Eastern forests of the US are valued both as a carbon sink and a wood resource. The amount of biomass that can be harvested sustainably from this biome for bioenergy without compromising the carbon sink is uncertain. Using past literature and previously validated models, we assessed four scenarios of biomass harvest in the eastern US: partial harvests of mixed hardwood forests, pine plantation ...

abandoned surface mine excavations can be a major environmental, social and/or human healthproblem for the mining industry as well as for the community living nearby. this problem is exacerbated by therapidly growing population encroaching on areas of historic mined lands. the aim of this studywas to assess thesafety status of the historic nyala mine excavation with the purpose of coming up wit...

the kind of land use and intensity of its change is considered as important desertification indices in different models. land use change is one of the main anthropogenic factors in the desertification. the current research was carried out around imam khomeini airport, with an area of 32000 km2, in order to evaluate mentioned area's land use changes effects during 1955-2003 on desertification. t...

Degraded lands have often been suggested as a solution to issues of land scarcity and as an ideal way to meet mounting global demands for agricultural goods, but their locations and conditions are not well known. Four approaches have been used to assess degraded lands at the global scale: expert opinion, satellite observation, biophysical models, and taking inventory of abandoned agricultural l...

Enrichment planting in naturally recovering secondary forests or in tree plantations is increasingly being used as strategy to restore later-successional, large-seeded tropical forest trees. We seeded two tree species (Otoba novogranatensis and Ruagea glabra) in three agricultural sites in Southern Costa Rica: abandoned pastures, eight to ten year old secondary forests and three year old tree p...

The 1993 flood of the Missouri River led to the abandonment of agriculture on considerable land in the floodplain. This abandonment led to a restoration opportunity for the U.S. Federal Government, purchasing those lands being sold by farmers. Restoration of this floodplain is complicated, however, by an imperfect understanding of its past environmental and vegetative conditions. We examined en...

Reclaimed surface coal mines in the eastern United States are commonly revegetated with grasses and legumes. The productivity and carbon sequestration potential of the vegetation varies with the condition and nature of the mined site and soil. This study was conducted to determine the distribution pattern of soil carbon stock on 9 mined grasslands reclaimed after the passage of SMCRA in 1977. M...

Weathering and transport of potentially acid generating material (PAGM) at abandoned mines can degrade downstream environments contaminate water resources. Monitoring the thousands mine lands (AMLs) for exposed PAGM using field surveys is time intensive. Here, we explore use Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPASs) as a complementary remote sensing platform to map spatial temporal changes across...

The process of secondary succession on degraded lands in the Amazon depends on their land-use histories. In this scenario, little is known about how animal communities respond to different types of secondary vegetation in the region. We examined the effects of abandoned cattle pasture, Vismiaand Cecropia-dominated regrowth on the abundance of bat species and community composition in the Central...