Hydraulic capacitance and water storage form a critical buffer against cavitation and loss of conductivity within the xylem system. Withdrawal from water storage in leaves, branches, stems, and roots significantly impacts sap flow, stomatal conductance, and transpiration. Storage quantities differ based on soil water availability, tree size, wood anatomy and density, drought tolerance, and hydr...

Describing long-term dynamics in oak stands is hindered by a lack of archival data. In this study, archival data from the 1934 inventory of a 673ha area within the Sylamore Experimental Forest were compared to a recent 2002 inventory to quantify changes in forest structure and species composition of this upland oak forest in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. When established in 1934, the Sylamor...

Masting is a population-level reproductive strategy, where individuals synchronize large but intermittent seed production. Despite the high degree of synchrony at population level, there can be considerable variation in reproduction among (intraspecific variation). Here, we use 18 years acorn production data from individual chestnut oak and black control thinned stands, to understand what facto...

Afforestation, as a tool to mitigate carbon emission is constrained by available land areain several countries, but Iran has the potential of plantation. In doing so, differences in soilstocks between tree species could give an indication of the effects of future managementchanges. Hence, a better understanding of tree species traits on soil properties is required topredict how changes in ecosy...

BACKGROUND Coppicing was one of the most important forest management systems in Europe documented in prehistory as well as in the Middle Ages. However, coppicing was gradually abandoned by the mid-20(th) century, which has altered the ecosystem structure, diversity and function of coppice woods. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Our aim was to disentangle factors shaping the historical growth dy...

Oak-dependent birds are expected to suffer severe population declines as a result of sudden oak death (SOD). We investigated how the disappearance of two highly SOD-sensitive tree species, tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus) and coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), may in turn affect levels of bird species richness, diversity, and equitability in coastal oak habitats of California. Combining avian ...

Timely and accurate identification of tree species by spectral methods is crucial for forest and urban ecological management. It has been proved that traditional methods and data cannot meet such requirements. In this study, a total of 394 reflectance spectra (between 350 and 2500 nm) from foliage branches or canopy of 11 important urban forest broadleaf species were measured in the City of Tam...

In California, a newly discovered virulent pathogen (Phytophthora ramorum) has killed thousands of trees, including tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), and black oak (Quercus kelloggii). Mapping the distribution of overstory mortality associated with the pathogen is an important part of disease management. In this study, we developed an object-based approach, i...

Cork oak trees and woodlands have been managed and cherished by generations of people of many different Mediterranean cultures and in many different ways. Their resilience in a sometimes hostile environment, their economic importance, and their nonmonetary, or nonmarket, aesthetic and cultural values make these cultural woodland systems an outstanding example of the kind of mutually beneficial ...

Epidemic populations of red oak borer, Enaphalodes rufulus (Haldeman), a native wood-boring cerambycid beetle, appear to be a primary factor contributing to oak mortality across the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. We developed a rapid estimation procedure (REP) to quickly, non-destructively and economically assess current density and infestation history of red oak borer in n...