Issue 7

New Products

Natural Resources Inventory and Monitoring

1 Bentley, James W.; Cartwright, Walter E. 2006. Alabama’s timber industry—an assessment of timber product output and use, 2003. Resour. Bull. SRS-107. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 45 p.

In 2003, roundwood output from Alabama’s forests totaled 1.08 billion cubic feet. Mill byproducts generated from primary manufacturers amounted to 410 million cubic feet. Almost all plant residues were used primarily for fuel and fiber products. Pulpwood was the leading roundwood product at 521 million cubic cubic feet; veneer logs were third at 107 million cubic feet. The number of primary processing plants was 178. Total receipts amounted to 1.1 billion cubic feet.

2 Bentley, J.W.; Howell, M.; Johnson, T.G. 2006. Florida’s timber industry—an assessment of timber product output and use, 2003. Resour. Bull. SRS-110. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 40 p.

In 2003, volume of roundwood output from Florida’s forests totaled 509 million cubic feet, 2 percent more than in 1999. Mill byproducts generated from primarymanufacturers decreased to 151 million cubic feet. Almost all plant residues were used primarily for fuel and fiber products. Pulpwood was the leading roundwood product at 271 million cubic feet; saw logs ranked second at 171 million cubic feet; veneer logs were third at 32 million cubic feet. Total receipts declined 2 percent to 484 million cubic feet. The number of primary processing plants declined from 93 in 1999 to 92 in 2003.

3 Bentley, James W.; Johnson, T.G. 2006. North Carolina harvest and utilization study, 2002. Resour. Bull. SRS-109. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 23 p.

In 2002, a harvest and utilization study was conducted on 108 operations throughout North Carolina. There were 2,926 total trees measured; 1,693, or 58 percent, were softwood, while 1,233, or 42 percent, were hardwood. Results from this study showed that 86 percent of the total softwood volume measured was utilized for a product, and 14 percent was left as logging residue. Seventy-five percent of the total hardwood volume measured was utilized for a product, while 25 percent was left as logging residue.

4 Howell, Michael; Becker, Charles W. 2006. Virginia’s timber industry—an assessment of timber product output and use, 2003. Resour. Bull. SRS-108. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 44 p.

In 2003, roundwood output from Virginia’s forests decreased to 488 million cubic feet. Mill byproducts generated from primary manufacturers totaled 174 million cubic feet, 6 percent less than in 2001. Seventyfive percent of the plant residues were used primarily for fuel and fiber products. Saw logs were the leading roundwood product at 229 million cubic feet; pulpwood ranked second at 186 million cubic feet; composite panels were third at 54 million cubic feet. The number of primary processing plants decreased from 248 in 2001 to 234 in 2003. Total receipts remained stable at 492 million cubic feet.

5 Howell, M.; New, B.D.; Mann, M.C. 2006. North Carolina’s timber industry— an assessment of timber product output and use, 2003. Resour. Bull. SRS-112. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 42 p.

In 2003, industrial roundwood output from North Carolina’s forests totaled 776 million cubic feet, 2 percent more than in 2001. Mill byproducts generated from primary manufacturers increased four-tenths of 1 percent to 315 million cubic feet. Almost all plant residues were used primarily for fuel and fiber products. Saw logs were the leading roundwood product at 399 million cubic feet; pulpwood ranked second at 267 million cubic feet; veneer logs were third at 57 million cubic feet. The number of primary processing plants declined from 249 in 2001 to 235 in 2003. Total receipts increased 20.7 million cubic feet to 742 million cubic feet.

6 Johnson, T.G.; Steppleton, C.D. 2006. Southern pulpwood production, 2004. Resour. Bull. SRS-111. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 39 p.

In 2004, the South’s production of pulpwood increased from 61.3 million cords in 2003 to 63.8 million cords. Roundwood production increased 6 percent to 47.0 million cords and accounted for 74 percent of the total pulpwood production. The use of wood residue declined 1 percent to 16.8 million cords. Alabama led the South in total production at 10.2 million cords. In 2004, 89 mills were operating and drawing wood from the 13 Southern States. Pulping capacity of Southern mills declined from 127,390 tons per day in 2003 to 125,182 tons per day, and still accounts for more than 70 percent of the Nation’s pulping capacity.

7 Oswalt, Sonja N.; Brandeis, Thomas J.; Dimick, Britta P. 2006. Phytosociology of vascular plants on an international biosphere reserve: Virgin Islands National Park, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Caribbean Journal of Science. 42(1): 53-66.

The Virgin Islands National Park on the island of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, is one of the few protected contiguous tracts of Lesser Antillean dry and moist forest in the Caribbean basin, a biodiversity “hotspot” of internationally recognized importance. We investigated the relationships of vegetation communities to environmental variables and compared the relative contribution of native and introduced species in extant forest communities on St. John using an islandwide forest vegetation inventory and monitoring network of permanent plots.

Forest Ecosystem Restoration and Management

8 Bragg, Don C. 2005. Learning the hard way: the beginnings of Forest Service research in Arkansas. Journal of Forestry. 103(5): 248-254.

People take for granted that forestry, and the research that supports it, has always been around. In reality, the establishment of a research basis to the practices of the Forest Service has been a long-running struggle. In Arkansas, Forest Service staff began assisting landowners just after the turn of the 20th century, and formed the basis of most forest research and extension until other agencies started contributing substantially around 1940. The formation of the Southern Forest Experiment Station in 1921, eventually followed by the establishment of the Crossett and Sylamore experimental forests, further strengthened the forestry research program in Arkansas, and allowed for the widespread implementation of sustainable, scientifically based forestry.

9 Lang, Ping; Dane, Fenny; Kubisiak, Thomas L. 2006. Phylogeny of Castanea (Fagaceae) based on chloroplast trnT-L-F sequence data. Tree Genetics & Genomes. 2(3): 132-139.

Species within the genus Castanea (the chestnuts and chinkapins) are native to the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere, from Asia to Europe and North America. The genus Castanea has been divided into three sections based on bur and cupule characteristics. Chloroplast DNA sequence data suggest that evolutionary interrelationships among the Castanea species may be more appropriately described not by bur and cupule characteristics, but by current geographic distributions. A number of chloroplast DNA markers are now available for hypothesizing the likely maternal lineage of any Castanea tree, an issue of great importance to the breeding efforts aimed at restoring American chestnut to forests of the Eastern United States.

10 Ma, Siyan; Chen, Jiquan; Butnor, John R. [and others]. 2005. Biophysical controls on soil respiration in the dominant patch types of an old-growth, mixed-conifer forest. Forest Science. 51(3): 221-232.

California’s Sierra Nevada old-growth, mixed-conifer forests are comprised of several ecological patch types, which cycle carbon in very different ways. These patches are in close proximity and vary from large forest trees (sugar pine, red fir, white fir), to nitrogen-fixing ceanothus shrubs and dry sandy patches with drought-adapted plants. To understand the factors which control seasonal losses of carbon to the atmosphere, we used portable and automated measurement systems to sample soil respiration from snow melt to mid-summer drought. The highest respiration rates were found in the shrub system, followed by the forest and bare soil patches. The soil respiration rate varied with changes in daily temperature, though moisture effects dominated the response. Shortly after snow melt, saturated conditions inhibited respiration, there was a long period in the spring where optimum soil moisture produced the highest flux rates, and then summer drought reduced rates. Using this data we developed an exponential model to calculate the total soil C flux summed by an area-weighted average across all three patch types (660 ± 163 g C m-2) for year 2000.

11 Roberds, James H.; Strom, Brian L. 2006. Repeatability estimates for oleoresin yield measurements in three species of the southern pines. Forest Ecology and Management. 228: 215-224.

The southern pine beetle is the most destructive insect pest of pines inhabiting the Southeastern United States. Individual trees of these species that discharge large quantities of oleoresin upon wounding are considered to be most resistant to attack by this aggressive bark beetle. A tree’s capacity to produce oleoresin can be assessed by measuring amounts of this chemical composite that flow from small surface wounds cut into its trunk at breast height. To evaluate the ability of trees to yield oleoresin, investigators need to know how many of these measurements are required per tree for a proper assessment. Answers to this and other related significant questions dealing with variability in tree oleoresin yield can be obtained by studying its repeatability, a measure of trait consistency within individuals. In this paper we report estimates of repeatability for oleoresin yield in three species of the southern pines.

12 Sword Sayer, Mary Anne; Haywood, James D. 2006. Fine root production and carbohydrate concentrations of mature longleaf pine (Pinus palustris P. Mill.) as affected by season of prescribed fire and drought. Trees. 20:165-175.

Our goal was to assess how season of prescribed fire affects root growth and carbohydrate concentrations of longleaf pine, and identify the time of year when fire least affects root processes. Root growth was less on July-burned plots than on either March- or May-burned plots; we attribute this to the effect of fire on interaction between root processes and soil environment. Soil moisture and temperature may have been less favorable for root growth on the July-burned plots. We determined that fire would impact tree growth less in November through March. Also, severe drought was associated with a 3-month delay in peak root growth, and prolonged drought coincided with a reduction in root starch storage. We conclude that season of prescribed fire affects root processes, but that severe or prolonged drought may interact with or override these effects.

Forest Values, Uses, and Policies

13 Behm, Anna L.; Duryea, Mary L. 2003. Fire in the wildland-urban interface: considering fire in Florida’s ecosystems. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information. 14 p. [Editor’s note: This publication was funded by the National Fire Plan through the USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information.]

Many Floridians live close to or within natural ecosystems of Florida in an area termed the wildland-urban interface. The wildlands associated with the interface depend on fire to maintain biodiversity and health. In the absence of fire, vegetation quickly grows, creating fuel for very intense wildfire. In many wildlands, fire in these ecosystems is inevitable because of lightning or human-caused ignitions. With this threat of wildfire, the serenity of living in these environments can be disrupted. Because of the differences in plant species, soils, and water availability, wildfire frequency and intensity vary among the ecosystems which are associated with the wildland-urban interface.

14 Behm, Anna L.; Long, Alan J.; Monroe, Martha C. [and others]. [Date unknown]. Fire in the wildland-urban interface: preparing a firewise plant list for WUI residents. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information. 11 p. [Editor’s note: Wayne C. Zipperer and L. Annie Hermansen-Báez, Southern Research Station, co-authored this publication.]

This is a guide for making local firewise plant lists that can assist local homeowners with firewise landscaping. It includes a step-by-step method for determining whether or not a particular plant is appropriate for firewise landscaping. Extension agents, nursery personnel, landscape architects, and urban foresters can use this publication for preparing local firewise plant lists.

15 Clark, Alexander, III; Daniels, Richard F.; Jordan, Lewis. 2005. Juvenile/mature wood transition in loblolly pine as defined by annual ring specific gravity, proportion of latewood, and microfibril angle. Wood and Fiber Science. 38(2): 292-299.

Intensively managed southern pines grow rapidly during the early years of rotation, reach merchantable size at a younger age, and contain a significantly high proportion of juvenile wood. Juvenile wood is a cylinder of wood surrounding the pith and extending the length of all trees, and is produced by young cambium in the live active crown. Juvenile wood has lower stiffness and strength and more longitudinal shrinkage than mature wood, and is not as desirable for lumber production. Landowners and lumber manufactures need to understand the effect of forest management practices on juvenile wood formation. This paper evaluates two methods for determining the year of transition when a tree stops producing juvenile wood and starts to produce mature wood 4.5 feet above ground, based on annual ring specific gravity, proportion of latewood, and mircofibril angle.

16 Doran, J. Douglas; Randall, Cotton K.; Long, Alan J. 2004. Fire in the wildland-urban interface: selecting and maintaining firewise plants for landscaping. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information. 7 p.

One of the major issues in the southern wildland-urban interface is the loss of homes to wildfire. Selecting landscape plants based on their flammability can be challenging for homeowners and landscapers, as few plant guides list firewise plants or rank plants by their flammability. This publication outlines key plant characteristics that have the greatest effect on flammability, which can help homeowners make informed decisions about which plants to select when creating an area of defensible space, or how to modify existing plants to prevent the spread of wildfire. Plant characteristics are discussed at three levels: plant parts (primarily leaves), whole plants, and groups of plants. Selecting firewise plants can reduce wildfire risk; but during drought conditions, most plants will burn if exposed to enough heat, regardless of their flammability.

17 Eberhardt, Thomas L.; So, Chi-Leung; Herlihy, Amy H.; So, Po-Wah. 2006. Use of gadolinium chloride as a contrast agent for imaging spruce knots by magnetic resonance. Wood and Fiber Science. 38(3): 527-234.

Treatments of spruce wood blocks with a paramagnetic salt, gadolinium (III) chloride, in combination with solvent pretreatments, provided the first assessment of contrast agents as a means to enhance the visualization of wood features by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Images collected in collaboration with researchers at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (Imperial College, London, UK) showed that the incorporated gadolinium ions resulted in an abrupt loss in signal in a zone around each knot. This phenomenon allows the visualization of compression wood known to surround softwood knots. Applications include studies on wood anatomy by MRI and the modeling of wood defects.

18 Randall, Cotton K. 2003. Fire in the wildland-urban interface: understanding fire behavior. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information. 6 p. [Editor’s note: This publication was funded by the National Fire Plan through the USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information.]

Wildland fires pose a serious threat to human life and property when homes are built in fire-prone ecosystems. Developing a basic understanding of the factors that determine wildfire movement and intensity (collectively called fire behavior) will allow homeowners and builders to assess fire hazard on their property and determine what they can do to minimize risk. Research has shown that the most important factors influencing building survival during a wildfire are fire intensity, vegetation characteristics, and building materials (especially roofing). Strategies for protecting homes from wildfires have been developed with these factors in mind. This Extension fact sheet examines factors that affect fire behavior, strategies to reduce fire risk, and examples of risk reduction.

19 Shupe, Todd F.; Groom, Leslie H.; Eberhardt, Thomas L. [and others]. 2006. Mechanical and physical properties of composite panels manufactured from Chinese tallow tree furnish. Forest Products Journal. 56(6): 64-67.

Chinese tallow tree is a noxious, invasive plant in the Southeastern United States. It is generally considered a nuisance and has no current commercial use. The objective of this research was to determine the technical feasibility of using the stem wood of this species for particleboard, fiberboard, and structural flakeboard. Due to its rapid growth, Chinese tallow tree could be a leading raw material for biobased composite panels. This preliminary study indicated that Chinese tallow tree can be successfully used for all three composite panel types to produce panels meeting various American National Standards Institute grades based on modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, and internal bond.

Threats to Forest Health

20 Fraedrich, Stephen W.; Cram, Michelle M.; Zarnoch, Stanley J. 2005. The effect of fallow on Longidorus americanus, a nematode associated with stunting of loblolly pine seedlings in Georgia (USA). Nematology 7 (4): 487-493.

Basic information about soil-borne pests that occur in forest tree nurseries is essential to development of integrated pest management programs. Longidorus americanus is a plant-parasitic nematode that causes severe stunting of loblolly pine seedlings. Field and growth chamber studies determined that population densities of this nematode decreased rapidly in fallow soil in 3 to 4 months, and were not detectible after 9 to 12 months. Longidorus americanus does not survive well in the absence of a host, and the use of fallow may be an acceptable alternative to pesticides for the control of this nematode.

21 Fraedrich, Stephen W.; Dwinell, L. David. 2005. Effects of dazomet, metam sodium, and oxamyl on Longidorus populations and loblolly pine seedling production. Southern Journal of Applied Forestry. 29(3): 117-122.

Soil fumigation with methyl bromide has been a standard practice for control of soil-borne pest problems in forest tree nurseries. The use of methyl bromide is currently being phased out worldwide because the chemical has been implicated in the depletion of stratospheric ozone. We found that alternative fumigants, dazomet and metam sodium, were effective for reducing population densities of a plant-parasitic nematode responsible for stunting loblolly pine seedlings. Pine seedlings produced in nursery beds with the fumigants were significantly larger than those produced in nonfumigated beds. Although fumigation was effective for control of the nematode during the first seedling crop, production of a second crop without additional treatment would be inadvisable because of increases in nematode populations by the end of the first growing season.

22 Riitters, Kurt H.; Wickham, James D.; Wade, Timothy G. 2006. Evaluating ecoregions for sampling and mapping land-cover patterns. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing. 72(7): 781- 788.

An ecoregion is an area defined by biophysical parameters such as climate and topography that contains a distinct assemblage of natural communities. Ecological assessments use ecoregions, like counties and watersheds, as geographic units for sampling and mapping environmental conditions. This research evaluated the use of ecoregions for monitoring forest fragmentation and other land-cover patterns across the lower 48 States. Ecoregions proved effective for explaining the gross regional distribution of dominant land-cover types, but were no more effective than counties or watersheds for explaining the geographic distribution of forest fragmentation or other land-cover patterns.

23 Zurlini, G.; Riitters, K.; Zaccarelli, N. [and others]. 2006. Disturbance patterns in a socio-ecological system at multiple scales. Ecological Complexity. 3: 119-128.

Complexity theory offers potential to understand the dynamics of land use in relation to ecological health in humandominated landscapes, but field tests are required to develop tools and techniques for analysis. This research explored the use of remote sensing to characterize disturbance patterns representing land use changes, and the use of complexity theory to interpret the results. The results indicate that the likelihood and pattern of disturbance have characteristic spatial scales, which, in turn, suggests that the concepts of “scale domains” and “attractors” from complexity theory will help to understand, model, and evaluate the importance of landscape changes over time.

Forest Watershed Science

24 Adams, Susan B.; Warren, Melvin L., Jr. 2005. Recolonization by warmwater fishes and crayfishes after severe drought in upper Coastal Plain hill streams. Transactions of American Fisheries Society. 134: 1173-1192.

An extreme drought in 2000 dried numerous small, normally perennial streams in northern Mississippi. We studied 12 stream reaches where we had predrought data, and sampled the fish and crayfish for one year after the drought. Seven of the reaches had dried during the drought, whereas five remained flowing. Flows resumed in late autumn 2000, and recolonization was slow over the winter. Recolonization increased considerably during early spring 2001; by June, fish abundance, species composition, and species richness and crayfish density in dry sites were similar to predrought values. Although in general the fauna recovered quickly, some lingering effects on fish and crayfish assemblages persisted after one year. The results are useful for understanding and predicting effects of disturbance and habitat fragmentation on stream communities.

25 Sanchez, Felipe Garza; Leggett, Zakiya Holmes; Sankar, Sabapathy. 2005. Analyzing water soluble soil organics as trifluoroacetyl derivatives by liquid state proton nuclear magnetic resonance. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. 36: 2793-2805.

Water soluble organic compounds are important in forests because they provide a food source for soil microbes, assist in cycling nutrients, and help build up carbon in the soil. These organic compounds come primarily from live and dead roots, and decomposing leaves. In order to examine how land management affects carbon and nutrient cycling, we need to be able to determine how the amount and composition of the water soluble organics have been altered. We describe a method by which we can detect amounts as low as a few millionths of a gram and yet maintain the ability to determine the chemical composition of the material.

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