In 2013, in response to an epidemic of ash dieback disease in England the previous year, we launched a Facebook-based game called Fraxinus to enable non-scientists to contribute to genomics studies of the pathogen that causes the disease and the ash trees that are devastated by it. Over a period of 51 weeks players were able to match computational alignments of genetic sequences in 78% of cases...

The binary effect of pulverized fuel ash (PFA) and palm oil fuel ash (POFA) on heat of hydration of aerated concrete was studied. Three aerated concrete mixes were prepared, namely, concrete containing 100% ordinary Portland cement (control sample or Type I), binary concrete made from 50% POFA (Type II), and ternary concrete containing 30% POFA and 20% PFA (Type III). It is found that the tempe...

BACKGROUND Ash (Fraxinus spp.) is a dominant tree species throughout urban and forested landscapes of North America (NA). The rapid invasion of NA by emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), a wood-boring beetle endemic to Eastern Asia, has resulted in the death of millions of ash trees and threatens billions more. Larvae feed primarily on phloem tissue, which girdles and kills the tree. While ...

In Northern Europe the use of tree biomass for production of energy is mostly based on thinning of forests, harvest residues, stumps from final cutting, bark of commercial roundwood, and organic waste of pulp industry. Results based on field experiments allow estimations of 137Cs activity removed from forests in wood fuel, and also the activity returned in ash used as a fertiliser. After one fe...

Introduction Fly ash, a by-product from power plants, is a powdery gray material that is stored in large ash dykes or ponds. This ash is used in making bricks and in cement factories. Fly ash is considered to be a major pollution problem as it is dispersed into the air and pollutes bodies of water. However, for the local tribal populations of Korba district, Chhattisgarh state, fly ash is becom...

In acidic forest soils, availability of inorganic nutrients is a tree-growth-limiting factor. A hypothesis to explain sustainable forest development proposes that tree roots select soil microbes involved in central biogeochemical processes, such as mineral weathering, that may contribute to nutrient mobilization and tree nutrition. Here we showed, by combining soil analyses with cultivation-dep...

Ash dieback is a recent widespread disease on ash (Fraxinus sp.) that is causing important economic and ecological losses throughout Europe. The disease is initiated by the ascomycetous fungus Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus (anamorph Chalara fraxinea). The main aim of this study was to investigate seasonal pattern of lesion development associated with ash dieback. We present data on the spread of ...

Early studies of mine reclamation emphasized trees for revegetating minesoils. Scientists of the USDA Forest Service transplanted four tree species in 1946 into leveled or unleveled overburden near Georgetown, OH, and into unleveled overburden near Dundee, OH. Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) had good initial survival on both sites but died in later years due to locust borers (Megacyllene...

this study was performed in order to investigate the changes in vegetation and soil properties in compartment no.317 (managed forest) and no.318 (control forest) of jamand district of golband forest in mazandaran (noshahr). for this purpose, random-systematic sampling method with regular grid of 100×200 m was used to locate samples. the plot size was 400 m2 considering to tree and shrub species...