BACKGROUND LiDAR remote sensing is a rapidly evolving technology for quantifying a variety of forest attributes, including aboveground carbon (AGC). Pulse density influences the acquisition cost of LiDAR, and grid cell size influences AGC prediction using plot-based methods; however, little work has evaluated the effects of LiDAR pulse density and cell size for predicting and mapping AGC in fas...

Prokaryotes are the most abundant and diverse group of microorganisms in soil and mediate virtually all biogeochemical cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. Thereby, they influence aboveground plant productivity and diversity. In this study, the impact of rainforest transformation to intensively managed cash crop systems on soil prokaryotic communities was investigated. The studied managed land use...

Mallee plantations have been integrated into wheat farms in Western Australia as a large-scale and multi-purpose woody crop since the 1990s. Mallee describes the growing habit of certain eucalypt species that grow with multiple stems shooting from an underground crown root (lignotuber), usually to a height of up to 10 meters. These types of plantations could be a considerable source of biomass ...

A mixed species reforestation program known as the Rainforestation Farming system was undertaken in the Philippines to develop forms of farm forestry more suitable for smallholders than the simple monocultural plantations commonly used then. In this study, we describe the subsequent changes in stand structure and floristic composition of these plantations in order to learn from the experience a...

on the forests, wildlife, and indigenous people of this area, WWF warns. It is not necessary to use this area as there is already a total of 2.3 million hectares of idle or derelict land available for palm oil plantations in Kalimantan, an area greater than the proposed plantation, WWF points out. In addition, oil palm is not recommended for planting in areas more than 200 metres above sea leve...

Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) and Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) plantations account for approximately 30% of the total forested area in Japan. Both are arbuscular mycorrhizal trees that leach more NO3 in response to nitrogen (N) deposition than do forests of ectomycorrhizal trees. However, little information is available about the size of N exports from these plantations. The ...

approved: __________________________________________________ Steven H. Strauss Hybrid poplar plantations (Populus trichocarpa x Populus deltoides) are a relatively new feature on the landscape in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and these plantations may soon include genetically engineered trees. Meanwhile, many wild poplar populations (Populus spp.) are highly degraded due in part t...

Background: Ocimum basilicum L., commonly known as sweet basil, is an important aromatic plant cultivated in many parts of the world for its essential oil. Basil does not show natural distribution in Turkey but they are cultivated as medicinal, seasoning or oil plants especially in the western and southern Anatolia. In this study, introduction of new production patterns of green and purple basi...

Land-Use Patterns Before European settlement, forests covered much of the LMAV (National Research Council [NRC] 1992, Hefner and Brown 1985) although the exact extent of forests during this time is unknown because of the indeterminate role of American Indians and their clearing practices on the forest resource (Buckner 1989, Hamel and Buckner 1998, Fickle 2001). After settlement, documented for...

Maintaining the soil chemical fertility is a key prerequisite to sustain crop productivity in the tropics. Several studies perceive that soil fertility decline is widely spread in tropical regions and that it is caused by inadequate nutrient replenishment and high losses as compared to natural ecosystems. Although this has been recognised for some decades, there is a need for hard data on soil ...