The majority of the world’s forests occur where there is a dry season long enough to affect a seasonal change in the forest community. The seasonal forest may include evergreen, semi-deciduous, deciduous trees, or some combination of these. Local differences in soil or other site characteristics often determine which community persists. Since the seasonal forests exist where there is seasonal p...

Various issues pertaining to artificial reforestation using coniferous planting stock are presented in the question/answer format. The discussed topics include: planting into organic soil substrates, microsite selection, planting depth, and closing the planting hole. These topics are viewed in the context of different site-related or climate-associated factors that may limit the successful esta...

Concern over pocket gopher damage to conifer seedlings is increasing rapidly in the northwestern United States. The evolution of the pocket gopher (Thomomys spp.) has resulted in an animal that occurs throughout northwest forested areas and responds to site disturbances by increasing numbers and distribution. Pocket gophers kill or slow growth of conifer seedlings. More extensive logging, wildf...

an important part of carbon cycling is carried out in the soil making land use changes, including changes in forestlands, affect soc storage and consequently co2 flux into the atmosphere.the aims followed in this investigation were to study the impacts of conversion of deciduous forests to coniferous ones and deforested land to rangelands, on some of the soil physicochemical properties, organic...

This study examines landscape changes in the context of China's national Grain for Green (GFG) policy, one of the world's largest "payment for environmental/ecosystem services" (PES) programs. We explored landscape structures and dynamics between 2000 and 2010 in Shaanxi Province, the Chinese province with the greatest amount of cropland conversion and reforestation in recent decades. We used L...

The topic addressed by this volume – interactions among human health, global change, and socio-economic factors – is immensely broad and complex. In this paper, we focus on one of many related issues – the link between population size (one of many possible indices of human wellbeing), atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), and climate during the preindustrial portion of the historical interval. Spec...

Arbuscular mycorrhizae are important for growth and survival of tropical trees. We studied the community of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a tropical mountain rain forest and in neighbouring reforestation plots in the area of Reserva Biológica San Francisco (South Ecuador). The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were analysed with molecular methods sequencing part of the 18 S rDNA. The sequences wer...

The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 rewrote the reforestation tax incentives available to private forest owners. Owners can now deduct outright reforestation costs up to $10,000 per year for each qualified timber property and amortize any additional amount over 8 tax years. To assess the economic effect of the new incentives on forest owners, the authors developed spreadsheets to calculate a...

Experiments with potted plants and removed understories have indicated that understory vegetation often affects the chemical and microbial properties of soil. In this study, we examined the mechanism and extent of the influence of understory vegetation on the chemical and microbial properties of soil in plantation forests. The relationships between the vegetational structure (diversity for diff...