Aspen has been an ecologically important, though relatively minor, component of the Lake States (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) forests for millennia. General Land Office records from the 1800s indicate that aspen comprised a small fraction of the region’s eastern forests, but was more extensive on the western edge. Then Euro-American settlement in the 1800s brought land clearing, timber h...

The Central Plains of Western Canada comprise the Prairies Ecozone and the Boreal Plains Ecozone. The former has the most grasslands and is divided into seven ecoregions: Mixed Grassland, Cypress Upland, Moist Mixed Grassland, and Fescue Grassland in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan; Aspen Parkland, which extends in an arc from central Alberta and Saskatchewan southeast to southwestern Manitob...

−− The aim of this work is to simulate and analyze an extractive distillation process (extractive distillation and recovery columns) for the separation of Tetrahydrofuran (THF)-Water azeotropic mixture using Aspen Plus® and Aspen Split simulators. Calculation of vapor liquid equilibrium of Tetrahydrofuran–Water–Entrainer system was done using the NRTL model, which binary interaction parameters ...

—Widespread establishment of seedling aspen (Populus tremuloides) occurred in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) following the extensive1988 fires. Aspen stands occupy ;2% of YNP and aspen stems are intensively browsed by native ungulates. Chemical composition, especially secondary compounds, may influence levels of herbivory and, hence, survival of aspen, but concentrations of such compounds in a...

As human activity continues to increase CO2 and O3, broad expanses of north temperate forests will be simultaneously exposed to elevated concentrations of these trace gases. Although both CO2 and O3 are potent modifiers of plant growth, we do not understand the extent to which they alter competition for limiting soil nutrients, like nitrogen (N). We quantified the acquisition of soil N in two 8...

In Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) has been observed to be declining on elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) winter range for many decades. To support elk management decisions, the SAVANNA ecosystem model was adapted to explore interactions between elk herbivory and aspen dynamics. The simulated probability of successful vegetative regeneration for senescent aspe...

Transport of mass and energy between and within soils, canopies, and the atmosphere is an area of increasing interest in hydrology and meteorology. On arid and semiarid rangelands, evapotranspiration (ET) can account for over 90% of the precipitation, making accurate knowledge of the surface energy balance particularly critical. Recent advances in measurement and modeling have made the accurate...

Development and change in forest communities are strongly influenced by plant-soil interactions. The primary objective of this paper was to identify how forest soil characteristics vary along gradients of forest community composition in aspen-conifer forests to better understand the relationship between forest vegetation characteristics and soil processes. The study was conducted on the Fishlak...

Corn stalk rind (CSR) was treated with Trametes hirsuta lg-9 and then refined into pulp. The biotreatment resulted in loss of paper strength and brightness, but energy consumption during refining (ECR) was reduced. Meanwhile, multiple linear regression was carried out, for which ECR served as the dependent variable, and the yield and infrared relative absorbance intensities at 3414 cm and 1653 ...

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) system using coal gasification is an important approach for future energy options. This work focuses on understading the system operation and optimizing it in the presence of uncertain operating conditions using ASPEN Plus and CAPE-OPEN compliant stochastic simulation and multiobjective optimization capabilities developed by Vishwamitra Research Ins...