As a result of the high frequency of human-caused fires mixed forests are turning into scrub and sparse oak woods
#Getting at the root of mountain pine beetles rapid habitat expansionthe mountain pine beetle has wreaked havoc in North america across forests from the American Southwest to British columbia
Because of its importance and impact on forestry the mountain pine beetle's genome has been sequenced recently. Using this new resource authors Janes et al. examined how the pine beetle could undergo such rapid habitat range expansion
and if population genetics and the cataloguing of genome wide mutations could shed any light on possible molecular causes of the outbreak.
and conclude that the mountain pine beetle may have been able to spread by adjusting its cellular and metabolic functions to better withstand cooler climates
Bark beetles change Rocky mountain stream flows, affect water qualityon Earth Week--and in fact every week now--trees in mountains across the western United states are dying thanks to an infestation of bark beetles that reproduce in the trees'inner bark.
Some species of the beetles such as the mountain pine beetle attack and kill live trees. Others live in dead weakened or dying hosts.
In Colorado alone the mountain pine beetle has caused the deaths of more than 3. 4 million acres of pine trees.
What effect do all these dead trees have on stream flow and water quality? Plenty according to new research findings reported this week.
Dead trees don't drink waterthe unprecedented tree deaths caused by these beetles provided a new approach to estimating the interaction of trees with the water cycle in mountain headwaters like those of the Colorado
and Platte rivers says hydrologist Reed Maxwell of the Colorado School Of mines. Maxwell and colleagues have published results of their study of beetle effects on stream flows in this week's issue of the journal Nature Climate Change.
As the trees die they stop taking up water from the soil known as transpiration. Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from leaves stems and flowers.
Large-scale tree death due to pine beetles has many negative effects says Tom Torgersen of NSF's Directorate for Geosciences and lead WSC program director.
This loss of trees increases groundwater flow and water availability seemingly a positive Torgersen says.
The total effect however of the extensive tree death and increased water flow has to be evaluated for how much of an increase
Green means go red means stop even for treesunder normal circumstances green trees use shallow groundwater in late summer for transpiration.
Red-and gray-phase trees--those affected by beetle infestations--stop transpiring leading to higher water tables and greater water availability for groundwater flow to streams.
Dead trees create changes in water qualityusing'fingerprints'of different water sources defined by the sources'water chemistry we found that a higher fraction of late-summer streamflow in affected watersheds comes from groundwater rather than surface
With millions of dead trees adds Maxwell we asked: What's the potential effect if the trees stop using water?
Our findings not only identify this change but quantify how much water trees use. An important implication of the research Bearup says is that the change can alter water quality.
The new results she says help explain earlier work by Colorado School Of mines scientists. That research found an unexpected spike in carcinogenic disinfection by-products in late summer in water treatment plants.
They also drink a wider range of beverages than other generations including ready-to-drink coffees and sparkling drinks.
If we're valuing coffee fields and other human-made habitats at zero we're doing a disservice to ourselves
For example the island theory predicted that the Costa rican coffee plantations would have inadequate habitat to sustain a single species of bat.
and plants per county due to nearly three centuries of active commerce diverse tree species that provide suitable habitats and the means for invasive species to spread.
The Northern Forest Futures Project is helping identify the individual and collective steps needed to ensure healthy and resilient futures for trees and people alike.
and other challenges can be found in the trunks of our oldest trees. Results from an analysis of tree rings spanning more than 300000 square miles
and 400 years of history in the eastern U s.--led by scientists at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory the Harvard Forest and elsewhere--point to ways in
Trees are great recorders of information says Dave Orwig an ecologist at the Harvard Forest
The tree records in this study show that just before the American revolution across the broadleaf forests of Kentucky Tennessee North carolina
and Arkansas the simultaneous death of many trees opened huge gaps in the forest--prompting a new generation of saplings to surge skyward.
There's no historical evidence that the dead trees succumbed to logging ice storms or hurricanes. Instead they were weakened likely by repeated drought leading up to the 1770s followed by an intense drought from 1772 to 1775.
The oversized generation of new trees that followed-something like a baby boom--shaped the old-growth forests that still stand in the Southeast today.
Many of us think these grand old trees in our old-growth forests have always been stood there
What we now see is that big events including climatic extremes created large portions of these forests in short order through the weakening and killing of existing trees.
We are seeing more and more evidence of climate events weakening trees making them more likely to succumb to insects pathogens
and coffee that are highly susceptible to global price fluctuations. The research supports a range of previous case studies that point to a crisis in key areas of India's agriculture sector following the'liberalization'of the nation's economy during the 1990s.
those that grow cash crops such as coffee and cotton; those with'marginal'farms of less than one hectare;
stable bedschimpanzees may select a certain type of wood Ugandan Ironwood over other options for its firm stable and resilient properties to make their bed according to a study published April 16 2014 in the open-access
or nests in trees. They select certain tree species to sleep in more frequently than others
but the reason for selecting a particular tree is unclear. To determine whether the physical properties of trees influenced nesting site selection scientists measured the physical characteristics of wood from common tree species at the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve Uganda.
They measured the stiffness and bending strength of 326 branches from the seven tree species most commonly used by the chimps.
Additionally they measured leaf surface area and determined the structure or architecture of each of the seven species. Of 1844 nests sampled chimpanzees selected Ugandan Ironwood for 73.6%of the nests
even though it represented only 9. 6%of all trees in the sample area. Ugandan ironwood was the stiffest
and had the greatest bending strength of all the trees tested had the smallest distance between leaves on the branches
and had the smallest leaf surface area. The authors suggest that chimpanzees select trees like the Ugandan ironwood due to these properties as they may provide protection from predators
and pathogens as well as provide temperature regulation and comfort. Dr. Samson added Chimpanzees like humans are highly selective
when it comes to where they sleep. This suggests that for apes there is something inherently attractive about a comfortable bed down to
what kind of wood you use to make it. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by PLOS.
#Shade grown coffee shrinking as a proportion of global coffee productionthe proportion of land used to cultivate shade grown coffee relative to the total land area of coffee cultivation has fallen by nearly 20 percent globally since 1996
The study's authors say the global shift toward a more intensive style of coffee farming is probably having a negative effect on the environment communities and individual farmers.
The paradox is that there is greater public interest than ever in environmentally friendly coffee but where coffee production is expanding across the globe it tends to be very intensive says Shalene Jha assistant professor in The University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural sciences
and lead author of the study published April 16 in the journal Bioscience. Traditional shade grown coffee is cultivated under a diverse canopy of native forest trees in dense to moderate shade.
Though some of the forest understory is cleared for farming a rich web of plant and animal life remains.
As a result shade grown coffee plantations provide corridors for migrating birds to move between forest fragments attract
In this latest study the researchers found that total global production of shade grown coffee has increased
since 1996 but the area of land used for non shade coffee has increased at a much faster rate resulting in shade grown coffee falling from 43 percent of total cultivated area to 24 percent.
despite two decades of growth in public awareness of where coffee comes from and the different ways to manage it for biodiversity shade grown coffee only seems to be grown in a few regions says Jha.
The shifts aren't what we would expect based on what we see on the shelves in the U s. In the United states the market for specialty coffee which includes organic
and shade grown varieties has grown rapidly during the past decade. Across most U s. distributors sales of specialty coffee rose more than 75 percent by economic value from 2000 to 2008.
In 2012 specialty coffees accounted for 37 percent of U s. coffee sales by volume and nearly half by economic value an estimated $30 billion to $32 billion.
since 1990 the land area under coffee cultivation has contracted in Africa and expanded in Asia. Within Asia Vietnam and Indonesia have had the largest increases in coffee production during that time.
Most of the new production is done in an intensive style. This more intensive style is characterized by clearing forests
and switching to a variety of coffee called Robusta that tolerates full sun. Robusta is a lower-quality coffee than the other major variety sold around the world Arabica.
The two strains are blended often to produce instant coffee. Jha and colleagues say the shifting trends toward Asia
and a more intensive style of farming are driven by a dramatic drop in global coffee prices in recent years.
Full sun coffee plantations often result in deforestation loss of biodiversity and soil depletion while leaving communities more vulnerable to flooding and landslides.
Intensive coffee production is not sustainable says Jha. You exhaust the soil and after a couple of decades it can no longer grow coffee On the other hand the oldest coffee farms in the world have thrived for centuries
because the forest replenishes the soil for them. Farmers doing intensive coffee farming also earn lower prices for their product.
Because the up-front costs of getting certified to sell specialty coffees can be expensive Jha
and colleagues encourage government agencies conservation groups and aid organizations to partner with farmers to develop strategies to get more farmers into shade grown coffee production.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Texas at Austin. Note:
#Rising demand for herbal medicine can increase cultivation of medicinal treesformalizing trade in herbal medicinal products has the potential to increase the demand for on-farm grown raw material and raise the level of cultivation of medicinal tree
and formalization in terms of better hygienic packaging and labeling of the products is likely to increase cultivation of these tree species. Traditional medicine is practiced in in many rural areas in the developing world.
The study published in the scientific journal Forests Trees and Livelihoods says that In Kenya the majority of traditional medicines are sold as wild plant parts
This opens up greater opportunities for trade in medicinal tree products among actors in the value chain such as collectors producers healers processors manufacturers and even exporters outlines Muriuki.
and fruits from their trees but are not selling medicinal tree products because they do not have access to markets Farmers stated they would sell medicinal products
Access to markets for other tree products has led to increased cultivation of tree species providing these so it would be fair to assume the same could be applied for medicinal trees.
According to a study in the July 2013 issue of Natural Areas Journal researchers sought to characterize the volume of coarse and fine woody debris present in old-growth beech forests in the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed
Working in 15 plots of 2. 5-acres the researchers recorded diameter height and species of living trees;
Oriental beech was the dominant species in the layer of foliage in the forest canopy known as the overstory
and 74 percent of fine woody debris. Most of the dead Oriental beech was advanced in an state of decay the article reports.
which Sefidi and Marvie Mohadjer had studied also and about half of the volume in old-growth beech forests in Turkey and Albania
We believe there may have been some livestock grazing that prevented tree establishment for a few years many decades ago said Copenheaver.
Most of the coarse wood debris in the forest was advanced in an state of decay meaning the trees mostly now in the form of rotting logs had been dead 12 to 59 years
although the most advanced decay erased tree rings so that age could not be determined. The study also yielded another important observation said Copenheaver.
Woods Hole Research center scientists Michael Coe Paulo Brando Marcia Macedo and colleagues have published a new study on the impacts of fire and drought on Amazon tree mortality.
Over an eight-year period the team repeatedly burned 50-hectare forest plots in southeast Amazonia to learn how fire frequency and weather conditions affected tree deaths.
None of the models used to evaluate future Amazon forest health include fire so most predictions grossly underestimate the amount of tree death
The results of this project show that extreme droughts may interact with fires to push Amazonian forests beyond a tipping point that may abruptly increase tree mortality and change vegetation over large areas.
Climate impact models project a decline in northern species such as balsam fir black spruce white spruce tamarack jack pine northern white-cedar and paper birch.
Southern tree species near their northern range limits may fare better. Species that may become more widespread include American basswood black cherry green ash white ash and white oak.
Climate change is expected also to intensify several stresses that forests already face such as damaging insect pests and diseases drought and wildfire.
They found that across all strata of society people who lived in a neighborhood with less than 10 percent tree canopy were much more likely to report symptoms of depression stress and anxiety.
Plant trees and grass. The greening of neighborhoods could be a simple solution to reducing stress says Malecki.
In agriculture and forestry for example it could be used to keep animals from gnawing on trees.
We used genetic data to identify the bird species that have the fewest relatives on the'Tree of Life'that is
and was applied to an updated version of the first global tree of birds published in 2012 by the group in Nature.
The result is a snapshot of how the entire Tree of Life of birds is distributed on the planet
and where on earth the tree is most at risk of being lost. Given that we cannot save all species from extinction these distinct species are of special conservation concern
and yellow palm warbler (20 percent) detected most often and fewer detections of black-backed woodpecker (8 percent) gray jay (8 percent) olive-sided flycatcher (6 percent) boreal chickadee (3 percent) and rusty blackbird (2 percent).
and palm warbler appeared to be increasing in the Adirondack landscape. However data collected since the study indicate that the situation may be getting worse.
says specialistthe Midwest's high tree pollen count is primarily birch and oak bad news for carrot celery and almond lovers.
The spring allergy count in the Midwest is high in birch and oak which usually triggers reactions to carrots celery almonds apples peaches and pears in those with sensitive systems.
The trees have been slow to bloom this year due to the inconsistent warm and cold temperatures he says.
The recent rains coupled with the sun has caused a huge growth spurt in the trees
Until now researchers thought that rivers were supplied with carbon by trees and other land plants through the soils of the watershed.
#Advantages, potential of computer-guided spinal surgeryin a series of research studies Cedars-Sinai spinal surgeons show that a new method of computer-guided spine surgery is beneficial for spinal reconstruction
The Cedars-Sinai surgeons highlight the advantages of a spinal navigation technique that uses high-speed computerized tomography (CT) imaging to navigate in and around the spinal column from different angles.
The Cedars-Sinai surgeons say they have cut these to nearly zero by using computer-guided methods.
This approach represents a major leap forward for instrumented spine surgery said Terrence T. Kim MD an orthopedic spine surgeon in the Cedars-Sinai Spine Center and expert in the computer-guided navigation field.
Johnson and Kim as study co-authors are Doniel Drazin MD a senior resident in the Department of Neurosurgery and Robert S. Pashman MD a clinical associate professor and orthopedic spine surgeon at the Cedars
One of the Cedars-Sinai studies showed that the mobile CT-scanner and computer-aided system used during minimally invasive surgery increased the accuracy of screw placement into vertebral pedicle bones.
The above story is provided based on materials by Cedars-Sinai Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
#Researchers design trees that make it easier to produce paperresearchers have engineered genetically trees that will be easier to break down to produce paper
Researchers used genetic engineering to modify the lignin to make it easier to break down without adversely affecting the tree's strength.
We're designing trees to be processed with less energy and fewer chemicals and ultimately recovering more wood carbohydrate than is currently possible says Mansfield.
Researchers had tried previously to tackle this problem by reducing the quantity of lignin in trees by suppressing genes
which often resulted in trees that are stunted in growth or were susceptible to wind snow pests and pathogens.
It is truly a unique achievement to design trees for deconstruction while maintaining their growth potential and strength.
introducing genes to make both the male and female trees or plants sterile; and harvesting trees before they reach reproductive maturity.
In the future genetically modified trees could be planted like an agricultural crop not in our native forests.
Poplar is a potential energy crop for the biofuel industry because the tree grows quickly and on marginal farmland.
Lignin makes up 20 to 25 per cent of the tree. We're a petroleum reliant society says Mansfield.
We rely on the same resource for everything from smartphones to gasoline. We need to diversify
and take the pressure off of fossil fuels. Trees and plants have enormous potential to contribute carbon to our society.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of British columbia. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
It's an additional treatment option for those who are allergic to some types of grasses but not those allergic to other varieties of grass trees and weeds.
According to ACAAI those with seasonal allergies can be affected by the pollen of 11 different types of weeds and trees and eight varieties of grass.
and trees and plants shaded the riverbed. The rapid growth of aquatic plants during the summer months prevents light from reaching the river bed
and fire-induced tree mortality to measure the response of floodplain forests to inter-annual flood variability
Researchers will measure tree litter dry weight depth of flooding tree height and diameter and stand density.
which ecosystems are more resilient to widespread tree removal. In a comprehensive analysis of soil collected from 11 distinct U s. regions from Hawaii to northern Alaska researchers found that the extent to which deforestation disturbs underground microbial communities that regulate the loss of carbon into the atmosphere depends almost exclusively on the texture of the soil.
but has minimal effects in muddy clay-like soils even after extensive tree removal. According to the researchers particles in fine clay-like soil seem to have a larger surface area to bind nutrients and water.
Despite an established forest conservation theory holding that tree harvesting should be minimized strictly to prevent the loss of biodiversity
Forest harvest creates a temporary opening that is needed by forest species such as butterflies and some birds and deer before it regrows to large trees.
Finally a dinnertime discussion yielded a name for this latest addition to the tree of life:
The Danau Girang Field Centre is located in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary a strip of rainforest along Sabah's major river squeezed in by vast oil palm plantations on either side.
Agroforestry is integrated an land-use management technique that incorporates trees and shrubs with crops and livestock on farms.
Once infected trees never fully recover and there currently is no cure although proper nutrient and water management appear to slow tree decline in some situations.
A bacterium called Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLAS) vectored by the Asian citrus psyllid is presumed the causal agent of the disease.
Citrus trees affected by HLB exhibit a progressive degeneration of the phloem tissue that results in partial or total phloem collapse.
However in trees known to have been infected with HLB for several years vegetative and fruit production continues for several years
which they monitored the progression of phloem production over time in field-grown trees to determine how the trees are capable of sustaining new growth
The scientists collected fully expanded and developed tissue from HLB-affected trees from 5-year-old'Valencia'orange trees that had been determined previously to be infected with CLAS.
They tested trees 3 months before sampling using the diagnostic facilities at the University of Florida's Southwest Florida Research
The data suggested that in HLB-affected trees production of vegetative and reproductive tissues is supported for a limited time by new phloem production during periodic flushes of new growth.
Pine Island Glacier the most active of the studied glaciers has accelerated by 75 percent in 40 years according to the paper.
The researchers studied the Pine Island Thwaites Haynes Smith Pope and Kohler glaciers all of which discharge ice into a vast bay known as the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica.
Of all the glaciers in the study Pine Island Glacier accelerated the most since 1973 increasing by 1. 7 kilometers (one mile) per year.
Both Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers contribute the most to overall ice discharge--about three-fourths of the total amount documented in the study.
The research team also found that the Pine Island Glacier is accelerating along its entire drainage system--up to 230 kilometers (155 miles) inland from where it meets the ocean.
Trees which thrive in wetter environs use the C-12 isotope. The ratio of those two isotopes in the sediment cores is an indicator of the relative abundance of grass versus trees.
The cores showed an increase in abundance of grass in the same sediments that showed a decrease in surface runoff.
#Forests crucial to green growththe value of forests and tree-based ecosystems extends far beyond carbon sequestration;
It is important day to remind us to save our planet as it is the only one we know which has trees says Tony Simons the Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF.
Trees are made what Earth habitable for mammals and destruction of forests will lead to the ultimate destruction of mammals--including humans.
Trees are one of the few things which live longer than humans--a true intergenerational gift.
Forests and trees are key to sustainable development. Not only do they store carbon they support biodiversity regulate water flows
The pine scrub habitat found on sandy ridges in Central and Southeastern Florida is one of the oldest in North america said Carrel Curators Professor Emeritus in the MU Division of Biological sciences.
and the hidden nature of their webs which are built in palmetto shrubs. Red widows conceal their funnel-shaped retreats in unopened palmetto leaves making them difficult to spot.
The only clues to the spiders'presence visible solely on foggy mornings during four months of the year are spun the threads loosely between tips of palmetto frond.
Since 1987 Carrel has been monitoring populations of this spider at the Archbold Biological Station which protects a 5193-acre Florida scrub preserve near Lake Placid Only twice in those 23 years--in March 1989
Sometimes beetles hit the web strands between tips of palmetto fronds and tumble into the denser tangle of threads below catching them in the red widows'webs.
For the regeneration of these degraded areas seed dispersal of forest trees plays a crucial role
Most tree species are dispersed by birds and mammals but also by ants. A study published today in the Journal of Ecology by a team from the LOEWE Biodiversity
Ants promote the regeneration of these forests by dispersing seeds to safe sites for tree establishment.
In this context the team conducted experiments to find out to what extent ants contribute to the dispersal of a widespread primarily bird-dispersed tree (Clusia trochiformis)
The red lipid-rich aril a fleshy pulp surrounding the seeds of Clusia is highly attractive to many animals.
and recruitment and hence inhibit the re-establishment of forest trees. The researchers deposited 1440 Clusia seeds in 72 depots at six sites.
At each site they studied three habitat types: forest interior degraded habitat close to the forest and degraded habitat far from the forest edge.
The farther the ants had transported the seeds the higher was the chance that Clusia seedlings had established.
and establishment of the investigated tree species. This is particularly relevant as other animal and plant species may follow the species that facilitates the establishment of others.
We may use our knowledge to stimulate the establishment of Clusia in degraded habitats and enhance the regeneration of deforested areas says Silvia Gallegos.
Due to the ecosystem service provided by ants in the degraded areas a faster and sustainable establishment of tree seedlings like Clusia may be expected.
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