Tree-killing bark beetles are major disturbance agents affecting coniferous forest ecosystems. The role of environmental conditions on driving beetle outbreaks is becoming increasingly important as global climatic change alters environmental factors, such as drought stress, that, in turn, govern tree resistance. Furthermore, dynamics between beetles and trees are highly nonlinear, due to comple...

Recently, a lnorthern red oak tree was found on the Bent Creek Experimental Forest, Buncombe County, North Carolina, with an unusual and interesting group of aerial roots originating from the callused area surrounding an old wound. This tree, shown in the accompanying photograph, is about 100 feet high, has approximately 3 log lengths and is 33.5 inches in diameter at 4.5 feet above the ground....

Woody biomass is an abundant, renewable energy source. Forest residue is the fraction remaining after harvest and the outtake of wood timber, including tree tops and bark. Compared with the wood portion, bark has a wide variation of ash content. Wood usually has a relatively low ash content, while bark has considerably higher ash content, which may generate clinker in the furnace and thereby te...

There are a number of reports in the literature of' primates feeding on the bark of trees, but bark has only occasionally been considered as a major food to be studied in its own right (e.g., Waser, 1977; Beeson, 1987; Nonis, 1988). All the great apes feed on bark at certain times, and clearly have preferences as to which species they choose (e.g., Schaller, 1963; Jones & Sabater Pi. 1971; Cast...

A 50-year-old woman who gardens regularly with rotting bark mulch presented with exertional dyspnea, diffusion impairment, and radiographic abnormalities (centrilobular nodules, tree-in-bud and ground glass opacities, calcified mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes) on a computed tomogram. Moderate lymphocytosis was noted on bronchoalveolar lavage. Surgical biopsy of her lung revealed granulomatous...

Hydrophobins are abundant small hydrophobic proteins that are present on the surfaces of many filamentous fungi. The chestnut blight pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica was shown to produce a class II hydrophobin, cryparin. Cryparin is the most abundant protein produced by this fungus when grown in liquid culture. When the fungus is growing on chestnut trees, cryparin is found only in the fungal ...

Brucine is the predominant alkaloid present in the bark of the tree Strychnos nux vomica and is a weaker alkaloid when compared to strychnine. However, its toxicological property is akin to strychnine. We report a rare case of brucine poisoning complicated by acute renal failure and rhabdomyolysis. A 24-year-old male presented with a history of consumption of a decoction made from the bark of t...

A system consisting of a cut-to-length harvester, forwarder, mobile chipper and chip screen was tested :&r a 7-year-old plantation. Three levels of debarking effort by the harvester (minimal, partial and full), and two levels of screening (with and without) were evaluated. The harvester had the lowest production rate and highest cost of the system elements. Harvester production rate was strongl...