Category: Forest Inventory & Analysis

A Big-Picture View of the Invasive Plant Problem

by Sarah Workman and Stephanie Worley Firley  • 
Invasive plants are increasingly altering the structure and function of our natural environment, and now researchers have determined how far-reaching the problem has become. According to a study conducted by U.S. Forest Service and university scientists and published in the journal NeoBiota, at least one invasive species is present in 39 percent of forested plots sampled nationwide…  More 

Plant Invasions Across the United States: Patterns and Clues

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Delivery  • 
Garlic mustard, Japanese stiltgrass, Oriental bittersweet, and other non-native invasive plants are creeping across backyards, parks, forests, and roadsides throughout the southeastern U.S. Scientists are still trying to understand what drives their relentless spread. Invasions are often assessed by measuring species richness, or the number of non-native species known to grow in a certain area.…  More 

Carbon Accumulation by U.S. Forests May Slow Over the Next 25 Years

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Currently, the carbon sequestered in U.S. forests partially offsets the nation’s carbon emissions and reduces the overall costs of achieving emission targets to address climate change – but that could change over the next 25 years. The accumulation of carbon stored in U.S. forests may slow in the future, primarily due to land use change…  More 

Longleaf Pine at a 50-Year High in South Carolina

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery  • 
Efforts to restore longleaf pine forests in South Carolina are proving quite successful, according to data published by U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) unit. Longleaf pine forests now occupy less than three percent of an original range estimated at around 92 million acres that once stretched across the coastal plains of…  More 

The Bottomland Forests of the East Coast’s Albemarle Sound

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Delivery  • 
The Albemarle Sound watershed stretches 6 million acres along the North Carolina and Virginia borders. “The Sound contains some of the largest areas of bottomland hardwood habitat in the eastern United States,” says U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) research ecologist Anita Rose. “In a variety of ways, both nature and people depend on…  More 

How Much Carbon is Stored in Mozambique Mangroves?

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery  • 
In an article published online in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, U.S. Forest Service researcher Christina Stringer and collaborators provide the first comprehensive estimate — 14 million megagrams (Mg) or almost 31 trillion pounds — of the carbon sequestered in the mangrove forests of the Zambezi River Delta in Mozambique. More important than the…  More 

Forests of Mississippi, 2014

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery  • 
The U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station recently published Forests of Mississippi, 2014, which provides an overview of forest resources in Mississippi based on inventory conducted by the SRS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) unit in cooperation with the Mississippi Forestry Commission. The estimates in the update are for measurement year 2014 with comparisons made…  More 

Forest Service Funded Outdoor Classroom Recognized by Tennessee Wildlife Federation

by Patty Matteson, SRS Science Delivery  • 
Just steps away from their school, 1,400 students and their teachers at Carpenters Elementary can hunt for crayfish, listen to birds sing, identify trees, and gather plants. Helping children learn about the forest and the importance of natural areas is the premise behind the development of a 16-acre outdoor classroom next to the school in…  More 

Study Finds No Evidence for Widespread Southern Pine Decline

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery  • 
A study by University of Georgia (UGA) and U.S. Forest Service scientists finds that there is no evidence for the widespread occurrence of southern pine decline recently reported as impacting the southern pine region. The results are published online in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. Four southern pine species – loblolly, longleaf, shortleaf, and…  More 

Fusiform Rust Never Sleeps

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
Fusiform rust, a fungal disease caused by Cronartium quercum f. sp. fusiforme, is the most damaging disease of slash and loblolly pines in the southeastern United States. There are currently over 60.3 million acres of slash and loblolly pine timberland in the Southeast, some of the most productive forests in the world. Forest managers rely…  More