

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The most important environmental goals at the global level, relating to forests, are conservation of biological diversity in the natural environment of its habitat and preservation of the environmental role (especially regarding the climate of forests. Major forest areas, not fragmented by infrastructure and preserving the diversity of relationships between landscape elements, are of crucial importance for solution of both these problems. Since many decisions, concerning conservation and management, are taken at inter-regional and inter-state levels or within the framework of various international processes, it is important to have clear and uniform criteria for identification of such areas. The article deals with occurrence, development and current state of the most common concepts of allocation thereof – the concept of mildly-damaged forest areas, based on the use of remote sensing data, especially images from Landsat satellites. The article substantiates a necessity of further development and update of the concept of intact forest landscapes: unification of approaches to their identification near northern boundaries of forests, adjustment of approaches to registering impacts of forest fires in the context of global climate change and land-use practices, adaption to new public data of remote sensing of the Earth.

  5. Damage severity estimation from the global stiffness decrease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nitescu, C; Gillich, G R; Manescu, T; Korka, Z I; Abdel Wahab, M

    2017-01-01

    In actual damage detection methods, localization and severity estimation can be treated separately. The severity is commonly estimated using fracture mechanics approach, with the main disadvantage of involving empirically deduced relations. In this paper, a damage severity estimator based on the global stiffness reduction is proposed. This feature is computed from the deflections of the intact and damaged beam, respectively. The damage is always located where the bending moment achieves maxima. If the damage is positioned elsewhere on the beam, its effect becomes lower, because the stress is produced by a diminished bending moment. It is shown that the global stiffness reduction produced by a crack is the same for all beams with a similar cross-section, regardless of the boundary conditions. One mathematical relation indicating the severity and another indicating the effect of removing damage from the beam. Measurements on damaged beams with different boundary conditions and cross-sections are carried out, and the location and severity are found using the proposed relations. These comparisons prove that the proposed approach can be used to accurately compute the severity estimator. (paper)

  6. Estimation of forest structural parameters using 5 and 10 meter SPOT-5 satellite data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter T. Wolter; Phillip A. Townsend; Brian R. Sturtevant

    2009-01-01

    Large areas of forest in the US and Canada are affected by insects and disease each year. Over the past century, outbreaks of the Eastern spruce budworm have become more frequent and severe. The notion of designing a more pest resistant landscape through prescriptive management practices hinges on our ability to effectively model forest?insect dynamics at regional...

  7. Comparing modern and presettlement forest dynamics of a subboreal wilderness: Does spruce budworm enhance fire risk?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sturtevant, Brian R.; Miranda, Brian R.; Shinneman, Douglas J.; Gustafson, Eric J.; Wolter, Peter T.

    2012-01-01

    Insect disturbance is often thought to increase fire risk through enhanced fuel loadings, particularly in coniferous forest ecosystems. Yet insect disturbances also affect successional pathways and landscape structure that interact with fire disturbances (and vice-versa) over longer time scales. We applied a landscape succession and disturbance model (LANDIS-II) to evaluate the relative strength of interactions between spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) outbreaks and fire disturbances in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in northern Minnesota (USA). Disturbance interactions were evaluated for two different scenarios: presettlement forests and fire regimes vs. contemporary forests and fire regimes. Forest composition under the contemporary scenario trended toward mixtures of deciduous species (primarily Betula papyrifera and Populus spp.) and shade-tolerant conifers (Picea mariana, Abies balsamea, Thuja occidentalis), with disturbances dominated by a combination of budworm defoliation and high-severity fires. The presettlement scenario retained comparatively more “big pines” (i.e., Pinus strobus, P. resinosa) and tamarack (L. laricina), and experienced less budworm disturbance and a comparatively less-severe fire regime. Spruce budworm disturbance decreased area burned and fire severity under both scenarios when averaged across the entire 300-year simulations. Contrary to past research, area burned and fire severity during outbreak decades were each similar to that observed in non-outbreak decades. Our analyses suggest budworm disturbances within forests of the BWCA have a comparatively weak effect on long-term forest composition due to a combination of characteristics. These include strict host specificity, fine-scaled patchiness created by defoliation damage, and advance regeneration of its primary host, balsam fir (A. balsamea) that allows its host to persist despite repeated disturbances. Understanding the nature of the three-way interaction

  8. Potential establishment of alien-invasive forest insect species in the United States: where and how many?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frank H. Koch; Denys Yemshanov; Manuel Colunga-Garcia; Roger D. Magarey; William D. Smith

    2011-01-01

    International trade is widely acknowledged as a conduit for movement of invasive species, but few studies have directly quantified the invasion risk confronting individual locations of interest. This study presents estimates of the likelihood of successful entry for alien forest insect species at more than 3,000 urban areas in the contiguous United States (US). To...

  9. A Multicriteria Risk Analysis to Evaluate Impacts of Forest Management Alternatives on Forest Health in Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hervé Jactel

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Due to climate change, forests are likely to face new hazards, which may require adaptation of our existing silvicultural practices. However, it is difficult to imagine a forest management approach that can simultaneously minimize all risks of damage. Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA has been developed to help decision makers choose between actions that require reaching a compromise among criteria of different weights. We adapted this method and produced a multicriteria risk analysis (MCRA to compare the risk of damage associated with various forest management systems with a range of management intensity. The objective was to evaluate the effect of four forest management alternatives (FMAs (i.e., close to nature, extensive management with combined objectives, intensive even-aged plantations, and short-rotation forestry for biomass production on biotic and abiotic risks of damage in eight regional case studies combining three forest biomes (Boreal, Continental, Atlantic and five tree species (Eucalyptus globulus, Pinus pinaster, Pinus sylvestris, Picea sitchensis, and Picea abies relevant to wood production in Europe. Specific forest susceptibility to a series of abiotic (wind, fire, and snow and biotic (insect pests, pathogenic fungi, and mammal herbivores hazards were defined by expert panels and subsequently weighted by corresponding likelihood. The PROMETHEE ranking method was applied to rank the FMAs from the most to the least at risk. Overall, risk was lower in short-rotation forests designed to produce wood biomass, because of the reduced stand susceptibility to the most damaging hazards. At the opposite end of the management intensity gradient, close-to-nature systems also had low overall risk, due to lower stand value exposed to damage. Intensive even-aged forestry appeared to be subject to the greatest risk, irrespective of tree species and bioclimatic zone. These results seem to be robust as no significant differences in relative

  10. De novo biosynthesis of volatiles induced by insect herbivory in cotton plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pare, P.W.; Tumlinson, J.H.

    1997-01-01

    In response to insect feeding on the leaves, cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) plants release elevated levels of volatiles, which can serve as a chemical signal that attracts natural enemies of the herbivore to the damaged plant. Pulse-labeling experiments with [13C]CO2 demonstrated that many of the volatiles released, including the acyclic terpenes (E,E)-alpha-farnesene, (E)-beta-farnesene, (E)-beta-ocimene, linalool,(E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene, and (E,E)-4,8,12-trimethyl-1,3,7,11-tridecatetrane, as well as the shikimate pathway product indole, are biosynthesized de novo following insect damage. However, other volatile constituents, including several cyclic terpenes, butyrates, and green leaf volatiles of the lipoxygenase pathway are released from storage or synthesized from stored intermediates. Analysis of volatiles from artificially damaged plants, with and without beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua Hubner) oral secretions exogenously applied to the leaves, as well as volatiles from beet armyworm-damaged and -undamaged control plants, demonstrated that the application of caterpillar oral secretions increased both the production and release of several volatiles that are synthesized de novo in response to insect feeding. These results establish that the plant plays an active and dynamic role in mediating the interaction between herbivores and natural enemies of herbivores

  11. Farmer's knowledge and perception of horticultural insect pest ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Whilst 89% were aware of insect pest problems, only 35% used chemical treatment even though about 79% thought that pest damage ranged from mild to severe. Majority of the farmers adopt diverse number of traditional methods in pest control. Key words: Farmers, pests, horticultural crops, vegetable, control

  12. Clinical features and management of ocular lesions after stings by hymenopteran insects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K S Siddharthan

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We describe the ocular alterations and the management after stings from Hymenopteran insects. In all the five patients, the insect was identified as bee. The patients presented with significant corneal edema, which resolved dramatically in three of them after removal of stingers. Among the other two one went for permanent corneal decompensation and the other developed Intumuscent cataract with increased intraocular pressure. Although a rare occurrence, ocular trauma caused by Hymenopteran insects has a potential to cause severe ocular damage in humans. A high level of clinical suspicion and immediate removal of the stingers along with administration of high doses of topical and systemic steroids is a must to prevent chances of permanent corneal damage and intraocular complications.

  13. Insects as emission-related pests. [Sacchiphantes abietis L

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wentzel, K F

    1965-01-01

    Hydrofluoric acid emissions from a brick kiln severely damaged young spruce forests in the vicinity of the kilns. Six years after start-up of the factory, the affected trees we also strongly affected by spruce gall lice (Sacchiphantes abietis L.). A close relationship was found between the degree of damage to the trees and gall infection. The highest infection stage (500-2000 galls/young spruce) occurred in the most severely damaged regions.

  14. Water and Forest Health: Drought Stress as a Core Driver of Forest Disturbances and Tree Mortality in Western North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, C. D.; Williams, P.

    2012-12-01

    Increasing warmth and dry climate conditions have affected large portions of western North America in recent years, causing elevated levels of both chronic and acute forest drought stress. In turn, increases in drought stress amplify the incidence and severity of the most significant forest disturbances in this region, including wildfire, drought-induced tree mortality, and outbreaks of damaging insects and diseases. Regional patterns of drought stress and various forest disturbances are reviewed, including interactions among climate and the various disturbance processes; similar global-scale patterns and trends of drought-amplified forest die-off and high-severity wildfire also are addressed. New research is presented that derives a tree-ring-based Forest Drought Stress Index (FDSI) for the three most widespread conifer species (Pinus edulis, Pinus ponderosa, and Pseudotsuga menziesii) in the southwestern US (Arizona, New Mexico), demonstrating nonlinear escalation of FDSI to levels unprecedented in the past 1000 years, in response to both drought and especially recent warming. This new work further highlights strong correlations between drought stress and amplified forest disturbances (fire, bark beetle outbreaks), and projects that by ca. 2050 anticipated regional warming will cause mean FDSI levels to reach extreme levels that may exceed thresholds for the survival of current tree species in large portions of their current range. Given recent trends of forest disturbance and projections for substantially warmer temperatures and greater drought stress for much of western North America in coming years, the growing risks to western forest health are becoming clear. This emerging understanding suggests an urgent need to determine potentials and methods for managing water on-site to maintain the vigor and resilience of western forests in the face of increasing levels of climate-induced water stress.

  15. Severe fire weather and intensive forest management increase fire severity in a multi-ownership landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zald, Harold S J; Dunn, Christopher J

    2018-04-26

    Many studies have examined how fuels, topography, climate, and fire weather influence fire severity. Less is known about how different forest management practices influence fire severity in multi-owner landscapes, despite costly and controversial suppression of wildfires that do not acknowledge ownership boundaries. In 2013, the Douglas Complex burned over 19,000 ha of Oregon & California Railroad (O&C) lands in Southwestern Oregon, USA. O&C lands are composed of a checkerboard of private industrial and federal forestland (Bureau of Land Management, BLM) with contrasting management objectives, providing a unique experimental landscape to understand how different management practices influence wildfire severity. Leveraging Landsat based estimates of fire severity (Relative differenced Normalized Burn Ratio, RdNBR) and geospatial data on fire progression, weather, topography, pre-fire forest conditions, and land ownership, we asked (1) what is the relative importance of different variables driving fire severity, and (2) is intensive plantation forestry associated with higher fire severity? Using Random Forest ensemble machine learning, we found daily fire weather was the most important predictor of fire severity, followed by stand age and ownership, followed by topographic features. Estimates of pre-fire forest biomass were not an important predictor of fire severity. Adjusting for all other predictor variables in a general least squares model incorporating spatial autocorrelation, mean predicted RdNBR was higher on private industrial forests (RdNBR 521.85 ± 18.67 [mean ± SE]) vs. BLM forests (398.87 ± 18.23) with a much greater proportion of older forests. Our findings suggest intensive plantation forestry characterized by young forests and spatially homogenized fuels, rather than pre-fire biomass, were significant drivers of wildfire severity. This has implications for perceptions of wildfire risk, shared fire management responsibilities, and developing

  16. Analysis and research status of severe core damage accidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-03-01

    The Severe Core Damage Research and Analysis Task Force was established in Nuclear Safety Research Center, Tokai Research Establishment, JAERI, in May, 1982 to make a quantitative analysis on the issues related with the severe core damage accident and also to survey the present status of the research and provide the required research subjects on the severe core damage accident. This report summarizes the results of the works performed by the Task Force during last one and half years. The main subjects investigated are as follows; (1) Discussion on the purposes and necessities of severe core damage accident research, (2) proposal of phenomenological research subjects required in Japan, (3) analysis of severe core damage accidents and identification of risk dominant accident sequences, (4) investigation of significant physical phenomena in severe core damage accidents, and (5) survey of the research status. (author)

  17. Canadian forest service. Science and sustainable development directorate: Arnews: Annual report 1992. Information report No. 7

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Van Sickle, J.P.; Hall, J.P.

    1993-01-01

    ARNEWS is a program managed by FIDS (Forest Insect and Disease Survey). It has been in place since 1984 to detect early signs of damage to Canadian forests. ARNEWS (Acid Rain National Early Warning System) is a long-term biomonitoring program designed to detect changes in forest vegetation and soils. ARNEWS consists of 103 permanent sample plots located in all 10 provinces. The health of 18 conifer and 9 hardwood species is described. This document presents methods used, the health of Canada's forests, discussion and conclusions.

  18. A Forest Tent Caterpillar Outbreak Increased Resource Levels and Seedling Growth in a Northern Hardwood Forest.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danaë M A Rozendaal

    Full Text Available In closed-canopy forests, gap formation and closure are thought to be major drivers of forest dynamics. Crown defoliation by insects, however, may also influence understory resource levels and thus forest dynamics. We evaluate the effect of a forest tent caterpillar outbreak on understory light availability, soil nutrient levels and tree seedling height growth in six sites with contrasting levels of canopy defoliation in a hardwood forest in northern lower Michigan. We compared resource levels and seedling growth of six hardwood species before, during and in the three years after the outbreak (2008-2012. Canopy openness increased strongly during the forest tent caterpillar outbreak in the four moderately and severely defoliated sites, but not in lightly defoliated sites. Total inorganic soil nitrogen concentrations increased in response to the outbreak in moderately and severely defoliated sites. The increase in total inorganic soil nitrogen was driven by a strong increase in soil nitrate, and tended to become stronger with increasing site defoliation. Seedling height growth increased for all species in the moderately and severely defoliated sites, but not in lightly defoliated sites, either during the outbreak year or in the year after the outbreak. Growth increases did not become stronger with increasing site defoliation, but were strongest in a moderately defoliated site with high soil nutrient levels. Growth increases tended to be strongest for the shade intolerant species Fraxinus americana and Prunus serotina, and the shade tolerant species Ostrya virginiana. The strong growth response of F. americana and P. serotina suggests that recurring forest tent caterpillar outbreaks may facilitate the persistence of shade intolerant species in the understory in the absence of canopy gaps. Overall, our results suggest that recurrent canopy defoliation resulting from cyclical forest insect outbreaks may be an additional driver of dynamics in

  19. A Forest Tent Caterpillar Outbreak Increased Resource Levels and Seedling Growth in a Northern Hardwood Forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rozendaal, Danaë M A; Kobe, Richard K

    2016-01-01

    In closed-canopy forests, gap formation and closure are thought to be major drivers of forest dynamics. Crown defoliation by insects, however, may also influence understory resource levels and thus forest dynamics. We evaluate the effect of a forest tent caterpillar outbreak on understory light availability, soil nutrient levels and tree seedling height growth in six sites with contrasting levels of canopy defoliation in a hardwood forest in northern lower Michigan. We compared resource levels and seedling growth of six hardwood species before, during and in the three years after the outbreak (2008-2012). Canopy openness increased strongly during the forest tent caterpillar outbreak in the four moderately and severely defoliated sites, but not in lightly defoliated sites. Total inorganic soil nitrogen concentrations increased in response to the outbreak in moderately and severely defoliated sites. The increase in total inorganic soil nitrogen was driven by a strong increase in soil nitrate, and tended to become stronger with increasing site defoliation. Seedling height growth increased for all species in the moderately and severely defoliated sites, but not in lightly defoliated sites, either during the outbreak year or in the year after the outbreak. Growth increases did not become stronger with increasing site defoliation, but were strongest in a moderately defoliated site with high soil nutrient levels. Growth increases tended to be strongest for the shade intolerant species Fraxinus americana and Prunus serotina, and the shade tolerant species Ostrya virginiana. The strong growth response of F. americana and P. serotina suggests that recurring forest tent caterpillar outbreaks may facilitate the persistence of shade intolerant species in the understory in the absence of canopy gaps. Overall, our results suggest that recurrent canopy defoliation resulting from cyclical forest insect outbreaks may be an additional driver of dynamics in temperate closed

  20. Mapping Canopy Damage from Understory Fires in Amazon Forests Using Annual Time Series of Landsat and MODIS Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, Douglas C.; DeFries, Ruth S.; Nagol, Jyoteshwar; Souza, Carlos M., Jr.; Kasischke, Eric S.; Hurtt, George C.; Dubayah, Ralph

    2011-01-01

    Understory fires in Amazon forests alter forest structure, species composition, and the likelihood of future disturbance. The annual extent of fire-damaged forest in Amazonia remains uncertain due to difficulties in separating burning from other types of forest damage in satellite data. We developed a new approach, the Burn Damage and Recovery (BDR) algorithm, to identify fire-related canopy damages using spatial and spectral information from multi-year time series of satellite data. The BDR approach identifies understory fires in intact and logged Amazon forests based on the reduction and recovery of live canopy cover in the years following fire damages and the size and shape of individual understory burn scars. The BDR algorithm was applied to time series of Landsat (1997-2004) and MODIS (2000-2005) data covering one Landsat scene (path/row 226/068) in southern Amazonia and the results were compared to field observations, image-derived burn scars, and independent data on selective logging and deforestation. Landsat resolution was essential for detection of burn scars less than 50 ha, yet these small burns contributed only 12% of all burned forest detected during 1997-2002. MODIS data were suitable for mapping medium (50-500 ha) and large (greater than 500 ha) burn scars that accounted for the majority of all fire-damaged forest in this study. Therefore, moderate resolution satellite data may be suitable to provide estimates of the extent of fire-damaged Amazon forest at a regional scale. In the study region, Landsat-based understory fire damages in 1999 (1508 square kilometers) were an order of magnitude higher than during the 1997-1998 El Nino event (124 square kilometers and 39 square kilometers, respectively), suggesting a different link between climate and understory fires than previously reported for other Amazon regions. The results in this study illustrate the potential to address critical questions concerning climate and fire risk in Amazon forests by

  1. Insectes ravageurs et propriétés biocides de Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae : synthèse bibliographique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdoul Habou, Z.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Insect pests and biocidal properties of Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae. A review. Jatropha curcas is a Euphorbiaceae shrub widely distributed in many tropical countries. Its seeds are rich in oil that can be used as biofuel in modified diesel engines. Several insect species, mainly belonging to Hemiptera, Coleoptera and Orthoptera, have been referenced as insect pests of J. curcas. These insects attack the plant and cause damage to fruits, inflorescences and leaves. The most frequently observed pests belong to the genus Pachycoris (Heteroptera: Scutelleridae, which are widely distributed in Mexico, Australia, United States of America, Brazil and Nicaragua. Pachycoris spp. cause significant damage to the fruits, leading to the malformation of seeds and a reduction in their oil content. Although Jatropha shrubs are subjected to insect infestations, the oil has been shown to demonstrate biocidal activity, including insecticidal effects against several insect pests, including Busseola fusca (Fuller (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae, Sesamia calamistis Hampson (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae, Aphis gossypii Glover (Homoptera: Aphididae and Callosobruchus chinensis L. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae. In the present paper, we summarize the work carried out on inventories of J. curcas insect pests as well as on the biocidal activity of its oil.

  2. Combined fluorescence, reflectance, and ground measurements of a stressed Norway spruce forest for forest damage assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banninger, C.

    1991-01-01

    The detection and monitoring of stress and damage in forested areas is of utmost importance to forest managers for planning purposes. Remote sensing are the most suitable means to obtain this information. This requires that remote sensing data employed in a forest survey be properly chosen and utilized for their ability to measure canopy spectral features directly related to key tree and canopy properties that are indicators of forest health and vitality. Plant reflectance in the visible to short wave IR regions (400 to 2500 nm) provides information on its biochemical, biophysical, and morphological make up, whereas plant fluorescence in the 400 to 750 nm region is more indicative of the capacity and functioning of its photosynthetic apparatus. A measure of both these spectral properties can be used to provide an accurate assessment of stress and damage within the forest canopy. Foliar chlorophyll and nitrogen are essential biochemical constituents required for the proper functioning and maintenance of a plant's biological processes. Chlorophyll-a is the prime reactive center for photosynthesis, by which a plant converts CO2 and H2O into necessary plant products. Nitrogen forms an important component of the amino-acids, enzymes, proteins, alkaloids, and cyanogenic compounds that make up a plant, including its pigments. Both chlorophyll and nitrogen have characteristic absorption features in the visible to short wave IR region. By measuring the wavelength position and depth of these features and the fluorescence response of the foliage, the health and vitality of a canopy can be ascertained. Examples for a stressed Norway spruce forest in south-eastern Austria are presented.

  3. The main forest inventory characteristics of the stands damaged by hurricane winds in the southern taiga subzone (Kostroma Oblast

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. N. Petukhov

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available In June and July 2010 in Yaroslavl, Vologda and Kostroma regions, as a result of exposure to hurricane winds, recorded several violations of extensive forest cover in the form of windfalls and windbreaks (Krylov et al., 2012; Petukhov, Nemchinova, 2014. Retrospective analysis on the basis of remote sensing data for the period 1984–2011’s was conducted. It showed, that among the 21st dedicated mass windfall within the Kostroma region and border areas, windfall July 2010 is unique in the magnitude of the total area of disturbed forest cover. According to our estimates, derived from the analysis of remote sensing (RS, its area was more than 60 thousand Ha, which is four times the average annual area of clear felling, in particular, in the Kostroma region (Petukhov, Nemchinova, 2014. In addition to determining the areas of windfall violations of forest cover, based on forest inventory data and remote sensing data analyzed taxation characteristics of forest stands affected by the impact of the seven gale-force winds within the territory of the Kostroma region. The analysis revealed the following trends in hurricane-force winds damaged trees: for parameters such as completeness, forest type and site class is observed relatively uniform stands hurricane wind damage; I.e., we have not found an association between the degree (probability of forest stands damaged data and taxation values data. An exception is the age, height, and in some cases, the predominant species plantations. Plantations dominated by spruce in the stand proved to be somewhat less, but with a predominance of pine – more resistant to hurricane winds, compared to other tree species. Selectivity is also observed for breach of stands older than 40 years and a height of over 16 meters, which is possibly related to the morphological and physiological features of the trees of a given age and height.

  4. IMA status seminar 'biotic damaging factors/epidemiology'. Summaries. IMA-Statusseminar 'Biotische Schadfaktoren/Epidemiologie'. Kurzberichte

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stuettgen, E. (ed.)

    1986-07-01

    This workshop is concerned primarily with the effects of biotic factors on forest decline. The possible involvement of viruses, mycoplasma-like organisms (MLO), rickettsia-like bacteria (RLB), fungi, insects and nematodes in diseases and pests of forest trees has to be investigated. Beside abiotic factors these agents are the cause of different die-back symptoms and damage of trees, but it is not yet known to what extent they contribute to the symptoms man associate with the forest decline ''Waldsterben''.

  5. Disturbing forest disturbances

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Volney, W.J.A.; Hirsch, K.G. [Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, Edmonton, AB (Canada)

    2005-10-01

    This paper described the role that disturbances play in maintaining the ecological integrity of Canadian boreal forests. Potential adaptation options to address the challenges that these disturbances present were also examined. Many forest ecosystems need fire for regeneration, while other forests rely on a cool, wet disintegration process driven by insects and commensal fungi feeding on trees to effect renewal. While there are characteristic natural, temporal and spatial patterns to these disturbances, recent work has demonstrated that the disturbances are being perturbed by climatic change that has been compounded by anthropogenic disturbances in forests. Fire influences species composition and age structure, regulates forest insects and diseases, affects nutrient cycling and energy fluxes, and maintains the productivity of different habitats. Longer fire seasons as a result of climatic change will lead to higher intensity fires that may more easily evade initial attacks and become problematic. Fire regimes elevated beyond the range of natural variation will have a dramatic effect on the regional distribution and functioning of forest ecosystems and pose a threat to the safety and prosperity of people. While it was acknowledged that if insect outbreaks were to be controlled on the entire forest estate, the productivity represented by dead wood would be lost, it was suggested that insects such as the forest tent caterpillar and the spruce bud worm may also pose a greater threat as the climate gets warmer and drier. Together with fungal associates, saproxylic arthropods are active in nutrient cycling and ultimately determine the fertility of forest sites. It was suggested that the production of an age class structure and forest mosaic would render the forest landscape less vulnerable to the more negative aspects of climate change on vegetation response. It was concluded that novel management design paradigms are needed to successfully reduce the risk from threats

  6. Object-based assessment of burn severity in diseased forests using high-spatial and high-spectral resolution MASTER airborne imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    G. Chen; M.R. Metz; D.M. Rizzo; W.W. Dillon; R.K. Meentemeyer

    2015-01-01

    Forest ecosystems are subject to a variety of disturbances with increasing intensities and frequencies, which may permanently change the trajectories of forest recovery and disrupt the ecosystem services provided by trees. Fire and invasive species, especially exotic disease-causing pathogens and insects, are examples of disturbances that together could pose major...

  7. Recreational consequences of the damage to forests. Folgen des Waldsterbens fuer Freizeit und Erholung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nohl, W; Richter, U

    1986-01-01

    The study intends to evaluate the expected monetary consequences of the damage to forests in the Federal Republic of Germany. Emphasis is on the recreational sector. Evaluations are based on 1984-2060 scenarios of different assumed pollution levels. The expected retrograde development of the frequentation of forests is determined by way of evaluating the decreasing delight and enjoyment taken in walks through forests showing the signs of a clearly changed scenery. The monetary evaluation is based on data and facts identifying the benefits those frequenting forests are losing, the financial losses of tourism, and public option losses concerning the future availability of forests. Even the more positive evaluation of deteriorations shows annual damages to be in the order of magnitude of billions of marks. This in view, recreational consequences by far exceed the consequences making themselves felt in sectors such as forestry or the wood industry.

  8. Sequential effects of severe drought and defoliation on tree growth and survival in a diverse temperate mesic forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthes, J. H.; Pederson, N.; David, O.; Martin-Benito, D.

    2017-12-01

    Understanding the effects of climate change and biotic disturbance within diverse temperate mesic forests is complicated by the need to scale between impacts within individuals and across species in the community. It is not clear how these impacts within individuals and across a community influences the stand- and regional-scale response. Furthermore, co-occurring or sequential disturbances can make it challenging to interpret forest responses from observational data. In the northeastern United States, the 1960s drought was perhaps the most severe period of climatic stress within the past 300 years and negatively impacted the growth of individual trees across all species, but unevenly. Additionally, in 1981 the northeast experienced an outbreak of the defoliator Lymantria dispar, which preferentially consumes oak leaves, but in 1981 impacted a high proportion of other species as well. To investigate the effects of drought (across functional groups) and defoliation (within a functional group), we combined a long-term tree-ring dataset from an old-growth forest within the Palmaghatt Ravine in New York with a version of the Ecosystem Demography model that includes a scheme for representing forest insects and pathogens. We explored the sequential impacts of severe drought and defoliation on tree growth, community composition, and ecosystem-atmosphere interactions (carbon, water, and heat flux). W­e also conducted a set of modeling experiments with climate and defoliation disturbance scenarios to bound the potential long-term response of this forest to co-occurring and sequential drought-defoliator disturbances over the next fifty years.

  9. Liming with powdered oil-shale ash in a heavily damaged forest ecosystem. 1.The effect on forest soil in a pine stand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Terasmaa, T.; Sepp, S.

    1994-01-01

    A fertilization and liming experiment with mineral fertilizers and powdered oil-shale ash was carried out in a heavily damaged 50-year-old Scots pine ecosystem in South Estonia. In Estonia, where electric power is produced mainly in big oil-shale-fired power plants, huge quantities of SO 2 are flying into the atmosphere through the chimneys of the plants. However, it is characteristic of Estonia that simultaneously with comparatively high SO 2 pollution the proton load has been quite low because of big amounts of alkali c ash emitted together with SO 2 into the atmosphere through the chimneys of the thermal power plants. Therefore, acid rains are not frequent in Estonia. Acid precipitation here is caused mainly by SO 2 released in the central part of Europe. In Estonia acid rains are most frequently registered in the southern area of the country. At times rains with pH values below 5.1 (even 4.0 and lower) have been registered there. This is also the region where quite severely damaged pine forests can be found. As a rule, these forests grow on acid sandy soils poor in nutrients and bases. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of using oil shale ash as a liming agent in a forest ecosystem for protecting forest soils from acidification and, together with some mineral fertilizers, for improving the health of injured pine stands. In Estonia the most easily available liming agent is powdered oil-shale ash, which has been widely used as a lime fertilizer for agricultural crops but so far has not been tested for liming forests on mineral soils. The comparison of the present study with the liming experiments carried out with limestone in Finland shows that the effect of oil-shale ash treatment of acid sandy soils to raise pH values and to reduce other characteristics of soil acidity was more effective than limestone liming of mineral soils in Finnish forests. The present study demonstrates that powdered oil-shale ash is highly effective in short

  10. Layout Guide for Burnt and Un-burnt Tropical Forest: The Diversity of Forest Plants and Insetcs for Sustainable Environmental

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watiniasih, N. L.; Tambunan, J.; Merdana, I. M.; Antara, I. N. G.

    2018-04-01

    Forest fire is a common phenomenon in tropical forest likes in Indonesia. Beside the effect of soaring heat and lack of rain during dry season due to the tropical climate, farming system is also reported as one reason of forest fire in Indonesia. People of surrounding areas and neighbouring countries are suffering from the effect of forest fire. Plants and animals are the most suffer from this occurrence that they cannot escape. This study aimed to investigate the effect of previously burnt and un-burnt tropical forest in Borneo Island on the plant and insect diversity of the tropical forest. The result of the study found that the plants in previously burnt forest area was dominated by one species, while higher and more stable plant diversity was found in un-burnt forest. Although the number of individual insects was higher in previously burnt tropical forest, but the insects was more diverse in un-burnt tropical forest. The alteration of environmental conditions in previously burnt and un-burnt forest indicate that the energy held in natural forest support higher number and more stable insects than previously burnt forest.

  11. Forest health conditions in North America

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tkacz, Borys; Moody, Ben; Castillo, Jaime Villa; Fenn, Mark E.

    2008-01-01

    Some of the greatest forest health impacts in North America are caused by invasive forest insects and pathogens (e.g., emerald ash borer and sudden oak death in the US), by severe outbreaks of native pests (e.g., mountain pine beetle in Canada), and fires exacerbated by changing climate. Ozone and N and S pollutants continue to impact the health of forests in several regions of North America. Long-term monitoring of forest health indicators has facilitated the assessment of forest health and sustainability in North America. By linking a nationwide network of forest health plots with the more extensive forest inventory, forest health experts in the US have evaluated current trends for major forest health indicators and developed assessments of future risks. Canada and Mexico currently lack nationwide networks of forest health plots. Development and expansion of these networks is critical to effective assessment of future forest health impacts. - The forests of North America continue to face many biotic and abiotic stressors including fragmentation, fires, native and invasive pests, and air pollution

  12. Influence of stocking, site quality, stand age, low-severity canopy disturbance, and forest composition on sub-boreal aspen mixedwood carbon stocks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reinikainen, Michael; D’Amato, Anthony W.; Bradford, John B.; Fraver, Shawn

    2014-01-01

    Low-severity canopy disturbance presumably influences forest carbon dynamics during the course of stand development, yet the topic has received relatively little attention. This is surprising because of the frequent occurrence of such events and the potential for both the severity and frequency of disturbances to increase as a result of climate change. We investigated the impacts of low-severity canopy disturbance and average insect defoliation on forest carbon stocks and rates of carbon sequestration in mature aspen mixedwood forests of varying stand age (ranging from 61 to 85 years), overstory composition, stocking level, and site quality. Stocking level and site quality positively affected the average annual aboveground tree carbon increment (CAAI), while stocking level, site quality, and stand age positively affected tree carbon stocks (CTREE) and total ecosystem carbon stocks (CTOTAL). Cumulative canopy disturbance (DIST) was reconstructed using dendroecological methods over a 29-year period. DIST was negatively and significantly related to soil carbon (CSOIL), and it was negatively, albeit marginally, related to CTOTAL. Minima in the annual aboveground carbon increment of trees (CAI) occurred at sites during defoliation of aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) by forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria Hubner), and minima were more extreme at sites dominated by trembling aspen than sites mixed with conifers. At sites defoliated by forest tent caterpillar in the early 2000s, increased sequestration by the softwood component (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill. and Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) compensated for overall decreases in CAI by 17% on average. These results underscore the importance of accounting for low-severity canopy disturbance events when developing regional forest carbon models and argue for the restoration and maintenance of historically important conifer species within aspen mixedwoods to enhance stand-level resilience to disturbance agents and maintain

  13. Freight transportation and the potential for invasions of exotic insects in urban and periurban forests of the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manuel Colunga-Garcia; Robert A. Haack; Adesoji O. Adelaja

    2009-01-01

    Freight transportation is an important pathway for the introduction and dissemination of exotic forest insects (EFI). Identifying the final destination of imports is critical in determining the likelihood of EFI establishment. We analyzed the use of regional freight transport information to characterize risk of urban and periurban areas to EFI introductions. Specifc...

  14. Protecting the forests while allowing removal of damaged trees may imperil saproxylic insect biodiversity in the Hyrcanian Beech Forests of Iran

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller Jörg; Thorn Simon; Baier Roland; Sagheb-Talebi Khosro; Barimani Hassan V.; Seibold Sebastian; Michael D. Ulyshen; Gossner Martin M.

    2015-01-01

    The 1.8 million ha of forest south of the Caspian Sea represent a remarkably intact ecosystem with numerous old-growth features and unique species assemblages. To protect these forests, Iranian authorities recently passed a law which protects healthy trees but permits the removal of injured, dying and dead trees. To quantify the biodiversity effects of this strategy,...

  15. Invasion of alien plants in fire-damaged forests at southern boundary of the taiga zone

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khapugin, A.A.; Vargot, E.V.; Chugunov, G.G.; Shugaev, N.I.

    2016-07-01

    Aim of the study: Biological invasions are one of the most important areas of forest research. In this study, we revealed invasibility of fire-damaged forests at the southern boundary of the taiga zone. Area of study: The Mordovia State Nature Reserve (Central Russia). Material and Methods: Altogether, 11 square plots of each 100 ×100 m were established in different types of fire-damaged forests. To test plant invasion outside the established plots, field researches were carried out by route method in fire-damaged area of the Mordovia Reserve. Main Results: Six alien species (Erigeron canadensis, E. annuus, Oenothera biennis, Lactuca serriola, Sambucus racemosa, Viola arvensis) were registered within the established plots in 2011–2014. In addition, two alien invasive plants (Solidago canadensis and Bidens frondosa) were found outside these plots. No differences were detected in invasibility of the tested forest ecosystems. Research highlights: Among the revealed alien species, Erigeron canadensis, Lactuca serriola and Solidago canadensis are the most invasive plants in forest ecosystems. The first one was observed with a high occurrence frequency and abundance in all forest types tested. The second one has not been differed by abundance, but it characterized by a high competition as well as a large biomass and a large number of seeds. Solidago canadensis penetrated to natural forest ecosystem in a short time period due to closest location of its dispersal centers near the boundary of the Mordovia Reserve. These species are the most probable invaders of the forest ecosystems. (Author)

  16. When Eggs Don't Hatch. The Benefits of the Sterile Insect Technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kilian, Lizette

    2012-01-01

    Insect pests, such as the medfly, tsetse flies and carob moth can devastate crops and infect herds, causing severe economic hardship. To suppress the insect pest population and protect their livestock and crops, farmers usually use large quantities of pesticides. However, these pesticides are expensive, a risk to public health and cause environmental damage. Another technique, however, can reduce the insect pest population using natural means that do not require toxic chemicals: the sterile insect technique, or SIT. When female insect pests mate with male partners that have been radiation sterilized, the insemination produces eggs that cannot hatch. Since mating does not produce offspring, the insect population decreases naturally. The pest population can be suppressed with little or no use of pesticides. With the help of the IAEA, farmers have applied SIT successfully in over 20 countries on five continents, for over 15 insect species worldwide.

  17. How insects overcome two-component plant chemical defence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pentzold, Stefan; Zagrobelny, Mika; Rook, Frederik

    2014-01-01

    Insect herbivory is often restricted by glucosylated plant chemical defence compounds that are activated by plant β-glucosidases to release toxic aglucones upon plant tissue damage. Such two-component plant defences are widespread in the plant kingdom and examples of these classes of compounds...... are alkaloid, benzoxazinoid, cyanogenic and iridoid glucosides as well as glucosinolates and salicinoids. Conversely, many insects have evolved a diversity of counteradaptations to overcome this type of constitutive chemical defence. Here we discuss that such counter-adaptations occur at different time points......, before and during feeding as well as during digestion, and at several levels such as the insects’ feeding behaviour, physiology and metabolism. Insect adaptations frequently circumvent or counteract the activity of the plant β-glucosidases, bioactivating enzymes that are a key element in the plant’s two...

  18. 36 CFR 223.113 - Modification of contracts to prevent environmental damage or to conform to forest plans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Modification of contracts to prevent environmental damage or to conform to forest plans. 223.113 Section 223.113 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SALE AND DISPOSAL OF NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM...

  19. Ohia forest decline: its spread and severity in Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwin Q. P. Petteys; Robert E. Burgan; Robert E. Nelson

    1975-01-01

    Ohia forest decline–its severity and rate of spread–was studied by aerial photographic techniques on a 197,000-acre (80,000-ha) portion of the island of Hawaii. In 1954, only 300 acres (121 ha) showed signs of severe decline; by 1972, the acreage of severely affected forest had increased to 85,200 acres (34,480 ha). Rate of decline and current severity were related to...

  20. Flood damage estimation of companies: A comparison of Stage-Damage-Functions and Random Forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sieg, Tobias; Kreibich, Heidi; Vogel, Kristin; Merz, Bruno

    2017-04-01

    The development of appropriate flood damage models plays an important role not only for the damage assessment after an event but also to develop adaptation and risk mitigation strategies. So called Stage-Damage-Functions (SDFs) are often applied as a standard approach to estimate flood damage. These functions assign a certain damage to the water depth depending on the use or other characteristics of the exposed objects. Recent studies apply machine learning algorithms like Random Forests (RFs) to model flood damage. These algorithms usually consider more influencing variables and promise to depict a more detailed insight into the damage processes. In addition they provide an inherent validation scheme. Our study focuses on direct, tangible damage of single companies. The objective is to model and validate the flood damage suffered by single companies with SDFs and RFs. The data sets used are taken from two surveys conducted after the floods in the Elbe and Danube catchments in the years 2002 and 2013 in Germany. Damage to buildings (n = 430), equipment (n = 651) as well as goods and stock (n = 530) are taken into account. The model outputs are validated via a comparison with the actual flood damage acquired by the surveys and subsequently compared with each other. This study investigates the gain in model performance with the use of additional data and the advantages and disadvantages of the RFs compared to SDFs. RFs show an increase in model performance with an increasing amount of data records over a comparatively large range, while the model performance of the SDFs is already saturated for a small set of records. In addition, the RFs are able to identify damage influencing variables, which improves the understanding of damage processes. Hence, RFs can slightly improve flood damage predictions and provide additional insight into the underlying mechanisms compared to SDFs.

  1. Evaluation of climate-related carbon turnover processes in global vegetation models for boreal and temperate forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thurner, Martin; Beer, Christian; Ciais, Philippe; Friend, Andrew D; Ito, Akihiko; Kleidon, Axel; Lomas, Mark R; Quegan, Shaun; Rademacher, Tim T; Schaphoff, Sibyll; Tum, Markus; Wiltshire, Andy; Carvalhais, Nuno

    2017-08-01

    Turnover concepts in state-of-the-art global vegetation models (GVMs) account for various processes, but are often highly simplified and may not include an adequate representation of the dominant processes that shape vegetation carbon turnover rates in real forest ecosystems at a large spatial scale. Here, we evaluate vegetation carbon turnover processes in GVMs participating in the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP, including HYBRID4, JeDi, JULES, LPJml, ORCHIDEE, SDGVM, and VISIT) using estimates of vegetation carbon turnover rate (k) derived from a combination of remote sensing based products of biomass and net primary production (NPP). We find that current model limitations lead to considerable biases in the simulated biomass and in k (severe underestimations by all models except JeDi and VISIT compared to observation-based average k), likely contributing to underestimation of positive feedbacks of the northern forest carbon balance to climate change caused by changes in forest mortality. A need for improved turnover concepts related to frost damage, drought, and insect outbreaks to better reproduce observation-based spatial patterns in k is identified. As direct frost damage effects on mortality are usually not accounted for in these GVMs, simulated relationships between k and winter length in boreal forests are not consistent between different regions and strongly biased compared to the observation-based relationships. Some models show a response of k to drought in temperate forests as a result of impacts of water availability on NPP, growth efficiency or carbon balance dependent mortality as well as soil or litter moisture effects on leaf turnover or fire. However, further direct drought effects such as carbon starvation (only in HYBRID4) or hydraulic failure are usually not taken into account by the investigated GVMs. While they are considered dominant large-scale mortality agents, mortality mechanisms related to insects and

  2. Beneficial Insects: Beetles

    OpenAIRE

    Hodgson, Erin W.; Patterson, Ron

    2007-01-01

    There are many beneficial beetles in Utah besides lady beetles or ladybugs. Beetles can significantly reduce common insect and weed problems and in some cases eliminate the need for chemical control. Examples of beneficial beetles include: ground beetles, rove beetles, tiger beetles and tortoise beetles. Many of these beetles are native to Utah, while others have been purposely introduced to help control damage from exotic insect and weed pests.

  3. Measuring and modeling changes in land-atmosphere exchanges and hydrologic response in forests undergoing insect-driven mortality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gochis, D. J.; Brooks, P. D.; Harpold, A. A.; Ewers, B. E.; Pendall, E.; Barnard, H. R.; Reed, D.; Harley, P. C.; Hu, J.; Biederman, J.

    2010-12-01

    Given the magnitude and spatial extent of recent forest mortality in the western U.S. there is a pressing need to improve representation of such influences on the exchange of energy, water, biogeochemical and momentum fluxes in land-atmosphere parameterizations coupled to weather and climate models. In this talk we present observational data and model results from a new study aimed at improving understanding the impacts of mountain pine beetle-induced forest mortality in the central Rocky Mountains. Baseline observations and model runs from undisturbed lodgepole pine forest conditions are developed as references against which new observations and model runs from infested stands are compared. We will specifically look at the structure and evolution of sub-canopy energy exchange variables such as shortwave and longwave radiation and sub-canopy turbulence as well as sub-canopy precipitation, sapflow fluxes, canopy-scale fluxes and soil moisture and temperature. In this manner we seek to lay the ground work for evaluating the recent generation of land surface model changes aimed at representing insect-related forest dynamics in the CLM-C/N and Noah land surface models.

  4. Animal damage to conifers on national forests in the Pacific Northwest region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glenn L. Crouch

    1969-01-01

    Animal damage to conifers is a timely topic in the Pacific Northwest. Foresters in this Region are increasingly concerned and perplexed by damage caused by animals to natural and planted seedlings and larger growing stock. Nearly every animal inhabiting for st land is believed to injure seedlings and small trees to some degree. Mice girdle small trees, and bears girdle...

  5. Structure and dynamics of the oribatid mite communities (Acari, Oribatida in some Quercus forests, in relation with the treatments used in the control of defoliating insects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Otilia Ivan

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available This study was carried out in the context of some complex researches concerning the effects of long standing use of the pesticides in the control of the defoliating insects, in forest ecosystems. These investigations showed that the structural parameters of the oribatid mites' communities are obviously influenced by the stands biotic and abiotic factors, alongside some varied anthropogenic factors, such as:treatments, industrial pollution, some management measures etc. This paper includes a comparative analysis of the research results obtained in two forest stands placed in the Moldavian Plateau (Ciurea Forest District, Iasi county: Tomesti-Poieni (integratedcontrol of the defoliating insects and ªanta (chemical control. The analysis of the faunistic material collected in these two forests has shown that, in the first stand (the control perimeter, the density, the number of species, and also the specific diversity have higher values compared to the second station. In unfavourable climatic conditions(e. g. during the winter season it was observed a more increased decline of these parameters in the ªanta forest, related to the control station. In such conditions (low temperatures, deficit of humidity etc. the change of the vertical distribution of the effectives was observed in both stands, and a massive migration of the oribatid mites in the deeper, humiferous layer of the soil. The results gathered during the project emphasize that the chemical treatments used against the defoliating insects enhance the negative effects of some natural factors, representing an additional stressing factor on the edaphic microarthropods' communities.

  6. Structure and dynamics of the oribatid mite communities (Acari, Oribatida in some Quercus forests, in relation with the treatments used in the control of defoliating insects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Otilia Ivan

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This study was carried out in the context of some complex researches concerning the effects of long standing use of the pesticides in the control of the defoliating insects, in forest ecosystems. These investigations showed that the structural parameters of the oribatid mites' communities are obviously influenced by the stands biotic and abiotic factors, alongside some varied anthropogenic factors, such as: treatments, industrial pollution, some management measures etc. This paper includes a comparative analysis of the research results obtained in two forest stands placed in the Moldavian Plateau (Ciurea Forest District, Iasi county: Tomesti-Poieni (integrated control of the defoliating insects and Santa (chemical control. The analysis of the faunistic material collected in these two forests has shown that, in the first stand (the control perimeter, the density, the number of species, and also the specific diversity have higher values compared to the second station. In unfavourable climatic conditions (e. g. during the winter season it was observed a more increased decline of these parameters in the Santa forest, related to the control station. In such conditions (low temperatures, deficit of humidity etc. the change of the vertical distribution of the effectives was observed in both stands, and a massive migration of the oribatid mites in the deeper, humiferous layer of the soil. The results gathered during the project emphasize that the chemical treatments used against the defoliating insects enhance the negative effects of some natural factors, representing an additional stressing factor on the edaphic microarthropods' communities.

  7. Disturbance in boreal forest ecosystems: human impacts and natural processes. Proceedings of the International Boreal Forest Research Association 1997 annual meeting; 1997 August 4-7; Duluth, Minnesota.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    The papers in these proceedings cover a wide range of topics related to human and natural disturbance processes in forests of the boreal zone in North America and Eurasia. Topics include historic and predicted landscape change; forest management; disturbance by insects, fire, air pollution, severe weather, and global climate change; and carbon cycling.

  8. Power Burst Facility severe-fuel-damage test program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCardell, R.K.; MacDonald, P.E.

    1982-01-01

    As a result of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) has initiated a severe fuel damage research program to investigate fuel rod and core response, and fission product and hydrogen release and transport during degraded core cooling accidents. This paper presents a discussion of the expected benefits of the PBF severe fuel damage tests to the nuclear industry, a description of the first five planned experiments, the results of pretest analysis performed to predict the fuel bundle heatup for the first two experiments, and a discussion of Phase II severe fuel damage experiments. Modifications to the fission product detection system envisioned for the later experiments are also described

  9. A multicriteria framework for producing local, regional, and national insect and disease risk maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frank J. Jr. Krist; Frank J. Sapio

    2010-01-01

    The construction of the 2006 National Insect and Disease Risk Map, compiled by the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry Area, Forest Health Protection Unit, resulted in the development of a GIS-based, multicriteria approach for insect and disease risk mapping that can account for regional variations in forest health concerns and threats. This risk mapping...

  10. Repeated insect outbreaks promote multi-cohort aspen mixedwood forests in Northern Minnesota, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael Reinikainen; Anthony W. D' Amato; Shawn. Fraver

    2012-01-01

    Characterizing the timing, severity, and agents of historic forest disturbances is critical to developing management and conservation strategies based on natural processes. Typically such information is derived from retrospective studies of remnant old-growth forests; however, this approach has limited application in regions dominated by secondary forests heavily...

  11. Effect of Light Availability on the Interaction between Maritime Pine and the Pine Weevil: Light Drives Insect Feeding Behavior But Also the Defensive Capabilities of the Host

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Estefanía Suárez-Vidal

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Light is a major environmental factor that may determine the interaction between plants and herbivores in several ways, including top-down effects through changes in herbivore behavior and bottom-up effects mediated by alterations of plant physiology. Here we explored the relative contribution of these two regulation processes to the outcome of the interaction of pine trees with a major forest pest, the pine weevil (Hylobius abietis. We studied to what extent light availability influence insect feeding behavior and/or the ability of pines to produce induced defenses in response to herbivory. For this purpose, 3-year old Pinus pinaster plants from three contrasting populations were subjected to 6 days of experimental herbivory by the pine weevil under two levels of light availability (complete darkness or natural sunlight independently applied to the plant and to the insect in a fully factorial design. Light availability strongly affected the pine weevil feeding behavior. The pine weevil fed more and caused larger feeding scars in darkness than under natural sunlight. Besides, under the more intense levels of weevil damage (i.e., those registered with insects in darkness, light availability also affected the pine’s ability to respond to insect feeding by producing induced resin defenses. These results were consistent across the three studied populations despite they differed in weevil susceptibility and inducibility of defenses. Morocco was the most damaged population and the one that induced more defensive compounds. Overall, results indicate that light availability modulates the outcome of the pine–weevil interactions through both bottom-up and top-down regulation mechanisms.

  12. Imbibitional damage in conidia of the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, and Metarhizium acridum

    Science.gov (United States)

    When dried organisms are immersed in water, rapid imbibition may cause severe damage to plasma membranes; in unicellular organisms, such damage is usually lethal. This study investigated effects of pre-immersion moisture levels and immersion temperature on imbibitional damage in three insect pathoge...

  13. Neglect severity after left and right brain damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suchan, Julia; Rorden, Chris; Karnath, Hans-Otto

    2012-05-01

    While unilateral spatial neglect after left brain damage is undoubtedly less common than spatial neglect after a right hemisphere lesion, it is also assumed to be less severe. Here we directly test this latter hypothesis using a continuous measure of neglect severity: the so-called Center of Cancellation (CoC). Rorden and Karnath (2010) recently validated this index for right brain damaged neglect patients. A first aim of the present study was to evaluate this new measure for spatial neglect after left brain damage. In a group of 48 left-sided stroke patients with and without neglect, a score greater than -0.086 on the Bells Test and greater than -0.024 on the Letter Cancellation Task turned out to indicate neglect behavior for acute left brain damaged patients. A second aim was to directly compare the severity of spatial neglect after left versus right brain injury by using the new CoC measure. While neglect is less frequent following left than right hemisphere injury, we found that when this symptom occurs it is of similar severity in acute left brain injury as in patients after acute right brain injury. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. The largest forest fires in Portugal: the constraints of burned area size on the comprehension of fire severity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tedim, Fantina; Remelgado, Ruben; Martins, João; Carvalho, Salete

    2015-01-01

    Portugal is a European country with highest forest fires density and burned area. Since beginning of official forest fires database in 1980, an increase in number of fires and burned area as well as appearance of large and catastrophic fires have characterized fire activity in Portugal. In 1980s, the largest fires were just a little bit over 10,000 ha. However, in the beginning of 21st century several fires occurred with a burned area over 20,000 ha. Some of these events can be classified as mega-fires due to their ecological and socioeconomic severity. The present study aimed to discuss the characterization of large forest fires trend, in order to understand if the largest fires that occurred in Portugal were exceptional events or evidences of a new trend, and the constraints of fire size to characterize fire effects because, usually, it is assumed that larger the fire higher the damages. Using Portuguese forest fire database and satellite imagery, the present study showed that the largest fires could be seen at the same time as exceptional events and as evidence of a new fire regime. It highlighted the importance of size and patterns of unburned patches within fire perimeter as well as heterogeneity of fire ecological severity, usually not included in fire regime description, which are critical to fire management and research. The findings of this research can be used in forest risk reduction and suppression planning.

  15. Present status and needs of research on severe core damage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1982-05-01

    The needs for research on severe core damage accident have been emphasized recently, in particular, since TMI-2 accident. The Severe Core Damage Research Task Force was established by the Divisions of Reactor Safety and Reactor Safety Evaluation to evaluate individual phenomenon, to survey the present status of research and to provide the recommended research subjects on severe accidents. This report describes the accident phenomena involving some analytical results, status of research and recommended research subjects on severe core damage accidents, divided into accident sequence, fuel damage, and molten material behavior, fission product behavior, hydrogen generation and combustion, steam explosion and containment integrity. (author)

  16. Colour atlas on forest disease. Diagnosis of tree diseases. Farbatlas Waldschaeden. Diagnose von Baumkrankheiten

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hartmann, G.; Winter, K.; Nienhaus, F.; Butin, H.

    1988-01-01

    The 'Colour Atlas on Forest Disease' facilitates the diagnosis of syndromes due to different causes in 16 genera or species of forest trees. It contains a selection of more than 200 important, frequent, or conspicuous disease phenomena. These include: in a ratio of 8 percent partly novel, complex diseases due to causes not entirely elucidated, 35 percent known forms of damage of abiotic origin (extreme weather conditions, nutrient deficiency, classical damage due to environmental pollution and de-icing salt, damage through herbicides), and 57 percent diseases and harm of biotic origin (fungal infections, infestation with insect pest, bacterial, mycoplasmal, rickettsia-type and viral diseases, other damage). 418 colour photographs show characteristic features of tree diseases and provide clues to causes and possible alternative diseases liable to be mixed up with the actual one. The selection decided on is restricted to symptoms visible externally in the area of the crowns as far as they are distinguishable in the field. (orig./MG) With 418 colour photographs.

  17. Insects in fluctuating thermal environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colinet, Hervé; Sinclair, Brent J; Vernon, Philippe; Renault, David

    2015-01-07

    All climate change scenarios predict an increase in both global temperature means and the magnitude of seasonal and diel temperature variation. The nonlinear relationship between temperature and biological processes means that fluctuating temperatures lead to physiological, life history, and ecological consequences for ectothermic insects that diverge from those predicted from constant temperatures. Fluctuating temperatures that remain within permissive temperature ranges generally improve performance. By contrast, those which extend to stressful temperatures may have either positive impacts, allowing repair of damage accrued during exposure to thermal extremes, or negative impacts from cumulative damage during successive exposures. We discuss the mechanisms underlying these differing effects. Fluctuating temperatures could be used to enhance or weaken insects in applied rearing programs, and any prediction of insect performance in the field-including models of climate change or population performance-must account for the effect of fluctuating temperatures.

  18. Radioisotope labelling of several major insect pest. Dipping the pupae in /sup 32/P solution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sutrisno, S. (National Atomic Energy Agency, Jakarta (Indonesia). Pasar Djumat Research Centre)

    1981-12-01

    Radioisotope uptake by insects could take place through various parts i.e. mouth, cuticula, intersegmental, secretion and excretion organs. Usually insects are labelled internally by feeding them on an artificial diet containing radioisotope solution. Labelling of several insect pests of cabbage (Crocidolomia binotalis) Zell and Plutella maculipennis Curt and rice (Chilo suppressalis Walker) by dipping of the pupae in /sup 32/P solution showed a promising result. Pupae of Crocidolomia binotalis Zell dipped in 3 ml solution of /sup 32/P with specific activities of 1, 3, 5 and 7 ..mu..Ci/ml had developed labelled adults of sufficiently high radioactivity levels for ecological studies. Similar results were also obtained with Plutella maculipennis Curt and Chilo suppressalis Walker with doses of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 ..mu..Ci/ml /sup 32/P solution. The best doses for radioisotope labelling by dipping of the insects Crocidolomia binotalis Zell, Plutella maculipennis Curt, and Chilo suppressalis Walker were 1, 9, and 7 ..mu..Ci/ml respectivelly.

  19. The nutritional value of fourteen species of edible insects in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    hope&shola

    2006-02-02

    Feb 2, 2006 ... in Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Bodenheimer, 1951). Hundreds of ... developed among the cultivators of the forest region. It is .... Proximate analysis (%) of commonly eaten dried insects in south western Nigeria. Insects.

  20. ForWarn: A Cross-Cutting Forest Resource Management and Decision Support System Providing the Capacity to Identify and Track Forest Disturbances Nationally

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hargrove, W. W.; Spruce, J.; Norman, S.; Christie, W.; Hoffman, F. M.

    2012-12-01

    The Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center and Western Wildland Environmental Assessment Center of the USDA Forest Service have collaborated with NASA Stennis Space Center to develop ForWarn, a forest monitoring tool that uses MODIS satellite imagery to produce weekly snapshots of vegetation conditions across the lower 48 United States. Forest and natural resource managers can use ForWarn to rapidly detect, identify, and respond to unexpected changes in the nation's forests caused by insects, diseases, wildfires, severe weather, or other natural or human-caused events. ForWarn detects most types of forest disturbances, including insects, disease, wildfires, frost and ice damage, tornadoes, hurricanes, blowdowns, harvest, urbanization, and landslides. It also detects drought, flood, and temperature effects, and shows early and delayed seasonal vegetation development. Operating continuously since January 2010, results show ForWarn to be a robust and highly capable tool for detecting changes in forest conditions. ForWarn is the first national-scale system of its kind based on remote sensing developed specifically for forest disturbances. It has operated as a prototype since January 2010 and has provided useful information about the location and extent of disturbances detected during the 2011 growing season, including tornadoes, wildfires, and extreme drought. The ForWarn system had an official unveiling and rollout in March 2012, initiated by a joint NASA and USDA press release. The ForWarn home page has had 2,632 unique visitors since rollout in March 2012, with 39% returning visits. ForWarn was used to map tornado scars from the historic April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak, and detected timber damage within more than a dozen tornado tracks across northern Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. ForWarn is the result of an ongoing, substantive cooperation among four different government agencies: USDA, NASA, USGS, and DOE. Disturbance maps are available on the

  1. The relation between forest structure and soil burn severity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theresa B. Jain; Russell T. Graham; David S. Pilliod

    2006-01-01

    A study funded through National Fire Plan evaluates the relation between pre-wildfire forest structure and post-wildfire soil burn severity across three forest types: dry, moist, and cold forests. Over 73 wildfires were sampled in Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, and Utah, which burned between 2000 and 2003. Because of the study’s breadth, the results are applicable...

  2. Damage to spruce stands by deer barking and subsequent rots in Forest Range Proklest, the Křtiny Training Forest Enterprise “Masaryk Forest” (the Drahany Upland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petr Čermák

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with determination of the rate of damage by red deer barking, determination of the rate of damage by a subsequent rot caused by Stereum sanguinolentum and the rate of its progress. The paper elucidates causes of the damage and quantifies depreciation of wood by rots in the Proklest Forest Range, the Křtiny Training Forest Enterprise “Masaryk Forest“. The deer barking caused damage to 85% of stands. In the most damaged 2nd and 4th age classes, rot caused by Stereum sanguinolentum was noticed in 89% of damaged trees. The greatest proportion is made by damage from the 70s of the last century. After the 80s, the damage occurred only exceptionally. The average percentage loss of wood is highest in the 2nd age class, viz. 38%. The determined progress of the rot ranged from 1 to 36.4 cm.year-1.

  3. Modeling of multi-strata forest fire severity using Landsat TM data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Q. Meng; R.K. Meentemeyer

    2011-01-01

    Most of fire severity studies use field measures of composite burn index (CBI) to represent forest fire severity and fit the relationships between CBI and Landsat imagery derived differenced normalized burn ratio (dNBR) to predict and map fire severity at unsampled locations. However, less attention has been paid on the multi-strata forest fire severity, which...

  4. 7 CFR 51.2960 - Damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... defect, or any combination of defects which materially detracts from the appearance or the edible or... considered as damaged; and, (g) Insects when an insect or insect fragment, web or frass is present inside the shell, or the kernel shows distinct evidence of insect feeding. ...

  5. Alien Insect Impact on Cultural Heritage and Landscape: an Underestimated Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara Manachini

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The impact of alien invasive insects on cultural heritage and landscapes is very often neglected; even though, more than 50% of species that threaten cultural heritage in Europe are of exotic origin. In addition they are more aggressive. Several examples and a description, are given of the most dangerous alien insects present in heritage sites that constitute a risk for the conservation of cultural property: museum collections, libraries, archives and historic buildings. Globalisation has increased this phenomenon but traces of the accidental introduction of insect pests have occurred since Roman times. The paper discusses the need to implement an estimation of the costs that arise from the damage caused by these species and the lack of specific legislative aspects.

  6. Forest report 2016

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2016-01-01

    This forest condition report of Hesse (Germany) includes the following topics: forest condition survey for all tree species, forest in the in the Rhine-Main area, weather and climate, soil water balance and drought stress, insects and fungi, Forestry Environment Monitoring, infiltrated substances, main results of Forest soil survey in Hesse (BZE II), the substrate group red sandstone, heavy metal contamination of forests.

  7. STATUS OF INSECT DIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN NIGERIA

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Timothy Ademakinwa

    With a rapid surge in human population, there has been concomitant increase in anthropogenic threats to biodiversity, especially for ecologically-important groups such as insects. With the loss of about 79% of its forest cover, Nigeria ranked as the nation with the highest rate of forest loss in 2005. How these and other.

  8. Invertebrates of The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Western Cascade Range, Oregon. V: An Annotated List of Insects and Other Arthropods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gary L. Parson; Gerasimos Cassis; Andrew R. Moldenke; John D. Lattin; Norman H. Anderson; Jeffrey C Miller; Paul Hammond; Timothy D. Schowalter

    1991-01-01

    An annotated list of species of insects and other arthropods that have been collected and studies on the H.J. Andrews Experimental forest, western Cascade Range, Oregon. The list includes 459 families, 2,096 genera, and 3,402 species. All species have been authoritatively identified by more than 100 specialists. Information is included on habitat type, functional group...

  9. Invertebrates of The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, western Cascade Range, Oregon. V: An annotated list of insects and other arthropods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gary L. Parson; Gerasimos Cassis; Andrew R. Moldenke; John D. Lattin; Norman H. Anderson; Jeffrey C Miller; Paul Hammond; Timothy D. Schowalter

    1991-01-01

    An annotated list of species of insects and other arthropods that have been collected and studies on the H.J. Andrews Experimental forest, western Cascade Range, Oregon. The list includes 459 families, 2,096 genera, and 3,402 species. All species have been authoritatively identified by more than 100 specialists. Information is included on habitat type, functional group...

  10. Predicting severe winter coastal storm damage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hondula, David M; Dolan, Robert

    2010-01-01

    Over the past 40 years residents of, and visitors to, the North Carolina coastal barrier islands have experienced the destructive forces of several 'named' extratropical storms. These storms have caused large-scale redistributions of sand and loss of coastal structures and infrastructure. While most of the population living on the islands are familiar with the wintertime storms, the damage and scars of the 'super northeasters'-such as the Ash Wednesday storm of 7 March 1962, and the Halloween storm of 1989-are slipping away from the public's memory. In this research we compared the damage zones of the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm, as depicted on aerial photographs taken after the storm, with photos taken of the same areas in 2003. With these high-resolution aerial photos we were able to estimate the extent of new development which has taken place along the Outer Banks of North Carolina since 1962. Three damage zones were defined that extend across the islands from the ocean landward on the 1962 aerial photos: (1) the zone of almost total destruction on the seaward edge of the islands where the storm waves break; (2) the zone immediately inland where moderate structural damage occurs during severe storms; and (3) the zone of flood damage at the landward margin of the storm surge and overwash. We considered the rate of coastal erosion, the rate of development, and increases in property values as factors which may contribute to changing the financial risk for coastal communities. In comparing the values of these four factors with the 1962 damage data, we produced a predicted dollar value for storm damage should another storm of the magnitude of the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm occur in the present decade. This model also provides an opportunity to estimate the rate of increase in the potential losses through time as shoreline erosion continues to progressively reduce the buffer between the development and the edge of the sea. Our data suggest that the losses along the North

  11. Predicting severe winter coastal storm damage

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hondula, David M; Dolan, Robert, E-mail: hondula@virginia.edu [Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, PO Box 400123, Charlottesville, VA 22903 (United States)

    2010-07-15

    Over the past 40 years residents of, and visitors to, the North Carolina coastal barrier islands have experienced the destructive forces of several 'named' extratropical storms. These storms have caused large-scale redistributions of sand and loss of coastal structures and infrastructure. While most of the population living on the islands are familiar with the wintertime storms, the damage and scars of the 'super northeasters'-such as the Ash Wednesday storm of 7 March 1962, and the Halloween storm of 1989-are slipping away from the public's memory. In this research we compared the damage zones of the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm, as depicted on aerial photographs taken after the storm, with photos taken of the same areas in 2003. With these high-resolution aerial photos we were able to estimate the extent of new development which has taken place along the Outer Banks of North Carolina since 1962. Three damage zones were defined that extend across the islands from the ocean landward on the 1962 aerial photos: (1) the zone of almost total destruction on the seaward edge of the islands where the storm waves break; (2) the zone immediately inland where moderate structural damage occurs during severe storms; and (3) the zone of flood damage at the landward margin of the storm surge and overwash. We considered the rate of coastal erosion, the rate of development, and increases in property values as factors which may contribute to changing the financial risk for coastal communities. In comparing the values of these four factors with the 1962 damage data, we produced a predicted dollar value for storm damage should another storm of the magnitude of the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm occur in the present decade. This model also provides an opportunity to estimate the rate of increase in the potential losses through time as shoreline erosion continues to progressively reduce the buffer between the development and the edge of the sea. Our data suggest that the

  12. Predicting severe winter coastal storm damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hondula, David M.; Dolan, Robert

    2010-07-01

    Over the past 40 years residents of, and visitors to, the North Carolina coastal barrier islands have experienced the destructive forces of several 'named' extratropical storms. These storms have caused large-scale redistributions of sand and loss of coastal structures and infrastructure. While most of the population living on the islands are familiar with the wintertime storms, the damage and scars of the 'super northeasters'—such as the Ash Wednesday storm of 7 March 1962, and the Halloween storm of 1989—are slipping away from the public's memory. In this research we compared the damage zones of the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm, as depicted on aerial photographs taken after the storm, with photos taken of the same areas in 2003. With these high-resolution aerial photos we were able to estimate the extent of new development which has taken place along the Outer Banks of North Carolina since 1962. Three damage zones were defined that extend across the islands from the ocean landward on the 1962 aerial photos: (1) the zone of almost total destruction on the seaward edge of the islands where the storm waves break; (2) the zone immediately inland where moderate structural damage occurs during severe storms; and (3) the zone of flood damage at the landward margin of the storm surge and overwash. We considered the rate of coastal erosion, the rate of development, and increases in property values as factors which may contribute to changing the financial risk for coastal communities. In comparing the values of these four factors with the 1962 damage data, we produced a predicted dollar value for storm damage should another storm of the magnitude of the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm occur in the present decade. This model also provides an opportunity to estimate the rate of increase in the potential losses through time as shoreline erosion continues to progressively reduce the buffer between the development and the edge of the sea. Our data suggest that the losses along the

  13. Forest report 2014; Waldzustandsbericht 2014

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2014-07-01

    This forest report of Hesse (Germany) contains the following topics: weather and climate, forest protection, crown defoliation, infiltrated substances, environmental monitoring, insects and fungi, and water quality of forest streams.

  14. Severe fuel damage projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sdouz, G.

    1987-10-01

    After the descriptions of the generation of a Severe Fuel Damage Accident in a LWR the hypothetical course of such an accident is explained. Then the most significant projects are described. At each project the experimental facility, the most important results and the concluding models and codes are discussed. The selection of the projects is concentrated on the German Projekt Nukleare Sicherheit (PNS), tests performed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) and smaller projects in France and Great Britain. 25 refs., 26 figs. (Author)

  15. Interacting effects of insects and flooding on wood decomposition.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael D Ulyshen

    Full Text Available Saproxylic arthropods are thought to play an important role in wood decomposition but very few efforts have been made to quantify their contributions to the process and the factors controlling their activities are not well understood. In the current study, mesh exclusion bags were used to quantify how arthropods affect loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L. decomposition rates in both seasonally flooded and unflooded forests over a 31-month period in the southeastern United States. Wood specific gravity (based on initial wood volume was significantly lower in bolts placed in unflooded forests and for those unprotected from insects. Approximately 20.5% and 13.7% of specific gravity loss after 31 months was attributable to insect activity in flooded and unflooded forests, respectively. Importantly, minimal between-treatment differences in water content and the results from a novel test carried out separately suggest the mesh bags had no significant impact on wood mass loss beyond the exclusion of insects. Subterranean termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae: Reticulitermes spp. were 5-6 times more active below-ground in unflooded forests compared to flooded forests based on wooden monitoring stakes. They were also slightly more active above-ground in unflooded forests but these differences were not statistically significant. Similarly, seasonal flooding had no detectable effect on above-ground beetle (Coleoptera richness or abundance. Although seasonal flooding strongly reduced Reticulitermes activity below-ground, it can be concluded from an insignificant interaction between forest type and exclusion treatment that reduced above-ground decomposition rates in seasonally flooded forests were due largely to suppressed microbial activity at those locations. The findings from this study indicate that southeastern U.S. arthropod communities accelerate above-ground wood decomposition significantly and to a similar extent in both flooded and unflooded forests

  16. Landscape changes have greater effects than climate changes on six insect pests in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Zihua; Sandhu, Hardev S; Ouyang, Fang; Ge, Feng

    2016-06-01

    In recent years, global changes are the major causes of frequent, widespread outbreaks of pests in mosaic landscapes, which have received substantial attention worldwide. We collected data on global changes (landscape and climate) and economic damage caused by six main insect pests during 1951-2010 in China. Landscape changes had significant effects on all six insect pests. Pest damage increased significantly with increasing arable land area in agricultural landscapes. However, climate changes had no effect on damage caused by pests, except for the rice leaf roller (Cnaphalocrocis medinalis Guenee) and armyworm (Mythimna separate (Walker)), which caused less damage to crops with increasing mean temperature. Our results indicate that there is slight evidence of possible offset effects of climate changes on the increasing damage from these two agricultural pests. Landscape changes have caused serious outbreaks of several species, which suggests the possibility of the use of landscape design for the control of pest populations through habitat rearrangement. Landscape manipulation may be used as a green method to achieve sustainable pest management with minimal use of insecticides and herbicides.

  17. Damages to soil and tree species by cable-skidding in Caspian forests of Iran

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tavankar, Farzam; Bonyad, Amir E.; Nikooy, Mehrdad; Picchio, Rodolfo; Venanzi, Rachele; Calienno, Luca

    2017-11-01

    Aim of study: The main aims of this study were to determine of damage level to residual stand and soil disturbance from mechanized selection logging. Area of study: Mixed beech stands in Caspian forests, northern Iran. Material and methods: Point-transect and systematic plot sampling were used for assessing damages to soil and trees, respectively. Main results: 89% of forest soil area was undisturbed or shallow disturbed, and 5.2% was deep disturbed. Soil bulk density of top 10 cm in the winching corridors, ruts and skid trails were increased 10.7%, 20.6% and 32.1% respectively than controlled area. Frequency of damages to regeneration and trees were 12% and 11.2%. The frequency of damages to regeneration was increased with increasing of their heights, but frequency of damages to trees was decreased with increasing of their diameter. The most type of damages was bole wounds in sizes of 100 to 200 cm2 within 1 m from the ground level, and deep wounds. The frequency of damages was different in tree species (p = 0.001). The mean size of bole wounds was 174 cm2, and the mean height of bole wounds was 70 cm from ground level. The intensity of wounds on trees bole were decreased with increasing of their heights from ground level (p = 0.02), while their sizes were increased (p = 0.001). Research highlights: Winching of logs was the main cause of damages to soil and residual stand. The detailed planning strategy will reduce damage to level which is acceptable and predictable.

  18. Damages to soil and tree species by cable-skidding in Caspian forests of Iran

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tavankar, Farzam; Bonyad, Amir E.; Nikooy, Mehrdad; Picchio, Rodolfo; Venanzi, Rachele; Calienno, Luca

    2017-01-01

    Aim of study: The main aims of this study were to determine of damage level to residual stand and soil disturbance from mechanized selection logging. Area of study: Mixed beech stands in Caspian forests, northern Iran. Material and methods: Point-transect and systematic plot sampling were used for assessing damages to soil and trees, respectively. Main results: 89% of forest soil area was undisturbed or shallow disturbed, and 5.2% was deep disturbed. Soil bulk density of top 10 cm in the winching corridors, ruts and skid trails were increased 10.7%, 20.6% and 32.1% respectively than controlled area. Frequency of damages to regeneration and trees were 12% and 11.2%. The frequency of damages to regeneration was increased with increasing of their heights, but frequency of damages to trees was decreased with increasing of their diameter. The most type of damages was bole wounds in sizes of 100 to 200 cm2 within 1 m from the ground level, and deep wounds. The frequency of damages was different in tree species (p = 0.001). The mean size of bole wounds was 174 cm2, and the mean height of bole wounds was 70 cm from ground level. The intensity of wounds on trees bole were decreased with increasing of their heights from ground level (p = 0.02), while their sizes were increased (p = 0.001). Research highlights: Winching of logs was the main cause of damages to soil and residual stand. The detailed planning strategy will reduce damage to level which is acceptable and predictable.

  19. Forest report 2013; Waldzustandsbericht 2013

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2013-07-01

    This forest report of Lower Saxony (Germany) contains the following topics: weather and climate, forest protection, crown defoliation, infiltrated substances, environmental monitoring, insects and fungi, forest soil survey and forest site mapping, and nutritional status of beech on loess.

  20. Detecting changes in insect herbivore communities along a pollution gradient

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eatough Jones, Michele [Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521 (United States)]. E-mail: michele.eatough@ucr.edu; Paine, Timothy D. [Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521 (United States)]. E-mail: timothy.paine@ucr.edu

    2006-10-15

    The forests surrounding the urban areas of the Los Angeles basin are impacted by ozone and nitrogen pollutants arising from urban areas. We examined changes in the herbivore communities of three prominent plant species (ponderosa pine, California black oak and bracken fern) at six sites along an air pollution gradient. Insects were extracted from foliage samples collected in spring, as foliage reached full expansion. Community differences were evaluated using total herbivore abundance, richness, Shannon-Weiner diversity, and discriminant function analysis. Even without conspicuous changes in total numbers, diversity or richness of herbivores, herbivore groups showed patterns of change that followed the air pollution gradient that were apparent through discriminant function analysis. For bracken fern and oak, chewing insects were more dominant at high pollution sites. Oak herbivore communities showed the strongest effect. These changes in herbivore communities may affect nutrient cycling in forest systems. - Differences in insect herbivore communities were associated with an ambient air pollution gradient in the mixed conifer forest outside the Los Angeles area.

  1. Detecting changes in insect herbivore communities along a pollution gradient

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eatough Jones, Michele; Paine, Timothy D.

    2006-01-01

    The forests surrounding the urban areas of the Los Angeles basin are impacted by ozone and nitrogen pollutants arising from urban areas. We examined changes in the herbivore communities of three prominent plant species (ponderosa pine, California black oak and bracken fern) at six sites along an air pollution gradient. Insects were extracted from foliage samples collected in spring, as foliage reached full expansion. Community differences were evaluated using total herbivore abundance, richness, Shannon-Weiner diversity, and discriminant function analysis. Even without conspicuous changes in total numbers, diversity or richness of herbivores, herbivore groups showed patterns of change that followed the air pollution gradient that were apparent through discriminant function analysis. For bracken fern and oak, chewing insects were more dominant at high pollution sites. Oak herbivore communities showed the strongest effect. These changes in herbivore communities may affect nutrient cycling in forest systems. - Differences in insect herbivore communities were associated with an ambient air pollution gradient in the mixed conifer forest outside the Los Angeles area

  2. Biology and management of insect pests in North American intensively managed hardwood forest systems.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Coyle, David R.; Nebeker, T., E.; Hart, E., R.; Mattson, W., J.

    2005-01-01

    Annu. Rev. Entomol. 50:1-29. Abstract Increasing demand for wood and wood products is putting stress on traditional forest production areas, leading to long-term economic and environmental concerns. Intensively managed hardwood forest systems (IMHFS), grown using conventional agricultural as well as forestry methods, can help alleviate potential problems in natural forest production areas. Although IMHFS can produce more biomass per hectare per year than natural forests, the ecologically simplified, monocultural systems may greatly increase the crops susceptibility to pests. Species in the genera Populus and Salix comprise the greatest acreage in IMHFS in North America, but other species, including Liquidambar styracifua and Platanus occidentalis, are also important. We discuss life histories, realized and potential damage, and management options for the most economically infuential pests that affect these hardwood species. The substantial inherent challenges associated with pest management in the monocultural environments created by IMHFS are reviewed. Finally, we discuss ways to design IMHFS that may reduce their susceptibility to pests, increase their growth and productivity potential, and create a more sustainable environment.

  3. On Wind Forces in the Forest-Edge Region During Extreme-Gust Passages and Their Implications for Damage Patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gromke, Christof; Ruck, Bodo

    2018-03-01

    A damage pattern that is occasionally found after a period of strong winds shows an area of damaged trees inside a forest stand behind an intact stripe of trees directly at the windward edge. In an effort to understand the mechanism leading to this damage pattern, wind loading in the forest-edge region during passages of extreme gusts with different characteristics are investigated using a scaled forest model in the wind tunnel. The interaction of a transient extreme gust with the stationary atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) as a background flow at the forest edge leads to the formation of a vortex at the top of the canopy. This vortex intensifies when travelling downstream and subsequently deflects high-momentum air from above the canopy downwards resulting in increased wind loading on the tree crowns. Under such conditions, the decrease in wind loading in the streamwise direction can be relatively weak compared to stationary ABL approach flows. The resistance of trees with streamwise distance from the forest edge, however, is the result of adaptive growth to wind loading under stationary flow conditions and shows a rapid decline within two to three tree heights behind the windward edge. For some of the extreme gusts realized, an exceedance of the wind loading over the resistance of the trees is found at approximately three tree heights behind the forest edge, suggesting that the damage pattern described above can be caused by the interaction of a transient extreme gust with the stationary ABL flow.

  4. Potential of Pest and Host Phenological Data in the Attribution of Regional Forest Disturbance Detection Maps According to Causal Agent

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spruce, Joseph; Hargrove, William; Norman Steve; Christie, William

    2014-01-01

    Near real time forest disturbance detection maps from MODIS NDVI phenology data have been produced since 2010 for the conterminous U.S., as part of the on-line ForWarn national forest threat early warning system. The latter has been used by the forest health community to identify and track many regional forest disturbances caused by multiple biotic and abiotic damage agents. Attribution of causal agents for detected disturbances has been a goal since project initiation in 2006. Combined with detailed cover type maps, geospatial pest phenology data offer a potential means for narrowing the candidate causal agents responsible for a given biotic disturbance. U.S. Aerial Detection Surveys (ADS) employ such phenology data. Historic ADS products provide general locational data on recent insect-induced forest type specific disturbances that may help in determining candidate causal agents for MODIS-based disturbance maps, especially when combined with other historic geospatial disturbance data (e.g., wildfire burn scars and drought maps). Historic ADS disturbance detection polygons can show severe and extensive regional forest disturbances, though they also can show polygons with sparsely scattered or infrequent disturbances. Examples will be discussed that use various historic disturbance data to help determine potential causes of MODIS-detected regional forest disturbance anomalies.

  5. Tree mortality from drought, insects, and their interactions in a changing climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderegg, William R.L.; Hicke, Jeffrey A.; Fisher, Rosie A.; Allen, Craig D.; Aukema, Juliann E.; Bentz, Barbara; Hood, Sharon; Lichstein, Jeremy W.; Macalady, Alison K.; McDowell, Nate G.; Pan, Yude; Raffa, Kenneth; Sala, Anna; Shaw, John D.; Stephenson, Nathan L.; Tague, Christina L.; Zeppel, Melanie

    2015-01-01

    Climate change is expected to drive increased tree mortality through drought, heat stress, and insect attacks, with manifold impacts on forest ecosystems. Yet, climate-induced tree mortality and biotic disturbance agents are largely absent from process-based ecosystem models. Using data sets from the western USA and associated studies, we present a framework for determining the relative contribution of drought stress, insect attack, and their interactions, which is critical for modeling mortality in future climates. We outline a simple approach that identifies the mechanisms associated with two guilds of insects – bark beetles and defoliators – which are responsible for substantial tree mortality. We then discuss cross-biome patterns of insect-driven tree mortality and draw upon available evidence contrasting the prevalence of insect outbreaks in temperate and tropical regions. We conclude with an overview of tools and promising avenues to address major challenges. Ultimately, a multitrophic approach that captures tree physiology, insect populations, and tree–insect interactions will better inform projections of forest ecosystem responses to climate change.

  6. Fragmentation increases wind disturbance impacts on forest structure and carbon stocks in a western Amazonian landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Naomi B; Uriarte, María; DeFries, Ruth; Bedka, Kristopher M; Fernandes, Katia; Gutiérrez-Vélez, Victor; Pinedo-Vasquez, Miguel A

    2017-09-01

    Tropical second-growth forests could help mitigate climate change, but the degree to which their carbon potential is achieved will depend on exposure to disturbance. Wind disturbance is common in tropical forests, shaping structure, composition, and function, and influencing successional trajectories. However, little is known about the impacts of extreme winds on second-growth forests in fragmented landscapes, though these ecosystems are often located in mosaics of forest, pasture, cropland, and other land cover types. Indirect evidence suggests that fragmentation increases risk of wind damage in tropical forests, but no studies have found such impacts following severe storms. In this study, we ask whether fragmentation and forest type (old vs. second growth) were associated with variation in wind damage after a severe convective storm in a fragmented production landscape in western Amazonia. We applied linear spectral unmixing to Landsat 8 imagery from before and after the storm, and combined it with field observations of damage to map wind effects on forest structure and biomass. We also used Landsat 8 imagery to map land cover with the goals of identifying old- and second-growth forest and characterizing fragmentation. We used these data to assess variation in wind disturbance across 95,596 ha of forest, distributed over 6,110 patches. We find that fragmentation is significantly associated with wind damage, with damage severity higher at forest edges and in edgier, more isolated patches. Damage was also more severe in old-growth than in second-growth forests, but this effect was weaker than that of fragmentation. These results illustrate the importance of considering landscape context in planning tropical forest restoration and natural regeneration projects. Assessments of long-term carbon sequestration potential need to consider spatial variation in disturbance exposure. Where risk of extreme winds is high, minimizing fragmentation and isolation could increase

  7. Commercial multicopter unmanned aircraft system as a tool for early stage forest survey after wind damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokros, Martin; Vybostok, Jozef; Merganic, Jan; Tomastik, Julian; Cernava, Juraj

    2017-04-01

    In recent years unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are objects of research in many areas. This trend can be seen also in forest research where researchers are focusing on height, diameter and tree crown measurements, monitoring of forest fire, forest gaps and health condition. Our research is focusing on the use of UAS for detecting areas disturbed by wind and deriving the volume of fallen trees for management purposes. This information is crucial after the wind damage happened. We used DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ and acquired the imagery of one forest stand (5.7 ha). The UAS is a quadcopter "all in one" solution. It has a built-in camera with gimbal and a remote controller. The camera is controlled through the application (android/ios). The built-in camera has an image resolution of 4384×3288 (14 megapixels). We have placed five crosses within the plot to be able to georeference the point cloud from UAS. Their positions were measured by Topcon Hiper GGD survey-grade GNSS receiver. We measured the border of damaged area by four different GNSS devices - GeoExplorer 6000, Trimble Nomad, Garmin GPSMAP 60 CSx and by smartphone Sony Xperia X. To process images from UAS we used Agisoft Photoscan Professional, while ArcGIS 10.2 was used to calculate and compare the areas . From the UAS point cloud we calculated DTM and DSM and deducted them. The areas where the difference was close to zero (-0.2 to 0.2) were signed as potentially wind damage areas. Then we filtered the areas that were not signed correctly (for example routes). The calculated area from UAS was 2.66 ha, GeoExplorer 6000 was 2.20 ha, Nomad was 2.06 ha, Garmin was 2.21 ha and from Xperia was the area 2.24 ha. The differences between UAS and GPS devices vary from 0.42 ha to 0.6 ha. The differences were mostly caused by inability to detect small spots of fallen trees on UAS data. These small spots are difficult to measure by GPS devices because the signal is very poor under tree crowns and also it is difficult to find

  8. Characterization of Insect Resistance Loci in the USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection Using Genome-Wide Association Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao-Xun Chang

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Management of insects that cause economic damage to yields of soybean mainly rely on insecticide applications. Sources of resistance in soybean plant introductions (PIs to different insect pests have been reported, and some of these sources, like for the soybean aphid (SBA, have been used to develop resistant soybean cultivars. With the availability of SoySNP50K and the statistical power of genome-wide association studies, we integrated phenotypic data for beet armyworm, Mexican bean beetle (MBB, potato leafhopper (PLH, SBA, soybean looper (SBL, velvetbean caterpillar (VBC, and chewing damage caused by unspecified insects for a comprehensive understanding of insect resistance in the United States Department of Agriculture Soybean Germplasm Collection. We identified significant single nucleotide (SNP polymorphic markers for MBB, PLH, SBL, and VBC, and we highlighted several leucine-rich repeat-containing genes and myeloblastosis transcription factors within the high linkage disequilibrium region surrounding significant SNP markers. Specifically for soybean resistance to PLH, we found the PLH locus is close but distinct to a locus for soybean pubescence density on chromosome 12. The results provide genetic support that pubescence density may not directly link to PLH resistance. This study offers a novel insight of soybean resistance to four insect pests and reviews resistance mapping studies for major soybean insects.

  9. Insect damages on structural, morphologic and composition of Bt maize hybrids to silage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geraldo Balieiro Neto

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available It was aimed to evaluate the effect of insect damage on the morphologic and structural characteristics and chemical composition from maize hybrids DKB 390 and AG 8088 with the Cry1Ab trait versus its nonbiotech counterpart. The GMO did not receive insecticide application and the conventional hybrids received one deltametrina (2.8% application at 42 days. The damages caused bySpodoptera frugiperda and Helicoverpa zea in hybrids with Cry1Ab were smaller than its nonbiotech counterpart. After harvest, 95 days after seedling plants were separated in stalks, ears, leafs, dead leafs and floral pennant. The experimental design was randomized block in factorial arrangement 2 x 2. The height of plant and height of ear, percentage and amount of dead leafs from hybrids with the Cry1Ab were higher than its nonbiotech counterpart. There was higher nutrients transfer from stalks to grain filling and smaller rate stalks:ear on transgenic plant. The quality of the transgenic plants can be better when harvest earlier, by increasing no fiber carbohydrates, but when harvest latter, by increasing stalk percentage and stalk lignin content.

  10. North Dakota's forests 2005

    Science.gov (United States)

    David E. Haugen; Michael Kangas; Susan J. Crocker; Charles H. Perry; Christopher W. Woodall; Brett J. Butler; Barry T. Wilson; Dan J. Kaisershot

    2009-01-01

    The first completed annual inventory of North Dakota's forests reports estimates of more than 724,000 acres of forest land. Information about forest attributes and forest health is presented along with information on agents of change including changing land use patterns and the introduction of nonnative plants, insects, and disease.

  11. National Insect and Disease Risk Map (NIDRM)--cutting edge software for rapid insect and disease risk model development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frank J. Krist

    2010-01-01

    The Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team (FHTET) of the U.S. Forest Service is leading an effort to produce the next version of the National Insect and Disease Risk Map (NIDRM) for targeted release in 2011. The goal of this effort is to update spatial depictions of risk of tree mortality based on: (1) newly derived 240-m geospatial information depicting the...

  12. A Global Perspective on Warmer Droughts as a Key Driver of Forest Disturbances and Tree Mortality (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, C. D.

    2013-12-01

    Recent global warming, in concert with episodic droughts, is causing elevated levels of both chronic and acute forest water stress across large regions. Such increases in water stress affect forest dynamics in multiple ways, including by amplifying the incidence and severity of many significant forest disturbances, particularly drought-induced tree mortality, wildfire, and outbreaks of damaging insects and diseases. Emerging global-scale patterns of drought-related forest die-off are presented, including a newly updated map overview of documented drought- and heat-induced tree mortality events from around the world, demonstrating the vulnerability of all major forest types to forest drought stress, even in typically wet environments. Comparative patterns of drought stress and associated forest disturbances are reviewed for several regions (southwestern Australia, Inner Asia, western North America, Mediterranean Basin), including interactions among climate and various disturbance processes. From the Southwest USA, research is presented that derives a tree-ring-based Forest Drought Stress Index (FDSI) for the most regionally-widespread conifer species (Pinus edulis, Pinus ponderosa, and Pseudotsuga menziesii), demonstrating recent escalation of FDSI to extreme levels relative to the past 1000 years, due to both drought and especially warming. This new work further highlights strong correlations between drought stress and amplified forest disturbances (fire, bark beetle outbreaks), and projects that by CE 2050 anticipated regional warming will cause mean FDSI values to reach historically unprecedented levels that may exceed thresholds for the survival of current tree species in large portions of their current range in the Southwest. Similar patterns of recent climate-amplified forest disturbance risk are apparent from a variety of relatively dry regions across this planet, and given climate projections for substantially warmer temperatures and greater drought stress

  13. Predicting abundance and productivity of blueberry plants under insect defoliation in Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robin Reich; Nathan Lojewski; John Lundquist; Vanessa Bravo

    2018-01-01

    Unprecedented outbreaks of defoliating insects severely damaged blueberry crops near Port Graham on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska from 2008-2012. The Native people in this region rely heavily on gathered blueberries and other foods for sustenance and nourishment. Influences of topography and stand structure on blueberry abundance and fruiting were examined and used to...

  14. Detection and Characterization of Stress Symptoms in Forest Vegetation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heller, R. C.

    1971-01-01

    Techniques used at the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station to detect advanced and previsual symptoms of vegetative stress are discussed. Stresses caused by bark beetles in coniferous stands of timber are emphasized because beetles induce stress more rapidly than most other destructive agents. Bark beetles are also the most damaging forest insects in the United States. In the work on stress symptoms, there are two primary objectives: (1) to learn the best combination of films, scales, and filters to detect and locate injured trees from aircraft and spacecraft, and (2) to learn if stressed trees can be detected before visual symptoms of decline occur. Equipment and techniques used in a study of the epidemic of the Black Hills bark beetle are described.

  15. Drought, Fire and Insects in Western US Forests: Observations to Improve Regional Land System Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Law, B. E.; Yang, Z.; Berner, L. T.; Hicke, J. A.; Buotte, P.; Hudiburg, T. W.

    2015-12-01

    Drought, fire and insects are major disturbances in the western US, and conditions are expected to get warmer and drier in the future. We combine multi-scale observations and modeling with CLM4.5 to examine the effects of these disturbances on forests in the western US. We modified the Community Land Model, CLM4.5, to improve simulated drought-related mortality in forests, and prediction of insect outbreaks under future climate conditions. We examined differences in plant traits that represent species variation in sensitivity to drought, and redefined plant groupings in PFTs. Plant traits, including sapwood area: leaf area ratio and stemwood density were strongly correlated with water availability during the ecohydrologic year. Our database of co-located observations of traits for 30 tree species was used to produce parameterization of the model by species groupings according to similar traits. Burn area predicted by the new fire model in CLM4.5 compares well with recent years of GFED data, but has a positive bias compared with Landsat-based MTBS. Biomass mortality over recent decades increased, and was captured well by the model in general, but missed mortality trends of some species. Comparisons with AmeriFlux data showed that the model with dynamic tree mortality only (no species trait improvements) overestimated GPP in dry years compared with flux data at semi-arid sites, and underestimated GPP at more mesic sites that experience dry summers. Simulations with both dynamic tree mortality and species trait parameters improved estimates of GPP by 17-22%; differences between predicted and observed NEE were larger. Future projections show higher productivity from increased atmospheric CO2 and warming that somewhat offsets drought and fire effects over the next few decades. Challenges include representation of hydraulic failure in models, and availability of species trait and carbon/water process data in disturbance- and drought-impacted regions.

  16. Interactive effects of historical logging and fire exclusion on ponderosa pine forest structure in the northern Rockies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naficy, Cameron; Sala, Anna; Keeling, Eric G; Graham, Jon; DeLuca, Thomas H

    2010-10-01

    Increased forest density resulting from decades of fire exclusion is often perceived as the leading cause of historically aberrant, severe, contemporary wildfires and insect outbreaks documented in some fire-prone forests of the western United States. Based on this notion, current U.S. forest policy directs managers to reduce stand density and restore historical conditions in fire-excluded forests to help minimize high-severity disturbances. Historical logging, however, has also caused widespread change in forest vegetation conditions, but its long-term effects on vegetation structure and composition have never been adequately quantified. We document that fire-excluded ponderosa pine forests of the northern Rocky Mountains logged prior to 1960 have much higher average stand density, greater homogeneity of stand structure, more standing dead trees and increased abundance of fire-intolerant trees than paired fire-excluded, unlogged counterparts. Notably, the magnitude of the interactive effect of fire exclusion and historical logging substantially exceeds the effects of fire exclusion alone. These differences suggest that historically logged sites are more prone to severe wildfires and insect outbreaks than unlogged, fire-excluded forests and should be considered a high priority for fuels reduction treatments. Furthermore, we propose that ponderosa pine forests with these distinct management histories likely require distinct restoration approaches. We also highlight potential long-term risks of mechanical stand manipulation in unlogged forests and emphasize the need for a long-term view of fuels management.

  17. Relative impact of previous disturbance history on the likelihood of additional disturbance in the Northern United States Forest Service USFS Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez, A. J.

    2015-12-01

    The Landsat archive is increasingly being used to detect trends in the occurrence of forest disturbance. Beyond information about the amount of area affected, forest managers need to know if and how disturbance regimes change. The National Forest System (NFS) has developed a comprehensive plan for carbon monitoring that requires a detailed temporal mapping of forest disturbances across 75 million hectares. A long-term annual time series that shows the timing, extent, and type of disturbance beginning in 1990 and ending in 2011 has been prepared for several USFS Regions, including the Northern Region. Our mapping starts with an automated detection of annual disturbances using a time series of historical Landsat imagery. Automated detections are meticulously inspected, corrected and labeled using various USFS ancillary datasets. The resulting maps of verified disturbance show the timing and types are fires, harvests, insect activity, disease, and abiotic (wind, drought, avalanche) damage. Also, the magnitude of each change event is modeled in terms of the proportion of canopy cover lost. The sequence of disturbances for every pixel since 1990 has been consistently mapped and is available across the entirety of NFS. Our datasets contain sufficient information to describe the frequency of stand replacement, as well as how often disturbance results in only a partial loss of canopy. This information provides empirical insight into how an initial disturbance may predispose a stand to further disturbance, and it also show a climatic signal in the occurrence of processes such as fire and insect epidemics. Thus, we have the information to model the likelihood of occurrence of certain disturbances after a given event (i.e. if we have a fire in the past what does that do to the likelihood of occurrence of insects in the future). Here, we explore if previous disturbance history is a reliable predictor of additional disturbance in the future and we present results of applying

  18. Spatial variation of dung beetle assemblages associated with forest structure in remnants of southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Giovâni da Silva

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, and is currently highly fragmented and disturbed due to human activities. Variation in environmental conditions in the Atlantic Forest can influence the distribution of species, which may show associations with some environmental features. Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae are insects that act in nutrient cycling via organic matter decomposition and have been used for monitoring environmental changes. The aim of this study is to identify associations between the spatial distribution of dung beetle species and Atlantic Forest structure. The spatial distribution of some dung beetle species was associated with structural forest features. The number of species among the sampling sites ranged widely, and few species were found in all remnant areas. Principal coordinates analysis indicated that species composition, abundance and biomass showed a spatially structured distribution, and these results were corroborated by permutational multivariate analysis of variance. The indicator value index and redundancy analysis showed an association of several dung beetle species with some explanatory environmental variables related to Atlantic Forest structure. This work demonstrated the existence of a spatially structured distribution of dung beetles, with significant associations between several species and forest structure in Atlantic Forest remnants from Southern Brazil. Keywords: Beta diversity, Species composition, Species diversity, Spatial distribution, Tropical forest

  19. Machine learning for characterization of insect vector feeding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Insects that feed by ingesting plant and animal fluids cause devastating damage to humans, livestock, and agriculture worldwide, primarily by transmitting pathogens of plants and animals. The feeding processes required for successful pathogen transmission by sucking insects can be recorded by monito...

  20. Impacts of Landscape Context on Patterns of Wind Downfall Damage in a Fragmented Amazonian Landscape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, N.; Uriarte, M.; DeFries, R. S.; Gutierrez-Velez, V. H.; Fernandes, K.; Pinedo-Vasquez, M.

    2015-12-01

    Wind is a major disturbance in the Amazon and has both short-term impacts and lasting legacies in tropical forests. Observed patterns of damage across landscapes result from differences in wind exposure and stand characteristics, such as tree stature, species traits, successional age, and fragmentation. Wind disturbance has important consequences for biomass dynamics in Amazonian forests, and understanding the spatial distribution and size of impacts is necessary to quantify the effects on carbon dynamics. In November 2013, a mesoscale convective system was observed over the study area in Ucayali, Peru, a highly human modified and fragmented forest landscape. We mapped downfall damage associated with the storm in order to ask: how does the severity of damage vary within forest patches, and across forest patches of different sizes and successional ages? We applied spectral mixture analysis to Landsat images from 2013 and 2014 to calculate the change in non-photosynthetic vegetation fraction after the storm, and combined it with C-band SAR data from the Sentinel-1 satellite to predict downfall damage measured in 30 field plots using random forest regression. We then applied this model to map damage in forests across the study area. Using a land cover classification developed in a previous study, we mapped secondary and mature forest, and compared the severity of damage in the two. We found that damage was on average higher in secondary forests, but patterns varied spatially. This study demonstrates the utility of using multiple sources of satellite data for mapping wind disturbance, and adds to our understanding of the sources of variation in wind-related damage. Ultimately, an improved ability to map wind impacts and a better understanding of their spatial patterns can contribute to better quantification of carbon dynamics in Amazonian landscapes.

  1. Impact of Hurricane Iniki on native Hawaiian Acacia koa forests: damage and two-year recovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robin A. Harrington; James H. Fownes; Paul G. Scowcroft; Cheryl S. Vann

    1997-01-01

    Damage to Hawaiian Acacia koa forest by Hurricane Iniki was assessed by comparison with our previous measures of stand structure and leaf area index (LAI) at sites along a precipitation/elevation gradient on western Kauai. Reductions in LAI ranged from 29 to 80% and were correlated with pre-hurricane LAI and canopy height. The canopy damage...

  2. Phylogeny of economically important insect pests that infesting several crops species in Malaysia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghazali, Siti Zafirah; Zain, Badrul Munir Md.; Yaakop, Salmah

    2014-09-01

    This paper reported molecular data on insect pests of commercial crops in Peninsular Malaysia. Fifteen insect pests (Metisa plana, Calliteara horsefeldii, Cotesia vestalis, Bactrocera papayae, Bactrocera carambolae, Bactrocera latifrons, Conopomorpha cramella, Sesamia inferens, Chilo polychrysa, Rhynchophorus vulneratus, and Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) of nine crops were sampled (oil palm, coconut, paddy, cocoa, starfruit, angled loofah, guava, chili and mustard) and also four species that belong to the fern's pest (Herpetogramma platycapna) and storage and rice pests (Tribolium castaneum, Oryzaephilus surinamensis and Cadra cautella). The presented phylogeny summarized the initial phylogenetic hypothesis, which concerning by implementation of the economically important insect pests. In this paper, phylogenetic relationships among 39 individuals of 15 species that belonging to three orders under 12 genera were inferred from DNA sequences of mitochondrial marker, cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and nuclear marker, ribosomal DNA 28S D2 region. The phylogenies resulted from the phylogenetic analyses of both genes are relatively similar, but differ in the sequence of evolution. Interestingly, this most recent molecular data of COI sequences data by using Bayesian Inference analysis resulted a more-resolved phylogeny that corroborated with traditional hypotheses of holometabolan relationships based on traditional hypotheses of holometabolan relationships and most of recently molecular study compared to 28S sequences. This finding provides the information on relationships of pests species, which infested several crops in Malaysia and also estimation on Holometabola's order relationships. The identification of the larval stages of insect pests could be done accurately, without waiting the emergence of adults and supported by the phylogenetic tree.

  3. Hurricane impacts on a pair of coastal forested watersheds: implications of selective hurricane damage to forest structure and streamflow dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayakaran, A. D.; Williams, T. M.; Ssegane, H.; Amatya, D. M.; Song, B.; Trettin, C. C.

    2014-03-01

    Hurricanes are infrequent but influential disruptors of ecosystem processes in the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Every southeastern forested wetland has the potential to be struck by a tropical cyclone. We examined the impact of Hurricane Hugo on two paired coastal South Carolina watersheds in terms of streamflow and vegetation dynamics, both before and after the hurricane's passage in 1989. The study objectives were to quantify the magnitude and timing of changes including a reversal in relative streamflow difference between two paired watersheds, and to examine the selective impacts of a hurricane on the vegetative composition of the forest. We related these impacts to their potential contribution to change watershed hydrology through altered evapotranspiration processes. Using over 30 years of monthly rainfall and streamflow data we showed that there was a significant transformation in the hydrologic character of the two watersheds - a transformation that occurred soon after the hurricane's passage. We linked the change in the rainfall-runoff relationship to a catastrophic change in forest vegetation due to selective hurricane damage. While both watersheds were located in the path of the hurricane, extant forest structure varied between the two watersheds as a function of experimental forest management techniques on the treatment watershed. We showed that the primary damage was to older pines, and to some extent larger hardwood trees. We believe that lowered vegetative water use impacted both watersheds with increased outflows on both watersheds due to loss of trees following hurricane impact. However, one watershed was able to recover to pre hurricane levels of evapotranspiration at a quicker rate due to the greater abundance of pine seedlings and saplings in that watershed.

  4. Geostatistics and Geographic Information System to Analyze the Spatial Distribution of the Diversity of Anastrepha Species (Diptera: Tephritidae): the Effect of Forest Fragments in an Urban Area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, A G; Araujo, M R; Uramoto, K; Walder, J M M; Zucchi, R A

    2017-12-08

    Fruit flies are among the most damaging insect pests of commercial fruit in Brazil. It is important to understand the landscape elements that may favor these flies. In the present study, spatial data from surveys of species of Anastrepha Schiner (Diptera: Tephritidae) in an urban area with forest fragments were analyzed, using geostatistics and Geographic Information System (GIS) to map the diversity of insects and evaluate how the forest fragments drive the spatial patterns. The results indicated a high diversity of species associated with large fragments, and a trend toward lower diversity in the more urbanized area, as the fragment sizes decreased. We concluded that the diversity of Anastrepha species is directly and positively related to large and continuous forest fragments in urbanized areas, and that combining geostatistics and GIS is a promising method for use in insect-pest management and sampling involving fruit flies. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  5. Forest vegetation simulation tools and forest health assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richard M. Teck; Melody Steele

    1995-01-01

    A Stand Hazard Rating System for Central ldaho forests has been incorporated into the Central ldaho Prognosis variant of the Forest Vegetation Simulator to evaluate how insects, disease and fire hazards within the Deadwood River Drainage change over time. A custom interface, BOISE.COMPUTE.PR, has been developed so hazard ratings can be electronically downloaded...

  6. The Insect Guild of White Oak Acorns: Its Effect on Mast Quality in the Ozark and Ouachita National Forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alex C. Mangini; Roger W. Perry

    2004-01-01

    Abstract - Hardwood regeneration, especially of oaks, is an essential component of ecosystem management in the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. In addition, oak mast is an important wildlife food. Several species of insects inhabit and consume acorns. Data on the insect guild inhabiting white oak (Quercus alba L.) acorns...

  7. Time course study of feeding damage to pin head cotton squares by Lygus hesperus (Hemiptera: Miridae)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lygus hesperus (Hemiptera: Miridae) is an economically important pest affecting cotton crops in California. Lygus feeding causes abscission of cotton squares, with damage severity dependent on size of the square and life stage of the insect. Fifth instar nymphs are the most damaging stage; however, ...

  8. Forest pathology and entomology at Fort Valley Experimental Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brian W. Geils

    2008-01-01

    Forest pathology and entomology have been researched at Fort Valley Experimental Forest throughout its history. The pathogens and insects of particular interest are mistletoes, decay and canker fungi, rusts, bark beetles, and various defoliators. Studies on life history, biotic interactions, impacts, and control have been published and incorporated into silvicultural...

  9. Planting sentinel European trees in eastern Asia as a novel method to identify potential insect pest invaders.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alain Roques

    Full Text Available Quarantine measures to prevent insect invasions tend to focus on well-known pests but a large proportion of the recent invaders were not known to cause significant damage in their native range, or were not even known to science before their introduction. A novel method is proposed to detect new potential pests of woody plants in their region of origin before they are introduced to a new continent. Since Asia is currently considered to be the main supplier of insect invaders to Europe, sentinel trees were planted in China during 2007-2011 as an early warning tool to identify the potential for additional Asian insect species to colonize European trees. Seedlings (1-1.5 m tall of five broadleaved (Quercus petraea, Q. suber, Q. ilex, Fagus sylvatica, and Carpinus betulus and two conifer species (Abies alba and Cupressus sempervirens were planted in blocks of 100 seedlings at two widely separated sites (one in a nursery near Beijing and the other in a forest environment near Fuyang in eastern China, and then regularly surveyed for colonization by insects. A total of 104 insect species, mostly defoliators, were observed on these new hosts, and at least six species were capable of larval development. Although a number of the insects observed were probably incidental feeders, 38 species had more than five colonization events, mostly infesting Q. petraea, and could be considered as being capable of switching to European trees if introduced to Europe. Three years was shown to be an appropriate duration for the experiment, since the rate of colonization then tended to plateau. A majority of the identified species appeared to have switched from agricultural crops and fruit trees rather than from forest trees. Although these results are promising, the method is not appropriate for xylophagous pests and other groups developing on larger trees. Apart from the logistical problems, the identification to species level of the specimens collected was a major

  10. Planting sentinel European trees in eastern Asia as a novel method to identify potential insect pest invaders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roques, Alain; Fan, Jian-Ting; Courtial, Béatrice; Zhang, Yan-Zhuo; Yart, Annie; Auger-Rozenberg, Marie-Anne; Denux, Olivier; Kenis, Marc; Baker, Richard; Sun, Jiang-Hua

    2015-01-01

    Quarantine measures to prevent insect invasions tend to focus on well-known pests but a large proportion of the recent invaders were not known to cause significant damage in their native range, or were not even known to science before their introduction. A novel method is proposed to detect new potential pests of woody plants in their region of origin before they are introduced to a new continent. Since Asia is currently considered to be the main supplier of insect invaders to Europe, sentinel trees were planted in China during 2007-2011 as an early warning tool to identify the potential for additional Asian insect species to colonize European trees. Seedlings (1-1.5 m tall) of five broadleaved (Quercus petraea, Q. suber, Q. ilex, Fagus sylvatica, and Carpinus betulus) and two conifer species (Abies alba and Cupressus sempervirens) were planted in blocks of 100 seedlings at two widely separated sites (one in a nursery near Beijing and the other in a forest environment near Fuyang in eastern China), and then regularly surveyed for colonization by insects. A total of 104 insect species, mostly defoliators, were observed on these new hosts, and at least six species were capable of larval development. Although a number of the insects observed were probably incidental feeders, 38 species had more than five colonization events, mostly infesting Q. petraea, and could be considered as being capable of switching to European trees if introduced to Europe. Three years was shown to be an appropriate duration for the experiment, since the rate of colonization then tended to plateau. A majority of the identified species appeared to have switched from agricultural crops and fruit trees rather than from forest trees. Although these results are promising, the method is not appropriate for xylophagous pests and other groups developing on larger trees. Apart from the logistical problems, the identification to species level of the specimens collected was a major difficulty. This

  11. Variable effects of climate on forest growth in relation to climate extremes, disturbance, and forest dynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Itter, Malcolm S; Finley, Andrew O; D'Amato, Anthony W; Foster, Jane R; Bradford, John B

    2017-06-01

    Changes in the frequency, duration, and severity of climate extremes are forecast to occur under global climate change. The impacts of climate extremes on forest productivity and health remain difficult to predict due to potential interactions with disturbance events and forest dynamics-changes in forest stand composition, density, size and age structure over time. Such interactions may lead to non-linear forest growth responses to climate involving thresholds and lag effects. Understanding how forest dynamics influence growth responses to climate is particularly important given stand structure and composition can be modified through management to increase forest resistance and resilience to climate change. To inform such adaptive management, we develop a hierarchical Bayesian state space model in which climate effects on tree growth are allowed to vary over time and in relation to past climate extremes, disturbance events, and forest dynamics. The model is an important step toward integrating disturbance and forest dynamics into predictions of forest growth responses to climate extremes. We apply the model to a dendrochronology data set from forest stands of varying composition, structure, and development stage in northeastern Minnesota that have experienced extreme climate years and forest tent caterpillar defoliation events. Mean forest growth was most sensitive to water balance variables representing climatic water deficit. Forest growth responses to water deficit were partitioned into responses driven by climatic threshold exceedances and interactions with insect defoliation. Forest growth was both resistant and resilient to climate extremes with the majority of forest growth responses occurring after multiple climatic threshold exceedances across seasons and years. Interactions between climate and disturbance were observed in a subset of years with insect defoliation increasing forest growth sensitivity to water availability. Forest growth was particularly

  12. Variable effects of climate on forest growth in relation to climate extremes, disturbance, and forest dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Itter, Malcolm S.; Finley, Andrew O.; D'Amato, Anthony W.; Foster, Jane R.; Bradford, John B.

    2017-01-01

    Changes in the frequency, duration, and severity of climate extremes are forecast to occur under global climate change. The impacts of climate extremes on forest productivity and health remain difficult to predict due to potential interactions with disturbance events and forest dynamics—changes in forest stand composition, density, size and age structure over time. Such interactions may lead to non-linear forest growth responses to climate involving thresholds and lag effects. Understanding how forest dynamics influence growth responses to climate is particularly important given stand structure and composition can be modified through management to increase forest resistance and resilience to climate change. To inform such adaptive management, we develop a hierarchical Bayesian state space model in which climate effects on tree growth are allowed to vary over time and in relation to past climate extremes, disturbance events, and forest dynamics. The model is an important step toward integrating disturbance and forest dynamics into predictions of forest growth responses to climate extremes. We apply the model to a dendrochronology data set from forest stands of varying composition, structure, and development stage in northeastern Minnesota that have experienced extreme climate years and forest tent caterpillar defoliation events. Mean forest growth was most sensitive to water balance variables representing climatic water deficit. Forest growth responses to water deficit were partitioned into responses driven by climatic threshold exceedances and interactions with insect defoliation. Forest growth was both resistant and resilient to climate extremes with the majority of forest growth responses occurring after multiple climatic threshold exceedances across seasons and years. Interactions between climate and disturbance were observed in a subset of years with insect defoliation increasing forest growth sensitivity to water availability. Forest growth was particularly

  13. Insects and Related Pests of Trees, Shrubs, and Lawns. MP-25R.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spackman, Everett W.; Lawson, Fred A.

    This document discusses identification and control of the pests of trees and shrubs. The insects are grouped according to feeding habits and the type of damage caused to plants. Categories include the sucking insects and mites, leaf eating insects, pests attacking trunks and branches, and gall causing insects. (CS)

  14. BASIC CONCEPTS AND METHODS OF RESTORATION OF NATURAL FORESTS IN EASTERN EUROPE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. N. Korotkov

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The modern forest in coniferous-broadleaf (hemiboreal and broadleaf zones of Eastern Europe were formed as a result of long-term human impact. This led to the loss of natural forests and total dominance of secondary forests combined with monocultures of spruce and pine that were created in clearings, burned areas and fallow lands. The reforestation model that was common in the late XIX and first half of the XX century and that was focused on the establishment of monocultures commercially valuable coniferous tree species (spruce and pine over large areas has resulted in declining biological diversity, increasing risk of tree damage due to outbreaks of pathogens and phytophagous insects, decreasing soil fertility, worsening soil and water conservation functions of forests. When restoring the prototypes of natural forests it is necessary to be guided by the modern concepts of synecology and model reconstructions of forest cover in pre-anthropogenic period that are briefly discussed in the paper. Based on the analysis of literature and research experience the author proposes the concept of natural forest restoration that can be applied primarily to the coniferous-broadleaf and broadleaf forests. The main goal is to create multiple-aged and polydominant near-natural forest ecosystems with higher resistance to fungal diseases and outbreaks of phytophagous insects. The field of concept application is specially protected natural areas (national parks, natural parks, wildlife sanctuaries, etc., different categories of protective forests located within the zones of coniferous-broadleaf and broadleaf forests on the East European Plain. The formation of multiple-aged forests is possible when group felling and group-clear felling that largely imitate the natural gap-mosaic stand are implemented. The formation of new generations of trees is possible both due to the natural regeneration and the development of forest cultures. The article provides the full set

  15. Historical Accumulation of Nonindigenous Forest Pests in the Continental United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    J.E. Aukema; D.G. McCullough; B.V. Holle; A.M. Liebhold; S.J. Frankel

    2010-01-01

    Nonindigenous forest insects and pathogens affect a range of ecosystems, industries, and property owners in the United States. Evaluating temporal patterns in the accumulation of these nonindigenous forest pests can inform regulatory and policy decisions. We compiled a comprehensive species list to assess the accumulation rates of nonindigenous forest insects and...

  16. Bat Response to Differing Fire Severity in Mixed-Conifer Forest California, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heady, Paul A.; Hayes, John P.; Frick, Winifred F.

    2013-01-01

    Wildlife response to natural disturbances such as fire is of conservation concern to managers, policy makers, and scientists, yet information is scant beyond a few well-studied groups (e.g., birds, small mammals). We examined the effects of wildfire severity on bats, a taxon of high conservation concern, at both the stand (Bat activity in burned areas was either equivalent or higher than in unburned stands for all six phonic groups measured, with four groups having significantly greater activity in at least one burn severity level. Evidence of differentiation between fire severities was observed with some Myotis species having higher levels of activity in stands of high-severity burn. Larger-bodied bats, typically adapted to more open habitat, showed no response to fire. We found differential use of riparian and upland habitats among the phonic groups, yet no interaction of habitat type by fire severity was found. Extent of high-severity fire damage in the landscape had no effect on activity of bats in unburned sites suggesting no landscape effect of fire on foraging site selection and emphasizing stand-scale conditions driving bat activity. Results from this fire in mixed-conifer forests of California suggest that bats are resilient to landscape-scale fire and that some species are preferentially selecting burned areas for foraging, perhaps facilitated by reduced clutter and increased post-fire availability of prey and roosts. PMID:23483936

  17. A forester's look at the application of image manipulation techniques to multitemporal Landsat data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, D. L.; Stauffer, M. L.; Leung, K. C.

    1979-01-01

    Registered, multitemporal Landsat data of a study area in central Pennsylvania were analyzed to detect and assess changes in the forest canopy resulting from insect defoliation. Images taken July 19, 1976, and June 27, 1977, were chosen specifically to represent forest canopy conditions before and after defoliation, respectively. Several image manipulation and data transformation techniques, developed primarily for estimating agricultural and rangeland standing green biomass, were applied to these data. The applicability of each technique for estimating the severity of forest canopy defoliation was then evaluated. All techniques tested had highly correlated results. In all cases, heavy defoliation was discriminated from healthy forest. Areas of moderate defoliation were confused with healthy forest on northwest (NW) aspects, but were distinct from healthy forest conditions on southeast (SE)-facing slopes.

  18. OCCURRENCE AND CHARACTERIZATION OF INSECT GALLS IN THE FLORESTA NACIONAL DE SILVÂNIA, BRAZIL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    BÁRBARA ARAÚJO RIBEIRO BERGAMINI

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT In the present paper we investigated the insect gall distribution along savanna and forest sites in the Floresta Nacional de Silvânia, Goiás, Brazil. The insect gall fauna was surveyed bi-monthly between December 2009 and June 2010. In total we found 186 insect gall morphotypes, distributed on 35 botanical families and 61 plant species. Ninety-nine insect gall morphotypes were recorded in the forest and 87 in the savanna. Gall-inducing insects belonged to Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and Thysanoptera, with highlight to Cecidomyiidae (Diptera that induced 34.1% of the gall morphotypes. Parasitoids and/or inquilines were recorded in 38 morphotypes, mainly from the families Eulophidae, Eurytomidae and Torymidae (Hymenoptera. Fabaceae was the botanical family with the greatest richness of galls, followed by Asteraceae and Sapindaceae, being Protium (Burseraceae, Siparuna (Siparunaceae and Serjania (Sapindaceae the main host genera. This is the first systematic survey of insect galls realized in the Flona-Silvânia, which result in six plant species are recorded for the first time in Brazil as host of insect galls.

  19. Contrasting Patterns of Damage and Recovery in Logged Amazon Forests From Small Footprint LiDAR Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, D. C.; Keller, M.; Cook, B. D.; Hunter, Maria; Sales, Marcio; Spinelli, L.; Victoria, D.; Andersen, H.-E.; Saleska, S.

    2012-01-01

    Tropical forests ecosystems respond dynamically to climate variability and disturbances on time scales of minutes to millennia. To date, our knowledge of disturbance and recovery processes in tropical forests is derived almost exclusively from networks of forest inventory plots. These plots typically sample small areas (less than or equal to 1 ha) in conservation units that are protected from logging and fire. Amazon forests with frequent disturbances from human activity remain under-studied. Ongoing negotiations on REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus enhancing forest carbon stocks) have placed additional emphasis on identifying degraded forests and quantifying changing carbon stocks in both degraded and intact tropical forests. We evaluated patterns of forest disturbance and recovery at four -1000 ha sites in the Brazilian Amazon using small footprint LiDAR data and coincident field measurements. Large area coverage with airborne LiDAR data in 2011-2012 included logged and unmanaged areas in Cotriguacu (Mato Grosso), Fiona do Jamari (Rondonia), and Floresta Estadual do Antimary (Acre), and unmanaged forest within Reserva Ducke (Amazonas). Logging infrastructure (skid trails, log decks, and roads) was identified using LiDAR returns from understory vegetation and validated based on field data. At each logged site, canopy gaps from logging activity and LiDAR metrics of canopy heights were used to quantify differences in forest structure between logged and unlogged areas. Contrasting patterns of harvesting operations and canopy damages at the three logged sites reflect different levels of pre-harvest planning (i.e., informal logging compared to state or national logging concessions), harvest intensity, and site conditions. Finally, we used multi-temporal LiDAR data from two sites, Reserva Ducke (2009, 2012) and Antimary (2010, 2011), to evaluate gap phase dynamics in unmanaged forest areas. The rates and patterns of canopy gap

  20. Forest report 2016; Waldzustandsbericht 2016

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2016-07-01

    This forest condition report of Hesse (Germany) includes the following topics: forest condition survey for all tree species, forest in the in the Rhine-Main area, weather and climate, soil water balance and drought stress, insects and fungi, Forestry Environment Monitoring, infiltrated substances, main results of Forest soil survey in Hesse (BZE II), the substrate group red sandstone, heavy metal contamination of forests.

  1. Damage Localization of Severely Damaged RC-Structures Based on Measured Eigenperiods from a Single Response

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skjærbæk, P. S.; Nielsen, Søren R.K.; Cakmak, A. S.

    This paper deals with the estimation of the damage location of severely damaged Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures excited by earthquakes. It is assumed that the building is instrumented with a sensor measuring the earthquake acceleration signal at ground surface and a sensor measuring only...

  2. Melcor benchmarking against integral severe fuel damage tests

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Madni, I.K. [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)

    1995-09-01

    MELCOR is a fully integrated computer code that models all phases of the progression of severe accidents in light water reactor nuclear power plants, and is being developed for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) has a program with the NRC to provide independent assessment of MELCOR, and a very important part of this program is to benchmark MELCOR against experimental data from integral severe fuel damage tests and predictions of that data from more mechanistic codes such as SCDAP or SCDAP/RELAP5. Benchmarking analyses with MELCOR have been carried out at BNL for five integral severe fuel damage tests, namely, PBF SFD 1-1, SFD 14, and NRU FLHT-2, analyses, and their role in identifying areas of modeling strengths and weaknesses in MELCOR.

  3. Air pollution and forest decline in central Europe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kandler, O.; Innes, J.L. [University of Munich, Munich (Germany). Institute of Botany

    1995-12-31

    The term `Waldsterben` was introduced in the early 1980s to describe the progressive death of forests that was believed to be occurring in Central Europe as a result of air pollution. Subsequent surveys and investigations have failed to confirm that forests are dying or are even declining over large areas of Central Europe. Foliar injury by air pollutants, together with mortality, has occurred, but is generally restricted to specific locations in the Czech Republic and in eastern Germany. Where foliar damage has been recorded, it can often be attributed to high concentrations of sulphur dioxide, often acting in combination with other stresses (e.g. frost or insects). Outside areas affected by local sources of pollution, there is little, if any, evidence that the crown condition of trees has been adversely affected by pollution over large areas. Instead, climate appears to have a major effect on the crown condition and growth of trees. Measurements and surveys have revealed a very different picture to that forecasted in the mid-1980s. Growth rates of trees and stands in Central Europe are currently higher than have been recorded at any time in the past. Although declines in individual species in specific areas have been recorded, past records indicate that these do not represent a new phenomenon. Consequently, the terms `Waldsterben` (forest deaths) and `neuartige Waldschaden` (novel type of forest damages) should not be used in the context of the phenomenon reported in Central Europe in the 1980s. Instead different problems should be described separately and the term forest decline used only when there is clear evidence of a general deterioration in the condition of all tree species within a forest.

  4. Minnesota's forests 1999-2003 (Part A)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patrick D. Miles; Keith Jacobson; Gary J. Brand; Ed Jepsen; Dacia Meneguzzo; Manfred E. Mielke; Cassandra Olson; Charles H. (Hobie) Perry; Ronald J. Piva; Barry Tyler Wilson; Christopher Woodall

    2007-01-01

    The first completed annual inventory of Minnesota's forests reports more than 16.2 million acres of forest land. Additional forest attribute and forest health information is presented along with information on agents of change including changing land use patterns and the introduction of nonnative plants, insects, and diseases.

  5. Volcano ecology at Chaiten, Chile: geophysical processes interact with forest ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swanson, F. J.; Crisafulli, C.; Jones, J. A.; Lara, A.

    2010-12-01

    The May 2008 eruption of Chaiten Volcano (Chile) offers many insights into volcano ecology -ecological responses to volcanic and associated hydrologic processes and ecosystem development in post-eruption landscapes. Varied intensities of pyroclastic density currents (PDC) and thickness of tephra fall deposits (to 50+ cm) created strong gradients of disturbance in several hundred square kilometers of native forest in a sector north to southeast from the volcano. A gradient from tree removal to toppled forest to standing, scorched forest extends 1.5 km northward from the caldera rim along the trajectory of a PDC. Close to the vent (e.g., 2 km NE from rim) a rain of ca. 10 cm of gravel tephra stripped foliage and twigs from tree canopies; farther away (23 km SE) 10 cm of fine tephra loaded the canopy, causing extensive fall of limbs >8 cm diameter. Even in the severely disturbed, north-flank PDC zone, surviving bamboo, ferns, and other herbs sprouted from pre-eruption soil and other refugia; sprouts of new foliage appeared on the boles and major limbs of several species of toppled and scorched, standing trees; animals including vertebrates (rodents and amphibians) and terrestrial invertebrates (e.g., insects and arachnids) either survived or quickly recolonized; and a diverse fungal community began decomposing the vast dead wood resource. During the second growing season we documented the presence of some plant species that had colonized by seed. Within two years after the eruption secondary ecological disturbances resulting from channel change and overbank deposition of fluvially transported tephra created new patches of damaged forest in riparian zones of streams draining the north flank and along the Rio Rayas and Rio Chaiten. These features parallel observations in the intensively-studied, post-1980-eruption landscape of Mount St. Helens over a similar time period. However, several aspects of ecological response to the two eruptions differ because of differences

  6. Numerical responses of saproxylic beetles to rapid increases in dead wood availability following geometrid moth outbreaks in sub-arctic mountain birch forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vindstad, Ole Petter Laksforsmo; Schultze, Sabrina; Jepsen, Jane Uhd; Biuw, Martin; Kapari, Lauri; Sverdrup-Thygeson, Anne; Ims, Rolf Anker

    2014-01-01

    Saproxylic insects play an important part in decomposing dead wood in healthy forest ecosystems, but little is known about their role in the aftermath of large-scale forest mortality caused by pest insect outbreaks. We used window traps to study short-term changes in the abundance and community structure of saproxylic beetles following extensive mortality of mountain birch in sub-arctic northern Norway caused by an outbreak of geometrid moths. Three to five years after the outbreak, the proportion of obligate saproxylic individuals in the beetle community was roughly 10% higher in forest damaged by the outbreak than in undamaged forest. This was mainly due to two early-successional saproxylic beetle species. Facultative saproxylic beetles showed no consistent differences between damaged and undamaged forest. These findings would suggest a weak numerical response of the saproxylic beetle community to the dead wood left by the outbreak. We suggest that species-specific preferences for certain wood decay stages may limit the number of saproxylic species that respond numerically to an outbreak at a particular time, and that increases in responding species may be constrained by limitations to the amount of dead wood that can be exploited within a given timeframe (i.e. satiation effects). Low diversity of beetle species or slow development of larvae in our cold sub-arctic study region may also limit numerical responses. Our study suggests that saproxylic beetles, owing to weak numerical responses, may so far have played a minor role in decomposing the vast quantities of dead wood left by the moth outbreak.

  7. Numerical responses of saproxylic beetles to rapid increases in dead wood availability following geometrid moth outbreaks in sub-arctic mountain birch forest.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ole Petter Laksforsmo Vindstad

    Full Text Available Saproxylic insects play an important part in decomposing dead wood in healthy forest ecosystems, but little is known about their role in the aftermath of large-scale forest mortality caused by pest insect outbreaks. We used window traps to study short-term changes in the abundance and community structure of saproxylic beetles following extensive mortality of mountain birch in sub-arctic northern Norway caused by an outbreak of geometrid moths. Three to five years after the outbreak, the proportion of obligate saproxylic individuals in the beetle community was roughly 10% higher in forest damaged by the outbreak than in undamaged forest. This was mainly due to two early-successional saproxylic beetle species. Facultative saproxylic beetles showed no consistent differences between damaged and undamaged forest. These findings would suggest a weak numerical response of the saproxylic beetle community to the dead wood left by the outbreak. We suggest that species-specific preferences for certain wood decay stages may limit the number of saproxylic species that respond numerically to an outbreak at a particular time, and that increases in responding species may be constrained by limitations to the amount of dead wood that can be exploited within a given timeframe (i.e. satiation effects. Low diversity of beetle species or slow development of larvae in our cold sub-arctic study region may also limit numerical responses. Our study suggests that saproxylic beetles, owing to weak numerical responses, may so far have played a minor role in decomposing the vast quantities of dead wood left by the moth outbreak.

  8. In field damage of high and low cyanogenic cassava due to a generalist insect herbivore Cyrtomenus bergi (Hemiptera: Cydnidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riis, Lisbeth; Bellotti, Anthony Charles; Castaño, Oscar

    2003-12-01

    The hypothesis that cyanogenic potential in cassava roots deters polyphagous insects in the field is relevant to current efforts to reduce or eliminate the cyanogenic potential in cassava. To test this hypothesis, experiments were conducted in the field under natural selection pressure of the polyphagous root feeder Cyrtomenus bergi Froeschner (Hemiptera: Cydnidae). A number of cassava varieties (33) as well as 13 cassava siblings and their parental clone, each representing a determined level of cyanogenic potential (CNP), were scored for damage caused by C. bergi and related to CNP and nonglycosidic cyanogens, measured as hydrogen cyanide. Additionally, 161 low-CNP varieties (Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) were screened for resistance/tolerance to C. bergi. Low root damage scores were registered at all levels of CNP. Nevertheless, CNP and yield (or root size) partly explained the damage in cassava siblings (r2 = 0.82) and different cassava varieties (r2 = 0.42), but only when mean values of damage scores were used. This relation was only significant in one of two crop cycles. A logistic model describes the underlying negative relation between CNP and damage. An exponential model describes the underlying negative relation between root size and damage. Damage, caused by C. bergi feeding, released nonglycosidic cyanogens, and an exponential model fits the underlying positive relation. Fifteen low-CNP clones were selected for potential resistance/tolerance against C. bergi.

  9. Assessing the consequences of global change for forest disturbance from herbivores and pathogens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayres, M P; Lombardero, M J

    2000-11-15

    Herbivores and pathogens impact the species composition, ecosystem function, and socioeconomic value of forests. Herbivores and pathogens are an integral part of forests, but sometimes produce undesirable effects and a degradation of forest resources. In the United States, a few species of forest pests routinely have significant impacts on up to 20 million ha of forest with economic costs that probably exceed $1 billion/year. Climatic change could alter patterns of disturbance from herbivores and pathogens through: (1) direct effects on the development and survival of herbivores and pathogens; (2) physiological changes in tree defenses; and (3) indirect effects from changes in the abundance of natural enemies (e.g. parasitoids of insect herbivores), mutualists (e.g. insect vectors of tree pathogens), and competitors. Because of their short life cycles, mobility, reproductive potential, and physiological sensitivity to temperature, even modest climate change will have rapid impacts on the distribution and abundance of many forest insects and pathogens. We identify 32 syndromes of biotic disturbance in North American forests that should be carefully evaluated for their responses to climate change: 15 insect herbivores, browsing mammals; 12 pathogens; 1 plant parasite; and 3 undiagnosed patterns of forest decline. It is probable that climatic effects on some herbivores and pathogens will impact on biodiversity, recreation, property value, forest industry, and even water quality. Some scenarios are beneficial (e.g. decreased snow cover may increase winter mortality of some insect pests), but many are detrimental (e.g. warming tends to accelerate insect development rate and facilitate range expansions of pests and climate change tends to produce a mismatch between mature trees and their environment, which can increase vulnerability to herbivores and pathogens). Changes in forest disturbance can produce feedback to climate through affects on water and carbon flux in

  10. Severe fuel damage investigations of KFK/PNS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fiege, A.

    1983-01-01

    This report is a comprehensive review of the objectives, the program planning, the status and the further procedure of the investigations of KfK/PNS on severe core damage. The investigations were started in 1981 and will be finished in 1985/86. (orig.) [de

  11. Assessment and management of animal damage in Pacific Northwest forests: an annotated bibliography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D.M. Loucks; H.C. Black; M.L. Roush; S.R. Radosevich

    1990-01-01

    This annotated bibliography of published literature provides a comprehensive source of information on animal damage assessment and management for forest land managers and others in the Pacific Northwest. Citations and abstracts from more than 900 papers are indexed by subject and author. The publication complements and supplements A Silvicultural Approach to...

  12. UNDERSTANDING SEVERE WEATHER PROCESSES THROUGH SPATIOTEMPORAL RELATIONAL RANDOM FORESTS

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — UNDERSTANDING SEVERE WEATHER PROCESSES THROUGH SPATIOTEMPORAL RELATIONAL RANDOM FORESTS AMY MCGOVERN, TIMOTHY SUPINIE, DAVID JOHN GAGNE II, NATHANIEL TROUTMAN,...

  13. Insect damage and powdery mildew severity in soybean cultivars and lines Danos de insetos e severidade de oídio em cultivares e linhagens de soja

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    André Luiz Lourenção

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available The use of soybean cultivars resistant to insects and diseases reduces the application of pesticides, decreasing production costs and promoting a sustainable agriculture. The damage of stink bugs and defoliators and the severity of powdery mildew (Microsphaera diffusa in soybean of three maturity groups were evaluated under field conditions, at Tarumã and Ribeirão Preto, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Three experiments, one for each group, were carried out in the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 growing seasons. In 1999/2000, the disease occurred in Tarumã; in that year, infestation of chrysomelids (Cerotoma sp. and Colaspis sp. was observed in Ribeirão Preto. Low infestations of stink bugs occurred in both years and locations, but in Tarumã, at the stage of plant maturation, the insect population exceeded the economic injury level. The severity of powdery mildew was evaluated using a scale varying from 1 (no symptom to 5 (more than 50% of leaves with symptoms. Chrysomelid injuries were estimated by the percentage of leaf area removed, and stink bug damage was evaluated by the percentage of leaf retention (LRP and yield. Within the early maturity group (110 days, IAC 94-2675 showed good yield levels, low LRP, and resistance to powdery mildew. In the genotypes of the 120-day maturity group, IAC 94-5, IAC 94-1172, IAC 94-1017, IAC 94-133, and IAC 94-745 presented good yield; the last two behaved as resistant to the disease. With regard to the genotypes of the 135-day maturity group, IAC 93-1564 and IAC 94-2939 showed good yield, low LRP, and resistance to powdery mildew.A utilização de cultivares de soja resistentes a pragas e doenças reduz a aplicação de pesticidas, diminuindo custos de produção e favorecendo uma agricultura sustentável. Assim, avaliaram-se os danos causados por percevejos e coleópteros crisomelídeos e a severidade de oídio (Microsphaera diffusa em cultivares e linhagens de soja de ciclos precoce, semiprecoce e médio, em

  14. Forest Pest Control. Sale Publication 4072.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stimmann, M. W., Ed.

    The forest pests discussed in this guide are weeds, insects, diseases, and vertebrates. The guide gives information about types of forests, characteristics of common forest pests, pest control methods, pesticides and application equipment used in forestry, and environmental and human hazards. (Author/BB)

  15. Comparisons of protein profiles of beech bark disease resistant and susceptible American beech (Fagus grandifolia)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mary E. Mason; Jennifer L. Koch; Marek Krasowski; Judy. Loo

    2013-01-01

    Beech bark disease is an insect-fungus complex that damages and often kills American beech trees and has major ecological and economic impacts on forests of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canadian forests. The disease begins when exotic beech scale insects feed on the bark of trees, and is followed by infection of damaged bark tissues by one of the...

  16. Forest report 2017; Waldzustandsbericht 2017

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2017-11-01

    This forest condition report of Hesse (Germany) includes the following topics: forest condition survey for all tree species, forest in the in the Rhine-Main area, weather and climate, insects and fungi, forestry environment monitoring, site information for the Federal Forest Inventory in Hesse, infiltrated substances, development of soil acidification on intensive monitoring areas in northwestern Germany, and the substrate group basalt/diabase.

  17. Intraspecific competition facilitates the evolution of tolerance to insect damage in the perennial plant Solanum carolinense.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNutt, David W; Halpern, Stacey L; Barrows, Kahaili; Underwood, Nora

    2012-12-01

    Tolerance to herbivory (the degree to which plants maintain fitness after damage) is a key component of plant defense, so understanding how natural selection and evolutionary constraints act on tolerance traits is important to general theories of plant-herbivore interactions. These factors may be affected by plant competition, which often interacts with damage to influence trait expression and fitness. However, few studies have manipulated competitor density to examine the evolutionary effects of competition on tolerance. In this study, we tested whether intraspecific competition affects four aspects of the evolution of tolerance to herbivory in the perennial plant Solanum carolinense: phenotypic expression, expression of genetic variation, the adaptive value of tolerance, and costs of tolerance. We manipulated insect damage and intraspecific competition for clonal lines of S. carolinense in a greenhouse experiment, and measured tolerance in terms of sexual and asexual fitness components. Compared to plants growing at low density, plants growing at high density had greater expression of and genetic variation in tolerance, and experienced greater fitness benefits from tolerance when damaged. Tolerance was not costly for plants growing at either density, and only plants growing at low density benefited from tolerance when undamaged, perhaps due to greater intrinsic growth rates of more tolerant genotypes. These results suggest that competition is likely to facilitate the evolution of tolerance in S. carolinense, and perhaps in other plants that regularly experience competition, while spatio-temporal variation in density may maintain genetic variation in tolerance.

  18. Air pollution impacts on forests in changing climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    M. Lorenz; N. Clarke; E. Paoletti; A. Bytnerowicz; N. Grulke; N. Lukina; H. Sase; J. Staelens

    2010-01-01

    Growing awareness of air pollution effects on forests has, from the early 1980s on, led to intensive forest damage research and monitoring. This has fostered air pollution control, especially in Europe and North America, and to a smaller extent also in other parts of the world. At several forest sites in these regions, there are first indications of a recovery of...

  19. Forests and Phenology: Designing the Early Warning System to Understand Forest Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierce, T.; Phillips, M. B.; Hargrove, W. W.; Dobson, G.; Hicks, J.; Hutchins, M.; Lichtenstein, K.

    2010-12-01

    Vegetative phenology is the study of plant development and changes with the seasons, such as the greening-up and browning-down of forests, and how these events are influenced by variations in climate. A National Phenology Data Set, based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite images covering 2002 through 2009, is now available from work by NASA, the US Forest Service, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This new data set provides an easily interpretable product useful for detecting changes to the landscape due to long-term factors such as climate change, as well as finding areas affected by short-term forest threats such as insects or disease. The Early Warning System (EWS) is a toolset being developed by the US Forest Service and the University of North Carolina-Asheville to support distribution and use of the National Phenology Data Set. The Early Warning System will help research scientists, US Forest Service personnel, forest and natural resources managers, decision makers, and the public in the use of phenology data to better understand unexpected change within our nation’s forests. These changes could have multiple natural sources such as insects, disease, or storm damage, or may be due to human-induced events, like thinning, harvest, forest conversion to agriculture, or residential and commercial use. The primary goal of the Early Warning System is to provide a seamless integration between monitoring, detection, early warning and prediction of these forest disturbances as observed through phenological data. The system consists of PC and web-based components that are structured to support four user stages of increasing knowledge and data sophistication. Building Literacy: This stage of the Early Warning System educates potential users about the system, why the system should be used, and the fundamentals about the data the system uses. The channels for this education include a website, interactive tutorials, pamphlets, and other technology

  20. Invasive pests—insects and diseases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donald A. Duerr; Paul A. Mistretta

    2013-01-01

    Key FindingsNonnative pest species have increasing impacts in the South regardless of climate change, patterns of land ownership, or changes in the composition of vegetation.“New” nonnative invasive insects and diseases will have serious impacts on southern forests over the next 50 years. Some species such as emerald ash borer...

  1. Fuel variability following wildfire in forests with mixed severity fire regimes, Cascade Range, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jessica L. Hudec; David L. Peterson

    2012-01-01

    Fire severity influences post-burn structure and composition of a forest and the potential for a future fire to burn through the area. The effects of fire on forests with mixed severity fire regimes are difficult to predict and interpret because the quantity, structure, and composition of forest fuels vary considerably. This study examines the relationship between fire...

  2. PBF severe fuel damage program: results and comparison to analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, P.E.; Buescher, B.J.; Gruen, G.E.; Hobbins, R.R.; McCardell, R.K.

    1983-01-01

    The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has initiated a severe fuel damage research program in the Power Burst Facility (PBF) to investigate fuel rod and core response, and fission product and hydrogen release and transport under degraded core cooling accident conditions. This paper presents a description of Phase I of the PBF Severe Fuel Damage Program, discusses the results of the first experiment, and compares those results with analysis performed using the TRAC-BD1 computer code

  3. PBF Severe Fuel-Damage Program: results and comparison to analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacDonald, P.E.; Buescher, B.J.; Hobbins, R.R.; McCardell, R.K.; Gruen, G.E.

    1983-01-01

    The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has initiated a severe fuel-damage research program in the Power Burst Facility (PBF) to investigate fuel-rod and core response, and fission-product and hydrogen release and transport under degraded-core-cooling accident conditions. This paper presents a description of Phase I of the PBF Severe Fuel Damage Program, discusses the results of the first experiment, and compares those results with analysis performed using the TRAC-BD1 computer code

  4. Respiration in Aquatic Insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacFarland, John

    1985-01-01

    This article: (1) explains the respiratory patterns of several freshwater insects; (2) describes the differences and mechanisms of spiracular cutaneous, and gill respiration; and (3) discusses behavioral aspects of selected aquatic insects. (ML)

  5. Natural disturbance impacts on Canada's forest carbon budget

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kurz, W.

    2004-01-01

    Wildfire and insect outbreaks are major determinants of forest dynamics in Canada, transferring carbon within the ecosystem, releasing carbon into the atmosphere and influencing post-disturbance carbon dynamics. This paper discusses the impacts of global climate change on natural disturbances. Higher temperatures and drier conditions are likely to increase burned areas in Canada and will also increase the impacts of insects, allowing for an expanded range and stressing their host species. Long-term changes in disturbance regimes have already affected Canada's forest age-class structure. Statistics of lower disturbance periods and carbon production were compared with periods of higher disturbance. Scenario analyses were conducted for the period of 1996 to 2032, assuming that annual insect and fire disturbance rates in timber-productive forests were 20 per cent higher and carbon production 20 per cent lower than base scenarios using average disturbance rates. It was concluded that these conditions could cause carbon stocks in Canada's forests to decline. The future carbon balance of Canada's forests will be affected by the rate of natural and human-induced disturbances. 4 refs

  6. Insects affecting establishment of northern red oak seedlings in central Pennsylvania

    Science.gov (United States)

    J. Galford; L.R. Auchmoody; H.C. Smith; R.S. Walters

    1991-01-01

    Studies to evaluate the impact of insects on the establishment of advance oak regeneration in Pennsylvania were initiated in 1989. The populations and species of insects feeding on germinating acorns and new seedlings, their activity periods, and the damage caused by these insects were studied in relation to overstory-density (40, 60, and 100 percent relative density)...

  7. Strategies for Enhanced Crop Resistance to Insect Pests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglas, Angela E

    2018-04-29

    Insect pests are responsible for substantial crop losses worldwide through direct damage and transmission of plant diseases, and novel approaches that complement or replace broad-spectrum chemical insecticides will facilitate the sustainable intensification of food production in the coming decades. Multiple strategies for improved crop resistance to insect pests, especially strategies relating to plant secondary metabolism and immunity and microbiome science, are becoming available. Recent advances in metabolic engineering of plant secondary chemistry offer the promise of specific toxicity or deterrence to insect pests; improved understanding of plant immunity against insects provides routes to optimize plant defenses against insects; and the microbiomes of insect pests can be exploited, either as a target or as a vehicle for delivery of insecticidal agents. Implementation of these advances will be facilitated by ongoing advances in plant breeding and genetic technologies.

  8. Identification and Control of Common Insect Pests of Ornamental Shrubs and Trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gesell, Stanley G.

    This agriculture extension service publication from Pennsylvania State University introduces the identification and control of common ornamental insect pests. For each of the insects or insect groups (i.e. aphids) identified in this publication, information on host plants, pest description, and damage caused by the pest is given. Also a calendar…

  9. Harry E. Burke and John M. Miller, pioneers in Western forest entomology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyd E. Wickman

    2005-01-01

    This history was compiled from the memoirs, diaries, and other personal documents of the two forest entomologists in charge of the first forest insect laboratories on the west coast. It traces the lives of the two pioneers from 1902 to 1952 as they pursued their careers in the USDA Bureau of Entomology, Division of Forest Insect Investigations. Cooperative bark beetle...

  10. Insect pests of sweetpotato in Uganda: farmers' perceptions of their importance and control practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okonya, Joshua Sikhu; Mwanga, Robert Om; Syndikus, Katja; Kroschel, Jürgen

    2014-01-01

    Insect pests are among the most important constraints limiting sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) production in Africa. However, there is inadequate information about farmers' knowledge, perceptions and practices in the management of key insect pests. This has hindered development of effective pest management approaches for smallholder farmers. A standard questionnaire was used to interview individual sweetpotato farmers (n = 192) about their perception and management practices regarding insect pests in six major sweetpotato producing districts of Uganda. The majority (93%) of farmers perceived insect pests to be a very serious problem. With the exception of Masindi and Wakiso districts where the sweetpotato butterfly (Acraea acerata) was the number one constraint, sweetpotato weevils (Cylas puncticollis and C. brunneus) were ranked as the most important insect pests. Insecticide use in sweetpotato fields was very low being highest (28-38% of households) in districts where A. acerata infestation is the biggest problem. On average, 65% and 87% of the farmers took no action to control A. acerata and Cylas spp., respectively. Farmers were more conversant with the presence of and damage by A. acerata than of Cylas spp. as they thought that Cylas spp. root damage was brought about by a prolonged dry season. Different levels of field resistance (ability of a variety to tolerate damage) of sweetpotato landraces to A. acerata (eight landraces) and Cylas spp. (six landraces) were reported by farmers in all the six districts. This perceived level of resistance to insect damage by landraces needs to be investigated. To improve farmers' capabilities for sweetpotato insect pest management, it is crucial to train them in the basic knowledge of insect pest biology and control.

  11. Mixed-severity fire history at a forest-grassland ecotone in west central British Columbia, Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, Jill E; Smith, Dan J; Veblen, Thomas T

    2017-09-01

    This study examines spatially variable stand structure and fire-climate relationships at a low elevation forest-grassland ecotone in west central British Columbia, Canada. Fire history reconstructions were based on samples from 92 fire-scarred trees and stand demography from 27 plots collected over an area of about 7 km 2 . We documented historical chronologies of widespread fires and localized grassland fires between AD 1600 and 1900. Relationships between fire events, reconstructed values of the Palmer Drought Severity Index, and annual precipitation were examined using superposed epoch and bivariate event analyses. Widespread fires occurred during warm, dry years and were preceded by multiple anomalously dry, warm years. Localized fires that affected only grassland-proximal forests were more frequent than widespread fires. These localized fires showed a lagged, positive relationship with wetter conditions. The landscape pattern of forest structure provided further evidence of complex fire activity with multiple plots shown to have experienced low-, mixed-, and/or high-severity fires over the last four centuries. We concluded that this forest-grassland ecotone was characterized by fires of mixed severity, dominated by frequent, low-severity fires punctuated by widespread fires of moderate to high severity. This landscape-level variability in fire-climate relationships and patterns in forest structure has important implications for fire and grassland management in west central British Columbia and similar environments elsewhere. Forest restoration techniques such as prescribed fire and thinning are oftentimes applied at the forest-grassland ecotone on the basis that historically high frequency, low-severity fires defined the character of past fire activity. This study provides forest managers and policy makers with important information on mixed-severity fire activity at a low elevation forest-grassland ecotone, a crucial prerequisite for the effective management

  12. Impacts of climate change on Ontario's forests. Forest research information paper number 143

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buse, L.J.; Colombo, S.J.

    1998-01-01

    Reviews literature concerning the effects of global climate change on forest plants and communities, and provides opinions on the potential impacts that climate change may have on Ontario forests. Sections of the review discuss the following: The climate of Ontario in the 21st century as predicted by climate models; forest hydrology in relation to climate change; insects and climate change; impacts on fungi in the forest ecosystem; impacts on forest fires and their management; plant physiological responses; genetic implications of climate change; forest vegetation dynamics; the use of models in global climate change studies; and forest management responses to climate change

  13. Unexpected high diversity of galling insects in the Amazonian upper canopy: the savanna out there.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Julião, Genimar R; Venticinque, Eduardo M; Fernandes, G Wilson; Price, Peter W

    2014-01-01

    A relatively large number of studies reassert the strong relationship between galling insect diversity and extreme hydric and thermal status in some habitats, and an overall pattern of a greater number of galling species in the understory of scleromorphic vegetation. We compared galling insect diversity in the forest canopy and its relationship with tree richness among upland terra firme, várzea, and igapó floodplains in Amazonia, Brazil. The soils of these forest types have highly different hydric and nutritional status. Overall, we examined the upper layer of 1,091 tree crowns. Galling species richness and abundance were higher in terra firme forests compared to várzea and igapó forests. GLM-ANCOVA models revealed that the number of tree species sampled in each forest type was determinant in the gall-forming insect diversity. The ratio between galling insect richness and number of tree species sampled (GIR/TSS ratio) was higher in the terra firme forest and in seasonally flooded igapó, while the várzea presented the lowest GIR/TSS ratio. In this study, we recorded unprecedented values of galling species diversity and abundance per sampling point. The GIR/TSS ratio from várzea was approximately 2.5 times higher than the highest value of this ratio ever reported in the literature. Based on this fact, we ascertained that várzea and igapó floodplain forests (with lower GIA and GIR), together with the speciose terra firme galling community emerge as the gall diversity apex landscape among all biogeographic regions already investigated. Contrary to expectation, our results also support the "harsh environment hypothesis", and unveil the Amazonian upper canopy as similar to Mediterranean vegetation habitats, hygrothermically stressed environments with leaf temperature at lethal limits and high levels of leaf sclerophylly.

  14. Unexpected high diversity of galling insects in the Amazonian upper canopy: the savanna out there.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Genimar R Julião

    Full Text Available A relatively large number of studies reassert the strong relationship between galling insect diversity and extreme hydric and thermal status in some habitats, and an overall pattern of a greater number of galling species in the understory of scleromorphic vegetation. We compared galling insect diversity in the forest canopy and its relationship with tree richness among upland terra firme, várzea, and igapó floodplains in Amazonia, Brazil. The soils of these forest types have highly different hydric and nutritional status. Overall, we examined the upper layer of 1,091 tree crowns. Galling species richness and abundance were higher in terra firme forests compared to várzea and igapó forests. GLM-ANCOVA models revealed that the number of tree species sampled in each forest type was determinant in the gall-forming insect diversity. The ratio between galling insect richness and number of tree species sampled (GIR/TSS ratio was higher in the terra firme forest and in seasonally flooded igapó, while the várzea presented the lowest GIR/TSS ratio. In this study, we recorded unprecedented values of galling species diversity and abundance per sampling point. The GIR/TSS ratio from várzea was approximately 2.5 times higher than the highest value of this ratio ever reported in the literature. Based on this fact, we ascertained that várzea and igapó floodplain forests (with lower GIA and GIR, together with the speciose terra firme galling community emerge as the gall diversity apex landscape among all biogeographic regions already investigated. Contrary to expectation, our results also support the "harsh environment hypothesis", and unveil the Amazonian upper canopy as similar to Mediterranean vegetation habitats, hygrothermically stressed environments with leaf temperature at lethal limits and high levels of leaf sclerophylly.

  15. Effects of effluent water on the abundance of cowpea insect pests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiroesele, Bamphitlhi; Sitwane, Monametsi; Obopile, M; Ullah, Muhammad Irfan; Ali, Sajjad

    2017-10-03

    Botswana experiences low and unreliable rainfall. Thus, the use of effluent water in agriculture is increasingly important. Insect damage is the major constraint for cowpea grain production in the most cowpea-producing lands. We investigated the effects of effluent water on insect pest abundance on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) under field conditions. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with 100, 75, 50, and 25% of effluent water and 0% (control-clean tap water) treatments. Treatments with 100% effluent water resulted in a significant increase in insect pest populations as compared with the control. These results show that the use of effluent water to irrigate crops may increase incidence, abundance, and damage caused by insect pests possibly by decreasing plant vigor. The use of effluent water in agriculture should be addressed in a wise way.

  16. Insect folivory in Didymopanax vinosum (Apiaceae in a vegetation mosaic of Brazilian cerrado

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. M. Varanda

    Full Text Available Susceptibility of Didymopanax vinosum (Apiaceae to insect herbivores was investigated in three sites of a cerrado mosaic - composed of campo cerrado (a grassland with scattered trees and shrubs, cerradão (a tall woodland and cerrado sensu stricto (intermediate between the two - situated in Cerrado Pé-de-Gigante, Santa Rita do Passa Quatro, SP, Brazil. We also examined the relationship of folivory with the composition and abundance of the insect herbivore fauna, and with several nutritional and defensive plant characteristics (water, nitrogen, cellulose, lignin, tannin leaf contents, and leaf toughness. We collected insects associated with D. vinosum every month, and we measured leaf damage every three months. In general, the annual folivory differed among sites. It reached the highest rates in site 1 and site 3: 7.33 and 8.5 percent, respectively. Only 1.32 percent of annual folivory was observed in site 2. These levels resulted from the higher abundance, in sites 1 and 3, of the thrips Liothrips didymopanacis (Phlaeothripidae, the most abundant herbivore sampled, responsible for more than 90 percent of the observed damage. However, no significant relationship was found between insect activity and the chemical and physical composition of the leaves. Our findings suggest that, at least in this species, other chemical compounds or variables related to plant apparency and resource availability to herbivores (e.g. plant architecture might play a more decisive role in the spatial variation of folivory than the nutritional and defensive traits that were analyzed.

  17. Precursors to potential severe core damage accidents: 1992, A status report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cox, D.F.; Cletcher, J.W.; Copinger, D.A.; Cross-Dial, A.E.; Morris, R.H.; Vanden Heuvel, L.N.; Dolan, B.W.; Jansen, J.M.; Minarick, J.W.; Lau, W.; Salyer, W.D.

    1993-12-01

    Twenty-seven operational events with conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage of 1.0 x 10E-06 or higher occurring at commercial light-water reactors during 1992 are considered to be precursors to potential core damage. These are described along with associated significance estimates, categorization, and subsequent analyses. The report discusses (1) the general rationale for this study, (2) the selection and documentation of events as precursors, (3) the estimation and use of conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage to rank precursor events, and (4) the plant models used in the analysis process

  18. Convergent bacterial microbiotas in the fungal agricultural systems of insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aylward, Frank O; Suen, Garret; Biedermann, Peter H W; Adams, Aaron S; Scott, Jarrod J; Malfatti, Stephanie A; Glavina del Rio, Tijana; Tringe, Susannah G; Poulsen, Michael; Raffa, Kenneth F; Klepzig, Kier D; Currie, Cameron R

    2014-11-18

    The ability to cultivate food is an innovation that has produced some of the most successful ecological strategies on the planet. Although most well recognized in humans, where agriculture represents a defining feature of civilization, species of ants, beetles, and termites have also independently evolved symbioses with fungi that they cultivate for food. Despite occurring across divergent insect and fungal lineages, the fungivorous niches of these insects are remarkably similar, indicating convergent evolution toward this successful ecological strategy. Here, we characterize the microbiota of ants, beetles, and termites engaged in nutritional symbioses with fungi to define the bacterial groups associated with these prominent herbivores and forest pests. Using culture-independent techniques and the in silico reconstruction of 37 composite genomes of dominant community members, we demonstrate that different insect-fungal symbioses that collectively shape ecosystems worldwide have highly similar bacterial microbiotas comprised primarily of the genera Enterobacter, Rahnella, and Pseudomonas. Although these symbioses span three orders of insects and two phyla of fungi, we show that they are associated with bacteria sharing high whole-genome nucleotide identity. Due to the fine-scale correspondence of the bacterial microbiotas of insects engaged in fungal symbioses, our findings indicate that this represents an example of convergence of entire host-microbe complexes. The cultivation of fungi for food is a behavior that has evolved independently in ants, beetles, and termites and has enabled many species of these insects to become ecologically important and widely distributed herbivores and forest pests. Although the primary fungal cultivars of these insects have been studied for decades, comparatively little is known of their bacterial microbiota. In this study, we show that diverse fungus-growing insects are associated with a common bacterial community composed of the

  19. farmers' knowledge and perceptions of cotton insect pests and their

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Prince Acheampong

    A survey of 337 cotton farmers in the three northern regions of Ghana was ... five applications were made during the season. ... Keywords: cotton, farmer knowledge and perception, insect pest control, Ghana. .... bordered on tests of farmers' knowledge of cotton insect pests, their damage ..... Agricultural Experiment Station.

  20. Population suppression in support of the sterile insect technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mangan, R.L.

    2005-01-01

    Suppression or eradication of insect pest populations by the release of sterile insects is often dependent on supplementary methods of pest reduction to levels where the target pest population can be overflooded with sterile insects. Population suppression activities take place in advance of, or coincide with, the production of sterile insects. Supplementary methods to remove breeding opportunities, or management methods that prevent access of pests to the hosts, may reduce the population or prevent damage. Insecticides have been used widely in direct applications or applied as baits, in traps, or on specific sites where the pest makes contact or reproduces. As sterile insect release does not kill the pest, adult biting pests or fertile mated females of the pests will continue to attack hosts after the release of sterile insects. Thus supplementary pest suppression programmes and quarantine measures are essential to prevent damage or the spread of disease. Eradication or effective pest management requires that the entire population of the pest be treated, or that the programme apply immigration barriers. When supplementary pest control activities benefit the human population in areas being treated, such as in mosquito or screwworm eradication programmes, these activities are usually acceptable to the public, but when the public receives no direct benefit from supplementary control activities such as in fruit fly programmes, social resistance may develop. (author)

  1. Diameter characterization of timber species in primary forests of Cerro Murrucucu

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Villa G, Ana Maria

    2006-01-01

    This study in Cerro Murrucucu forests establishes the minimum fell diameter (DMC) and its fell cycle (C). It classifies the forest in 1 (Iess damaged) and 2 (severely damaged). Ten species were selected by means of the importance Value Index (IVI) and the DMC was determined. C was estimated through the times of step method. Pentaclethra macroloba showed the highest IVI (21.5% and 21.09% for forests 1 and 2, respectively). In spite of the deterioration of forest 2 the species still showed highest importance. In forest 1 an equilibrium can be deduced, whereas in forest 2 most of the considered species show instability. The DMC for forests 1 and 2 were 30 and 20 cm respectively, indicating extractive activities are deteriorating the latest. C was 51.8 years

  2. Ecological interactions of bark beetles with host trees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Certain species of bark beetles in the insect order Coleoptera, family Curculionidae (formerly Scolytidae) are keystone species in forest ecosystems. However, the tree-killing and woodboring bark and ambrosia beetles are also among the most damaging insects of forest products including lumber, paper...

  3. Radiations: tool for insect pest management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Swami, Kailash Kumar; Kiradoo, M.M.; Srivastava, Meera

    2012-01-01

    The discovery that X-rays or gamma radiation could cause sufficient genetic damage to insect reproductive systems to induce sterility resulted from work conducted by H.J. Muller starting in the 1920s. The sterilizing effect of radiation was noted by scientists of the US Department of Agriculture who had been seeking a method to sterilize insects for many years. These scientists had theorized that if large numbers of the target insect species were reared, sterilized, and released into the field, the sterile insects would mate with the wild insects. These mating would result in no offspring and thus a decline in the population would be obtained. They calculated that if sufficient numbers of sterile insects were released, reproductive rate for the wild population would rapidly decline and reach zero. In simple language, birth control of insects. Radiation sterilization was the answer. In a SIT operation, radiation is used to sexually sterilize insects. Since the SIT is species specific, the selection the insect pest or group of pests on which to work is of primary importance. The Joint Division of the IAEA Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been involved in the use of isotopes and radiation in insect control since 1964. Isotopes are used as tags or markers, for instance, of chemical molecules, insects, or plants. For example, with these tags one can follow the fate of insecticides within insects and the environment; the incorporation of nutrients into the insect; and the movements of insects under field conditions. They also can plants on which insects feed so that the quantity of consumed food can be measured and directly correlated with plant resistance. They can be used as well to follow parasites and predators of insects - for example, their movements, numbers, and ability to help control insect pests. Radiations therefore have come as a novel tool to combat insect pest problem and in future could be very helpful in various other ways, of be it be cost

  4. 76 FR 22670 - Black Hills National Forest, Hell Canyon Ranger District, South Dakota, Vestal Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-22

    ... on a proposal to use multiple vegetation treatments focused on reducing the threat to ecosystem components including forest resources from an existing insect epidemic (mountain pine beetle), creating a landscape condition that reduces the potential for high severity wildfire adjacent to the at-risk community...

  5. Damage of the forest tree layer exposed to the acute gamma- irradiation in different phenophases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karaban', R.T.; Mishenkov, N.N.; Spirin, D.A.; Prister, B.S.; Aleksakhin, R.M.

    1980-01-01

    A programme of radioecological investigations using a specially designed powerful accurate source of gamma radiation (32 kCi 137 Cs) has been initiated in our country to study the consequences of the acute forest irradiation. The irradiation has been carried out twice - in autumn (September, 1973) and in spring (May, 1977). Pine and birch sections of the forest 26-30 years old have been subjected to irradiation. Exposures during autumn and spring irradiation constitute 16 and 8 days, respectively. Forest irradiation has been carried out so as to form isodose sections of considerable square to have a sufficient amount of tress in every isodose section. Pine-trees that perished due to the effect of ionizing radiation have been counted. Presented are the data on pine trees that perished depending on the dose absorbed and new pine shoots one year old (shoots of 1978) depending on the dose in the second year after spring irradiation. The data on the damage of shoots and buds used as the indices of pine radiation damage have been used to forecast that LD 100 for the period of acute effects (4-5 years) in the case of spring irradiation is approximately 1.5-2 krad, i.e. the spring effect on pine trees is 2-2.7 times more radiosensitive, than in autumn. The supposition is made that doses absorbed (about 1-2 krad) are minimum lethal doses for coniferous forests when irradiating them in most radiosensitive phases

  6. Severe core damage experiments and analysis for CANDU applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mathew, P.M.; White, A.J.; Snell, V.G.; Bonechi, M.

    2003-01-01

    AECL uses the MAAP CANDU code to calculate the progression of a severe core damage accident in a CANDU reactor to support Level 2 Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Severe Accident Management activities. Experimental data are required to ensure that the core damage models used in MAAP CANDU code are adequate. In SMiRT 16, details of single channel experiments were presented to elucidate the mechanisms of core debris formation. This paper presents the progress made in severe core damage experiments since then using single channels in an inert atmosphere and results of the model development work to support the experiments. The core disassembly experiments are conducted with one-fifth scale channels made of Zr-2.5wt%Nb containing twelve simulated fuel bundles in an inert atmosphere. The reference fuel channel geometry consists of a pressure tube/calandria tube composite, with the pressure tube ballooned into circumferential contact with the calandria tube. Experimental results from single channel tests showed the development of time-dependent sag when the reference channel temperature exceeded 850 degC. The test results also showed significant strain localization in the gap at the bundle junctions along the bottom side of the channel, thus suggesting creep to be the main deformation mechanism for debris formation. An ABAQUS finite element model using two-dimensional beam elements with circular cross-section was developed to explain the experimental findings. A comparison of the calculated central sag (at mid-span), the axial displacement at the free end of the channel and the post-test sag profile showed good agreement with the experiments, when strain localization was included in the model, suggesting such a simple modelling approach would be adequate to explain the test findings. The results of the tests are important not only in the context of the validation of the analytical tools and models adopted by AECL for the severe accident analysis of CANDU reactors but

  7. Ecology and evolution of gall-forming insects. Forest Service general technical report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Price, P.W.; Mattson, W.J.; Baranchikov, Y.N.

    1994-09-21

    ;Partial Contents: Ecology and Population Dynamics; Effects of the Physical Environment on the Ecology of Gall Insects; Biodiversity and Distribution; Genetic Variation in Host Plant Resistance; Evolutionary Perspectives on Gall Insects.

  8. Historical, observed, and modeled wildfire severity in montane forests of the Colorado Front Range.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sherriff, Rosemary L; Platt, Rutherford V; Veblen, Thomas T; Schoennagel, Tania L; Gartner, Meredith H

    2014-01-01

    Large recent fires in the western U.S. have contributed to a perception that fire exclusion has caused an unprecedented occurrence of uncharacteristically severe fires, particularly in lower elevation dry pine forests. In the absence of long-term fire severity records, it is unknown how short-term trends compare to fire severity prior to 20th century fire exclusion. This study compares historical (i.e. pre-1920) fire severity with observed modern fire severity and modeled potential fire behavior across 564,413 ha of montane forests of the Colorado Front Range. We used forest structure and tree-ring fire history to characterize fire severity at 232 sites and then modeled historical fire-severity across the entire study area using biophysical variables. Eighteen (7.8%) sites were characterized by low-severity fires and 214 (92.2%) by mixed-severity fires (i.e. including moderate- or high-severity fires). Difference in area of historical versus observed low-severity fire within nine recent (post-1999) large fire perimeters was greatest in lower montane forests. Only 16% of the study area recorded a shift from historical low severity to a higher potential for crown fire today. An historical fire regime of more frequent and low-severity fires at low elevations (historically and continue to be so today. Thinning treatments at higher elevations of the montane zone will not return the fire regime to an historic low-severity regime, and are of questionable effectiveness in preventing severe wildfires. Based on present-day fuels, predicted fire behavior under extreme fire weather continues to indicate a mixed-severity fire regime throughout most of the montane forest zone. Recent large wildfires in the Front Range are not fundamentally different from similar events that occurred historically under extreme weather conditions.

  9. Forest report 2016; Waldzustandsbericht 2016

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2016-11-01

    This forest report of Lower Saxony (Germany) contains the following topics: Forestry Environment Monitoring (defoliation results of all tree species), weather and climate, soil water balance and drought stress, insects and fungi, infiltrated substances, substrate group clay-free sand, and heavy metal pollution of forests.

  10. Precursors to potential severe core damage accidents. A status report, 1982--1983

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Forester, J.A.; Mitchell, D.B.; Whitehead, D.W. [and others

    1997-04-01

    This study is a continuation of earlier work that evaluated 1969-1981 and 1984-1994 events affecting commercial light-water reactors. One-hundred nine operational events that affected 51 reactors during 1982 and 1983 and that are considered to be precursors to potential severe core damage are described. All these events had conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage greater than or equal to 1.0 x 10{sup {minus}6}. These events were identified by first computer screening the 1982-83 licensee event reports from commercial light-water reactors to select events that could be precursors to core damage. Candidates underwent engineering evaluation that identified, analyzed, and documented the precursors. This report discusses the general rationale for the study, the selection and documentation of events as precursors, and the estimation of conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage for the events.

  11. Precursors to potential severe core damage accidents. A status report, 1982--1983

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forester, J.A.; Mitchell, D.B.; Whitehead, D.W.

    1997-04-01

    This study is a continuation of earlier work that evaluated 1969-1981 and 1984-1994 events affecting commercial light-water reactors. One-hundred nine operational events that affected 51 reactors during 1982 and 1983 and that are considered to be precursors to potential severe core damage are described. All these events had conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage greater than or equal to 1.0 x 10 -6 . These events were identified by first computer screening the 1982-83 licensee event reports from commercial light-water reactors to select events that could be precursors to core damage. Candidates underwent engineering evaluation that identified, analyzed, and documented the precursors. This report discusses the general rationale for the study, the selection and documentation of events as precursors, and the estimation of conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage for the events

  12. Tree mortality based fire severity classification for forest inventories: A Pacific Northwest national forests example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas R. Whittier; Andrew N. Gray

    2016-01-01

    Determining how the frequency, severity, and extent of forest fires are changing in response to changes in management and climate is a key concern in many regions where fire is an important natural disturbance. In the USA the only national-scale fire severity classification uses satellite image changedetection to produce maps for large (>400 ha) fires, and is...

  13. Effects of nitrogen fertilization on forest trees in relation to insect resistance and to red-listed insect species

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glynn, C.; Herms, D.A.

    2001-10-01

    Ecosystems worldwide are experiencing unprecedented nitrogen enrichment through fertilization and pollution. While longterm ecological consequences are difficult to predict, it seems that plants and animals adapted to nitrogen-limited environments are at particular risk from these changes. This report summarizes the limited body of literature which addresses this important topic. From a herbivoreAes perspective, fertilization increases the nutritional quality of host plant tissues. In some cases fertilization has lead to decreased production of defensive compounds. How this affects populations of insects is unclear because fertilization affects not only herbivores but their natural enemies. This report outlines how fertilization affects tree processes such as growth, photosynthesis, and production of defensive compounds. The many factors that affect insect repsonse to fertilization and the difficulties in assessing how fertilization affects insect populations are discussed

  14. Damage caused to our forests and its control up to 1918

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nozicka, J

    1963-01-01

    Air pollution was mentioned as soon as 1699 by Chr. Lehman, chronicler of Krusne hory and its injurious effects were observed since the thirties of the nineteenth century by brothers Baar on their plot situated in the neighborhood of a manufactory chimney at Kdyne near Klatovy, as well as since 1843 by the surveyor William Rowland in managing the town forest of Pribram in the surroundings of silver works at Brezove hory. The problem of damage caused to our forests by air pollution arose the interest of our foresters 1850, when at the conference of the Bohemian Forestry Union held in Decin Rowland read a paper on air pollution in the area of Pribram and in surroundings of a brick-kiln at Zdiky in the Kaplice region. After 1853, the smoke effects began to be apparent in the Jachymov region, since 1880 in the Ostrava region, since the nineties of the past century in the Sokolovo, Loket, Karlovy Vary, Usti n. L. and Nachod regions and, since the first decade of the present century in the Bilina and Kladno regions. It was found that silver fir, Norway spruce and Scotch pine were the most sensitive species to smoke, whereas European larch proved to be very resistant. Broadleaved species showed also a good growth in the smoke affected areas. Basing on this experience, our foresters tried, therefore, to reduce the injouris smoke effects by growing broadleaved species in those areas. 12 references.

  15. Predicting Coastal Flood Severity using Random Forest Algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadler, J. M.; Goodall, J. L.; Morsy, M. M.; Spencer, K.

    2017-12-01

    Coastal floods have become more common recently and are predicted to further increase in frequency and severity due to sea level rise. Predicting floods in coastal cities can be difficult due to the number of environmental and geographic factors which can influence flooding events. Built stormwater infrastructure and irregular urban landscapes add further complexity. This paper demonstrates the use of machine learning algorithms in predicting street flood occurrence in an urban coastal setting. The model is trained and evaluated using data from Norfolk, Virginia USA from September 2010 - October 2016. Rainfall, tide levels, water table levels, and wind conditions are used as input variables. Street flooding reports made by city workers after named and unnamed storm events, ranging from 1-159 reports per event, are the model output. Results show that Random Forest provides predictive power in estimating the number of flood occurrences given a set of environmental conditions with an out-of-bag root mean squared error of 4.3 flood reports and a mean absolute error of 0.82 flood reports. The Random Forest algorithm performed much better than Poisson regression. From the Random Forest model, total daily rainfall was by far the most important factor in flood occurrence prediction, followed by daily low tide and daily higher high tide. The model demonstrated here could be used to predict flood severity based on forecast rainfall and tide conditions and could be further enhanced using more complete street flooding data for model training.

  16. Monitoring Regional Forest Disturbances across the US with near Real Time MODIS NDVI Products Resident to the ForWarn Forest Threat Early Warning System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spruce, Joseph P.; Hargrove, William W.; Gasser, Gerald

    2013-01-01

    Forest threats across the US have become increasingly evident in recent years. Sometimes these have resulted in regionally evident disturbance progressions (e.g., from drought, bark beetle outbreaks, and wildfires) that can occur across multiyear durations and have resulted in extensive forest overstory mortality. In addition to stand replacement disturbances, other forests are subject to ephemeral, sometimes yearly defoliation from various insects and varying types and intensities of ephemeral damage from storms. Sometimes, after prolonged severe disturbance, signs of recovery in terms of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can occur. The growing prominence and threat of forest disturbances in part have led to the formation and implementation of the 2003 Healthy Forest Restoration Act which mandated that national forest threat early warning system be developed and deployed. In response, the US Forest Service collaborated with NASA, DOE Oakridge National Laboratory, and the USGS Eros Data Center to build and roll-out the near real time ForWarn early warning system for monitoring regionally evident forest disturbances. Given the diversity of disturbance types, severities, and durations, ForWarn employs multiple historical baselines that are used with current NDVI to derive a suite of six forest change products that are refreshed every 8 days. ForWarn employs daily quarter kilometer MODIS NDVI data from the Aqua and Terra satellites, including MOD13 data for deriving historical baseline NDVIs and eMODIS 7 NDVI for compiling current NDVI. In doing so, the Time Series Product Tool and the Phenological Parameters Estimation Tool are used to temporally de-noise, fuse, and aggregate current and historical MODIS NDVIs into 24 day composites refreshed every 8 days with 46 dates of products per year. The 24 day compositing interval enables disturbances to be detected, while minimizing the frequency of residual atmospheric contamination. Forest change products are

  17. Control of anoplophora glabripennis by releasing sterile insects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Xiaohui; Li Yongjun; Zhang Shuyong; Wang Endong; Lu Daguang

    2003-01-01

    An experiment to evaluate the effect of released sterile insects on reproduction of natural A. glabripennis population was conducted at a 30-hectare poplar tree forest in Ying County of Shanxi Province from July 10 to August 29, 2001. Though the releasing ratio was only about 2-5, results from different methods showed that the reproduction of natural A. glabripennis population was suppressed effectively by releasing sterile insects, and that hatch ratio of eggs laid by parent generation was about 20% and survival ratio of F1 progeny about 27%. (authors)

  18. Response of native insect communities to invasive plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bezemer, T Martijn; Harvey, Jeffrey A; Cronin, James T

    2014-01-01

    Invasive plants can disrupt a range of trophic interactions in native communities. As a novel resource they can affect the performance of native insect herbivores and their natural enemies such as parasitoids and predators, and this can lead to host shifts of these herbivores and natural enemies. Through the release of volatile compounds, and by changing the chemical complexity of the habitat, invasive plants can also affect the behavior of native insects such as herbivores, parasitoids, and pollinators. Studies that compare insects on related native and invasive plants in invaded habitats show that the abundance of insect herbivores is often lower on invasive plants, but that damage levels are similar. The impact of invasive plants on the population dynamics of resident insect species has been rarely examined, but invasive plants can influence the spatial and temporal dynamics of native insect (meta)populations and communities, ultimately leading to changes at the landscape level.

  19. Insect pollination: commodity values, trade and policy considerations using coffee as an example

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vernon George Thomas

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Science has shown the importance of animal pollinators to human food security, economy, and biodiversity conservation. Science continues to identify various factors causing pollinator declines and their implications. However, translation of the understanding of pollinators’ roles into current policy and regulation is weak and requires attention, both in developed and developing nations. The national and international trade of commodities generated via insect pollination is large. Trade in those crops could be a means of influencing regulations to promote the local existence of pollinating species, apart from their contributions to biodiversity conservation. This paper, using the example of international coffee production, reviews the value of pollinating species, and relates them to simple economics of commodity production. Recommendations are made that could influence policy and decision-making to promote coffee production, trade, and pollinators’ existence. Assumptions and considerations are raised and addressed. Although the role of insect pollinators in promoting fruit set and quality is accepted, implementing pollination conservation in forest habitats may require assured higher prices for coffee, and direct subsidies for forest conservation to prevent conversion to other crop lands. Exporting and importing governments and trade organizations could establish policy that requires insect pollination in the coffee certification process. The European Parliament and the North American Free Trade Agreement could be instrumental in creating policy and regulation that promotes insect pollination services in coffee production. The reciprocity between the services of insect pollinators in certified coffee production and their services in forest biodiversity production should be implicit in future policy negotiations to enhance both systems.

  20. Object-based assessment of burn severity in diseased forests using high-spatial and high-spectral resolution MASTER airborne imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Gang; Metz, Margaret R.; Rizzo, David M.; Dillon, Whalen W.; Meentemeyer, Ross K.

    2015-04-01

    Forest ecosystems are subject to a variety of disturbances with increasing intensities and frequencies, which may permanently change the trajectories of forest recovery and disrupt the ecosystem services provided by trees. Fire and invasive species, especially exotic disease-causing pathogens and insects, are examples of disturbances that together could pose major threats to forest health. This study examines the impacts of fire and exotic disease (sudden oak death) on forests, with an emphasis on the assessment of post-fire burn severity in a forest where trees have experienced three stages of disease progression pre-fire: early-stage (trees retaining dried foliage and fine twigs), middle-stage (trees losing fine crown fuels), and late-stage (trees falling down). The research was conducted by applying Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) to MASTER airborne images that were acquired immediately following the fire for rapid assessment and contained both high-spatial (4 m) and high-spectral (50 bands) resolutions. Although GEOBIA has gradually become a standard tool for analyzing high-spatial resolution imagery, high-spectral resolution data (dozens to hundreds of bands) can dramatically reduce computation efficiency in the process of segmentation and object-based variable extraction, leading to complicated variable selection for succeeding modeling. Hence, we also assessed two widely used band reduction algorithms, PCA (principal component analysis) and MNF (minimum noise fraction), for the delineation of image objects and the subsequent performance of burn severity models using either PCA or MNF derived variables. To increase computation efficiency, only the top 5 PCA and MNF and top 10 PCA and MNF components were evaluated, which accounted for 10% and 20% of the total number of the original 50 spectral bands, respectively. Results show that if no band reduction was applied the models developed for the three stages of disease progression had relatively

  1. Prevention of Severe Hypoglycemia-Induced Brain Damage and Cognitive Impairment with Verapamil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, David A; Michael, Trevin; Vieira de Abreu, Adriana; Agrawal, Rahul; Bortolato, Marco; Fisher, Simon J

    2018-05-03

    People with insulin-treated diabetes are uniquely at risk for severe hypoglycemia-induced brain damage. Since calcium influx may mediate brain damage, we tested the hypothesis that the calcium channel blocker, verapamil, would significantly reduce brain damage and cognitive impairment caused by severe hypoglycemia. Ten-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to one of three treatments; 1) control hyperinsulinemic (200 mU.kg -1 min -1 ) euglycemic (80-100mg/dl) clamps (n=14), 2) hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemic (10-15mg/dl) clamps (n=16), or 3) hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemic clamps followed by a single treatment with verapamil (20mg/kg) (n=11). As compared to euglycemic controls, hypoglycemia markedly increased dead/dying neurons in the hippocampus and cortex, by 16-fold and 14-fold, respectively. Verapamil treatment strikingly decreased hypoglycemia-induced hippocampal and cortical damage, by 87% and 94%, respectively. Morris Water Maze probe trial results demonstrated that hypoglycemia induced a retention, but not encoding, memory deficit (noted by both abolished target quadrant preference and reduced target quadrant time). Verapamil treatment significantly rescued spatial memory as noted by restoration of target quadrant preference and target quadrant time. In summary, a one-time treatment with verapamil following severe hypoglycemia prevented neural damage and memory impairment caused by severe hypoglycemia. For people with insulin treated diabetes, verapamil may be a useful drug to prevent hypoglycemia-induced brain damage. © 2018 by the American Diabetes Association.

  2. Bark and wood pests of smoke-damaged Scots pine. [Myclophilus piniperda, Pissodes pini, Pissodes piniphilus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kudela, M; Wolf, R

    1964-01-01

    This paper examines the relationship between smoke damage and insect infestation of trees. Two stands of trees were examined. The trees ranged in age from 64 > 75 years. Details are tabulated on the number and distribution of pests. The chief pests were Myclophilus piniperda, Pissodes pini, and Pissodes piniphilus. Results indicated that the intensity of attack by pests increased with increasing severity of smoke damage. 20 references.

  3. Eastern forest environmental threat assessment center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Southern Research Station. USDA Forest Service

    2010-01-01

    The Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC) provides the latest research and expertise concerning threats to healthy forests – such as insects and disease, wildland loss, invasive species, wildland fire, and climate change – to assist forest landowners, managers and scientists throughout the East. Established in 2005, EFETAC is a joint effort of...

  4. Visitor preferences for visual changes in bark beetle-impacted forest recreation settings in the United States and Germany

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arne Arnberger; Martin Ebenberger; Ingrid E. Schneider; Stuart Cottrell; Alexander C. Schlueter; Eick von Ruschkowski; Robert C. Venette; Stephanie A. Snyder; Paul H. Gobster

    2018-01-01

    Extensive outbreaks of tree-killing insects are increasing across forests in Europe and North America due to climate change and other factors. Yet, little recent research examines visitor response to visual changes in conifer forest recreation settings resulting from forest insect infestations, how visitors weigh trade-offs between physical and social forest...

  5. Can Prunus serotina be genetically engineered for reproductive sterility and insect pest resistance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ying Wang; Paula M. Pijut

    2014-01-01

    Black cherry (Prunus serotina) is a valuable hardwood timber species, and its value highly depends on the wood quality which is often threatened by insect pests. Transgenic black cherry plants that are more resistant to cambial-mining insects may reduce the occurrence of gummosis and have great economic benefits to landowners and the forest products...

  6. A study on feasibility of insect-control with γ-ray

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huifen Feng; Jingren Li; Xin Hu

    1993-01-01

    Insect-control with Co-γ-ray is a method for conserving archives, books, cotton textiles, historical relics, wood structured houses and furniture. The temporary and residual effects of γ-ray on irradiated objects and the biological effects on insects are presented in this report. Our study shows that there is no obvious harmful effect on irradiated objects when the radiation dose is below 870 Gy, while there is obvious deterioration to the objects when the dose is above 870 Gy. On the other hand, a dose below 870 Gy is strong enough for the insects to be affected. At the dose of 43.5 - 130.5 Gy, the irradiated insects' reproductive function could be damaged or insects killed. (author)

  7. Remote sensing of forest decline in the Czech Republic

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ardoe, J.

    1998-04-01

    This thesis describes the localization and quantification of deforestation and forest damage in Norway spruce forests in northern Czech Republic using Landsat data. Severe defoliation increases the spectral reflectance in all wavelength bands, especially in the mid infrared region. These spectral differences allow the separation of three damage categories with an accuracy of 75% using TM data and regression based relationships. Estimating the same categories using an artificial neural network, multi temporal TM data and topographic data yields slightly higher accuracy (78%). The methods are comparable when using identical input data, but the neural network more efficiently manage large input data sets without pre.processing, The estimated coniferous deforestation in northern Bohemia from 1972 to 1989 reveals especially affected areas between 600 and 1000 m.a.s.l. and on slopes facing south and southeast. The sector downwind a large source of sulphur dioxide was strongly deforested. Comparing regional forest damage statistics to three methods estimating harmful effects of sulphur dioxide on Norway spruce yielded significant relationships versus level of forest damage and accumulated salvage felling. Quantifying the effect of data uncertainties permit mapping the probabilities of areas to be significantly over or below thresholds for harmful effects on spruce forests. Satellite based estimation of coniferous forest health is a good complement to field surveys and aerial photography 137 refs, 7 figs, 2 tabs

  8. Climatic stress increases forest fire severity across the western United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Mantgem, Philip J.; Nesmith, Jonathan C. B.; Keifer, MaryBeth; Knapp, Eric E.; Flint, Alan; Flint, Lorriane

    2013-01-01

    Pervasive warming can lead to chronic stress on forest trees, which may contribute to mortality resulting from fire-caused injuries. Longitudinal analyses of forest plots from across the western US show that high pre-fire climatic water deficit was related to increased post-fire tree mortality probabilities. This relationship between climate and fire was present after accounting for fire defences and injuries, and appeared to influence the effects of crown and stem injuries. Climate and fire interactions did not vary substantially across geographical regions, major genera and tree sizes. Our findings support recent physiological evidence showing that both drought and heating from fire can impair xylem conductivity. Warming trends have been linked to increasing probabilities of severe fire weather and fire spread; our results suggest that warming may also increase forest fire severity (the number of trees killed) independent of fire intensity (the amount of heat released during a fire).

  9. Role of plants and plant based products towards the control of insect pests and vectors: A novel review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elumalai Kuppusamy

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Insect pests bear harmful effects causing great loss to the agricultural crops, stored agricultural products and vector mosquitoes can cause diseases to human. Plants possess an array of vast repository of phytochemicals and have been used to cure many diseases and to control the infestation of insect pests from time immemorial. Plants are easily biodegradable and ecologically safe for treating on the stored or on the field crops against pests to prevent from further damage or loss of stored products or preventing human from mosquito bites, thus preventing the spreading of dreadful diseases such as chikungunya and malaria. Hence, this review can give a clear insecticidal, pesticidal and mosquitocidal property of several plants against the insect pests and vectors.

  10. Effects of Burn Severity and Environmental Conditions on Post-Fire Regeneration in Siberian Larch Forest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thuan Chu

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Post-fire forest regeneration is strongly influenced by abiotic and biotic heterogeneity in the pre- and post-fire environments, including fire regimes, species characteristics, landforms, hydrology, regional climate, and soil properties. Assessing these drivers is key to understanding the long-term effects of fire disturbances on forest succession. We evaluated multiple factors influencing patterns of variability in a post-fire boreal Larch (Larix sibirica forest in Siberia. A time-series of remote sensing images was analyzed to estimate post-fire recovery as a response variable across the burned area in 1996. Our results suggested that burn severity and water content were primary controllers of both Larch forest recruitment and green vegetation cover as defined by the forest recovery index (FRI and the fractional vegetation cover (FVC, respectively. We found a high rate of Larch forest recruitment in sites of moderate burn severity, while a more severe burn was the preferable condition for quick occupation by vegetation that included early seral communities of shrubs, grasses, conifers and broadleaf trees. Sites close to water and that received higher solar energy during the summer months showed a higher rate of both recovery types, defined by the FRI and FVC, dependent on burn severity. In addition to these factors, topographic variables and pre-fire condition were important predictors of post-fire forest patterns. These results have direct implications for the post-fire forest management in the Siberian boreal Larch region.

  11. Responses of tree and insect herbivores to elevated nitrogen inputs: A meta-analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Furong; Dudley, Tom L.; Chen, Baoming; Chang, Xiaoyu; Liang, Liyin; Peng, Shaolin

    2016-11-01

    Increasing atmospheric nitrogen (N) inputs have the potential to alter terrestrial ecosystem function through impacts on plant-herbivore interactions. The goal of our study is to search for a general pattern in responses of tree characteristics important for herbivores and insect herbivorous performance to elevated N inputs. We conducted a meta-analysis based on 109 papers describing impacts of nitrogen inputs on tree characteristics and 16 papers on insect performance. The differences in plant characteristics and insect performance between broadleaves and conifers were also explored. Tree aboveground biomass, leaf biomass and leaf N concentration significantly increased under elevated N inputs. Elevated N inputs had no significantly overall effect on concentrations of phenolic compounds and lignin but adversely affected tannin, as defensive chemicals for insect herbivores. Additionally, the overall effect of insect herbivore performance (including development time, insect biomass, relative growth rate, and so on) was significantly increased by elevated N inputs. According to the inconsistent responses between broadleaves and conifers, broadleaves would be more likely to increase growth by light interception and photosynthesis rather than producing more defensive chemicals to elevated N inputs by comparison with conifers. Moreover, the overall carbohydrate concentration was significantly reduced by 13.12% in broadleaves while increased slightly in conifers. The overall tannin concentration decreased significantly by 39.21% in broadleaves but a 5.8% decrease in conifers was not significant. The results of the analysis indicated that elevated N inputs would provide more food sources and ameliorate tree palatability for insects, while the resistance of trees against their insect herbivores was weakened, especially for broadleaves. Thus, global forest insect pest problems would be aggravated by elevated N inputs. As N inputs continue to rise in the future, forest

  12. Insects vis a vis radiations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Srivastava, Meera

    2014-01-01

    Insects have turned out to be much more radiation resistant. For most insects a dose of about 500-700 Gy is required to kill them within a few weeks of exposure; although cockroaches require 900-1000 Gy. Killing insects in less than a few days requires much higher doses. These doses are for mature insects, the immature stages of some insects can be killed by doses as low as 40 Gy. Some insects can be sterilized at even lower doses, and this has application in insect control. Screw-worms, for example, can be sterilized with doses of 25-50 Gy. By contrast, doses as low as 3 Gy caused death of humans in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and doses of about 6 Gy caused death of fire fighters in the Chernobyl accident. It is not exactly certain what the basis is for the resistance of insects to ionizing radiation. It is not animal size by itself, nor lack of penetration. It is also not because of few dividing cells as these are more radiosensitive than non-dividing ones. The speculation that insects might have lower oxygen tensions, and the lack of oxygen is known to protect cells from radiation also does not work. Insect cells might have an enhanced capacity to repair radiation damage also could not be proven. The number of chromosomes influenced radio-sensitivity, and that insects had fewer chromosomes could be true. The radiation resistance is inherent to the cells, since cells derived from insects are also radiation resistant when grown in cell culture. For example, a dose of 60 Gy is required to produce a 80% kill of insect cells, while doses of 1-2 Gy are sufficient to generate this level of killing in mammalian cells. But, nevertheless, according to recent researches, radiation from Japan's leaking Fukushima nuclear plant has caused mutations in some butterflies. It is therefore clear that insects are resistant to ionizing radiation and that this resistance is an inherent property of their cells. But it is not clear exactly what the basis of this cellular resistance is

  13. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Air Pollution and Climate Change Effects on Forest Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrzej Bytnerowicz; Michael J. Arbaugh; Susan L. Schilling

    1998-01-01

    Industrial air pollution has been identified as one of the primary causes of severe damage to forests of central Europe in the past 30 to 40 years. The mountain forest ecosystems have been affected considerably, resulting in extensive areas of severely deteriorated forest stands (e.g., the Krusne Hory of the Czech Republic or the Izerske and Sudety Mountains along the...

  14. Is The Ca + K + Mg/Al Ratio in the Soil Solution a Predictive Tool for Estimating Forest Damage?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goeransson, A.; Eldhuset, T. D.

    2001-01-01

    The ratio between (Ca +K +Mg) and Al in nutrient solution has been suggested as a predictive tool for estimating tree growth disturbance. However, the ratio is unspecific in the sense that it is based on several elements which are all essential for plant growth;each of these may be growth-limiting. Furthermore,aluminium retards growth at higher concentrations. Itis therefore difficult to give causal and objective biological explanations for possible growth disturbances. The importance of the proportion of base-cations to N, at a fixed base-cation/Al ratio, is evaluated with regard to growth of Picea abies.The uptake of elements was found to be selective; nutrients were taken up while most Al remained in solution. Biomass partitioning to the roots increased after aluminium addition with low proportions of basecations to nitrogen. We conclude that the low growthrates depend on nutrient limitation in these treatments. Low growth rates in the high proportion experiments may be explained by high internal Alconcentrations. The results strongly suggest that growth rate is not correlated with the ratio in the rooting medium and question the validity of using ratios as predictive tools for estimating forest damage. We suggest that growth limitation of Picea abies in the field may depend on low proportions of base cations to nitrate. It is therefore important to know the nutritional status of the plant material in relation to the growth potential and environmental limitation to be able to predict and estimate forest damage

  15. Double strand RNA oral delivery methods to induce RNA interference in phloem and plant-sap-feeding insects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phloem and plant sap feeding insect pests invade the integrity of crops and fruits to retrieve nutrients in the process damaging food productivity. Hemipteran insects account for a number of economically substantial pests of plants that cause damage to crops by feeding on phloem sap. Halyomorpha hal...

  16. Tree crops: Advances in insects and disease management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Advances in next-generation sequencing have enabled genome sequencing to be fast and affordable. Thus today researchers and industries can address new methods in pest and pathogen management. Biological control of insect pests that occur in large areas, such as forests and farming systems of fruit t...

  17. Forest report 2015; Waldzustandsbericht 2015

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2015-07-01

    This forest report of Lower Saxony (Germany) contains the following topics: Forestry Environment Monitoring, weather and climate, spring drought, insects and fungi, infiltrated substances, trends in soil solution of forest ecosystems, soil chemistry and root penetration in deeper layers of soil, climate change and sustainable land management in Northern German Plain.

  18. Severe hepatic trauma: nonoperative management, definitive repair, or damage control surgery?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leppäniemi, Ari K; Mentula, Panu J; Streng, Mari H; Koivikko, Mika P; Handolin, Lauri E

    2011-12-01

    Management of severe liver injuries has evolved to include the options for nonoperative management and damage control surgery. The present study analyzes the criteria for choosing between nonoperative management and early surgery, and definitive repair versus damage control strategy during early surgery. In a retrospective analysis of 144 patients with severe (AAST grade III-V) liver injuries (94% blunt trauma), early laparotomy was performed in 50 patients. Initial management was nonoperative in 94 blunt trauma patients with 8 failures. Uni- and multivariate analyses were used to calculate predictor odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Factors associated with early laparotomy in blunt trauma included shock on admission, associated grade IV-V splenic injury, grade IV-V head injury, and grade V liver injury. Only shock was an independent predictor (OR, 26.1; 95% CI, 8.9-77.1; P < 0.001). The presence of a grade IV-V splenic injury predicted damage control strategy (OR infinite; P = 0.021). Failed nonoperative management was associated with grade IV-V splenic injury (OR, 14.00; 95% CI, 1.67-117.55), and shock (OR, 6.82; 95% CI, 1.49-31.29). The hospital mortality rate was 15%; 8 of 21 deaths were liver-related. Shock (OR, 9.3; 95% CI, 2.4-35.8; P = 0.001) and severe head injury (OR, 9.25; 95% CI, 3.0-28.9; P = 0.000) were independent predictors for mortality. In patients with severe liver injury, associated severe splenic injury favors early laparotomy and damage control strategy. Patients who arrive in shock or have an associated severe splenic injury should not be managed nonoperatively. In addition to severe head injury, uncontrollable bleeding from the liver injury is still a major cause of early death.

  19. Severe fuel-damage scoping test performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gruen, G.E.; Buescher, B.J.

    1983-01-01

    As a result of the Three Mile Island Unit-2 (TMI-2) accident, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has initiated a severe fuel damage test program to evaluate fuel rod and core response during severe accidents similar to TMI-2. The first test of Phase I of this series has been successfully completed in the Power Burst Facility at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Following the first test, calculations were performed using the TRAC-BD1 computer code with actual experimental boundary conditions. This paper discusses the test conduct and performance and presents the calculated and measured test bundle results. The test resulted in a slow heatup to 2000 K over about 4 h, with an accelerated reaction of the zirconium cladding at temperatures above 1600 K in the lower part or the bundle and 2000 K in the upper portion of the bundle

  20. Novel insect leaf-mining after the end-Cretaceous extinction and the demise of cretaceous leaf miners, Great Plains, USA.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael P Donovan

    Full Text Available Plant and associated insect-damage diversity in the western U.S.A. decreased significantly at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg boundary and remained low until the late Paleocene. However, the Mexican Hat locality (ca. 65 Ma in southeastern Montana, with a typical, low-diversity flora, uniquely exhibits high damage diversity on nearly all its host plants, when compared to all known local and regional early Paleocene sites. The same plant species show minimal damage elsewhere during the early Paleocene. We asked whether the high insect damage diversity at Mexican Hat was more likely related to the survival of Cretaceous insects from refugia or to an influx of novel Paleocene taxa. We compared damage on 1073 leaf fossils from Mexican Hat to over 9000 terminal Cretaceous leaf fossils from the Hell Creek Formation of nearby southwestern North Dakota and to over 9000 Paleocene leaf fossils from the Fort Union Formation in North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. We described the entire insect-feeding ichnofauna at Mexican Hat and focused our analysis on leaf mines because they are typically host-specialized and preserve a number of diagnostic morphological characters. Nine mine damage types attributable to three of the four orders of leaf-mining insects are found at Mexican Hat, six of them so far unique to the site. We found no evidence linking any of the diverse Hell Creek mines with those found at Mexican Hat, nor for the survival of any Cretaceous leaf miners over the K-Pg boundary regionally, even on well-sampled, surviving plant families. Overall, our results strongly relate the high damage diversity on the depauperate Mexican Hat flora to an influx of novel insect herbivores during the early Paleocene, possibly caused by a transient warming event and range expansion, and indicate drastic extinction rather than survivorship of Cretaceous insect taxa from refugia.

  1. Novel insect leaf-mining after the end-Cretaceous extinction and the demise of cretaceous leaf miners, Great Plains, USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donovan, Michael P; Wilf, Peter; Labandeira, Conrad C; Johnson, Kirk R; Peppe, Daniel J

    2014-01-01

    Plant and associated insect-damage diversity in the western U.S.A. decreased significantly at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary and remained low until the late Paleocene. However, the Mexican Hat locality (ca. 65 Ma) in southeastern Montana, with a typical, low-diversity flora, uniquely exhibits high damage diversity on nearly all its host plants, when compared to all known local and regional early Paleocene sites. The same plant species show minimal damage elsewhere during the early Paleocene. We asked whether the high insect damage diversity at Mexican Hat was more likely related to the survival of Cretaceous insects from refugia or to an influx of novel Paleocene taxa. We compared damage on 1073 leaf fossils from Mexican Hat to over 9000 terminal Cretaceous leaf fossils from the Hell Creek Formation of nearby southwestern North Dakota and to over 9000 Paleocene leaf fossils from the Fort Union Formation in North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. We described the entire insect-feeding ichnofauna at Mexican Hat and focused our analysis on leaf mines because they are typically host-specialized and preserve a number of diagnostic morphological characters. Nine mine damage types attributable to three of the four orders of leaf-mining insects are found at Mexican Hat, six of them so far unique to the site. We found no evidence linking any of the diverse Hell Creek mines with those found at Mexican Hat, nor for the survival of any Cretaceous leaf miners over the K-Pg boundary regionally, even on well-sampled, surviving plant families. Overall, our results strongly relate the high damage diversity on the depauperate Mexican Hat flora to an influx of novel insect herbivores during the early Paleocene, possibly caused by a transient warming event and range expansion, and indicate drastic extinction rather than survivorship of Cretaceous insect taxa from refugia.

  2. Characteristics of severely damaged fuel from PBF tests and the TMI-2 accident

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osetek, D.J.; Cook, B.A.; Dallman, R.J.; Broughton, J.M.

    1986-01-01

    As a result of the TMI-2 reactor accident, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission initiated a research program to investigate phenomena associated with severe fuel damage accidents. This program is sponsored by several countries and includes in-pile and out-of-pile experiments, separate effects studies, and computer code development. The principal in-pile testing portion of the program includes four integral severe fuel damage (SFD) tests in the Power Burst Facility (PBF) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The INEL is also responsible for examining the damaged core in the Three Mile Island-Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor, which offers the unique opportunity to directly compare the findings of an experimental program to those of an actual reactor accident. The principal core damage phenomena which can occur during a severe accident are discussed, and examples from the INEL research programs are used to illustrate the characteristics of these phenomena. The preliminary results of the programs are presented, and their impact on plant operability during severe accidents is discussed

  3. An Integrated Molecular Database on Indian Insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pratheepa, Maria; Venkatesan, Thiruvengadam; Gracy, Gandhi; Jalali, Sushil Kumar; Rangheswaran, Rajagopal; Antony, Jomin Cruz; Rai, Anil

    2018-01-01

    MOlecular Database on Indian Insects (MODII) is an online database linking several databases like Insect Pest Info, Insect Barcode Information System (IBIn), Insect Whole Genome sequence, Other Genomic Resources of National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR), Whole Genome sequencing of Honey bee viruses, Insecticide resistance gene database and Genomic tools. This database was developed with a holistic approach for collecting information about phenomic and genomic information of agriculturally important insects. This insect resource database is available online for free at http://cib.res.in. http://cib.res.in/.

  4. Forest canopy damage and recovery in reduced-impact and conventional selective logging in eastern Para, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodrigo Pereira Jr.; Johan Zweedea; Gregory P. Asnerb; Keller; Michael

    2002-01-01

    We investigated ground and canopy damage and recovery following conventional logging and reduced-impact logging (RIL) of moist tropical forest in the eastern Amazon of Brazil. Paired conventional and RIL blocks were selectively logged with a harvest intensity of approximately 23 m3 ha

  5. Survey for potential insect biological control agents of Ligustrum sinense (Scrophulariales: Oleaceae) in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Y-Z Zhang; J.L. Hanula; J. Sun

    2008-01-01

    A systematic survey of Chinese privet foliage, stems, seeds, and roots for associated phytophagous insects was conducted in China during 2005 and 2006 in order to establish basic information about the insect communities that Chinese privet harbors and to evaluate the abundance and damage caused by these insects. A total of 170...

  6. Behavior of fission products released from severely damaged fuel during the PBF severe fuel damage tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osetek, D.J.; Cronenberg, A.W.; Hagrman, D.L.; Broughton, J.M.; Rest, J.

    1984-01-01

    The results of fission product release behavior during the first two Power Burst Facility Severe Fuel Damage tests are presented. Measured fission product release is compared with calculated release using temperature dependent release rate correlations and FASTGRASS analysis. The test results indicate that release from fuel of the high volatility fission products (Xe, Kr, I, Cs, and Te) is strongly influenced by parameters other than fuel temperature; namely fuel/fission product morphology, fuel and cladding oxidation state, extent of fuel liquefaction, and quench induced fuel shattering. Fission product transport from the test fuel through the sample system was strongly influenced by chemical effects. Holdup of I and Cs was affected by fission product chemistry, and transport time while Te release was primarily influenced by the extent of zircaloy oxidation. Analysis demonstrates that such integral test data can be used to confirm physical, chemical, and mechanistic models of fission product behavior for severe accident conditions

  7. Improving Post-Hurricane Katrina Forest Management with MODIS Time Series Products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Mark David; Spruce, Joseph; Evans, David; Anderson, Daniel

    2012-01-01

    Hurricane damage to forests can be severe, causing millions of dollars of timber damage and loss. To help mitigate loss, state agencies require information on location, intensity, and extent of damaged forests. NASA's MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series data products offers a potential means for state agencies to monitor hurricane-induced forest damage and recovery across a broad region. In response, a project was conducted to produce and assess 250 meter forest disturbance and recovery maps for areas in southern Mississippi impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The products and capabilities from the project were compiled to aid work of the Mississippi Institute for Forest Inventory (MIFI). A series of NDVI change detection products were computed to assess hurricane induced damage and recovery. Hurricane-induced forest damage maps were derived by computing percent change between MODIS MOD13 16-day composited NDVI pre-hurricane "baseline" products (2003 and 2004) and post-hurricane NDVI products (2005). Recovery products were then computed in which post storm 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 NDVI data was each singularly compared to the historical baseline NDVI. All percent NDVI change considered the 16-day composite period of August 29 to September 13 for each year in the study. This provided percent change in the maximum NDVI for the 2 week period just after the hurricane event and for each subsequent anniversary through 2009, resulting in forest disturbance products for 2005 and recovery products for the following 4 years. These disturbance and recovery products were produced for the Mississippi Institute for Forest Inventory's (MIFI) Southeast Inventory District and also for the entire hurricane impact zone. MIFI forest inventory products were used as ground truth information for the project. Each NDVI percent change product was classified into 6 categories of forest disturbance intensity. Stand age

  8. Diversity of galling insects in Styrax pohlii (Styracaceae): edge effect and use as bioindicators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Araújol, Walter Santos; Julião, Genimar Rebouças; Ribeiro, Bárbara Araújo; Silva, Isadora Portes Abraham; dos Santos, Benedito Baptista

    2011-12-01

    Impacts of forest fragmentation and edge effect on plant-herbivores interactions are relatively unknown, and the relationships between galling insects and their host plants are very susceptible to environmental variations. The goal of our study was to test the edge effect hypothesis for galling insects associated with Styrax pohlii (Styracaceae) host plant. Samplings were conducted at a fragment of semi-deciduous forest in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil. Thirty host plant individuals (15 at fragment edge and 15 in its interior) were sampled in July of 2007; in each plant, 10 apical branches were collected at the top, middle and bottom crown levels. Our results supported the prediction of greater richness of gall morphotypes in the edge habitat compared with remnant interior. In a similar way, gall abundance and frequency of attacked leaves were also greater in the fragment edge. These findings consequently suggest a positive response of galling insect diversity to edge effect; in the Saint-Hilaire forest, this effect probably operates through the changes in microclimatic conditions of edge habitats, which results in an increased hygrothermal stress, a determinant factor to distribution patterns of galling insects. We also concluded that these organisms could be employed as biological indicators (i) because of their host-specificity, (ii) they are sensitive to changes in plant quality, and (iii) present dissimilar and specific responses to local variation in habitat conditions.

  9. Do Native Insects and Associated Fungi Limit Non-Native Woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, Survival in a Newly Invaded Environment?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laurel J Haavik

    Full Text Available Sirex noctilio F. (Hymenoptera: Siricidae is an introduced pest of pines (Pinus spp. in several countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Although S. noctilio is established in North America (first discovered in 2004, it has not been a destructive pest there so far, where forest communities more closely resemble those in its native Eurasian range—where it is not a pest. To investigate the influence of the existing community of associated insects (competitors + natural enemies and fungi (vectored by insects on S. noctilio survival in North America, we examined stage-specific mortality factors and their relative importance, generating life tables drawn from experimentally-manipulated and natural cohorts of Sirex spp. (mostly S. noctilio, but some native S. nigricornis F.. For both natural and experimentally-manipulated cohorts, factors which acted during the earliest Sirex life stages, most likely tree resistance and/or competition among fungal associates, were paramount in dictating woodwasp survival. Experimentally-manipulated life tables revealed that protection from the community of associates resulted in a significantly, and substantially larger (>15x S. noctilio F1 generation than exposure to it. Seventy percent of generation mortality in the exposed cohort was due to tree resistance or unknown causes early in larval development, which could have included competition among other bark- or wood-inhabiting insects and/or their fungal associates. Only 46% of generation mortality in the protected cohort was due to tree resistance and/or unknown causes. Parasitoids, particularly endoparasitoids (Ibalia spp., showed limited ability to control S. noctilio, and reduced the experimentally-established cohort by only 11%, and natural cohorts an average of 3.4%. The relative importance of tree resistance vs. competition with bark- and wood-borers in reducing S. noctilio survival remains unclear. Tree resistance and/or competition likely contribute more

  10. Application of lime (CaCO3) to promote forest recovery from severe acidification increases potential for earthworm invasion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Homan, Caitlin; Beirer, Colin M; McCay, Timothy S; Lawrence, Gregory B.

    2016-01-01

    The application of lime (calcium carbonate) may be a cost-effective strategy to promote forest ecosystem recovery from acid impairment, under contemporary low levels of acidic deposition. However, liming acidified soils may create more suitable habitat for invasive earthworms that cause significant damage to forest floor communities and may disrupt ecosystem processes. We investigated the potential effects of liming in acidified soils where earthworms are rare in conjunction with a whole-ecosystem liming experiment in the chronically acidified forests of the western Adirondacks (USA). Using a microcosm experiment that replicated the whole-ecosystem treatment, we evaluated effects of soil liming on Lumbricus terrestris survivorship and biomass growth. We found that a moderate lime application (raising pH from 3.1 to 3.7) dramatically increased survival and biomass of L. terrestris, likely via increases in soil pH and associated reductions in inorganic aluminum, a known toxin. Very few L. terrestris individuals survived in unlimed soils, whereas earthworms in limed soils survived, grew, and rapidly consumed leaf litter. We supplemented this experiment with field surveys of extant earthworm communities along a gradient of soil pH in Adirondack hardwood forests, ranging from severely acidified (pH 5). In the field, no earthworms were observed where soil pH 4.4 and human dispersal vectors, including proximity to roads and public fishing access, were most prevalent. Overall our results suggest that moderate lime additions can be sufficient to increase earthworm invasion risk where dispersal vectors are present.

  11. Effect of acid deposition on Nanshan forest at Chongging in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Xiaolei; Ogura, Norio

    1992-01-01

    Chongqing is the city where atmospheric pollution is severest in China, and the pH of rainwater has been measured every year since 1981, which is close to 4.0 now. In 1982, the decline of Pinus massoniana in Nanshan district in southeast Chongqing has occurred. The decline phenomena of this forest attracted attention also in foreign countries, and the various studies on its causes have been carried out, consequently, the main cause was presumed to be the compound effect of acid rain, acid mist and the damage by insects. It was clarified by the recent research that the dry and wet acid fallouts mainly composed of SO 2 are one of the important causes that brought about the decline of Pinus massoniana in Nanshan. The forest area in Nanshan is about 2000 ha, and almost the simple forest of Pinus massoniana that distributes at the elevation from 400 to 1400 m. The withering of a small number began to occur in 1982, but thereafter, the area of withering increased rapidly, and reached 41.8% of the total forest area in July, 1983. The decline still continues now. The direct effect of acid fallout to Nanshan forest and the indirect effect through soil are reported in this paper. (K.I.)

  12. Using wood-based structural products as forest management tools to improve forest health, sustainability and reduce forest fuels : a research program of the USDA Forest Service under the National Fire Plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    John F. Hunt; Jerrold E. Winandy

    2002-01-01

    Currently, after logging or thinning operations much of the low value timber is either left standing or is felled and left on the ground, chipped, or burned because most North American mills are not equipped to handle this material. In many areas of Western U.S., this forest residue does not decompose if felled and it soon becomes susceptible to forest insect or...

  13. Forest report 2017; Waldzustandsbericht 2017

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2017-07-01

    This forest report of Lower Saxony (Germany) contains the following topics: Forestry Environment Monitoring (defoliation results of all tree species), weather and climate, insects and fungi, site information for the Federal Forest Inventory in Lower Saxony, infiltrated substances, development of soil acidification on intensive monitoring areas in northwestern Germany, and substrate group mottled sandstone.

  14. Modeling of reflood of severely damaged reactor core

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bachrata, A.

    2012-01-01

    The TMI-2 accident and recently Fukushima accident demonstrated that the nuclear safety philosophy has to cover accident sequences involving massive core melt in order to develop reliable mitigation strategies for both, existing and advanced reactors. Although severe accidents are low likelihood and might be caused only by multiple failures, accident management is implemented for controlling their course and mitigating their consequences. In case of severe accident, the fuel rods may be severely damaged and oxidized. Finally, they collapse and form a debris bed on core support plate. Removal of decay heat from a damaged core is a challenging issue because of the difficulty for water to penetrate inside a porous medium. The reflooding (injection of water into core) may be applied only if the availability of safety injection is recovered during accident. If the injection becomes available only in the late phase of accident, water will enter a core configuration that will differ from original rod bundle geometry and will resemble to the severe damaged core observed in TMI-2. The higher temperatures and smaller hydraulic diameters in a porous medium make the coolability more difficult than for intact fuel rods under typical loss of coolant accident conditions. The modeling of this kind of hydraulic and heat transfer is a one of key objectives of this. At IRSN, part of the studies is realized using an European thermo-hydraulic computer code for severe accident analysis ICARE-CATHARE. The objective of this thesis is to develop a 3D reflood model (implemented into ICARE-CATHARE) that is able to treat different configurations of degraded core in a case of severe accident. The proposed model is characterized by treating of non-equilibrium thermal between the solid, liquid and gas phase. It includes also two momentum balance equations. The model is based on a previously developed model but is improved in order to take into account intense boiling regimes (in particular

  15. Two lepidopteran pests and damage on the cones of Abies koreana (Pinaceae in Jeju Island, Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Young-Min Shin

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In the present study, we report two lepidopteran pests and their damage on the cones of Abies koreana E. H. Wilson from Mt. Halla, Jeju, South Korea: Cydia kamijoi Oku and Dioryctria abietella (Denis & Schiffermüller. The former is new to Korea, and the latter is well known as an insect pest on cones of various coniferous trees. Larvae of these species bore into the immature cones of the host tree. Damaged cones can be easily distinguished by reddish brown frass piled around the holes that were made by the moths, and the cones that are severely damaged become crooked and eventually are folded in half. The average damage rate on the cones was 75.3±2.34% from the survey sites in 2014, but the insect damage could not be found again from the sites as the host did not bear any cones in 2015. Descriptions and images of C. kamijoi and D. abietella are provided along with a list of host species and distribution.

  16. Examining historical and current mixed-severity fire regimes in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis C Odion

    Full Text Available There is widespread concern that fire exclusion has led to an unprecedented threat of uncharacteristically severe fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws and mixed-conifer forests of western North America. These extensive montane forests are considered to be adapted to a low/moderate-severity fire regime that maintained stands of relatively old trees. However, there is increasing recognition from landscape-scale assessments that, prior to any significant effects of fire exclusion, fires and forest structure were more variable in these forests. Biota in these forests are also dependent on the resources made available by higher-severity fire. A better understanding of historical fire regimes in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America is therefore needed to define reference conditions and help maintain characteristic ecological diversity of these systems. We compiled landscape-scale evidence of historical fire severity patterns in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests from published literature sources and stand ages available from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program in the USA. The consensus from this evidence is that the traditional reference conditions of low-severity fire regimes are inaccurate for most forests of western North America. Instead, most forests appear to have been characterized by mixed-severity fire that included ecologically significant amounts of weather-driven, high-severity fire. Diverse forests in different stages of succession, with a high proportion in relatively young stages, occurred prior to fire exclusion. Over the past century, successional diversity created by fire decreased. Our findings suggest that ecological management goals that incorporate successional diversity created by fire may support characteristic biodiversity, whereas current attempts to "restore" forests to open, low-severity fire conditions may not align with historical reference conditions in

  17. Examining historical and current mixed-severity fire regimes in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odion, Dennis C; Hanson, Chad T; Arsenault, André; Baker, William L; Dellasala, Dominick A; Hutto, Richard L; Klenner, Walt; Moritz, Max A; Sherriff, Rosemary L; Veblen, Thomas T; Williams, Mark A

    2014-01-01

    There is widespread concern that fire exclusion has led to an unprecedented threat of uncharacteristically severe fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws) and mixed-conifer forests of western North America. These extensive montane forests are considered to be adapted to a low/moderate-severity fire regime that maintained stands of relatively old trees. However, there is increasing recognition from landscape-scale assessments that, prior to any significant effects of fire exclusion, fires and forest structure were more variable in these forests. Biota in these forests are also dependent on the resources made available by higher-severity fire. A better understanding of historical fire regimes in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America is therefore needed to define reference conditions and help maintain characteristic ecological diversity of these systems. We compiled landscape-scale evidence of historical fire severity patterns in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests from published literature sources and stand ages available from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program in the USA. The consensus from this evidence is that the traditional reference conditions of low-severity fire regimes are inaccurate for most forests of western North America. Instead, most forests appear to have been characterized by mixed-severity fire that included ecologically significant amounts of weather-driven, high-severity fire. Diverse forests in different stages of succession, with a high proportion in relatively young stages, occurred prior to fire exclusion. Over the past century, successional diversity created by fire decreased. Our findings suggest that ecological management goals that incorporate successional diversity created by fire may support characteristic biodiversity, whereas current attempts to "restore" forests to open, low-severity fire conditions may not align with historical reference conditions in most ponderosa

  18. Animal damage management handbook.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hugh C. Black

    1994-01-01

    This handbook treats animal damage management (ADM) in the West in relation to forest, range, and recreation resources; predator management is not addressed. It provides a comprehensive reference of safe, effective, and practical methods for managing animal damage on National Forest System lands. Supporting information is included in references after each chapter and...

  19. Episodic Canopy Structural Transformations and Biological Invasion in a Hawaiian Forest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher S. Balzotti

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The remaining native forests on the Hawaiian Islands have been recognized as threatened by changing climate, increasing insect outbreak, new deadly pathogens, and growing populations of canopy structure-altering invasive species. The objective of this study was to assess long-term, net changes to upper canopy structure in sub-montane forests on the eastern slope of Mauna Kea volcano, Hawai‘i, in the context of continuing climate events, insect outbreaks, and biological invasion. We used high-resolution multi-temporal Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR data to quantify near-decadal net changes in forest canopy height and gap distributions at a critical transition between alien invaded lowland and native sub-montane forest at the end of a recent drought and host-specific insect (Scotorythra paludicola outbreak. We found that sub-montane forests have experienced a net loss in average canopy height, and therefore structure and aboveground carbon stock. Additionally, where invasive alien tree species co-dominate with native trees, the upper canopy structure became more homogeneous. Tracking the loss of forest canopy height and spatial variation with airborne LiDAR is a cost-effective way to monitor forest canopy health, and to track and quantify ecological impacts of invasive species through space and time.

  20. Protecting your forest asset: managing risks in changing times

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lisa Jennings; Leslie Boby; Bill Hubbard; Mark Megalos

    2013-01-01

    Private forest owners control most of the southern forest resource and are critical to maintaining forest health in the South. Record droughts, rising temperatures, increased frequency and intensity of wildfires, insect and plant invasions, and more intense storm events all pose threats to the health of Southern forests. Scientists project that increases in temperature...

  1. Detection of trees damaged by pests in Abies religiosa forests in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve using infrared aerial photography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pablo Leautaud Valenzuela

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Forest pests are pathogens that cause mechanical or physiological damage to trees, such as deformations, disrupted growth, weakening, or even death, leading to important ecological, economic and social impacts. This study focused on the development of a technique for the detection of forest pests using infrared aerial photography. The general reflectance characteristics of healthy and damaged leaves are currently well known; Reid (1987 already described these features, with a shift toward blue and a reduced infrared reflectance as the dominant effects. As the plant disease progresses, the above effects become more apparent. The use of infrared digital aerial photographs allowed to obtain VIR (visible + infrared images with four bands and a resolution of approximately one meter per pixel. Trees with some degree of deterioration and even dead individuals were identified and located through visual interpretation. Color and infrared digital aerial photographs captured in March 2009 were used; two cameras were used: a Nikon D2X camera for the acquisition of images in the visible range (EV, and a Canon EOS Digital Rebel camera for infrared (IR images. Once individual photographs were processed and organized, V and IR images were superimposed using the Photoshop editing program (Adobe™ Once composite V+IR (VIR images were obtained, those covering the sampling area were selected and georeferenced. Rectified images were required to elaborate a mosaic encompassing the sampling area. The rectified images and the final mosaic had a spatial resolution of 90 centimeters per pixel. The detection technique was designed using three methodological approaches: automatic, semi-automatic and manual processes. The semi-automatic and automatic modalities correspond to an assisted and unassisted spectral classification, respectively, while the manual method consisted in the direct observation of the photographs processed. The technique developed used as basis the

  2. Power Burst Facility Severe Fuel Damage test series

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buescher, B.J.; Osetek, D.J.; Ploger, S.A.

    1982-01-01

    The Severe Fuel Damage (SFD) tests planned for the Power Burst Facility (PBF) are described. Bundles containing 32 zircaloy-clad, PWR-type fuel rods will be subjected to severe overheating transients in a high-pressure, superheated-steam environment. Cladding temperatures are expected to reach 2400 0 K, resulting in cladding ballooning and rupture, severe cladding oxidation, cladding melting, fuel dissolution, fuel rod fragmentation, and possibly, rubble bed formation. An experiment effluent collection system is being installed and the PBF fission product monitoring system is being upgraded to meet the special requirements of the SFD tests. Scoping calculations were performed to evaluate performance of the SFD test design and to establish operational requirements for the PBF loop

  3. Rain forest provides pollinating beetles for atemoya crops.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanche, Rosalind; Cunningham, Saul A

    2005-08-01

    Small beetles, usually species of Nitidulidae, are the natural pollinators of atemoya (Annona squamosa L. x A. cherimola Mill. hybrids; custard apple) flowers but commercial atemoya growers often need to carry out labor-intensive hand pollination to produce enough high-quality fruit. Because Australian rain forest has plant species in the same family as atemoya (Annonaceae) and because many rain forest plants are beetle pollinated, we set out to discover whether tropical rain forest in far north Queensland harbors beetles that could provide this ecosystem service for atemoya crops. Orchards were chosen along a gradient of increasing distance from tropical rain forest (0.1-24 km). We sampled 100 flowers from each of nine atemoya orchards and determined the identity and abundance of insects within each flower. To assess the amount of pollination due to insects, we bagged six flowers per tree and left another six flowers per tree accessible to insects on 10 trees at an orchard near rain forest. Results indicated that atemoya orchards pollinators that are likely to originate in tropical rain forest. These native beetles occurred reliably enough in crops near rain forest to have a positive effect on the quantity of fruit produced but their contribution was not great enough to satisfy commercial production needs. Management changes, aimed at increasing native beetle abundance in crops, are required before these beetles could eliminate the need for growers to hand pollinate atemoya flowers. Appreciation of the value of this resource is necessary if we are to develop landscapes that both conserve native biodiversity and support agricultural production.

  4. Study of the consequences of application of ionizing radiation plodia interpunctella (lepidopetra: pyralidae), insect infesting various products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrenechea, C.D.; Ritacco, M.

    2012-01-01

    Insects are inhabitants of the earth for several hundred years. Since man has colonized different niche has faced these arthropods seekers as favorite food consumer goods of man, whether food, stored products, including entomological collections. Because of that, we have used different techniques for handling, but their misuse has generated resistance in these and other insects, unable to stop the damage caused is so, we use secure technology, which generates no residue or toxicity no resistance and that its results are seen immediately. Such is the case of the application of ionizing radiation. In this paper, we use the gamma radiation generated in the PISI a dose of 5 kGy, in order to find a sublethal dose insect species harmful for this, due to treated individuals, suffered propose immediate death in the near future use lower doses to achieve the objective (author)

  5. Pattern recognition of spruce trees. An integrated, analytical approach to forest damage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simmleit, N.; Schulten, H.R.

    1989-01-01

    In-source pyrolysis-field ionization mass spectrometry was used to fingerprint old needles taken from 90-year-old Norway spruce trees (Picea abies) grown in the Taunus mountains (Federal Republic of Germany). Biometric, physiological variables and elemental compositions of needle and forest soil samples were gathered for the same trees. The mass spectral and conventional data sets were evaluated by principal-component and multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that the mass signal pattern of antioxidants, the soil acidity, the water status, and the nutritional supply of the plant contribute most to the variance of damage symptoms observed in the forest stand investigated. The visual needle loss of the canopy can be predicted by antioxidant, soil acidity, and water status parameters, whereas a further classification according to the discoloration of the needles can only be achieved by adding a soil nutrient component. It is emphasized that multivariate statistical evaluation of complex data sets should be used for the investigation of environmental problems

  6. Role of MODIS Vegetation Phenology Products in the U.S. for Warn Early Warning System for Forest Threats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spruce, Joseph; Hargrove, William; Norman, Steve; Gasser, Gerald; Smoot, James; Kuper, Philip

    2012-01-01

    U.S. forests occupy approx 751 million acres (approx 1/3 of total land). Several abiotic and biotic damage agents disturb, damage, kill, and/or threaten these forests. Regionally extensive forest disturbances can also threaten human life and property, bio-diversity and water supplies. timely regional forest disturbance monitoring products are needed to aid forest health management work at finer scales. daily MODIS data provide a means to monitor regional forest disturbances on a weekly basis, leveraging vegetation phenology. In response, the USFS and NASA began collaborating in 2006 to develop a Near Real Time (NRT) forest monitoring capability, based on MODIS NDVI data, as part of a national forest threat Early Warning System (EWS).

  7. Climate Change and Forest Disturbances

    Science.gov (United States)

    V. H. Dale; L. A. Joyce; S. McNulty; R. P. Neilson; M. P. Ayres; M. D. Flannigan; P. J. Hanson; L. C. Irland; A. E. Lugo; C. J. Peterson; D. Simberloff; F. J. Swanson; B. J. Stocks; B. M. Wotton

    2001-01-01

    CLIMATE CHANGE CAN AFFECT FORESTS BY ALTERING THE FREQUENCY, INTENSITY, DURATION, AND TIMING OF FIRE, DROUGHT, INTRODUCED SPECIES, INSECT AND PATHOGEN OUTBREAKS, HURRICANES, WINDSTORMS, ICE STORMS, OR LANDSLIDES

  8. RNA interference: Applications and advances in insect toxicology and insect pest management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Young Ho; Soumaila Issa, Moustapha; Cooper, Anastasia M W; Zhu, Kun Yan

    2015-05-01

    Since its discovery, RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized functional genomic studies due to its sequence-specific nature of post-transcriptional gene silencing. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the recent literature and summarize the current knowledge and advances in the applications of RNAi technologies in the field of insect toxicology and insect pest management. Many recent studies have focused on identification and validation of the genes encoding insecticide target proteins, such as acetylcholinesterases, ion channels, Bacillus thuringiensis receptors, and other receptors in the nervous system. RNAi technologies have also been widely applied to reveal the role of genes encoding cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, carboxylesterases, and glutathione S-transferases in insecticide detoxification and resistance. More recently, studies have focused on understanding the mechanism of insecticide-mediated up-regulation of detoxification genes in insects. As RNAi has already shown great potentials for insect pest management, many recent studies have also focused on host-induced gene silencing, in which several RNAi-based transgenic plants have been developed and tested as proof of concept for insect pest management. These studies indicate that RNAi is a valuable tool to address various fundamental questions in insect toxicology and may soon become an effective strategy for insect pest management. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Drought's legacy: multiyear hydraulic deterioration underlies widespread aspen forest die-off and portends increased future risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderegg, William R L; Plavcová, Lenka; Anderegg, Leander D L; Hacke, Uwe G; Berry, Joseph A; Field, Christopher B

    2013-04-01

    Forest mortality constitutes a major uncertainty in projections of climate impacts on terrestrial ecosystems and carbon-cycle feedbacks. Recent drought-induced, widespread forest die-offs highlight that climate change could accelerate forest mortality with its diverse and potentially severe consequences for the global carbon cycle, ecosystem services, and biodiversity. How trees die during drought over multiple years remains largely unknown and precludes mechanistic modeling and prediction of forest die-off with climate change. Here, we examine the physiological basis of a recent multiyear widespread die-off of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) across much of western North America. Using observations from both native trees while they are dying and a rainfall exclusion experiment on mature trees, we measure hydraulic performance over multiple seasons and years and assess pathways of accumulated hydraulic damage. We test whether accumulated hydraulic damage can predict the probability of tree survival over 2 years. We find that hydraulic damage persisted and increased in dying trees over multiple years and exhibited few signs of repair. This accumulated hydraulic deterioration is largely mediated by increased vulnerability to cavitation, a process known as cavitation fatigue. Furthermore, this hydraulic damage predicts the probability of interyear stem mortality. Contrary to the expectation that surviving trees have weathered severe drought, the hydraulic deterioration demonstrated here reveals that surviving regions of these forests are actually more vulnerable to future droughts due to accumulated xylem damage. As the most widespread tree species in North America, increasing vulnerability to drought in these forests has important ramifications for ecosystem stability, biodiversity, and ecosystem carbon balance. Our results provide a foundation for incorporating accumulated drought impacts into climate-vegetation models. Finally, our findings highlight the

  10. Plant defense against insect herbivores

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fürstenberg-Hägg, Joel; Zagrobelny, Mika; Bak, Søren

    2013-01-01

    , defense compounds. These bioactive specialized plant defense compounds may repel or intoxicate insects, while defense proteins often interfere with their digestion. Volatiles are released upon herbivory to repel herbivores, attract predators or for communication between leaves or plants, and to induce......Plants have been interacting with insects for several hundred million years, leading to complex defense approaches against various insect feeding strategies. Some defenses are constitutive while others are induced, although the insecticidal defense compound or protein classes are often similar...... defense responses. Plants also apply morphological features like waxes, trichomes and latices to make the feeding more difficult for the insects. Extrafloral nectar, food bodies and nesting or refuge sites are produced to accommodate and feed the predators of the herbivores. Meanwhile, herbivorous insects...

  11. Full-length high-temperature severe fuel damage test No. 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hesson, G.M.; Lombardo, N.J.; Pilger, J.P.; Rausch, W.N.; King, L.L.; Hurley, D.E.; Parchen, L.J.; Panisko, F.E.

    1993-09-01

    Hazardous conditions associated with performing the Full-Length High- Temperature (FLHT). Severe Fuel Damage Test No. 2 experiment have been analyzed. Major hazards that could cause harm or damage are (1) radioactive fission products, (2) radiation fields, (3) reactivity changes, (4) hydrogen generation, (5) materials at high temperature, (6) steam explosion, and (7) steam pressure pulse. As a result of this analysis, it is concluded that with proper precautions the FLHT- 2 test can be safely conducted

  12. Are forest disturbances amplifying or canceling out climate change-induced productivity changes in European forests?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyer, Christopher P. O.; Bathgate, Stephen; Blennow, Kristina; Borges, Jose G.; Bugmann, Harald; Delzon, Sylvain; Faias, Sonia P.; Garcia-Gonzalo, Jordi; Gardiner, Barry; Gonzalez-Olabarria, Jose Ramon; Gracia, Carlos; Guerra Hernández, Juan; Kellomäki, Seppo; Kramer, Koen; Lexer, Manfred J.; Lindner, Marcus; van der Maaten, Ernst; Maroschek, Michael; Muys, Bart; Nicoll, Bruce; Palahi, Marc; Palma, João HN; Paulo, Joana A.; Peltola, Heli; Pukkala, Timo; Rammer, Werner; Ray, Duncan; Sabaté, Santiago; Schelhaas, Mart-Jan; Seidl, Rupert; Temperli, Christian; Tomé, Margarida; Yousefpour, Rasoul; Zimmermann, Niklaus E.; Hanewinkel, Marc

    2017-03-01

    Recent studies projecting future climate change impacts on forests mainly consider either the effects of climate change on productivity or on disturbances. However, productivity and disturbances are intrinsically linked because 1) disturbances directly affect forest productivity (e.g. via a reduction in leaf area, growing stock or resource-use efficiency), and 2) disturbance susceptibility is often coupled to a certain development phase of the forest with productivity determining the time a forest is in this specific phase of susceptibility. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of forest productivity changes in different forest regions in Europe under climate change, and partition these changes into effects induced by climate change alone and by climate change and disturbances. We present projections of climate change impacts on forest productivity from state-of-the-art forest models that dynamically simulate forest productivity and the effects of the main European disturbance agents (fire, storm, insects), driven by the same climate scenario in seven forest case studies along a large climatic gradient throughout Europe. Our study shows that, in most cases, including disturbances in the simulations exaggerate ongoing productivity declines or cancel out productivity gains in response to climate change. In fewer cases, disturbances also increase productivity or buffer climate-change induced productivity losses, e.g. because low severity fires can alleviate resource competition and increase fertilization. Even though our results cannot simply be extrapolated to other types of forests and disturbances, we argue that it is necessary to interpret climate change-induced productivity and disturbance changes jointly to capture the full range of climate change impacts on forests and to plan adaptation measures.

  13. Are forest disturbances amplifying or canceling out climate change-induced productivity changes in European forests?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyer, Christopher P O; Bathgate, Stephen; Blennow, Kristina; Borges, Jose G; Bugmann, Harald; Delzon, Sylvain; Faias, Sonia P; Garcia-Gonzalo, Jordi; Gardiner, Barry; Gonzalez-Olabarria, Jose Ramon; Gracia, Carlos; Hernández, Juan Guerra; Kellomäki, Seppo; Kramer, Koen; Lexer, Manfred J; Lindner, Marcus; van der Maaten, Ernst; Maroschek, Michael; Muys, Bart; Nicoll, Bruce; Palahi, Marc; Palma, João HN; Paulo, Joana A; Peltola, Heli; Pukkala, Timo; Rammer, Werner; Ray, Duncan; Sabaté, Santiago; Schelhaas, Mart-Jan; Seidl, Rupert; Temperli, Christian; Tomé, Margarida; Yousefpour, Rasoul; Zimmermann, Niklaus E; Hanewinkel, Marc

    2017-01-01

    Recent studies projecting future climate change impacts on forests mainly consider either the effects of climate change on productivity or on disturbances. However, productivity and disturbances are intrinsically linked because 1) disturbances directly affect forest productivity (e.g. via a reduction in leaf area, growing stock or resource-use efficiency), and 2) disturbance susceptibility is often coupled to a certain development phase of the forest with productivity determining the time a forest is in this specific phase of susceptibility. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of forest productivity changes in different forest regions in Europe under climate change, and partition these changes into effects induced by climate change alone and by climate change and disturbances. We present projections of climate change impacts on forest productivity from state-of-the-art forest models that dynamically simulate forest productivity and the effects of the main European disturbance agents (fire, storm, insects), driven by the same climate scenario in seven forest case studies along a large climatic gradient throughout Europe. Our study shows that, in most cases, including disturbances in the simulations exaggerate ongoing productivity declines or cancel out productivity gains in response to climate change. In fewer cases, disturbances also increase productivity or buffer climate-change induced productivity losses, e.g. because low severity fires can alleviate resource competition and increase fertilization. Even though our results cannot simply be extrapolated to other types of forests and disturbances, we argue that it is necessary to interpret climate change-induced productivity and disturbance changes jointly to capture the full range of climate change impacts on forests and to plan adaptation measures. PMID:28855959

  14. Fluctuations in the Composition and Abundance of Entomofauna in the Forest-Protected Agrocenoses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belitskaya Mariya Nikolaevna

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The author investigates the influence of field-protective forest plantations on the diversity and quantity of pests and entomophages in interbelt cereal agrocenoses of the steppe and dry steppe natural zones. It is revealed that the protective forest plantations play important role in the biota and the food chains management within agrocenoses. It is identified that the forest belts have smoothing influence on the change in the abundance of insects belonging to the different trophic groups on the developped fields. The peaks in the number of harmful and useful insects coincide in these fields, whereas in treeless agrocenoses the rise in useful components density takes place only after a year of the mass reproduction of pests. The growth and development of cereal crops is accompanied by the increase in the number of insects in the stalks of the crops. At the same time, the abundance of different insect groups varies. This applies both to the inhabitants of the stalks and to the complex insects on the surface of the ground.

  15. Climatic and Catchment-Scale Predictors of Chinese Stream Insect Richness Differ between Taxonomic Groups.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan D Tonkin

    Full Text Available Little work has been done on large-scale patterns of stream insect richness in China. We explored the influence of climatic and catchment-scale factors on stream insect (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera; EPT richness across mid-latitude China. We assessed the predictive ability of climatic, catchment land cover and physical structure variables on genus richness of EPT, both individually and combined, in 80 mid-latitude Chinese streams, spanning a 3899-m altitudinal gradient. We performed analyses using boosted regression trees and explored the nature of their influence on richness patterns. The relative importance of climate, land cover, and physical factors on stream insect richness varied considerably between the three orders, and while important for Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera, latitude did not improve model fit for any of the groups. EPT richness was linked with areas comprising high forest cover, elevation and slope, large catchments and low temperatures. Ephemeroptera favoured areas with high forest cover, medium-to-large catchment sizes, high temperature seasonality, and low potential evapotranspiration. Plecoptera richness was linked with low temperature seasonality and annual mean, and high slope, elevation and warm-season rainfall. Finally, Trichoptera favoured high elevation areas, with high forest cover, and low mean annual temperature, seasonality and aridity. Our findings highlight the variable role that catchment land cover, physical properties and climatic influences have on stream insect richness. This is one of the first studies of its kind in Chinese streams, thus we set the scene for more in-depth assessments of stream insect richness across broader spatial scales in China, but stress the importance of improving data availability and consistency through time.

  16. Climatic and Catchment-Scale Predictors of Chinese Stream Insect Richness Differ between Taxonomic Groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tonkin, Jonathan D.; Shah, Deep Narayan; Kuemmerlen, Mathias; Li, Fengqing; Cai, Qinghua; Haase, Peter; Jähnig, Sonja C.

    2015-01-01

    Little work has been done on large-scale patterns of stream insect richness in China. We explored the influence of climatic and catchment-scale factors on stream insect (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera; EPT) richness across mid-latitude China. We assessed the predictive ability of climatic, catchment land cover and physical structure variables on genus richness of EPT, both individually and combined, in 80 mid-latitude Chinese streams, spanning a 3899-m altitudinal gradient. We performed analyses using boosted regression trees and explored the nature of their influence on richness patterns. The relative importance of climate, land cover, and physical factors on stream insect richness varied considerably between the three orders, and while important for Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera, latitude did not improve model fit for any of the groups. EPT richness was linked with areas comprising high forest cover, elevation and slope, large catchments and low temperatures. Ephemeroptera favoured areas with high forest cover, medium-to-large catchment sizes, high temperature seasonality, and low potential evapotranspiration. Plecoptera richness was linked with low temperature seasonality and annual mean, and high slope, elevation and warm-season rainfall. Finally, Trichoptera favoured high elevation areas, with high forest cover, and low mean annual temperature, seasonality and aridity. Our findings highlight the variable role that catchment land cover, physical properties and climatic influences have on stream insect richness. This is one of the first studies of its kind in Chinese streams, thus we set the scene for more in-depth assessments of stream insect richness across broader spatial scales in China, but stress the importance of improving data availability and consistency through time. PMID:25909190

  17. Tree Stress and Mortality from Emerald Ash Borer Does Not Systematically Alter Short-Term Soil Carbon Flux in a Mixed Northeastern U.S. Forest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaclyn Hatala Matthes

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Invasive insect pests are a common disturbance in temperate forests, but their effects on belowground processes in these ecosystems are poorly understood. This study examined how aboveground disturbance might impact short-term soil carbon flux in a forest impacted by emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire in central New Hampshire, USA. We anticipated changes to soil moisture and temperature resulting from tree mortality caused by emerald ash borer, with subsequent effects on rates of soil respiration and methane oxidation. We measured carbon dioxide emissions and methane uptake beneath trees before, during, and after infestation by emerald ash borer. In our study, emerald ash borer damage to nearby trees did not alter soil microclimate nor soil carbon fluxes. While surprising, the lack of change in soil microclimate conditions may have been a result of the sandy, well-drained soil in our study area and the diffuse spatial distribution of canopy ash trees and subsequent canopy light gaps after tree mortality. Overall, our results indicate that short-term changes in soil carbon flux following insect disturbances may be minimal, particularly in forests with well-drained soils and a mixed-species canopy.

  18. Methodological problems of monetary evaluations of complex environmental damages - the example of the forest damages in the Federal Republic of Germany. Zur monetaeren Bewertung von Umweltschaeden - methodische Untersuchung am Beispiel der Waldschaeden

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ewers, H J; Brabaender, H D; Brechtel, H M; Both, M; Hayessen, E; Jahn, A; Moehring, B; Moog, M; Nohl, W; Richter, U

    1986-01-01

    The study analyses the methodological problems of monetary evaluations of complex environmental damages by treating an actual example, the monetary evaluation of the present and further expectable forest damages in the Federal Republic of Germany. The state of the forest ecosystems, which can be expected under different plausible assumptions with respect to emissions and immissions of important air contaminants like SO/sub 2/ and NO/sub x/, is established by using expert surveys and scenario-techniques. The monetary consequences of different states of the forest system (status-quo-scenario: air pollution of the beginning 80ies continues; trend-scenario: strong, but possible reductions of SO/sub 2/ and NO/sub x/ emissions during the simulation period; reference-scenario: development path as if no air pollution existed) are estimated for three fields (timber production, recreation and tourism, water and soil protection) and for a period of 77 years (1984 to 2060).

  19. The role of forest fire severity on vegetation recovery after 18 years. Implications for forest management of Quercus suber L. in Iberian Peninsula

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francos, Marcos; Úbeda, Xavier; Tort, Joan; Panareda, Josep María; Cerdà, Artemio

    2016-10-01

    Wildfires are a widespread phenomenon in Mediterranean environments. Wildfires result in different fire severities, and then in contrasting plant cover and floristic composition. This paper analyses the recovery of the vegetation eighteen years after a wildfire in Catalonia. The Pinus pinaster ssp. forest was affected by three different severities in July 1994, and studied the spring of 1995 and again in 2008. After eighteen years (2012), our research found that burnt sites constitute a dense forest with a broad variety of species, including many young pines, shrubs and herbaceous plants, but that the risk of fire remains very high, due to the large quantity of fuel and the flammability of the species. The management of the post-fire is critical when high severity fires take places, and it is recommended that high-severity fires must be avoided for a sustainable forest management. We recommend that once the timber (Pinus plantations) production is not profitable, Quercus suber L. and Pinus pinaster ssp. forest should be promoted, and pine plantations avoided.

  20. Opposing effects of fire severity on climate feedbacks in Siberian larch forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loranty, M. M.; Alexander, H. D.; Natali, S.; Kropp, H.; Mack, M. C.; Bunn, A. G.; Davydov, S. P.; Erb, A.; Kholodov, A. L.; Schaaf, C.; Wang, Z.; Zimov, N.; Zimov, S. A.

    2017-12-01

    Boreal larch forests in northeastern Siberia comprise nearly 25% of the continuous permafrost zone. Structural and functional changes in these ecosystems will have important climate feedbacks at regional and global scales. Like boreal ecosystems in North America, fire is an important determinant of landscape scale forest distribution, and fire regimes are intensifying as climate warms. In Siberian larch forests are dominated by a single tree species, and there is evidence that fire severity influences post-fire forest density via impacts on seedling establishment. The extent to which these effects occur, or persist, and the associated climate feedbacks are not well quantified. In this study we use forest stand inventories, in situ observations, and satellite remote sensing to examine: 1) variation in forest density within and between fire scars, and 2) changes in land surface albedo and active layer dynamics associated with forest density variation. At the landscape scale we observed declines in Landsat derived albedo as forests recovered in the first several decades after fire, though canopy cover varied widely within and between individual fire scars. Within an individual mid-successional fire scar ( 75 years) we observed canopy cover ranging from 15-90% with correspondingly large ranges of albedo during periods of snow cover, and relatively small differences in albedo during the growing season. We found an inverse relationship between canopy density and soil temperature within this fire scar; high-density low-albedo stands had cooler soils and shallower active layers, while low-density stands had warmer soils and deeper active layers. Intensive energy balance measurements at a high- and low- density site show that canopy cover alters the magnitude and timing of ground heat fluxes that affect active layer properties. Our results show that fire impacts on stand structure in Siberian larch forests affect land surface albedo and active layer dynamics in ways that

  1. Hurricane impacts on forest resources in the Eastern United States: a post-sandy assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greg C. Liknes; Susan J. Crocker; Randall S. Morin; Brian F. Walters

    2015-01-01

    Extreme weather events play a role in shaping the composition and structure of forests. Responding to and mitigating a storm event in a forested environment requires information about the location and severity of tree damage. However, this information can be difficult to obtain immediately following an event. Post-storm assessments using regularly collected forest...

  2. Restoring composition and structure in Southwestern frequent-fire forests: A science-based framework for improving ecosystem resiliency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richard T. Reynolds; Andrew J. Sanchez Meador; James A. Youtz; Tessa Nicolet; Megan S. Matonis; Patrick L. Jackson; Donald G. DeLorenzo; Andrew D. Graves

    2013-01-01

    Ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests in the Southwest United States are experiencing, or have become increasingly susceptible to, large-scale severe wildfire, insect, and disease episodes resulting in altered plant and animal demographics, reduced productivity and biodiversity, and impaired ecosystem processes and functions. We present a management framework...

  3. Three-way interaction among plants, bacteria, and coleopteran insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wielkopolan, Beata; Obrępalska-Stęplowska, Aleksandra

    2016-08-01

    Coleoptera, the largest and the most diverse Insecta order, is characterized by multiple adaptations to plant feeding. Insect-associated microorganisms can be important mediators and modulators of interactions between insects and plants. Interactions between plants and insects are highly complex and involve multiple factors. There are various defense mechanisms initiated by plants upon attack by herbivorous insects, including the development of morphological structures and the synthesis of toxic secondary metabolites and volatiles. In turn, herbivores have adapted to feeding on plants and further sophisticated adaptations to overcome plant responses may continue to evolve. Herbivorous insects may detoxify toxic phytocompounds, sequester poisonous plant factors, and alter their own overall gene expression pattern. Moreover, insects are associated with microbes, which not only considerably affect insects, but can also modify plant defense responses to the benefit of their host. Plants are also frequently associated with endophytes, which may act as bioinsecticides. Therefore, it is very important to consider the factors influencing the interaction between plants and insects. Herbivorous insects cause considerable damage to global crop production. Coleoptera is the largest and the most diverse order in the class Insecta. In this review, various aspects of the interactions among insects, microbes, and plants are described with a focus on coleopteran species, their bacterial symbionts, and their plant hosts to demonstrate that many factors contribute to the success of coleopteran herbivory.

  4. Radionuclides in forest ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strebl, F.; Bossew, P.; Kienzl, K.; Hiesel, E.

    2000-01-01

    Some regions within Austria were highly contaminated (> 50 kBq m -2 ) with radiocaesium by the deposition event following the Chernobyl reactor accident in 1986. Monitoring carried out by several Austrian institutions showed that in contrast to agricultural products radiocaesium levels in wild berries, mushrooms and game meat from forest ecosystems remained considerably higher over the years. To find reasons for this contrasting radioecological behavior and for the derivation of model input parameters, an extended study about the distribution of 137 Cs within three Austrian forest stands was carried out between 1987 and 1997. Results of this and subsequent studies are summarized and include the following ecosystem compartments: forest soils, litter, trees, bilberry, mushrooms, mosses, ferns, lichen, other vegetation, insects, small mammals, game animals and surface water. Besides the investigation of radioecological behavior an estimation of pool sizes and transfer rates as well as radioecological residence half times for 137 Cs in different forest species was used to compile a radiocaesium balance for the years 1988 and 1996. Soil proved to be an effective sink for radiocaesium contamination, but in long-term perspective it can act as a source for the contamination of vegetation and higher levels of the food-chain as well. Due to the high standing biomass trees represent the largest 'living' radiocaesium pool within the investigated forest stand. Dose estimations based on average consume habits gave no significant increase (less than 0.4 %) of the annual average population radiation dose due to the ingestion of forest products from the investigated forest stands. (author)

  5. Northwest California National Forests fire severity monitoring 1987-2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jay D. Miller; Carl N. Skinner; Hugh D. Safford; Eric E. Knapp; Carlos M. Ramirez

    2012-01-01

    Research in the last several years has indicated that the frequency of large fires is on the rise in western US forests. Although fire size and frequency are important, they do not necessarily provide information concerning the effects of fire on ecosystems, as ecosystems differ in ecological and evolutionary relationships with fire. Our study focused on the four...

  6. Structure and dynamics of the oribatid mite communities (Acari, Oribatida) in some Quercus forests, in relation with the treatments used in the control of defoliating insects

    OpenAIRE

    Otilia Ivan

    2009-01-01

    This study was carried out in the context of some complex researches concerning the effects of long standing use of the pesticides in the control of the defoliating insects, in forest ecosystems. These investigations showed that the structural parameters of the oribatid mites' communities are obviously influenced by the stands biotic and abiotic factors, alongside some varied anthropogenic factors, such as: treatments, industrial pollution, some management measures etc. This paper includes a ...

  7. 7 CFR 51.1414 - Serious damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... as serious damage: (a) Adhering hull material or dark stains affecting an aggregate of more than 20...) Decay affecting any portion of the kernel; (g) Insect injury when the insect, web or frass is present... than three dark spots on either half of the kernel, or when any spot or the aggregate of two or more...

  8. Precursors to potential severe core damage accidents: 1995 A status report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belles, R.J.; Cletcher, J.W.; Copinger, D.A.

    1997-04-01

    Ten operational events that affected 10 commercial light-water reactors during 1995 and that are considered to be precursors to potential severe core damage are described. All these events had conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage greater than or equal to 1.0 x 10 -6 . These events were identified by first computer-screening the 1995 licensee event reports from commercial light-water reactors to identify those events that could potentially be precursors. Candidate precursors were selected and evaluated in a process similar to that used in previous assessments. Selected events underwent engineering evaluation that identified, analyzed, and documented the precursors. Other events designated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) also underwent a similar evaluation. Finally, documented precursors were submitted for review by licensees and NRC headquarters and regional offices to ensure the plant design and its response to the precursor were correctly characterized. This study is a continuation of earlier work, which evaluated 1969-1981 and 1984-1994 events. The report discusses the general rationale for this study, the selection and documentation of events as precursors, and the estimation of conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage for the events

  9. Precursors to potential severe core damage accidents: 1995 A status report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Belles, R.J.; Cletcher, J.W.; Copinger, D.A. [and others

    1997-04-01

    Ten operational events that affected 10 commercial light-water reactors during 1995 and that are considered to be precursors to potential severe core damage are described. All these events had conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage greater than or equal to 1.0 x 10{sup {minus}6}. These events were identified by first computer-screening the 1995 licensee event reports from commercial light-water reactors to identify those events that could potentially be precursors. Candidate precursors were selected and evaluated in a process similar to that used in previous assessments. Selected events underwent engineering evaluation that identified, analyzed, and documented the precursors. Other events designated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) also underwent a similar evaluation. Finally, documented precursors were submitted for review by licensees and NRC headquarters and regional offices to ensure the plant design and its response to the precursor were correctly characterized. This study is a continuation of earlier work, which evaluated 1969-1981 and 1984-1994 events. The report discusses the general rationale for this study, the selection and documentation of events as precursors, and the estimation of conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage for the events.

  10. Foliar Nutritional Quality Explains Patchy Browsing Damage Caused by an Invasive Mammal.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannah R Windley

    Full Text Available Introduced herbivores frequently inflict significant, yet patchy damage on native ecosystems through selective browsing. However, there are few instances where the underlying cause of this patchy damage has been revealed. We aimed to determine if the nutritional quality of foliage could predict the browsing preferences of an invasive mammalian herbivore, the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula, in a temperate forest in New Zealand. We quantified the spatial and temporal variation in four key aspects of the foliar chemistry (total nitrogen, available nitrogen, in vitro dry matter digestibility and tannin effect of 275 trees representing five native tree species. Simultaneously, we assessed the severity of browsing damage caused by possums on those trees in order to relate selective browsing to foliar nutritional quality. We found significant spatial and temporal variation in nutritional quality among individuals of each tree species examined, as well as among tree species. There was a positive relationship between the available nitrogen concentration of foliage (a measure of in vitro digestible protein and the severity of damage caused by browsing by possums. This study highlights the importance of nutritional quality, specifically, the foliar available nitrogen concentration of individual trees, in predicting the impact of an invasive mammal. Revealing the underlying cause of patchy browsing by an invasive mammal provides new insights for conservation of native forests and targeted control of invasive herbivores in forest ecosystems.

  11. Impacts of climate and insect defoliators on productivity and function of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) in Alaskan boreal forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyd, M. A.; Walker, X. J.; Rogers, B. M.; Goetz, S. J.; Wagner, D.; Mack, M. C.

    2017-12-01

    Climate change has increased tree mortality and growth decline in forested ecosystems worldwide. In response to warming and drying of the boreal forest, trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) has experienced recent large-scale productivity declines. Although declines in productivity are thought to be primarily a result of moistures stress, infestation is another major driver of aspen decline and may interact strongly with climate. Throughout interior Alaska widespread and consistent foliar damage by the aspen epidermal leaf miner Phyllocnistis populiella has been observed concurrent with some of the warmest and driest growing seasons on record. Here we use tree ring measurements and remote sensing indices of vegetation productivity (NDVI) to study the influence of leaf miner and climate on aspen productivity and physiology in the Alaskan boreal forest, and assess if NDVI reflects variations in these ground-based measurements. We assessed ring width and tree ring stable carbon isotope (d13C) response of aspen to infestation and a climate moisture index (CMI) from 2004 - 2014. We found that when growth was negatively correlated to infestation, then it was no longer positively influenced by moisture availability during the growing season. Regardless of the radial growth response to leaf mining, tree ring d13C decreased with increasing infestation. We also found that NDVI was influenced by leaf mining and showed a positive correlation with tree ring d13C, which suggests that NDVI is reflective of changes in tree characteristics under leaf mining that influence tree ring d13C. This finding also reveals the prospect of using satellite data to monitor fluctuations in tree physiology during leaf miner infestation. Our results indicate that aspen productivity will be severely hindered during leaf miner infestation, and that infestation will inhibit the ability of aspen to respond to favorable climate conditions by increasing growth and potentially photosynthesis. This

  12. Ecosystem Services from Edible Insects in Agricultural Systems: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charlotte L. R. Payne

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Many of the most nutritionally and economically important edible insects are those that are harvested from existing agricultural systems. Current strategies of agricultural intensification focus predominantly on increasing crop yields, with no or little consideration of the repercussions this may have for the additional harvest and ecology of accompanying food insects. Yet such insects provide many valuable ecosystem services, and their sustainable management could be crucial to ensuring future food security. This review considers the multiple ecosystem services provided by edible insects in existing agricultural systems worldwide. Directly and indirectly, edible insects contribute to all four categories of ecosystem services as outlined by the Millennium Ecosystem Services definition: provisioning, regulating, maintaining, and cultural services. They are also responsible for ecosystem disservices, most notably significant crop damage. We argue that it is crucial for decision-makers to evaluate the costs and benefits of the presence of food insects in agricultural systems. We recommend that a key priority for further research is the quantification of the economic and environmental contribution of services and disservices from edible insects in agricultural systems.

  13. Ecosystem Services from Edible Insects in Agricultural Systems: A Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payne, Charlotte L. R.; Van Itterbeeck, Joost

    2017-01-01

    Many of the most nutritionally and economically important edible insects are those that are harvested from existing agricultural systems. Current strategies of agricultural intensification focus predominantly on increasing crop yields, with no or little consideration of the repercussions this may have for the additional harvest and ecology of accompanying food insects. Yet such insects provide many valuable ecosystem services, and their sustainable management could be crucial to ensuring future food security. This review considers the multiple ecosystem services provided by edible insects in existing agricultural systems worldwide. Directly and indirectly, edible insects contribute to all four categories of ecosystem services as outlined by the Millennium Ecosystem Services definition: provisioning, regulating, maintaining, and cultural services. They are also responsible for ecosystem disservices, most notably significant crop damage. We argue that it is crucial for decision-makers to evaluate the costs and benefits of the presence of food insects in agricultural systems. We recommend that a key priority for further research is the quantification of the economic and environmental contribution of services and disservices from edible insects in agricultural systems. PMID:28218635

  14. Ecosystem Services from Edible Insects in Agricultural Systems: A Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payne, Charlotte L R; Van Itterbeeck, Joost

    2017-02-17

    Many of the most nutritionally and economically important edible insects are those that are harvested from existing agricultural systems. Current strategies of agricultural intensification focus predominantly on increasing crop yields, with no or little consideration of the repercussions this may have for the additional harvest and ecology of accompanying food insects. Yet such insects provide many valuable ecosystem services, and their sustainable management could be crucial to ensuring future food security. This review considers the multiple ecosystem services provided by edible insects in existing agricultural systems worldwide. Directly and indirectly, edible insects contribute to all four categories of ecosystem services as outlined by the Millennium Ecosystem Services definition: provisioning, regulating, maintaining, and cultural services. They are also responsible for ecosystem disservices, most notably significant crop damage. We argue that it is crucial for decision-makers to evaluate the costs and benefits of the presence of food insects in agricultural systems. We recommend that a key priority for further research is the quantification of the economic and environmental contribution of services and disservices from edible insects in agricultural systems.

  15. The assessment of environmentally sensitive forest road construction in Calabrian pine forest areas of Turkey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tunay, Metin

    2006-07-01

    Forest road construction by bulldozers in Calabrian Pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) forests on mountainous terrain of Turkey causes considerable damage to the environment and the forest standing alongside the road. This situation obliges a study of environmentally sound road construction in Turkey. This study was carried out in 4 sample sites of Antalya Forest Directorate in steep (34-50% gradient) and very steep terrain (51-70% gradient) conditions with bulldozer and excavator machine and direct damages to forest during road construction was determined, including forest area losses and damages to downhill trees in mountainous areas. It was determined that in steep terrain when excavators were used, less forest area (22.16%) was destroyed compared to bulldozers and 26.54% less area in very steep terrain. The proportion of damage on trees where bulldozer worked was nearly twofold higher than excavator was used. The results of this research show that the environmentally sensitive techniques applied for the road construction projects are considerably superior to the traditional use of bulldozers on steep slopes. The environmentally sound forest road construction by use of excavator must be considered an appropriate and reliable solution for mountainous terrain where areas of sensitive forest ecosystems are to be opened up.

  16. Analysis of severe core damage accident progression for the heavy water reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tong Lili; Yuan Kai; Yuan Jingtian; Cao Xuewu

    2010-01-01

    In this study, the severe accident progression analysis of generic Canadian deuterium uranium reactor 6 was preliminarily provided using an integrated severe accident analysis code. The selected accident sequences were multiple steam generator tube rupture and large break loss-of-coolant accidents because these led to severe core damage with an assumed unavailability for several critical safety systems. The progressions of severe accident included a set of failed safety systems normally operated at full power, and initiative events led to primary heat transport system inventory blow-down or boil off. The core heat-up and melting, steam generator response,fuel channel and calandria vessel failure were analyzed. The results showed that the progression of a severe core damage accident induced by steam generator tube rupture or large break loss-of-coolant accidents in a CANDU reactor was slow due to heat sinks in the calandria vessel and vault. (authors)

  17. Restoring and managing low-severity fire in dry-forest landscapes of the western USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, William L

    2017-01-01

    Low-severity fires that killed few canopy trees played a significant historical role in dry forests of the western USA and warrant restoration and management, but historical rates of burning remain uncertain. Past reconstructions focused on on dating fire years, not measuring historical rates of burning. Past statistics, including mean composite fire interval (mean CFI) and individual-tree fire interval (mean ITFI) have biases and inaccuracies if used as estimators of rates. In this study, I used regression, with a calibration dataset of 96 cases, to test whether these statistics could accurately predict two equivalent historical rates, population mean fire interval (PMFI) and fire rotation (FR). The best model, using Weibull mean ITFI, had low prediction error and R2adj = 0.972. I used this model to predict historical PMFI/FR at 252 sites spanning dry forests. Historical PMFI/FR for a pool of 342 calibration and predicted sites had a mean of 39 years and median of 30 years. Short ( 55 years) mean PMFI/FRs were mainly from northern New Mexico to South Dakota. Mountain sites often had a large range in PMFI/FR. Nearly all 342 estimates are for old forests with a history of primarily low-severity fire, found across only about 34% of historical dry-forest area. Frequent fire (PMFI/FR dry-forest area, with 86% having multidecadal rates of low-severity fire. Historical fuels (e.g., understory shrubs and small trees) could fully recover between multidecadal fires, allowing some denser forests and some ecosystem processes and wildlife habitat to be less limited by fire. Lower historical rates mean less restoration treatment is needed before beginning managed fire for resource benefits, where feasible. Mimicking patterns of variability in historical low-severity fire regimes would likely benefit biological diversity and ecosystem functioning.

  18. Insect Pests of Field Crops. MP-28.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkhardt, Chris C.

    This document addresses the principles of field crop insect control through biological, mechanical, and chemical processes. Identification, life history, damage, pesticides, pesticide use and environmental considerations are presented for the major pests of corn, alfalfa, beans, small grains, sugar beets, and potatoes. Each section is accompanied…

  19. Assessment of outcome after severe brain damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jennett, B; Bond, M

    1975-03-01

    Persisting disability after brain damage usually comprises both mental and physical handicap. The mental component is often the more important in contributing to overall social disability. Lack of an objective scale leads to vague and over-optimistic estimates of outcome, which obscure the ultimate results of early management. A five-point scale is described--death, persistent vegetative state, severe disability, moderate disability, and good recovery. Duration as well as intensity of disability should be included in an index of ill-health; this applies particularly after head injury, because many disabled survivors are young.

  20. Fire-induced Carbon Emissions and Regrowth Uptake in Western U.S. Forests: Documenting Variation Across Forest Types, Fire Severity, and Climate Regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghimire, Bardan; Williams, Christopher A.; Collatz, George James; Vanderhoof, Melanie

    2012-01-01

    The forest area in the western United States that burns annually is increasing with warmer temperatures, more frequent droughts, and higher fuel densities. Studies that examine fire effects for regional carbon balances have tended to either focus on individual fires as examples or adopt generalizations without considering how forest type, fire severity, and regional climate influence carbon legacies. This study provides a more detailed characterization of fire effects and quantifies the full carbon impacts in relation to direct emissions, slow release of fire-killed biomass, and net carbon uptake from forest regrowth. We find important variations in fire-induced mortality and combustion across carbon pools (leaf, live wood, dead wood, litter, and duff) and across low- to high-severity classes. This corresponds to fire-induced direct emissions from 1984 to 2008 averaging 4 TgC/yr and biomass killed averaging 10.5 TgC/yr, with average burn area of 2723 sq km/yr across the western United States. These direct emission and biomass killed rates were 1.4 and 3.7 times higher, respectively, for high-severity fires than those for low-severity fires. The results show that forest regrowth varies greatly by forest type and with severity and that these factors impose a sustained carbon uptake legacy. The western U.S. fires between 1984 and 2008 imposed a net source of 12.3 TgC/yr in 2008, accounting for both direct fire emissions (9.5 TgC/yr) and heterotrophic decomposition of fire-killed biomass (6.1 TgC yr1) as well as contemporary regrowth sinks (3.3 TgC/yr). A sizeable trend exists toward increasing emissions as a larger area burns annually.

  1. The use of radiation in quarantine on insects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Oraby, M. N. A.

    2012-01-01

    With world trade in agricultural commodities increasing, the introduction of exotic insects into new areas, where they become pests, will increase. The development and application of quarantine treatments or other mitigation approaches to prevent pest introduction in traded commodities raise many research and regulatory issues. The probit 9 standard for quarantine treatment efficacy has given way to risk based alternatives. Development of generic treatments to control broad groups of insects or insects in all commodities can expedite new trade in agricultural products. An innovative technique using radio-frequency (RF) and Microwave (MW) heating treatments was proposed as an alternative quarantine treatment in nuts. The practical future application in industry should be possible after solving their problems of high cost, non-uniform heating and quality damage. (author)

  2. Modelling Variable Fire Severity in Boreal Forests: Effects of Fire Intensity and Stand Structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miquelajauregui, Yosune; Cumming, Steven G; Gauthier, Sylvie

    2016-01-01

    It is becoming clear that fires in boreal forests are not uniformly stand-replacing. On the contrary, marked variation in fire severity, measured as tree mortality, has been found both within and among individual fires. It is important to understand the conditions under which this variation can arise. We integrated forest sample plot data, tree allometries and historical forest fire records within a diameter class-structured model of 1.0 ha patches of mono-specific black spruce and jack pine stands in northern Québec, Canada. The model accounts for crown fire initiation and vertical spread into the canopy. It uses empirical relations between fire intensity, scorch height, the percent of crown scorched and tree mortality to simulate fire severity, specifically the percent reduction in patch basal area due to fire-caused mortality. A random forest and a regression tree analysis of a large random sample of simulated fires were used to test for an effect of fireline intensity, stand structure, species composition and pyrogeographic regions on resultant severity. Severity increased with intensity and was lower for jack pine stands. The proportion of simulated fires that burned at high severity (e.g. >75% reduction in patch basal area) was 0.80 for black spruce and 0.11 for jack pine. We identified thresholds in intensity below which there was a marked sensitivity of simulated fire severity to stand structure, and to interactions between intensity and structure. We found no evidence for a residual effect of pyrogeographic region on simulated severity, after the effects of stand structure and species composition were accounted for. The model presented here was able to produce variation in fire severity under a range of fire intensity conditions. This suggests that variation in stand structure is one of the factors causing the observed variation in boreal fire severity.

  3. Fire severity unaffected by spruce beetle outbreak in spruce-fir forests in southwestern Colorado.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrus, Robert A; Veblen, Thomas T; Harvey, Brian J; Hart, Sarah J

    2016-04-01

    Recent large and severe outbreaks of native bark beetles have raised concern among the general public and land managers about potential for amplified fire activity in western North America. To date, the majority of studies examining bark beetle outbreaks and subsequent fire severity in the U.S. Rocky Mountains have focused on outbreaks of mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae) in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests, but few studies, particularly field studies, have addressed the effects of the severity of spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby) infestation on subsequent fire severity in subalpine Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) forests. In Colorado, the annual area infested by spruce beetle outbreaks is rapidly rising, while MPB outbreaks are subsiding; therefore understanding this relationship is of growing importance. We collected extensive field data in subalpine forests in the eastern San Juan Mountains, southwestern Colorado, USA, to investigate whether a gray-stage (fire) spruce beetle infestation affected fire severity. Contrary to the expectation that bark beetle infestation alters subsequent fire severity, correlation and multivariate generalized linear regression analysis revealed no influence of pre-fire spruce beetle severity on nearly all field or remotely sensed measurements of fire severity. Findings were consistent across moderate and extreme burning conditions. In comparison to severity of the pre-fire beetle outbreak, we found that topography, pre-outbreak basal area, and weather conditions exerted a stronger effect on fire severity. Our finding that beetle infestation did not alter fire severity is consistent with previous retrospective studies examining fire activity following other bark beetle outbreaks and reiterates the overriding influence of climate that creates conditions conducive to large, high-severity fires in the subalpine zone of Colorado. Both bark beetle outbreaks and

  4. Forest health in Canada, Atlantic Maritime ecozone 2003

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hurley, J.E.; Loo, J.; DesRochers, P.; Hirvonen, H.

    2004-07-01

    This paper describes the key forest health issues affecting Canada's Atlantic Maritime ecozone which includes 9 main forest types known collectively as the Acadian Forest. In order to protect and conserve biological diversity, the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers adopted national criteria to measure sustainable forest management. This report describes the Acadian Forest landscape conditions, pre-industrial ecological influences, current ecological influences, and the impact of invasive alien insects and diseases on the diversity of tree species. Spruce trees in the Atlantic Maritime ecozone are threatened by the brown spruce longhorn beetle and pine trees are threatened by a pine shoot beetle recently introduced to North America from Asia. Diseases are also attacking the butternut, beech and dutch trees. The impact of land use practices such as forest harvesting on forest structure and composition was also addressed along with the impact of air pollution and climate change. It was noted that there is a direct relationship between deteriorating air quality and decline in mountain paper birch. Some of the anticipated impacts from climate change include a greater incidence of vector borne diseases resulting from the migration of new insect species in a warmer Canadian climate. An increase in extreme weather events such as ice storms may also weaken trees. refs., tabs., figs.

  5. Environmental impacts of forest road construction on mountainous terrain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caliskan, Erhan

    2013-03-15

    Forest roads are the base infrastructure foundation of forestry operations. These roads entail a complex engineering effort because they can cause substantial environmental damage to forests and include a high-cost construction. This study was carried out in four sample sites of Giresun, Trabzon(2) and Artvin Forest Directorate, which is in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The areas have both steep terrain (30-50% gradient) and very steep terrain (51-80% gradient). Bulldozers and hydraulic excavators were determined to be the main machines for forest road construction, causing environmental damage and cross sections in mountainous areas.As a result of this study, the percent damage to forests was determined as follows: on steep terrain, 21% of trees were damaged by excavators and 33% of trees were damaged by bulldozers during forest road construction, and on very steep terrain, 27% of trees were damaged by excavators and 44% of trees were damaged by bulldozers during forest road construction. It was also determined that on steep terrain, when excavators were used, 12.23% less forest area was destroyed compared with when bulldozers were used and 16.13% less area was destroyed by excavators on very steep terrain. In order to reduce the environmental damage on the forest ecosystem, especially in steep terrains, hydraulic excavators should replace bulldozers in forest road construction activities.

  6. Environmental Impacts of Forest Road Construction on Mountainous Terrain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erhan Caliskan

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Forest roads are the base infrastructure foundation of forestry operations. These roads entail a complex engineering effort because they can cause substantial environmental damage to forests and include a high-cost construction. This study was carried out in four sample sites of Giresun, Trabzon(2 and Artvin Forest Directorate, which is in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The areas have both steep terrain (30-50% gradient and very steep terrain (51-80% gradient. Bulldozers and hydraulic excavators were determined to be the main machines for forest road construction, causing environmental damage and cross sections in mountainous areas.As a result of this study, the percent damage to forests was determined as follows: on steep terrain, 21% of trees were damaged by excavators and 33% of trees were damaged by bulldozers during forest road construction, and on very steep terrain, 27% of trees were damaged by excavators and 44% of trees were damaged by bulldozers during forest road construction. It was also determined that on steep terrain, when excavators were used, 12.23% less forest area was destroyed compared with when bulldozers were used and 16.13% less area was destroyed by excavators on very steep terrain. In order to reduce the environmental damage on the forest ecosystem, especially in steep terrains, hydraulic excavators should replace bulldozers in forest road construction activities.

  7. PREMISE Insect Model: Integrated Population Dynamics Model for the Ex-ante Evaluation of IPM against Insect Pest

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hennen, Wil; Alaphilippe, Aude

    2015-01-01

    Codling moth Cydia pomonella L. is the most serious pest of apple and pear worldwide and causes damage and decreased
    yields. To minimize this risk, IPM tools can be applied to reduce the use of chemicals. A cost-effective application of IPM depends
    on the number of insects at the time of

  8. A meta-analysis of soil microbial biomass responses to forest disturbances

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Robin Holden

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Climate warming is likely to increase the frequency and severity of forest disturbances, with uncertain consequences for soil microbial communities and their contribution to ecosystem C dynamics. To address this uncertainty, we conducted a meta-analysis of 139 published soil microbial responses to forest disturbances. These disturbances included abiotic (fire, harvesting, storm and biotic (insect, pathogen disturbances. We hypothesized that soil microbial biomass would decline following forest disturbances, but that abiotic disturbances would elicit greater reductions in microbial biomass than biotic disturbances. In support of this hypothesis, across all published studies, disturbances reduced soil microbial biomass by an average of 29.4%. However, microbial responses differed between abiotic and biotic disturbances. Microbial responses were significantly negative following fires, harvest, and storms (48.7%, 19.1%, and 41.7% reductions in microbial biomass, respectively. In contrast, changes in soil microbial biomass following insect infestation and pathogen-induced tree mortality were non-significant, although biotic disturbances were poorly represented in the literature. When measured separately, fungal and bacterial responses to disturbances mirrored the response of the microbial community as a whole. Changes in microbial abundance following disturbance were significantly positively correlated with changes in microbial respiration. We propose that the differential effect of abiotic and biotic disturbances on microbial biomass may be attributable to differences in soil disruption and organic C removal from forests among disturbance types. Altogether, these results suggest that abiotic forest disturbances may significantly decrease soil microbial abundance, with corresponding consequences for microbial respiration. Further studies are needed on the effect of biotic disturbances on forest soil microbial communities and soil C dynamics.

  9. Management of severely damaged nuclear fuel and related waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    This report is concerned primarily with severe fuel damage accidents in large electric power producing reactors such as those in the TMI and Chernobyl plants. It does include, as appropriate, knowledge gained from accidents in other power, research and military reactors. It is believed that the conclusions and recommendations apply to a large extent to severe fuel damage accidents in all types of reactors. The period considered in this publication begins after the initial crisis of an accident has been brought under control. (This initial crisis could be from one day to several weeks after the event, depending on the specific conditions). Accordingly, it is assumed that the plant is shut down, the reactor is under control and decay heat removal is in progress in a stable manner so that attention must be given to cleanup. This report addresses the principles involved in planning, engineering, construction, operation and other activities to characterize, clean up and dispose of the fuel and related waste. The end of the period under consideration is when the fuel and abnormal wastes are packaged either for interim storage or final disposal and activities are started either to restore the plant to service or to establish a safe state from which decommissioning planning can start. 36 refs, 3 figs, 4 tabs.

  10. Field screening of experimental corn hybrids and inbred lines for multiple ear-feeding insect resistance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Xinzhi; Xu, Wenwei; Krakowsky, Matthew D; Buntin, G David; Brown, Steve L; Lee, R Dewey; Coy, Anton E

    2007-10-01

    Identifying and using native insect resistance genes is the core of integrated pest management. In this study, 10 experimental corn, Zea mays L., hybrids and 10 inbred lines were screened for resistance to major ear-feeding insects in the southeastern Coastal Plain region of the United States during 2004 and 2005. Ear-feeding insect damage was assessed at harvest by visual damage rating for the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), and by the percentage of kernels damaged by the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky, and stink bugs [combination of Euschistus servus (Say) and southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.)]. Among the eight inbred lines and two control populations examined, C3S1B73-5b was resistant to corn earworm, maize weevil, and stink bugs. In contrast, C3S1B73-4 was resistant to corn earworm and stink bugs, but not to maize weevil. In a similar manner, the corn hybrid S1W*CML343 was resistant to all three ear-feeding insects, whereas hybrid C3S1B73-3*Tx205 was resistant to corn earworm and maize weevil in both growing seasons, but susceptible to stink bugs in 2005. The silk-feeding bioassay showed that corn earworm developed better on corn silk than did fall armyworm. Among all phenotypic traits examined (i.e., corn ear size, husk extension, and husk tightness), only corn ear size was negatively correlated to corn earworm damage in the inbred lines examined, whereas only husk extension (i.e., coverage) was negatively correlated to both corn earworm and maize weevil damage on the experimental hybrids examined. Such information could be used to establish a baseline for developing agronomically elite corn germplasm that confers multiple ear-feeding insect resistance.

  11. Carbon stock and carbon turnover in boreal and temperate forests - Integration of remote sensing data and global vegetation models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thurner, Martin; Beer, Christian; Carvalhais, Nuno; Forkel, Matthias; Tito Rademacher, Tim; Santoro, Maurizio; Tum, Markus; Schmullius, Christiane

    2016-04-01

    Long-term vegetation dynamics are one of the key uncertainties of the carbon cycle. There are large differences in simulated vegetation carbon stocks and fluxes including productivity, respiration and carbon turnover between global vegetation models. Especially the implementation of climate-related mortality processes, for instance drought, fire, frost or insect effects, is often lacking or insufficient in current models and their importance at global scale is highly uncertain. These shortcomings have been due to the lack of spatially extensive information on vegetation carbon stocks, which cannot be provided by inventory data alone. Instead, we recently have been able to estimate northern boreal and temperate forest carbon stocks based on radar remote sensing data. Our spatially explicit product (0.01° resolution) shows strong agreement to inventory-based estimates at a regional scale and allows for a spatial evaluation of carbon stocks and dynamics simulated by global vegetation models. By combining this state-of-the-art biomass product and NPP datasets originating from remote sensing, we are able to study the relation between carbon turnover rate and a set of climate indices in northern boreal and temperate forests along spatial gradients. We observe an increasing turnover rate with colder winter temperatures and longer winters in boreal forests, suggesting frost damage and the trade-off between frost adaptation and growth being important mortality processes in this ecosystem. In contrast, turnover rate increases with climatic conditions favouring drought and insect outbreaks in temperate forests. Investigated global vegetation models from the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP), including HYBRID4, JeDi, JULES, LPJml, ORCHIDEE, SDGVM, and VISIT, are able to reproduce observation-based spatial climate - turnover rate relationships only to a limited extent. While most of the models compare relatively well in terms of NPP, simulated

  12. Arthropod Diversity and Functional Importance in Old-Growth Forests of North America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy Schowalter

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Old-growth forests have become rare in North America but provide habitat for unique assemblages of species that often are rare in younger forests. Insects and related arthropods reach their highest diversity in old-growth forests because of their stable moderate temperature and relative humidity and the rich variety of resources represented by high plant species richness and structural complexity. Old-growth arthropod assemblages typically are distinct from those in younger, managed forests. Major subcommunities include the arboreal community that is composed of a rich assemblage of herbivores, fungivores, and their associated predators and parasitoids that function to regulate primary production and nutrient fluxes, the stem zone community that includes bark- and wood-boring species and their associated predators and parasitoids that initiate the decomposition of coarse woody debris, and the forest floor community composed of a variety of detritivores, fungivores, burrowers, and their associated predators and parasitoids that are instrumental in litter decomposition. Insect outbreaks are relatively rare in old-growth forests, where the diversity of resources and predators limit population growth. In turn, insects contribute to plant diversity and limit primary production of host plant species, thereby promoting development of old-growth forest characteristics. Arthropods also provide important functions in decomposition and nutrient cycling that may be lost in younger, managed forests with limited provision of coarse woody debris and accumulated litter. Protection of remnant old-growth forests within the forest matrix may be particularly valuable for maintaining the diversity of plant and arthropod predators that can minimize outbreaks, thereby contributing to resilience to changing environmental conditions.

  13. Consequences of climate change for biotic disturbances in North American forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aaron S. Weed; Matthew P. Ayres; Jeffrey A. Hicke

    2013-01-01

    About one-third of North America is forested. These forests are of incalculable value to human society in terms of harvested resources and ecosystem services and are sensitive to disturbance regimes. Epidemics of forest insects and diseases are the dominant sources of disturbance to North American forests. Here we review current understanding of climatic effects...

  14. Environmental effects of fenitrothion use in forestry: impacts on insect pollinators, songbirds & aquatic organisms

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Ernst, W. R; Pearce, P. A; Pollock, T. L

    1989-01-01

    The Team focused on insect pollinators and pollination, forest songbirds, and aquatic organisms because of a judgement that most well documented negative effects of fenitrothion spraying are in those...

  15. Using a botanical garden to assess factors influencing the colonization of exotic woody plants by phyllophagous insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirichenko, Natalia; Kenis, M

    2016-09-01

    The adoption of exotic plants by indigenous herbivores in the region of introduction can be influenced by numerous factors. A botanical garden in Western Siberia was used to test various hypotheses on the adaptation of indigenous phyllophagous insects to exotic plants invasions, focusing on two feeding guilds, external leaf chewers and leaf miners. A total of 150 indigenous and exotic woody plant species were surveyed for insect damage, abundance and species richness. First, exotic woody plants were much less damaged by chewers and leaf miners than native plants, and the leaf miners' species richness was much lower on exotic than native plants. Second, exotic woody plants having a congeneric species in the region of introduction were more damaged by chewers and hosted a more abundant and species-rich community of leaf miners than plants without native congeneric species. Third, damage by chewers significantly increased with the frequency of planting of exotic host plants outside the botanical garden, and leaf miners' abundance and species richness significantly increased with residence time in the garden. Finally, no significant relationship was found between insect damage or abundance and the origin of the exotic plants. Besides the ecological implications of the results, this study also illustrates the potential of botanical gardens to test ecological hypotheses on biological invasions and insect-plant interactions on a large set of plant species.

  16. Forest Service R&D — Invasive Insects: Visions for the Future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kier D. Klepzig; Therese M. Poland; Nancy E. Gillette; Robert A. Haack; Melody A. Keena; Daniel R. Miller; Michael E. Montgomery; Steven J. Seybold; Patrick C. Tobin

    2009-01-01

    The Forest Service has identified invasive species as one of four significant threats to our Nation’s forest and rangeland ecosystems and likened the problem to a “catastrophic wildfire in slow motion.” Forest Service Research and Development (R&D) has a crucial role in providing insight and options to protect trees, forests, and ecosystems from the threat of...

  17. Hypoxic pretreatment protects against neuronal damage of the rat hippocampus induced by severe hypoxia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorgias, N; Maidatsi, P; Tsolaki, M; Alvanou, A; Kiriazis, G; Kaidoglou, K; Giala, M

    1996-04-01

    The present study investigates whether under conditions of successive hypoxic exposures pretreatment with mild (15% O(2)) or moderate (10% O(2)) hypoxia, protects hippocampal neurones against damage induced by severe (3% O(2)) hypoxia. The ultrastructural findings were also correlated with regional superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity changes. In unpretreated rats severe hypoxia induced ultrastructural changes consistent with the aspects of delayed neuronal death (DND). However, in preexposed animals hippocampal damage was attenuated in an inversely proportional way with the severity of the hypoxic pretreatment. The ultrastructural hypoxic tolerance findings were also closely related to increased regional SOD activity levels. Thus the activation of the endogenous antioxidant defense by hypoxic preconditioning, protects against hippocampal damage induced by severe hypoxia. The eventual contribution of increased endogenous adenosine and/or reduced excitotoxicity to induce hypoxic tolerance is discussed.

  18. Landscape-scale effects of fire severity on mixed-conifer and red fir forest structure in Yosemite National Park

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Van R.; Lutz, James A.; Roberts, Susan L.; Smith, Douglas F.; McGaughey, Robert J.; Povak, Nicholas A.; Brooks, Matthew L.

    2013-01-01

    While fire shapes the structure of forests and acts as a keystone process, the details of how fire modifies forest structure have been difficult to evaluate because of the complexity of interactions between fires and forests. We studied this relationship across 69.2 km2 of Yosemite National Park, USA, that was subject to 32 fires ⩾40 ha between 1984 and 2010. Forests types included ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), white fir-sugar pine (Abies concolor/Pinus lambertiana), and red fir (Abies magnifica). We estimated and stratified burned area by fire severity using the Landsat-derived Relativized differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (RdNBR). Airborne LiDAR data, acquired in July 2010, measured the vertical and horizontal structure of canopy material and landscape patterning of canopy patches and gaps. Increasing fire severity changed structure at the scale of fire severity patches, the arrangement of canopy patches and gaps within fire severity patches, and vertically within tree clumps. Each forest type showed an individual trajectory of structural change with increasing fire severity. As a result, the relationship between estimates of fire severity such as RdNBR and actual changes appears to vary among forest types. We found three arrangements of canopy patches and gaps associated with different fire severities: canopy-gap arrangements in which gaps were enclosed in otherwise continuous canopy (typically unburned and low fire severities); patch-gap arrangements in which tree clumps and gaps alternated and neither dominated (typically moderate fire severity); and open-patch arrangements in which trees were scattered across open areas (typically high fire severity). Compared to stands outside fire perimeters, increasing fire severity generally resulted first in loss of canopy cover in lower height strata and increased number and size of gaps, then in loss of canopy cover in higher height strata, and eventually the transition to open areas with few or no trees. However

  19. SCDAP: a light water reactor computer code for severe core damage analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marino, G.P.; Allison, C.M.; Majumdar, D.

    1982-01-01

    Development of the first code version (MODO) of the Severe Core Damage Analysis Package (SCDAP) computer code is described, and calculations made with SCDAP/MODO are presented. The objective of this computer code development program is to develop a capability for analyzing severe disruption of a light water reactor core, including fuel and cladding liquefaction, flow, and freezing; fission product release; hydrogen generation; quenched-induced fragmentation; coolability of the resulting geometry; and ultimately vessel failure due to vessel-melt interaction. SCDAP will be used to identify the phenomena which control core behavior during a severe accident, to help quantify uncertainties in risk assessment analysis, and to support planning and evaluation of severe fuel damage experiments and data. SCDAP/MODO addresses the behavior of a single fuel bundle. Future versions will be developed with capabilities for core-wide and vessel-melt interaction analysis

  20. Forest pest conditions in the maritimes in 1992. Information report No. M-X-183E. Annual publication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Magasi, L.P.; Cormier, J.R.

    1993-01-01

    Review of the status of forest insects and diseases in the Maritimes Region in 1992, along with forecast conditions for 1993 when appropriate. Describes pests and problems of conifers, hardwoods, and high value areas such as nurseries, seed orchards, plantations, and Christmas tree areas and summarizes control operations against spruce budworm and Sirococcus shoot blight. A chapter on forest health monitoring brings together the various aspects of work dealing with changes in forest conditions. Forest insect monitoring systems, such as pheromones and light traps, are briefly described. A list of reports and publications relating to forest pest conditions is included.

  1. Forest Stakeholder Participation in Improving Game Habitat in Swedish Forests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eugene E. Ezebilo

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Although in Sweden the simultaneous use of forests for timber production and game hunting are both of socioeconomic importance it often leads to conflicting interests. This study examines forest stakeholder participation in improving game habitat to increase hunting opportunities as well as redistribute game activities in forests to help reduce browsing damage in valuable forest stands. The data for the study were collected from a nationwide survey that involved randomly selected hunters and forest owners in Sweden. An ordered logit model was used to account for possible factors influencing the respondents’ participation in improving game habitat. The results showed that on average, forest owning hunters were more involved in improving game habitat than non-hunting forest owners. The involvement of non-forest owning hunters was intermediate between the former two groups. The respondents’ participation in improving game habitat were mainly influenced by factors such as the quantity of game meat obtained, stakeholder group, forests on hunting grounds, the extent of risk posed by game browsing damage to the economy of forest owners, importance of bagging game during hunting, and number of hunting days. The findings will help in designing a more sustainable forest management strategy that integrates timber production and game hunting in forests.

  2. Compensatory vapor loss and biogeochemical attenuation along flowpaths mute the water resources impacts of insect-induced forest mortality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biederman, J. A.; Brooks, P. D.; Harpold, A. A.; Gochis, D. J.; Ewers, B. E.; Reed, D. E.; Gutmann, E. D.

    2013-12-01

    -impacted zero-order channel, DOC and DON were reduced by ~50 % within 5 km downstream in a 700-ha catchment with similar MPB forest mortality. Soil water NO3 up to 500 μeq l-1 during the snowmelt flush was attenuated by an order of magnitude in the riparian groundwater and was usually below detection limit in the adjacent zero-order channel. These observations demonstrate that water resources impacts of insect-induced forest mortality may be muted because 1) compensatory vapor loss can offset expected water yield increases and 2) processing of carbon and nitrogen along both hillslope flowpaths and within headwater streams can rapidly attenuate biogeochemical fluxes.

  3. Forest decline in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Research and observations: 1983-1989

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruck, R.I.; Robarge, W.P.; McDaniel, A.

    1989-01-01

    An insect and desease survey initiated in 1985 on 100 permanent plots has yielded little significant pathology or insect infestation. With the exception the balsam wooly adelgid, few signs or symptoms of disease or insect attack were noted on either Fraser fir or red spruce populations. Cultures from destructively-sampled root systems yielded few significant pathogens that could be attributed to decline symptoms. Measurements of throughfall in 1986 yielded estimates of total wet deposition for NO -3 and SO 4 -2 of 25 and 75 kg ha -1 yr -1 , respectively. Cloud and rain water was dominated by H + , NH +4 , NO -3 , and SO 4 -2 ions. Interaction with the forest canopy resulted in an enrichment of throughfall with base cations (K + , Ca +2 , and MG +2 ) and a loss of H + and NH +4 . Mean-volume-weighted pH for throughfall was 3.9. The effects of simulated acidic cloud water on the epicuticular waxes of red spruce needles were studied during the summer of 1987. The cuticle proper of both 1986 and 1987 needles did not appear to be damaged by the treatments. The wax crystals which consititute the stomatal wax plugs, however, exhibited substantial degradation by simulated treatments at or below pH 3.5. (orig./VT)

  4. Insect Pests and Integrated Pest Management in Museums, Libraries and Historic Buildings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Querner, Pascal

    2015-06-16

    Insect pests are responsible for substantial damage to museum objects, historic books and in buildings like palaces or historic houses. Different wood boring beetles (Anobium punctatum, Hylotrupes bajulus, Lyctus sp. or introduced species), the biscuit beetle (Stegobium paniceum), the cigarette beetle (Lasioderma serricorne), different Dermestides (Attagenus sp., Anthrenus sp., Dermestes sp., Trogoderma sp.), moths like the webbing clothes moth (Tineola bisselliella), Silverfish (Lepisma saccharina) and booklice (Psocoptera) can damage materials, objects or building parts. They are the most common pests found in collections in central Europe, but most of them are distributed all over the world. In tropical countries, termites, cockroaches and other insect pests are also found and result in even higher damage of wood and paper or are a commune annoyance in buildings. In this short review, an introduction to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in museums is given, the most valuable collections, preventive measures, monitoring in museums, staff responsible for the IPM and chemical free treatment methods are described. In the second part of the paper, the most important insect pests occurring in museums, archives, libraries and historic buildings in central Europe are discussed with a description of the materials and object types that are mostly infested and damaged. Some information on their phenology and biology are highlighted as they can be used in the IPM concept against them.

  5. The potential to characterize ecological data with terrestrial laser scanning in Harvard Forest, MA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boucher, P.; Saenz, E.; Li, Z.

    2018-01-01

    Contemporary terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is being used widely in forest ecology applications to examine ecosystem properties at increasing spatial and temporal scales. Harvard Forest (HF) in Petersham, MA, USA, is a long-term ecological research (LTER) site, a National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) location and contains a 35 ha plot which is part of Smithsonian Institution's Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO). The combination of long-term field plots, eddy flux towers and the detailed past historical records has made HF very appealing for a variety of remote sensing studies. Terrestrial laser scanners, including three pioneering research instruments: the Echidna Validation Instrument, the Dual-Wavelength Echidna Lidar and the Compact Biomass Lidar, have already been used both independently and in conjunction with airborne laser scanning data and forest census data to characterize forest dynamics. TLS approaches include three-dimensional reconstructions of a plot over time, establishing the impact of ice storm damage on forest canopy structure, and characterizing eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) canopy health affected by an invasive insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae). Efforts such as those deployed at HF are demonstrating the power of TLS as a tool for monitoring ecological dynamics, identifying emerging forest health issues, measuring forest biomass and capturing ecological data relevant to other disciplines. This paper highlights various aspects of the ForestGEO plot that are important to current TLS work, the potential for exchange between forest ecology and TLS, and emphasizes the strength of combining TLS data with long-term ecological field data to create emerging opportunities for scientific study. PMID:29503723

  6. The potential to characterize ecological data with terrestrial laser scanning in Harvard Forest, MA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orwig, D A; Boucher, P; Paynter, I; Saenz, E; Li, Z; Schaaf, C

    2018-04-06

    Contemporary terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is being used widely in forest ecology applications to examine ecosystem properties at increasing spatial and temporal scales. Harvard Forest (HF) in Petersham, MA, USA, is a long-term ecological research (LTER) site, a National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) location and contains a 35 ha plot which is part of Smithsonian Institution's Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO). The combination of long-term field plots, eddy flux towers and the detailed past historical records has made HF very appealing for a variety of remote sensing studies. Terrestrial laser scanners, including three pioneering research instruments: the Echidna Validation Instrument, the Dual-Wavelength Echidna Lidar and the Compact Biomass Lidar, have already been used both independently and in conjunction with airborne laser scanning data and forest census data to characterize forest dynamics. TLS approaches include three-dimensional reconstructions of a plot over time, establishing the impact of ice storm damage on forest canopy structure, and characterizing eastern hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis ) canopy health affected by an invasive insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid ( Adelges tsugae ). Efforts such as those deployed at HF are demonstrating the power of TLS as a tool for monitoring ecological dynamics, identifying emerging forest health issues, measuring forest biomass and capturing ecological data relevant to other disciplines. This paper highlights various aspects of the ForestGEO plot that are important to current TLS work, the potential for exchange between forest ecology and TLS, and emphasizes the strength of combining TLS data with long-term ecological field data to create emerging opportunities for scientific study.

  7. Qualitative evaluation of the DNA degradation in plague insects exposed to gamma radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ortega, Yuriko; Agapito, Juan; Vargas, Johnny; Vivanco, Monica; Martinez, Norberta

    2014-01-01

    Insects produce large losses in stored grain depending on the type of cereal and storage time and other factors. The rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae L and the false flour beetle Tribolium confusum are important pests of stored grain. The study aimed to qualitatively evaluate the effect of gamma radiation on the DNA of two species of insect pests from samples stored Chullpi and white corn infested with adult weevils. Samples were treated with radiation doses of 100, 400, 1000 and 2000 Gy and DNA extraction was obtained by three methods: TNES-urea, CTAB and NaOH. The DNA damage induced by gamma radiation in weevils was determined by gel electrophoresis. As a result, it was found that exposure of adult weevils to a radiation dose of 100 Gy and 400 caused an average mortality of the insects, showing a degree of resistance to gamma radiation. However, radiation doses of 1000 and 2000 Gy caused 100 % mortality of insects. Preliminary results show that DNA damage is proportional to the amount of gamma radiation. (authors).

  8. Modeling impacts of fire severity on successional trajectories and future fire behavior in Alaskan boreal forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jill F. Johnstone; T. Scott Rupp; Mark Olson; David. Verbyla

    2011-01-01

    Much of the boreal forest in western North America and Alaska experiences frequent, stand-replacing wildfires. Secondary succession after fire initiates most forest stands and variations in fire characteristics can have strong effects on pathways of succession. Variations in surface fire severity that influence whether regenerating forests are dominated by coniferous...

  9. Increasing large scale windstorm damage in Western, Central and Northern European forests, 1951-2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregow, H.; Laaksonen, A.; Alper, M. E.

    2017-04-01

    Using reports of forest losses caused directly by large scale windstorms (or primary damage, PD) from the European forest institute database (comprising 276 PD reports from 1951-2010), total growing stock (TGS) statistics of European forests and the daily North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, we identify a statistically significant change in storm intensity in Western, Central and Northern Europe (17 countries). Using the validated set of storms, we found that the year 1990 represents a change-point at which the average intensity of the most destructive storms indicated by PD/TGS > 0.08% increased by more than a factor of three. A likelihood ratio test provides strong evidence that the change-point represents a real shift in the statistical behaviour of the time series. All but one of the seven catastrophic storms (PD/TGS > 0.2%) occurred since 1990. Additionally, we detected a related decrease in September-November PD/TGS and an increase in December-February PD/TGS. Our analyses point to the possibility that the impact of climate change on the North Atlantic storms hitting Europe has started during the last two and half decades.

  10. Effects of habitat management on different feeding guilds of herbivorous insects in cacao agroforestry systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novais, Samuel M A; Macedo-Reis, Luiz E; DaRocha, Wesley D; Neves, Frederico S

    2016-06-01

    Human pressure on natural habitats increases the importance of agroforests for biodiversity conservation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of cacao traditional cultivation system (CTCS) on the conservation of the herbivorous insect community when compared with a monodominant rubber agroforest, a type of agricultural system for cacao cultivation. The insects were sampled in three habitats in Southeastern Bahia, Brazil: native forests, CTCS and rubber agroforests. In each habitat, 18 plots of 10 m2 were established, and the structural measures were collected and herbivorous insects were sampled with a Malaise/window trap. The diversity of folivorous decreased with the simplification of vegetation structure, but species composition was similar among habitats. In addition to a decrease in the availability of resources in monodominant rubber agroforests, the latex present in these systems have limited the occurrence of species that cannot circumvent latex toxicity. The diversity of sap-sucking insects was similar among habitats, but species composition was similar only in the CTCS and native forest, and it was different in the rubber agroforest. We observed turnover and a higher frequency of individuals of the family Psyllidae in the rubber agroforest. The biology and behavior of Psyllids and absence of natural enemies enable their diversity to increase when they are adapted to a new host. We observed a shift in the composition of xylophagous insects in the rubber agroforest compared to that in other habitats. Moreover, this agroforest has low species richness, but high individual abundance. Latex extraction is likely an important additional source of volatile compounds discharged into the environment, and it increases the attraction and recruitment of coleoborers to these sites. We concluded that CTCS has an herbivorous insect community with a structure similar to the community found in native forests of the region, and they present a more

  11. Forest Management and the Evolution of Project Design in Dynamic Wildland Urban Interface Fire Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conway, S.

    2014-12-01

    The Truckee Ranger District on the Tahoe National Forest, in the heart of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, has a rich history of human activities. Native American influences, comstock-era logging, fire suppression, development, and recreation have all shaped the natural environment into what it is today. Like much of our national forests in California, forest conditions that have developed are generally much more homogenous and less resistant to disturbance from fire, insect, and disease than they might have been without the myriad of human influences. However, in order to improve the resiliency of our forests to stand replacing disturbances like high severity fire, while managing for integrated anthropomorphic values, it is imperative that management evolve to meet those dynamic needs. Recent advances in remote sensing and GIS allow land managers more access to forest information and can inform site specific prescriptions to change site specific undesirable conditions. It is ecologically and politically complex, yet our forests deserve that microscope. This particular presentation will focus on how the Truckee Ranger District began this process of incorporating several values, generated from stakeholder collaboration, into one project's goals and how those lessons learned informed their most recent project.

  12. Soil organic matter composition and quality across fire severity gradients in coniferous and deciduous forests of the southern boreal region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miesel, Jessica R.; Hockaday, William C.; Kolka, Randall K.; Townsend, Philip A.

    2015-06-01

    Recent patterns of prolonged regional drought in southern boreal forests of the Great Lakes region, USA, suggest that the ecological effects of disturbance by wildfire may become increasingly severe. Losses of forest soil organic matter (SOM) during fire can limit soil nutrient availability and forest regeneration. These processes are also influenced by the composition of postfire SOM. We sampled the forest floor layer (i.e., full organic horizon) and 0-10 cm mineral soil from stands dominated by coniferous (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) or deciduous (Populus tremuloides Michx.) species 1-2 months after the 2011 Pagami Creek wildfire in northern Minnesota. We used solid-state 13C NMR to characterize SOM composition across a gradient of fire severity in both forest cover types. SOM composition was affected by fire, even when no statistically significant losses of total C stocks were evident. The most pronounced differences in SOM composition between burned and unburned reference areas occurred in the forest floor for both cover types. Carbohydrate stocks in forest floor and mineral horizons decreased with severity level in both cover types, whereas pyrogenic C stocks increased with severity in the coniferous forest floor and decreased in only the highest severity level in the deciduous forest floor. Loss of carbohydrate and lignin pools contributed to a decreased SOM stability index and increased decomposition index. Our results suggest that increases in fire severity expected to occur under future climate scenarios may lead to changes in SOM composition and dynamics with consequences for postfire forest recovery and C uptake.

  13. Coordinated subprojects of the Austrian forest damage monitoring system; Koordinierte Teilprojekte des Oesterr. Waldschaden-Beobachtungssystem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pollanschuetz, J

    1993-12-31

    Any actions to preserve nature as the base of our survival needs to rely on knowledge about the condition of ecosystems and their `evolutionary` trends. A monitoring system ensuring timely detection of a critical `evolution` of forests as sensitive bio-indicators is an absolute must when addressing the global threat to our living environment. The Austrian forest damage monitoring system addresses this task. It involves subprojects and interdisciplinary studies integrated within this biomonitoring system to enhance our knowledge about and detection capabilities for forest diseases and injuries. (orig.) [Deutsch] Massnahmen zur Bewahrung der Natur als Lebensgrundlage setzen das Wissen ueber den Zustand der Oekosysteme und Kenntnisse ueber deren Entwicklung voraus. Ein Ueberwachungssystem das rechtzeitig kritische Entwicklung am sensiblen Bioindikator Wald erkennen laesst, ist angesichts der Anzeichen einer globalen Bedrohung der belebten Umwelt eine zwingende Selbstverstaendlichkeit. Mit dem Waldschaden-Beobachtungssystem wird diesen Aufgabenstellungen Rechnung getragen. Durch die in diesem Biomonitoring-System integrierten Teilprojekte und interdisziplinaeren Untersuchungen wird auch ein wesentlicher Beitrag zur Erkennung von Ursachen fuer Waldschaeden und Waldkrankheiten geleistet. (orig.)

  14. Epidemiological study of insect bite reactions from Central India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sumit Kar

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The physical effects of the arthropod bites on human skin receive less attention, especially in the rural areas where the per capita income is less. Ours is a rural-based hospital, the vicinity having more of plants, trees, and forests; we undertook the study to find out the relation of insect bite dermatitis in a rural area. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in the Dermatology outpatient department of our institute on 100 subjects of insect bite dermatitis who were questioned retrospectively about the sequence of events besides their environmental and living conditions. They were examined thoroughly and the relevant clinical findings were noted, also taking into account the prior treatment taken by them, if any. Results and Conclusions: It was found that insect bite dermatitis has no age or gender preponderance, and the protective factors for the same are use of full sleeve clothes and keeping the doors and windows closed at night. On the contrary, the risk factors are residence in areas of heavy insect infestation, use of perfumes and colognes, warm weather in spring and summer and the lack of protective measures. However, there was no direct association of atopy with increased risk of developing insect bite dermatitis.

  15. The Native Hawaiian Insect Microbiome Initiative: A Critical Perspective for Hawaiian Insect Evolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kirsten E. Poff

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Insects associate with a diversity of microbes that can shape host ecology and diversity by providing essential biological and adaptive services. For most insect groups, the evolutionary implications of host–microbe interactions remain poorly understood. Geographically discrete areas with high biodiversity offer powerful, simplified model systems to better understand insect–microbe interactions. Hawaii boasts a diverse endemic insect fauna (~6000 species characterized by spectacular adaptive radiations. Despite this, little is known about the role of bacteria in shaping this diversity. To address this knowledge gap, we inaugurate the Native Hawaiian Insect Microbiome Initiative (NHIMI. The NHIMI is an effort intended to develop a framework for informing evolutionary and biological studies in Hawaii. To initiate this effort, we have sequenced the bacterial microbiomes of thirteen species representing iconic, endemic Hawaiian insect groups. Our results show that native Hawaiian insects associate with a diversity of bacteria that exhibit a wide phylogenetic breadth. Several groups show predictable associations with obligate microbes that permit diet specialization. Others exhibit unique ecological transitions that are correlated with shifts in their microbiomes (e.g., transition to carrion feeding from plant-feeding in Nysius wekiuicola. Finally, some groups, such as the Hawaiian Drosophila, have relatively diverse microbiomes with a conserved core of bacterial taxa across multiple species and islands.

  16. Entomological reconnaissance of Syncrude Lease No. 17 and its environs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Porter, W.B.; Lousier, J.D.

    1975-01-01

    In 1974, a three week field reconnaissance study of terrestrial insects occurring on Syncrude Lease No. 17 and its environs, in the Athabasca Tar Sands of Northern Alberta, was carried out. Various sampling methods were employed in disturbed and undisturbed stands of different boreal forest tree types and in an area cleared of trees for mining purposes. The results obtained suggest that further study of certain insects may give an early indication of possible environmental damage. These insects are a dung beetle, Aphodius sp. (Scarabaeidae : Coleoptera), two species of March flies (Bibionidae : Diptera) and several species of ground beetles (Carabidae : Coleoptera). A future sampling plan can be based on the quantitative (soil sampling) data.

  17. Engineering insect-resistant crops: A review | George | African ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Insect pests cause significant damage to crops world-wide. This is despite integrated pest management strategies combining such control measures as chemical control, use of resistant varieties and other measures. Other control measures such as use of genetically modified crops are being adopted. Transgenic crops ...

  18. Volatiles of Solena amplexicaulis (Lam.) Gandhi Leaves Influencing Attraction of Two Generalist Insect Herbivores.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarkar, Nupur; Karmakar, Amarnath; Barik, Anandamay

    2016-10-01

    Epilachna vigintioctopunctata Fabr. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are important pests of Solena amplexicaulis (Lam.) Gandhi (Cucurbitaceae), commonly known as creeping cucumber. The profiles of volatile organic compounds from undamaged plants, plants after 48 hr continuous feeding of adult females of either E. vigintioctopunctata or A. foveicollis, by adults of both species, and after mechanical damaging were identified and quantified by GC-MS and GC-FID analyses. Thirty two compounds were detected in volatiles of all treatments. In all plants, methyl jasmonate was the major compound. In Y-shaped glass tube olfactometer bioassays under laboratory conditions, both insect species showed a significant preference for complete volatile blends from insect damaged plants, compared to those of undamaged plants. Neither E. vigintioctopunctata nor A. foveicollis showed any preference for volatiles released by heterospecifically damaged plants vs. conspecifically damaged plants or plants attacked by both species. Epilachna vigintioctopunctata and A. foveicollis showed attraction to three different synthetic compounds, linalool oxide, nonanal, and E-2-nonenal in proportions present in volatiles of insect damaged plants. Both species were attracted by a synthetic blend of 1.64 μg linalool oxide + 3.86 μg nonanal + 2.23 μg E-2-nonenal, dissolved in 20 μl methylene chloride. This combination might be used as trapping tools in pest management strategies.

  19. 7 CFR 51.2739 - Damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... detracts from the edible quality of the peanut. The following specific defects shall be considered as damage: (a) Rancidity or decay; (b) Mold; (c) Insects, worm cuts, web or frass; (d) Freezing injury...

  20. Combination of Landsat and Sentinel-2 MSI data for initial assessing of burn severity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quintano, C.; Fernández-Manso, A.; Fernández-Manso, O.

    2018-02-01

    Nowadays Earth observation satellites, in particular Landsat, provide a valuable help to forest managers in post-fire operations; being the base of post-fire damage maps that enable to analyze fire impacts and to develop vegetation recovery plans. Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) records data in similar spectral wavelengths that Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), and has higher spatial and temporal resolutions. This work compares two types of satellite-based maps for evaluating fire damage in a large wildfire (around 8000 ha) located in Sierra de Gata (central-western Spain) on 6-11 August 2015. 1) burn severity maps based exclusively on Landsat data; specifically, on differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) and on its relative versions (Relative dNBR, RdNBR, and Relativized Burn Ratio, RBR) and 2) burn severity maps based on the same indexes but combining pre-fire data from Landsat 8 OLI with post-fire data from Sentinel-2A MSI data. Combination of both Landsat and Sentinel-2 data might reduce the time elapsed since forest fire to the availability of an initial fire damage map. Interpretation of ortho-photograph Pléiades 1 B data (1:10,000) provided us the ground reference data to measure the accuracy of both burn severity maps. Results showed that Landsat based burn severity maps presented an adequate assessment of the damage grade (κ statistic = 0.80) and its spatial distribution in wildfire emergency response. Further using both Landsat and Sentinel-2 MSI data the accuracy of burn severity maps, though slightly lower (κ statistic = 0.70) showed an adequate level for be used by forest managers.

  1. Development of computer software to analyze entire LANDSAT scenes and to summarize classification results of variable-size polygons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, B. J. (Principal Investigator); Baumer, G. M.; Myers, W. L.; Sykes, S. G.

    1981-01-01

    The Forest Pest Management Division (FPMD) of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry has the responsibility for conducting annual surveys of the State's forest lands to accurately detect, map, and appraise forest insect infestations. A standardized, timely, and cost-effective method of accurately surveying forests and their condition should enhance the probability of suppressing infestations. The repetitive and synoptic coverage provided by LANDSAT (formerly ERTS) makes such satellite-derived data potentially attractive as a survey medium for monitoring forest insect damage over large areas. Forest Pest Management Division personnel have expressed keen interest in LANDSAT data and have informally cooperated with NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) since 1976 in the development of techniques to facilitate their use. The results of this work indicate that it may be feasible to use LANDSAT digital data to conduct annual surveys of insect defoliation of hardwood forests.

  2. Land surface temperature as potential indicator of burn severity in forest Mediterranean ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quintano, C.; Fernández-Manso, A.; Calvo, L.; Marcos, E.; Valbuena, L.

    2015-04-01

    Forest fires are one of the most important causes of environmental alteration in Mediterranean countries. Discrimination of different degrees of burn severity is critical for improving management of fire-affected areas. This paper aims to evaluate the usefulness of land surface temperature (LST) as potential indicator of burn severity. We used a large convention-dominated wildfire, which occurred on 19-21 September, 2012 in Northwestern Spain. From this area, a 1-year series of six LST images were generated from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) data using a single channel algorithm. Further, the Composite Burn Index (CBI) was measured in 111 field plots to identify the burn severity level (low, moderate, and high). Evaluation of the potential relationship between post-fire LST and ground measured CBI was performed by both correlation analysis and regression models. Correlation coefficients were higher in the immediate post-fire LST images, but decreased during the fall of 2012 and increased again with a second maximum value in summer, 2013. A linear regression model between post-fire LST and CBI allowed us to represent spatially predicted CBI (R-squaredadj > 85%). After performing an analysis of variance (ANOVA) between post-fire LST and CBI, a Fisher's least significant difference test determined that two burn severity levels (low-moderate and high) could be statistically distinguished. The identification of such burn severity levels is sufficient and useful to forest managers. We conclude that summer post-fire LST from moderate resolution satellite data may be considered as a valuable indicator of burn severity for large fires in Mediterranean forest ecosytems.

  3. Combining satellite imagery with forest inventory data to assess damage severity following a major blowdown event in northern Minnesota, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mark D. Nelson; Sean P. Healey; W. Keith Moser; Mark H. Hansen

    2009-01-01

    Effects of a catastrophic blowdown event in northern Minnesota, USA were assessed using field inventory data, aerial sketch maps and satellite image data processed through the North American Forest Dynamics programme. Estimates were produced for forest area and net volume per unit area of live trees pre- and post-disturbance, and for changes in volume per unit area and...

  4. Forest health status in the Carpahian Mountains over the period 1997-2001

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Badea, Ovidiu; Tanase, Mihai; Georgeta, Jianu; Anisoara, Lazar; Peiov, Agata; Uhlirova, Hana; Pajtik, Josef; Wawrzoniak, Jerzy; Shparyk, Yuri

    2004-01-01

    The results of forest health status assessments in the Carpathian Mountains from the monitoring networks developed by the European Union Scheme on the Protection of Forest Against Atmospheric Pollution (EU Scheme) and International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP-Forests), have led to a better understanding of the impact of air pollution and other stressors on forests at the regional scale. During the period 1997-2001, forests in the Carpathian Mountains were severely affected by air pollution and natural stresses with 29.7-34.9% of the trees included in defoliation classes 2-4. The broadleaves were slightly healthier than the conifers, and European beech (Fagus sylvatica) was the least affected species. Norway spruce (Picea abies) has poor health status, with 42.9-46.6% of the trees damaged (2-4% defoliation classes). Silver fir (Abies alba) damage was also high, with 46.0-50.9% in defoliation classes 2-4. Pines (primarily Pinus sylvestris) were the least affected of the conifers, with 24.9-33.8% in defoliation classes 2-4. The results from the transnational networks (16x16 km) show that the Carpathian forests are slightly more damaged than the average for the entire Europe. The correlative studies performed in individual European countries show the relationships between air pollution stressors with trends in defoliation and a possible effect of natural stresses at each site. More specific, effects of tree age, drought, ozone and acid deposition critical level exceedances were demonstrated to affect crown condition. - About 1/3 of the Carpathian forest trees are damaged by natural stressors and air pollution

  5. Assessment of the 1998–2001 drought impact on forest health in southeastern forests: an analysis of drought severity using FHM data

    Science.gov (United States)

    R. J. Klos; G. G. Wang; W. L. Bauerle

    2010-01-01

    Analyses of forest health indicators monitored through the Forest Health and Monitoring (FHM) program suggested that weather was the most important cause of tree mortality. Drought is of particular importance among weather variables because several global climate change scenarios predicted more frequent and/or intense drought in the Southeastern United States. During...

  6. Development of reference transcriptomes for the major insect pests of cowpea: a toolbox for insect pest management approaches in West Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowpea crops are widely cultivated and a major nutritional source of protein for indigenous human populations in West Africa. Annual yields and longevity of grain storage is greatly reduced by feeding damage caused by a complex of insect pests that include Anoplocnemis curvipes, Aphis craccivora, Cl...

  7. Predicting Potential Fire Severity Using Vegetation, Topography and Surface Moisture Availability in a Eurasian Boreal Forest Landscape

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lei Fang

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Severity of wildfires is a critical component of the fire regime and plays an important role in determining forest ecosystem response to fire disturbance. Predicting spatial distribution of potential fire severity can be valuable in guiding fire and fuel management planning. Spatial controls on fire severity patterns have attracted growing interest, but few studies have attempted to predict potential fire severity in fire-prone Eurasian boreal forests. Furthermore, the influences of fire weather variation on spatial heterogeneity of fire severity remain poorly understood at fine scales. We assessed the relative importance and influence of pre-fire vegetation, topography, and surface moisture availability (SMA on fire severity in 21 lightning-ignited fires occurring in two different fire years (3 fires in 2000, 18 fires in 2010 of the Great Xing’an Mountains with an ensemble modeling approach of boosted regression tree (BRT. SMA was derived from 8-day moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS evapotranspiration products. We predicted the potential distribution of fire severity in two fire years and evaluated the prediction accuracies. BRT modeling revealed that vegetation, topography, and SMA explained more than 70% of variations in fire severity (mean 83.0% for 2000, mean 73.8% for 2010. Our analysis showed that evergreen coniferous forests were more likely to experience higher severity fires than the dominant deciduous larch forests of this region, and deciduous broadleaf forests and shrublands usually burned at a significantly lower fire severity. High-severity fires tended to occur in gentle and well-drained slopes at high altitudes, especially those with north-facing aspects. SMA exhibited notable and consistent negative association with severity. Predicted fire severity from our model exhibited strong agreement with the observed fire severity (mean r2 = 0.795 for 2000, 0.618 for 2010. Our results verified that spatial variation

  8. Daily MODIS Data Trends of Hurricane-Induced Forest Impact and Early Recovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramsey, Elijah, III; Spruce, Joseph; Rangoonwala, Amina; Suzuoki, Yukihiro; Smoot, James; Gasser, Jerry; Bannister, Terri

    2011-01-01

    We studied the use of daily satellite data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors to assess wetland forest damage and recovery from Hurricane Katrina (29 August 2005 landfall). Processed MODIS daily vegetation index (VI) trends were consistent with previously determined impact and recovery patterns provided by the "snapshot" 25 m Landsat Thematic Mapper optical and RADARSAT-1 synthetic aperture radar satellite data. Phenological trends showed high 2004 and 2005 pre-hurricane temporal correspondence within bottomland hardwood forest communities, except during spring green-up, and temporal dissimilarity between these hardwoods and nearby cypress-tupelo swamp forests (Taxodium distichum [baldcypress] and Nyssa aquatica [water tupelo]). MODIS VI trend analyses established that one year after impact, cypress-tupelo and lightly impacted hardwood forests had recovered to near prehurricane conditions. In contrast, canopy recovery lagged in the moderately and severely damaged hardwood forests, possibly reflecting regeneration of pre-hurricane species and stand-level replacement by invasive trees.

  9. Liming with powdered oil-shale ash in a heavily damaged forest ecosystem. 2.The effect on forest condition in a pine stand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Terasmaa, T.; Pikk, J.

    1995-01-01

    First years after the treatment (in 1987) of forest soil with mineral fertilizers and powdered oil-shale ash in a heavily damaged 50-year-old Scots pine ecosystem showed a comparatively small effect (B<0.95) of liming on the stand characters. However, in comparison with the effect of only NPK fertilization on the volume growth and the health state of trees, liming (NPK+oil-shale ash) tended to increase the positive influence of fertilizers. Under the influence of oil-shale ash the mortality of the trees was lower, the density of the stand rose more, and the mean radial increment of trees was by 26% greater than after the NPK treatment without a lime agent. On the whole, the effect of oil-shale ash liming on the growth and health condition of the pine stand was not high. However, the first results of its experimental use on mineral forest soil cannot serve as the basis for essential conclusions. Still, the results give us some assurance to continue our experimental work with powdered oil-shale ash in forests with the purpose of regulating the high acidity of forest soils in some sites to gain positive shifts in the forest life. Taking into account the low price of the powdered oil-shale ash and the plentiful resources of this liming material in Estonia, even a small trend towards an improvement of forest condition on poor sandy soils would be a satisfactory final result of the work. It is essential to note that oil-shale ash is not only a simple liming material, but also a lime fertilizer consisting of numerous chemical elements necessary for plant growth. 2 tabs., 3 figs., 18 refs

  10. Insect herbivory and vertebrate grazing impact food limitation and grasshopper populations during a severe outbreak

    Science.gov (United States)

    Interspecific competition between distantly related herbivores, as well as between large vertebrate herbivores and phytophagous insects, has received little attention. Livestock grazing is the dominant land use in western North American grasslands, where phytophagous insects can be the dominant herb...

  11. Burn Severity Dominates Understory Plant Community Response to Fire in Xeric Jack Pine Forests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bradley D. Pinno

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Fire is the most common disturbance in northern boreal forests, and large fires are often associated with highly variable burn severities across the burnt area. We studied the understory plant community response to a range of burn severities and pre-fire stand age four growing seasons after the 2011 Richardson Fire in xeric jack pine forests of northern Alberta, Canada. Burn severity had the greatest impact on post-fire plant communities, while pre-fire stand age did not have a significant impact. Total plant species richness and cover decreased with disturbance severity, such that the greatest richness was in low severity burns (average 28 species per 1-m2 quadrat and plant cover was lowest in the high severity burns (average 16%. However, the response of individual plant groups differed. Lichens and bryophytes were most common in low severity burns and were effectively eliminated from the regenerating plant community at higher burn severities. In contrast, graminoid cover and richness were positively related to burn severity, while forbs did not respond significantly to burn severity, but were impacted by changes in soil chemistry with increased cover at pH >4.9. Our results indicate the importance of non-vascular plants to the overall plant community in this harsh environment and that the plant community is environmentally limited rather than recruitment or competition limited, as is often the case in more mesic forest types. If fire frequency and severity increase as predicted, we may see a shift in plant communities from stress-tolerant species, such as lichens and ericaceous shrubs, to more colonizing species, such as certain graminoids.

  12. Forest pest conditions in the maritimes in 1991. Information report No. M-X-181E. Annual publication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Magasi, L.P.

    1992-01-01

    This report reviews the status of forest insects and diseases in the Maritimes region in 1991 and forecasts conditions for 1992, when appropriate. Pests and problems of conifers, hardwoods, and high-value areas, such as nurseries, seed orchards, plantations, and Christmas tree areas, are described as observed in 1991. Control operations against spruce budworm, hemlock looper, and Sirococcus shoot blight are summarized. A section on forest health monitoring brings together the various aspects of work dealing with changes in forest conditions, some of which are still unexplained. Forest insect monitoring systems, pheromones, and light traps are briefly described. A list of reports and publications relating to forest pest conditions is included.

  13. Effects of habitat management on different feeding guilds of herbivorous insects in cacao agroforestry systems

    OpenAIRE

    Novais, Samuel M. A.; Macedo-Reis, Luiz E.; DaRocha, Wesley D.; Neves, Frederico S.

    2016-01-01

    AbstractHuman pressure on natural habitats increases the importance of agroforests for biodiversity conservation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of cacao traditional cultivation system (CTCS) on the conservation of the herbivorous insect community when compared with a monodominant rubber agroforest, a type of agricultural system for cacao cultivation. The insects were sampled in three habitats in Southeastern Bahia, Brazil: native forests, CTCS and rubber agroforests. In...

  14. A conceptual framework: redifining forests soil's critical acid loads under a changing climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steven G. McNulty; Johnny L. Boggs

    2010-01-01

    Federal agencies of several nations have or are currently developing guidelines for critical forest soil acid loads. These guidelines are used to establish regulations designed to maintain atmospheric acid inputs below levels shown to damage forests and streams. Traditionally, when the critical soil acid load exceeds the amount of acid that the ecosystem can absorb, it...

  15. Forest change in high-elevation forests of Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina: re-census and analysis of data collected over 40 years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laura Lusk; Matt Mutel; Elaine S. Walker; Foster. Levy

    2010-01-01

    The Black Mountain range of western North Carolina supports some of the most extensive but threatened high-elevation forests in the southern Appalachians. Of particular note, the insect pathogen, balsam woolly adelgid (Adelges piceae Ratzeburg), has been present on Mt. Mitchell for more than 50 years. In anticipation of potential changes in forest...

  16. Plants as green phones: Novel insights into plant-mediated communication between below- and above-ground insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soler, Roxina; Harvey, Jeffrey A; Bezemer, T Martijn; Stuefer, Josef F

    2008-08-01

    Plants can act as vertical communication channels or 'green phones' linking soil-dwelling insects and insects in the aboveground ecosystem. When root-feeding insects attack a plant, the direct defense system of the shoot is activated, leading to an accumulation of phytotoxins in the leaves. The protection of the plant shoot elicited by root damage can impair the survival, growth and development of aboveground insect herbivores, thereby creating plant-based functional links between soil-dwelling insects and insects that develop in the aboveground ecosystem. The interactions between spatially separated insects below- and aboveground are not restricted to root and foliar plant-feeding insects, but can be extended to higher trophic levels such as insect parasitoids. Here we discuss some implications of plants acting as communication channels or 'green phones' between root and foliar-feeding insects and their parasitoids, focusing on recent findings that plants attacked by root-feeding insects are significantly less attractive for the parasitoids of foliar-feeding insects.

  17. Environmental RNAi in herbivorous insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivashuta, Sergey; Zhang, Yuanji; Wiggins, B Elizabeth; Ramaseshadri, Partha; Segers, Gerrit C; Johnson, Steven; Meyer, Steve E; Kerstetter, Randy A; McNulty, Brian C; Bolognesi, Renata; Heck, Gregory R

    2015-05-01

    Environmental RNAi (eRNAi) is a sequence-specific regulation of endogenous gene expression in a receptive organism by exogenous double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). Although demonstrated under artificial dietary conditions and via transgenic plant presentations in several herbivorous insects, the magnitude and consequence of exogenous dsRNA uptake and the role of eRNAi remains unknown under natural insect living conditions. Our analysis of coleopteran insects sensitive to eRNAi fed on wild-type plants revealed uptake of plant endogenous long dsRNAs, but not small RNAs. Subsequently, the dsRNAs were processed into 21 nt siRNAs by insects and accumulated in high quantities in insect cells. No accumulation of host plant-derived siRNAs was observed in lepidopteran larvae that are recalcitrant to eRNAi. Stability of ingested dsRNA in coleopteran larval gut followed by uptake and transport from the gut to distal tissues appeared to be enabling factors for eRNAi. Although a relatively large number of distinct coleopteran insect-processed plant-derived siRNAs had sequence complementarity to insect transcripts, the vast majority of the siRNAs were present in relatively low abundance, and RNA-seq analysis did not detect a significant effect of plant-derived siRNAs on insect transcriptome. In summary, we observed a broad genome-wide uptake of plant endogenous dsRNA and subsequent processing of ingested dsRNA into 21 nt siRNAs in eRNAi-sensitive insects under natural feeding conditions. In addition to dsRNA stability in gut lumen and uptake, dosage of siRNAs targeting a given insect transcript is likely an important factor in order to achieve measurable eRNAi-based regulation in eRNAi-competent insects that lack an apparent silencing amplification mechanism. © 2015 Ivashuta et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the RNA Society.

  18. Are High-Severity Fires Burning at Much Higher Rates Recently than Historically in Dry-Forest Landscapes of the Western USA?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, William L

    2015-01-01

    Dry forests at low elevations in temperate-zone mountains are commonly hypothesized to be at risk of exceptional rates of severe fire from climatic change and land-use effects. Their setting is fire-prone, they have been altered by land-uses, and fire severity may be increasing. However, where fires were excluded, increased fire could also be hypothesized as restorative of historical fire. These competing hypotheses are not well tested, as reference data prior to widespread land-use expansion were insufficient. Moreover, fire-climate projections were lacking for these forests. Here, I used new reference data and records of high-severity fire from 1984-2012 across all dry forests (25.5 million ha) of the western USA to test these hypotheses. I also approximated projected effects of climatic change on high-severity fire in dry forests by applying existing projections. This analysis showed the rate of recent high-severity fire in dry forests is within the range of historical rates, or is too low, overall across dry forests and individually in 42 of 43 analysis regions. Significant upward trends were lacking overall from 1984-2012 for area burned and fraction burned at high severity. Upward trends in area burned at high severity were found in only 4 of 43 analysis regions. Projections for A.D. 2046-2065 showed high-severity fire would generally be still operating at, or have been restored to historical rates, although high projections suggest high-severity fire rotations that are too short could ensue in 6 of 43 regions. Programs to generally reduce fire severity in dry forests are not supported and have significant adverse ecological impacts, including reducing habitat for native species dependent on early-successional burned patches and decreasing landscape heterogeneity that confers resilience to climatic change. Some adverse ecological effects of high-severity fires are concerns. Managers and communities can improve our ability to live with high-severity fire in

  19. Mapping of forest disturbance magnitudes across the US National Forest System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez, A. J.; Healey, S. P.; Ramsey, R. D.; McGinty, C.; Garrard, C.; Lu, N.; Huang, C.

    2013-12-01

    A precise record in conjunction with ongoing monitoring of carbon pools constitutes essentials inputs for the continuous modernization of an ever- dynamic science such as climate change. This is particularly important in forested ecosystems for which accurate field archives are available and can be used in combination with historic satellite imagery to obtain spatially explicit estimates of several indicators that can be used in the assessment of said carbon pools. Many forest disturbance processes limit storage of carbon in forested ecosystems and thereby reduce those systems' capacity to mitigate changes in the global climate system. A component of the US National Forest System's (NFS) comprehensive plan for carbon monitoring includes accounting for mapped disturbances, such as fires, harvests, and insect activity. A long-term time series of maps that show the timing, extent, type, and magnitude of disturbances going back to 1990 has been prepared for the United States Forest Service (USFS) Northern Region, and is currently under preparation for the rest of the NFS regions covering more than 75 million hectares. Our mapping approach starts with an automated initial detection of annual disturbances using imagery captured within the growing season from the Landsat archive. Through a meticulous process, the initial detections are then visually inspected, manually corrected and labeled using various USFS ancillary datasets and Google Earth high-resolution historic imagery. We prepared multitemporal models of percent canopy cover and live tree carbon (T/ha) that were calibrated with extensive (in excess of 2000 locations) field data from the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program (FIA). The models were then applied to all the years of the radiometrically corrected and normalized Landsat time series in order to provide annual spatially explicit estimates of the magnitude of change in terms of these two attributes. Our results provide objective, widely

  20. Western forests, fire risk, and climate change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valerie. Rapp

    2004-01-01

    Climate warming may first show up in forests as increased growth, which occurs as warmer temperatures, increased carbon dioxide, and more precipitation encourage higher rates of photosynthesis. The second way that climate change may show up in forests is through changes in disturbance regimes—the long-term patterns of fire, drought, insects, and diseases that are basic...

  1. Western forest, fire risk, and climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valerie Rapp

    2004-01-01

    Climate warming may first show up in forests as increased growth, which occurs as warmer temperatures, increased carbon dioxide, and more precipitation encourage higher rates of photosynthesis. The second way that climate change may show up in forests is through changes in disturbance regimes—the long-term patterns of fire, drought, insects, and diseases that are basic...

  2. The winterstorm ``Vivian'' of 27 February 1990: About the meteorological development, wind forces and damage situation in the forests of Switzerland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schüepp, M.; Schiesser, H. H.; Huntrieser, H.; Scherrer, H. U.; Schmidtke, H.

    1994-09-01

    During the months January and February 1990 a series of severe cyclones were responsible for enormous wind-induced damage in Europe. The final of this series, on 27 February 1990, cyclone “Vivian” mainly affected the alpine valleys of Switzerland. 5 Millions m3 of timber were felled by the severe winds, a record number in this century. A complete damage survey of the deforested areas offers in combination with meteorological data an unique data set for a detailed case study of this extreme event. This paper describes the general meteorological development from the synoptic scale down to the mesoscale of Switzerland and presents a general overview of the damage situation. The main results show that a rare situation of a straight frontal zone stretching over the whole Atlantic Ocean and showing a strong gradient in temperature pointed directly toward Central-Europe. Two waves formed along this elongated polar front and deepend rapidly to depressions. The first low travelled on the southernmost trajectory of the whole storm series and affected Switzerland most. North of the Alps the prefrontal warm air was blocked to the east by the arriving coldfront and had to escape into the complex terrain of the alpine valleys. There, the stormy winds were strengthened by channelizing and “Föhn” effects. The large temperature gradient between the prefrontal and the incoming air masses induced thunderstorm activity which vortices and downdrafts might have enhanced locally. As a result most of the damaged forested areas were found between 1200 and 1600 m MSL on slopes, which were mainly exposed toward the prevailing NW-winds. A comparison of extreme wind speeds for the period 1978 1992 revealed that this event's extreme high speed of 74.5 m/s, measured at a high elevated pass station in the mountains, was exceptional. For lower elevated stations the wind speeds were high but in the range of other observed extreme values. In addition to the severe wind forces the duration

  3. Applications of Earth Remote Sensing for Identifying Tornado and Severe Weather Damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schultz, Lori; Molthan, Andrew; Burks, Jason E.; Bell, Jordan; McGrath, Kevin; Cole, Tony

    2016-01-01

    NASA SPoRT (Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center) provided MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) and ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) imagery to WFOs (Weather Forecast Offices) in Alabama to support April 27th, 2011 damage assessments across the state. SPoRT was awarded a NASA Applied Science: Disasters Feasibility award to investigate the applicability of including remote sensing imagery and derived products into the NOAA/NWS (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather System) Damage Assessment Toolkit (DAT). Proposal team was awarded the 3-year proposal to implement a web mapping service and associate data feeds from the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) to provide satellite imagery and derived products directly to the NWS thru the DAT. In the United States, NOAA/NWS is charged with performing damage assessments when storm or tornado damage is suspected after a severe weather event. This has led to the development of the Damage Assessment Toolkit (DAT), an application for smartphones, tablets and web browsers that allows for the collection, geo-location, and aggregation of various damage indicators collected during storm surveys.

  4. Instrumentation needs in LWR severe fuel damage experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCormick, R.D.

    1980-01-01

    The Class 9 type nuclear accident is defined and the Three Mile Island type accident and proposed Idaho National Engineering Laboratory experiment series are described in some detail. Different types of severe fuel damage experiments are briefly discussed in order to show typical measurement requirements. General instrumentation needs and problems encountered in Class 9 accident research are outlined. It is concluded that the extremely high temperatures, high nuclear radiation fields, and oxidizing atmosphere will necessitate instrument development programs. Noncontact type sensing will be necessary in most of the molten core experiments

  5. The historical role of Ips hauseri (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the spruce forest of Ile-Alatausky and Medeo National Parks

    Science.gov (United States)

    N. Mukhamadiev; A. Lynch; C. O' Connor; A. Sagitov; N. Ashikbaev; I. Panyushkina

    2014-01-01

    On 17 May and 27 June 2011 severe cyclonic storms damaged several hundred hectares of spruce forest (Picea schrenkiana) in the Tian Shan Mountains. Bark beetle populations increased rapidly in dead and damaged trees, particularly Ips hauseri, I. typographus, I. sexdentatus, and Piiyogenesperfossus (all Coleoptera: Curculionidae), and there is concern about the...

  6. Associations of planting date, drought stress, and insects with Fusarium ear rot and fumonisin B1 contamination in California maize.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parsons, M W; Munkvold, G P

    2010-05-01

    Fusarium ear rot, caused by Fusarium verticillioides, is one of the most common diseases of maize, causing yield and quality reductions and contamination of grain by fumonisins and other mycotoxins. Drought stress and various insects have been implicated as factors affecting disease severity. Field studies were conducted to evaluate the interactions and relative influences of drought stress, insect infestation, and planting date upon Fusarium ear rot severity and fumonisin B1 contamination. Three hybrids varying in partial resistance to Fusarium ear rot were sown on three planting dates and subjected to four irrigation regimes to induce differing levels of drought stress. A foliar-spray insecticide treatment was imposed to induce differing levels of insect injury. Populations of thrips (Frankliniella spp.), damage by corn earworm (Helicoverpa zeae), Fusarium ear rot symptoms, and fumonisin B1 levels were assessed. There were significant effects of hybrid, planting date, insecticide treatment, and drought stress on Fusarium ear rot symptoms and fumonisin B1 contamination, and these factors also had significant interacting effects. The most influential factors were hybrid and insecticide treatment, but their effects were influenced by planting date and drought stress. The more resistant hybrids and the insecticide-treated plots consistently had lower Fusarium ear rot severity and fumonisin B1 contamination. Later planting dates typically had higher thrips populations, more Fusarium ear rot, and higher levels of fumonisin B1. Insect activity was significantly correlated with disease severity and fumonisin contamination, and the correlations were strongest for thrips. The results of this study confirm the influence of thrips on Fusarium ear rot severity in California, USA, and also establish a strong association between thrips and fumonisin B1 levels.

  7. Application of annual ring analyses to the determination of smoke damage. II. Contribution to the evaluation of annual ring analyses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vins, B

    1962-01-01

    The most emission-endangered forested areas of Czechoslovakia are Krusne Hory and of Decinsky Sneznik. The condition of the forest cover today is such that not only the productivity of the forests but also their hydrological and ecological functions are in jeopardy. Measurements by annual ring analysis were made on trees at 102 selected experimental sites to determine the growth gain decrease due to air pollution. The decrease in growth gains was first noted in 1952. Up to 1958 this decrease was differentiated according to the degree of damage caused in different areas. Thus, forests in the Chomutov area exhibited a 30% damage while forests in the Most and Teplice areas exhibited a 90% damage. In the Decinsky Sneznik area the growth gain drop was already noted in 1947 and from then on the annual growth impairment was about 15%. From 1953 on, this area suffered growth gain damage of the same magnitude as the Krusne Hory area. During 1954-1958, the growth gain decreases in four areas exposed to pollution of different severity were 23, 37, 40, and 70% respectively, compared to normal growth gains of trees grown in an unpolluted environment.

  8. Influence of presence and spatial arrangement of belowground insects on host-plant selection of aboveground insects: a field study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Soler, J.J.; Schaper, S.V.; Bezemer, T.M.; Cortesero, A.M.; Hoffmeister, T.S.; Van der Putten, W.H.; Vet, L.E.M.; Harvey, J.A.

    2009-01-01

    1. Several studies have shown that above- and belowground insects can interact by influencing each others growth, development, and survival when they feed on the same host-plant. In natural systems, however, insects can make choices on which plants to oviposit and feed. A field experiment was

  9. Rehabilitation of fire-damaged forest lands in southwestern Maine

    Science.gov (United States)

    A. D. Nutting; James C. Rettie; Wayne G. Banks

    1949-01-01

    Recognizing that it can ill afford the loss of timber productivity on the large acreage of forest land burned over by the 1947 fires, the state of Maine requested assistance of the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station of the United States Forest Service in a program of research that would aid in the rehabilitation of the burned-over forest land.

  10. Visual analysis of forest health using story maps: a tale of two forest insect pests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Susan J. Crocker; Brian F. Walters; Randall S. Morin

    2015-01-01

    Historically, results of surveys conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service were conveyed in printed reports, featuring text, tables and static figures. Since the advent of the Internet and with the ubiquity of mobile smart devices, technology has changed how people consume information, as well as how they experience and...

  11. How predictable are the behavioral responses of insects to herbivore induced changes in plants? Responses of two congeneric thrips to induced cotton plants.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rehan Silva

    Full Text Available Changes in plants following insect attack are referred to as induced responses. These responses are widely viewed as a form of defence against further insect attack. In the current study we explore whether it is possible to make generalizations about induced plant responses given the unpredictability and variability observed in insect-plant interactions. Experiments were conducted to test for consistency in the responses of two congeneric thrips, Frankliniella schultzei Trybom and Frankliniella occidentalis Pergrande (Thysanoptera: Thripidae to cotton seedlings (Gossypium hirsutum Linneaus (Malvales: Malvaceae damaged by various insect herbivores. In dual-choice experiments that compared intact and damaged cotton seedlings, F. schultzei was attracted to seedlings damaged by Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae, Tetranychus urticae (Koch (Trombidiforms: Tetranychidae, Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae, F. schultzei and F. occidentalis but not to mechanically damaged seedlings. In similar tests, F. occidentalis was attracted to undamaged cotton seedlings when simultaneously exposed to seedlings damaged by H. armigera, T. molitor or F. occidentalis. However, when exposed to F. schultzei or T. urticae damaged plants, F. occidentalis was more attracted towards damaged plants. A quantitative relationship was also apparent, F. schultzei showed increased attraction to damaged seedlings as the density of T. urticae or F. schultzei increased. In contrast, although F. occidentalis demonstrated increased attraction to plants damaged by higher densities of T. urticae, there was a negative relationship between attraction and the density of damaging conspecifics. Both species showed greater attraction to T. urticae damaged seedlings than to seedlings damaged by conspecifics. Results demonstrate that the responses of both species of thrips were context dependent, making generalizations difficult to formulate.

  12. Acetic Acid Bacteria as Symbionts of Insects

    KAUST Repository

    Crotti, Elena; Chouaia, Bessem; Alma, Alberto; Favia, Guido; Bandi, Claudio; Bourtzis, Kostas; Daffonchio, Daniele

    2016-01-01

    Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are being increasingly described as associating with different insect species that rely on sugar-based diets. AAB have been found in several insect orders, among them Diptera, Hemiptera, and Hymenoptera, including several vectors of plant, animal, and human diseases. AAB have been shown to associate with the epithelia of different organs of the host, they are able to move within the insect’s body and to be transmitted horizontally and vertically. Here, we review the ecology of AAB and examine their relationships with different insect models including mosquitoes, leafhoppers, and honey bees. We also discuss the potential use of AAB in symbiont-based control strategies, such as “Trojan-horse” agents, to block the transmission of vector-borne diseases.

  13. Acetic Acid Bacteria as Symbionts of Insects

    KAUST Repository

    Crotti, Elena

    2016-06-14

    Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are being increasingly described as associating with different insect species that rely on sugar-based diets. AAB have been found in several insect orders, among them Diptera, Hemiptera, and Hymenoptera, including several vectors of plant, animal, and human diseases. AAB have been shown to associate with the epithelia of different organs of the host, they are able to move within the insect’s body and to be transmitted horizontally and vertically. Here, we review the ecology of AAB and examine their relationships with different insect models including mosquitoes, leafhoppers, and honey bees. We also discuss the potential use of AAB in symbiont-based control strategies, such as “Trojan-horse” agents, to block the transmission of vector-borne diseases.

  14. Edge-related loss of tree phylogenetic diversity in the severely fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Bráulio A; Arroyo-Rodríguez, Víctor; Moreno, Claudia E; Tabarelli, Marcelo

    2010-09-08

    Deforestation and forest fragmentation are known major causes of nonrandom extinction, but there is no information about their impact on the phylogenetic diversity of the remaining species assemblages. Using a large vegetation dataset from an old hyper-fragmented landscape in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest we assess whether the local extirpation of tree species and functional impoverishment of tree assemblages reduce the phylogenetic diversity of the remaining tree assemblages. We detected a significant loss of tree phylogenetic diversity in forest edges, but not in core areas of small (phylogenetic distance between any two randomly chosen individuals from forest edges; an increase of 17% in the average phylogenetic distance to closest non-conspecific relative for each individual in forest edges; and to the potential manifestation of late edge effects in the core areas of small forest remnants. We found no evidence supporting fragmentation-induced phylogenetic clustering or evenness. This could be explained by the low phylogenetic conservatism of key life-history traits corresponding to vulnerable species. Edge effects must be reduced to effectively protect tree phylogenetic diversity in the severely fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest.

  15. The role of boreal forests and forestry in the global carbon budget : a synthesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fyles, I.H.; Shaw, C.H.; Apps, M.J.; Karjalainen, T.; Stocks, B.J.; Running, S.W.; Kurz, W.A.; Weyerhaeuser, G.Jr.; Jarvis, P.G.

    2002-10-01

    This paper provides a synthesis of all papers presented at the conference on the role of boreal forests in the global carbon budget. The scientific community is recognizing the critical links between boreal forest ecosystems, carbon dynamics and global climate change. This paper addresses the five main topics discussed at the conference including: (1) carbon stocks and fluxes, (2) the effects of natural disturbances on carbon dynamics, (3) effects of management practices on carbon dynamics, (4) afforestation and carbon sequestration, and (5) effects of climate change and elevated carbon dioxide concentration on carbon dynamics. Large-scale model simulations suggest that increased global temperatures will result in increased net ecosystem productivity (NEP). Several model simulations also indicate that net primary productivity (NPP) will increase. While most forest stands are currently carbon sinks, disturbances such as fire, insects and tree harvesting make forests susceptible to becoming a source of carbon. In contrast, some studies suggest that climate change will cause shifting vegetation patterns, increased soil carbon and higher forest productivity that may result in higher sequestration of carbon in the boreal forest. 84 refs.

  16. Emergency repair of severely damaged reinforced concrete columns using active confinement with shape memory alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shin, Moochul; Andrawes, Bassem

    2011-01-01

    This experimental study focuses on investigating the feasibility of utilizing spirals made of shape memory alloys (SMAs) to conduct emergency repair on severely damaged reinforced concrete (RC) columns. The thermally triggered shape memory feature of SMAs is sought in this study, to apply active confinement pressure on the column's damaged region. Two severely damaged 1/3-scale RC columns are repaired using the proposed technique and tested under a quasi-static lateral cyclic load. The repair of each column is conducted in less than 15 h, and the columns are tested 24 h after the starting of the repair process. The experimental results show that the new repair technique is successful in either fully restoring the as-built lateral strength, stiffness, and flexural ductility of the columns or making them even better. The efficacy of the proposed repair technique is mainly attributed to the ability of the SMA spirals to apply and maintain active confining pressure on the damaged region of the columns, which increases the strength of the already damaged concrete and delays its damage

  17. Assesment of Severely ASR Damaged Bridges: From Diagnosis to Structural Effects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barbosa, Ricardo Antonio; Hansen, Søren Gustenhoff; Hansen, Kurt Kielsgaard

    2016-01-01

    documented. The majority of the experimental data are based on relatively small scale laboratory specimens accelerated by various exposure conditions. Research on assessment and influence of severely ASR deterioration on the material properties and residual load carrying capacity of real-life structures...... is unfortunately limited. This paper presents an overview and discussion of the Danish experiences with assessment of the residual load carrying capacity of severely non-shear reinforced ASR damaged bridges. The discussion is supported by experimental data acquired from large scale in-situ tests of three severely...

  18. Agroecological Importance of the Protective Forest Plantings in Lower Volga Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivantsova Elena Anatolyevna

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The positive role of protective forest plantings in maintaining the stability of biotic communities and ensuring stabilization of a phytosanitary situation in the agricultural and woodland landscape of steppe and semiarid zones of Lower Volga region is established. The analysis of long-term data testifies that in general, the number of a harmful complex on fields of winter wheat (Triticum and brown mustard (Brassica juncea in the system of forest strips is lower than in opened agrocoenosis in average by 20,6 % and 16,2 %, respectively. The regularities of distribution of harmful and useful insects in corn and mustard agrocoenosis are noted. The obtained data on distribution of harmful insects and their concentration in a forested field gives the grounds to include regional processings of agrocoenosis of agricultural and woodland landscape in the system of protective measures. It is established that the existence of fields afforestation in Volgograd region creates the favorable conditions for development and accumulation of entomophages in fields. It leads to restriction of mass reproduction of harmful insects and to the decrease in their injuriousness. The essential distinctions in distribution and development of diseases in the agrocoenosis protected by forest plantings and the treeless fields are revealed. The maximal values of development of a complex of diseases on winter wheat are observed in zones, adjacent to forest strips (I and III, minimum – in the middle of a field. The estimated values of development of diseases in forested field is less, and in certain cases it slightly differs from the data obtained in a treeless field.

  19. The effects of forest destruction on the abundance, species richness ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    SARAH

    2013-04-25

    Apr 25, 2013 ... compounds found in plants, animals, or microorganisms. ... fragmented and degraded With the exception of sacred forest ... best-known insects that are involved in pollinating flowers. ... The influence of landscape patterns on butterfly ..... history were recorded in the tropical rain forest areas but due to ...

  20. Bacterial mutagenicity and mammalian cell DNA damage by several substituted anilines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmer, D; Mazurek, J; Petzold, G; Bhuyan, B K

    1980-04-01

    Several substituted alkyl- and haloanilines were tested for their ability to mutate Salmonella typhimurium and to damage the DNA of mammalian (V79) cells. These results were correlated with their reported carcinogenicity. Of 9 suspected carcinogens, 4 were bacterial mutagens and 4 (out of 7 tested) damaged DNA of V79 cells. The following compounds were weakly mutagenic (less than 150 revertants/mumole): 4-fluoroaniline, 2,3-, 2,4-, 2,5- and 3,4-dimethylaniline, and 2-methyl-4-fluoroaniline. The following compounds were strong mutagens: 2,4,5-trimethylaniline, 2-methyl-4-chloro-, and 2-methyl-4-bromo-, 4-methyl-2-chloro-, 4-methyl-2-bromo- and 2-ethyl-4-chloroaniline. The compounds which damaged DNA in V79 cells were: 2 methyl-4-chloroaniline, 2-methyl-4-bromoaniline, 2,4,5- and 2,4,6-trimethylaniline.

  1. Relationships between net primary productivity and stand age for several forest types and their influence on China's carbon balance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shaoqiang; Zhou, Lei; Chen, Jingming; Ju, Weimin; Feng, Xianfeng; Wu, Weixing

    2011-06-01

    Affected by natural and anthropogenic disturbances such as forest fires, insect-induced mortality and harvesting, forest stand age plays an important role in determining the distribution of carbon pools and fluxes in a variety of forest ecosystems. An improved understanding of the relationship between net primary productivity (NPP) and stand age (i.e., age-related increase and decline in forest productivity) is essential for the simulation and prediction of the global carbon cycle at annual, decadal, centurial, or even longer temporal scales. In this paper, we developed functions describing the relationship between national mean NPP and stand age using stand age information derived from forest inventory data and NPP simulated by the BEPS (Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator) model in 2001. Due to differences in ecobiophysical characteristics of different forest types, NPP-age equations were developed for five typical forest ecosystems in China (deciduous needleleaf forest (DNF), evergreen needleleaf forest in tropic and subtropical zones (ENF-S), deciduous broadleaf forest (DBF), evergreen broadleaf forest (EBF), and mixed broadleaf forest (MBF)). For DNF, ENF-S, EBF, and MBF, changes in NPP with age were well fitted with a common non-linear function, with R(2) values equal to 0.90, 0.75, 0.66, and 0.67, respectively. In contrast, a second order polynomial was best suitable for simulating the change of NPP for DBF, with an R(2) value of 0.79. The timing and magnitude of the maximum NPP varied with forest types. DNF, EBF, and MBF reached the peak NPP at the age of 54, 40, and 32 years, respectively, while the NPP of ENF-S maximizes at the age of 13 years. The highest NPP of DBF appeared at 122 years. NPP was generally lower in older stands with the exception of DBF, and this particular finding runs counter to the paradigm of age-related decline in forest growth. Evaluation based on measurements of NPP and stand age at the plot-level demonstrates the reliability

  2. Fire severity filters regeneration traits to shape community assembly in Alaska's boreal forest.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teresa N Hollingsworth

    Full Text Available Disturbance can both initiate and shape patterns of secondary succession by affecting processes of community assembly. Thus, understanding assembly rules is a key element of predicting ecological responses to changing disturbance regimes. We measured the composition and trait characteristics of plant communities early after widespread wildfires in Alaska to assess how variations in disturbance characteristics influenced the relative success of different plant regeneration strategies. We compared patterns of post-fire community composition and abundance of regeneration traits across a range of fire severities within a single pre-fire forest type- black spruce forests of Interior Alaska. Patterns of community composition, as captured by multivariate ordination with nonmetric multidimensional scaling, were primarily related to gradients in fire severity (biomass combustion and residual vegetation and secondarily to gradients in soil pH and regional climate. This pattern was apparent in both the full dataset (n = 87 sites and for a reduced subset of sites (n = 49 that minimized the correlation between site moisture and fire severity. Changes in community composition across the fire-severity gradient in Alaska were strongly correlated to variations in plant regeneration strategy and rooting depth. The tight coupling of fire severity with regeneration traits and vegetation composition after fire supports the hypothesis that disturbance characteristics influence patterns of community assembly by affecting the relative success of different regeneration strategies. This study further demonstrated that variations in disturbance characteristics can dominate over environmental constraints in determining early patterns of community assembly. By affecting the success of regeneration traits, changes in fire regime directly shape the outcomes of community assembly, and thus may override the effects of slower environmental change on boreal forest

  3. Cycad Aulacaspis Scale, a Newly Introduced Insect Pest in Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RANGASWAMY MUNIAPPAN

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Cycad aulacaspis scale (Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi (Hemiptera: Diaspididae is native to Thailand and Vietnam. Since the early 1990s it has been spreading around the world due to the trade in cycad plants for ornamental use. Infestation by this scale can kill cycads in only a few months. Its accidental introduction to Florida endangered the ornamental cycad-growing industry; and in Guam and Taiwan, endemic cycads (Cycas micronesica and C. taitungensis, respectively are currently threatened with extinction by cycad aulacaspis scale. In November 2011, an introduced scale was discovered damaging cycads in the Bogor Botanic Garden. Samples from Bogor were taken for identification of the scale, and the material was kept for some time to rear out any insect parasitoids that were present. Both the scale insects and parasitoids were prepared on microscope slides and studied microscopically for authoritative identification. The scale was confirmed as A. yasumatsui. The parasitoid Arrhenophagus chionaspidis Aurivillius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae and the hyperparasitoid Signiphora bifasciata Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Signiphoridae were identified from the samples. Unless immediate remedial measures are taken, several endemic species of cycad in Indonesia may be endangered by infestation by cycad aulacaspis scale.

  4. Insect galls of Restinga de Marambaia (Barra de Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro, RJ).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maia, V C; Silva, L O

    2016-04-19

    Thirty-one morphotypes of insect galls and two flower damages were found on 16 families, 22 genera and 24 plant species in Restinga de Marambaia (Barra de Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro, RJ). Fabaceae and Myrtaceae were the plant families with the greatest richness of insect galls (4 and 6 morphotypes, respectively), and the greatest number of galled plants (four and three species, respectively). Galls were mostly found on leaves and stems (77% and 10%, respectively). The galling insects are represented by Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Hemiptera. The majority of the galls (81%) were induced by gall midges (Cecidomyiidae: Diptera).

  5. Representing human-mediated pathways in forest pest risk mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frank H. Koch; William D. Smith

    2010-01-01

    Historically, U.S. forests have been invaded by a variety of nonindigenous insects and pathogens. Some of these pests have catastrophically impacted important species over a relatively short timeframe. To curtail future changes of this magnitude, agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service have devoted substantial resources to assessing the risks...

  6. Forest report 2015; Waldzustandsbericht 2015

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2015-07-01

    This forest condition report of Hessen (Germany) includes the following topics: forest condition survey for all tree species, weather and climate, the impact of spring drought on soil water balance and growth, drought stress risk of beech in Hessen, insects and fungi, Forestry Environment Monitoring, infiltrated substances, trends in the soil solution of forest ecosystems, soil chemistry and rooting in deeper soil layers. [German] Dieser Waldzustandsbericht von Hessen (Deutschland) enthaelt folgende Themen: Waldzustandserhebung fuer alle Baumarten, Witterung und Klima, Auswirkungen der Fruehjahrstrockenheit auf Bodenwasserhaushalt und Wachstum, Trockenstressrisiko der Buche in Hessen, Insekten und Pilze, Forstliches Umweltmonitoring, Stoffeintraege, Trends in der Bodenloesung von Waldoekosystemen, Bodenchemie und Durchwurzelung in tieferen Bodenschichten.

  7. Insect Pests of Shade Trees and Shrubs: A Guide for Commercial Nurserymen and Arborists. Publication E-41.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuder, Donald L.

    This guide presents information on controlling insect pests of ornamental trees and shrubs. It is organized for easy reference by nurserymen, arborists, and others desirous of controlling insect damage. General information given includes notes on spraying and sprayers, insecticides, general purpose sprays, phytotoxicity, and health precautions.…

  8. Precursors to potential severe core damage accidents: 1996. A status report. Volume 25

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belles, R.J.; Cletcher, J.W.; Copinger, D.A.; Muhlheim, M.D.; Dolan, B.W.; Minarick, J.W.

    1997-12-01

    This report describes the 14 operational events in 1996 that affected 13 commercial light-water reactors and that are considered to be precursors to potential severe core damage accidents. All these events had conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage greater than or equal to 1.0 x 10 -6 . These events were identified by first computer-screening the 1996 licensee event reports from commercial light-water reactors to identify those events that could potentially be precursors. Candidate precursors were selected and evaluated in a process similar to that used in previous assessments. Selected events underwent engineering evaluation that identified, analyzed, and documented the precursors. Other events designated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) also underwent a similar evaluation. Finally, documented precursors were submitted for review by licensees and NRC headquarters and regional offices to ensure the plant design and its response to the precursor were correctly characterized. This study is a continuation of earlier work, which evaluated 1969--1995 events. The report discusses the general rationale for this study, the selection and documentation of events as precursors, and the estimation of conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage for the events

  9. Precursors to potential severe core damage accidents: 1997 - A status report. Volume 26

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belles, R.J.; Cletcher, J.W.; Copinger, D.A.; Muhlheim, M.D.; Dolan, B.W.; Minarick, J.W.

    1998-11-01

    This report describes the five operational events in 1997 that affected five commercial light-water reactors (LWRs) and that are considered to be precursors to potential severe core damage accidents. All these events had conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage greater than or equal to 1.0 x 10 -6 . These events were identified by first computer-screening the 1997 licensee event reports from commercial LWRs to identify those events that could be precursors. Candidate precursors were selected and evaluated in a process similar to that used in previous assessments. Selected events underwent engineering evaluation that identified, analyzed, and documented the precursors. Other events designated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) also underwent a similar evaluation. Finally, documented precursors were submitted for review by licensees and NRC headquarters to ensure that the plant design and its response to the precursor were correctly characterized. This study is a continuation of earlier work, which evaluated 1969--1996 events. The report discusses the general rationale for this study, the selection and documentation of events as precursors, and the estimation of conditional probabilities of subsequent severe core damage for the events

  10. Forest report 2015 for Baden-Wuerttemberg

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meining, Stefan; Wilpert, Klaus v.; Hoelscher, Andrea

    2015-01-01

    In Baden-Wuerttemberg, the state of forests has been recorded since the 1980s in the course of an annual forest status report. In 2015, a decline in forest damage can be reported. As an indicator for the evaluation of the forest state, the crown condition of the trees applies. The average crown defoliation has been reduced by two percentage points to around 24 percent, while the share of healthy forest areas increased by five percentage points to a total of 29 percent. The clearly damaged forest areas decreased by six percentage points to 36 percent. Concerns are causing a relatively new fungus disease in the tree species ash, the ash dieback. [de

  11. SPECIES DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OF FRUIT-FEEDING BUTTERFLIES (LEPIDOPTERA: NYMPHALIDAE) IN AN EASTERN AMAZONIAN FOREST

    OpenAIRE

    MARTINS, LUCAS PEREIRA; ARAUJO JUNIOR, ELIAS DA COSTA; MARTINS, ANANDA REGINA PEREIRA; DUARTE, MARCELO; AZEVEDO, GISELE GARCIA

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Deforestation has negative impacts on diversity and community patterns of several taxa. In the eastern Amazon, where much deforestation is predicted for the coming years, forests patches may be essential to maintain the local biodiversity. Despite increasing concerns about the conservation of threatened areas, few studies have been performed to analyze the communities of diversified groups, such as insects, in the eastern Amazon. Here, we investigated species diversity and community ...

  12. 7 CFR 51.2657 - Serious damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... the edible or marketing quality of the fruit. The following specific defects shall be considered as serious damage: (a) Decay; (b) Insect larvae or holes caused by them; (c) Skin breaks which are not well...

  13. How insects overcome two-component plant chemical defence: plant β-glucosidases as the main target for herbivore adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pentzold, Stefan; Zagrobelny, Mika; Rook, Fred; Bak, Søren

    2014-08-01

    Insect herbivory is often restricted by glucosylated plant chemical defence compounds that are activated by plant β-glucosidases to release toxic aglucones upon plant tissue damage. Such two-component plant defences are widespread in the plant kingdom and examples of these classes of compounds are alkaloid, benzoxazinoid, cyanogenic and iridoid glucosides as well as glucosinolates and salicinoids. Conversely, many insects have evolved a diversity of counteradaptations to overcome this type of constitutive chemical defence. Here we discuss that such counter-adaptations occur at different time points, before and during feeding as well as during digestion, and at several levels such as the insects’ feeding behaviour, physiology and metabolism. Insect adaptations frequently circumvent or counteract the activity of the plant β-glucosidases, bioactivating enzymes that are a key element in the plant’s two-component chemical defence. These adaptations include host plant choice, non-disruptive feeding guilds and various physiological adaptations as well as metabolic enzymatic strategies of the insect’s digestive system. Furthermore, insect adaptations often act in combination, may exist in both generalists and specialists, and can act on different classes of defence compounds. We discuss how generalist and specialist insects appear to differ in their ability to use these different types of adaptations: in generalists, adaptations are often inducible, whereas in specialists they are often constitutive. Future studies are suggested to investigate in detail how insect adaptations act in combination to overcome plant chemical defences and to allow ecologically relevant conclusions.

  14. Changing Forest Disturbance Regimes and Risk Perceptions in Homer, Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Courtney G. F1int

    2007-01-01

    Forest disturbances caused by insects can lead to other disturbances, risks, and changes across landscapes. Evaluating the human dimensions of such disturbances furthers understanding of integrated changes in natural and social systems. This article examines the effects of changing forest disturbance regimes on local risk perceptions and attitudes in Homer, Alaska....

  15. Tree-based flood damage modeling of companies: Damage processes and model performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sieg, Tobias; Vogel, Kristin; Merz, Bruno; Kreibich, Heidi

    2017-07-01

    Reliable flood risk analyses, including the estimation of damage, are an important prerequisite for efficient risk management. However, not much is known about flood damage processes affecting companies. Thus, we conduct a flood damage assessment of companies in Germany with regard to two aspects. First, we identify relevant damage-influencing variables. Second, we assess the prediction performance of the developed damage models with respect to the gain by using an increasing amount of training data and a sector-specific evaluation of the data. Random forests are trained with data from two postevent surveys after flood events occurring in the years 2002 and 2013. For a sector-specific consideration, the data set is split into four subsets corresponding to the manufacturing, commercial, financial, and service sectors. Further, separate models are derived for three different company assets: buildings, equipment, and goods and stock. Calculated variable importance values reveal different variable sets relevant for the damage estimation, indicating significant differences in the damage process for various company sectors and assets. With an increasing number of data used to build the models, prediction errors decrease. Yet the effect is rather small and seems to saturate for a data set size of several hundred observations. In contrast, the prediction improvement achieved by a sector-specific consideration is more distinct, especially for damage to equipment and goods and stock. Consequently, sector-specific data acquisition and a consideration of sector-specific company characteristics in future flood damage assessments is expected to improve the model performance more than a mere increase in data.

  16. Forecasting the impact of an invasive macrophyte species in the littoral zone through aquatic insect species composition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hugo H. L. Saulino

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Invasive macrophytes threaten freshwater ecosystem biodiversity. We analyzed the impact of the invasive white ginger lily (Hedychium coronarium J. König, Zingiberaceae on aquatic insect assemblages living in the littoral zone of a tropical reservoir. We took aquatic insect samples in the littoral zone on four main vegetal profile banks: white ginger monotypic bank, forest partially invaded, native macrophyte monotypic bank and riparian forest. At each vegetal bank, we measured abiotic variables such as dissolved oxygen, pH, water temperature and depth. We analyzed the aquatic insects through abundance, richness and Simpson diversity. We used the non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling (nMDS analysis to analyze the spatial distribution of each assemblage, and Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM to verify differences amongst dissimilarity distances. Additionally, we analyzed the main taxa associated with invasive macrophytes through indicator species analyses using IndVal index. We observed that the invasive macrophyte banks presented higher abundance of associated specimens, as well as lower dissimilarity of aquatic insect assemblages. Additionally, invasive macrophytes shifted the water pH and littoral depth of reservoir banks. The IndVal index indicated eight aquatic insects as indicator species. Labrundinia unicolor Silva, 2013, Ablabesmyia depaulai Neubern, 2013 and Diastatops Rambur, 1842 were indicator species on banks. We concluded that invasion of white ginger lily caused loss of shallow littoral habitat and altered the pH of the surrounding water probably by high decomposition rate and high production of plant biomass. We suggest the use of species of aquatic insects as indicator species to monitor white ginger lily impact in freshwater systems.

  17. A SEASONAL COMPARISON OF THE PHYSICAL DAMAGES ON RESIDUAL TREES AND SEEDLINGS DUE TO LOGGING OPERATION USING URUS MIII FOREST SKYLINE IN ARTVIN REGION

    OpenAIRE

    Habip Eroğlu; Ufuk Özcan Öztürk

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, the physical damages of logging activities using Urus MIII forest skylines on residual trees and seedlings were evaluated through comparison between harvesting operations took place in winter and summer seasons in Artvin region. In order to achieve our aims, both in winter and summer, 4 representative plots were taken in the harvesting areas using Urus MIII skyline. Physical damages caused by logging to residual trees and seedling were noted. Damage classes for the residual tr...

  18. Edge-related loss of tree phylogenetic diversity in the severely fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bráulio A Santos

    Full Text Available Deforestation and forest fragmentation are known major causes of nonrandom extinction, but there is no information about their impact on the phylogenetic diversity of the remaining species assemblages. Using a large vegetation dataset from an old hyper-fragmented landscape in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest we assess whether the local extirpation of tree species and functional impoverishment of tree assemblages reduce the phylogenetic diversity of the remaining tree assemblages. We detected a significant loss of tree phylogenetic diversity in forest edges, but not in core areas of small (<80 ha forest fragments. This was attributed to a reduction of 11% in the average phylogenetic distance between any two randomly chosen individuals from forest edges; an increase of 17% in the average phylogenetic distance to closest non-conspecific relative for each individual in forest edges; and to the potential manifestation of late edge effects in the core areas of small forest remnants. We found no evidence supporting fragmentation-induced phylogenetic clustering or evenness. This could be explained by the low phylogenetic conservatism of key life-history traits corresponding to vulnerable species. Edge effects must be reduced to effectively protect tree phylogenetic diversity in the severely fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest.

  19. The Sterile Insect Technique as a method of pest control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Argiles Herrero, R.

    2011-01-01

    In the Valencia community is doing one of the most ambitious project in the field of plant protection at European level: the fight against fruit fly, one of the most damaging pests of citrus and fruit; by Insect Technique Sterile. This technique consists of laboratory breeding and release into the fields of huge quantities of insects of the pest species that have previously been sterilized. Sterile insect looking for wild individuals of the same species to mate with them and the result is a clutch of viable eggs, causing a decrease in pest populations. After three years of application of the technique on an area of 150,000 hectares, the pest populations have been reduced by 90%. Other benefits have been the reduced used of insecticides and improved the quality of exported fruit. (Author)

  20. Forest report 2013 for Baden-Wuerttemberg

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meining, Stefan; Wilpert, Klaus v.; Schaeffer, Juergen; Hartmann, Peter; Schumacher, Joerg; Delb, Horst; John, Reinhold; Hoelscher, Andrea; Augustin, Nicole; Hug, Ralph

    2013-01-01

    As an essential part of forest environmental monitoring, the Forest State Report 2013 shows how environmental factors influence the development of our forests. In addition to the annual survey of the crown state, intensive land surveys were established by the country, which provide extensive results over a long period. Data on the status and growth of the tree, the nutrient cycle, the material intake, soil status, soil vegetation and meteorology, ie the dynamics of environmental changes, are collected. Fortunately, the Forest State Report in 2013 shows that the state of the forests in Baden-Wuerttemberg has slightly improved compared to the previous year. This means that the trend towards the improvement of forest conditions continues after the extreme drought year 2003. This improvement is attributable to the spring weather which is favorable to the forest as well as to a generally low occurrence of harmful insects. [de