Tag: Coastal Plain

Prescribed fire history affects pollinator diversity in southern forests

by Virginia McDaniel, Science Writer  • 
Landscapes with diverse fire histories – or pyrodiverse landscapes – have higher diversity of pollinators, as a recent study by USDA Forest Service scientist Michael Ulyshen shows. The study was published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Tall Timbers Research Station, the study location, is nestled in the Red Hills Ecoregion of the Coastal…  More 

Conserving trees for endangered bats

by Stephanie Siegel, USDA Forest Service Contract Science Writer  • 
Tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) in South Carolina are threatened by habitat loss and white-nose syndrome. New research shows where they roost during winter, and where they and northern yellow bats (Lasiurus intermedius) roost in summer. Northern yellow bats are considered a species a special concern in South Carolina. USDA Forest Service scientist Susan Loeb contributed…  More 

Bat foraging in winter vs summer

by Stephanie Siegel, USDA Forest Service Contract Science Writer  • 
Unlike bats in cold northern regions, bats in the South can be active year-round. However, most studies of bat habitat use have been conducted during the summer, Little is known about winter bat habitat. In summer and winter 2018 and 2019, USDA Forest Service scientist Susan Loeb, Clemson University graduate student Kyle Shute, and his…  More 

Prescribed Fire Effects on Soil Fertility

by Stephanie Siegel, USDA Forest Service contract science writer  • 
USDA Forest Service researcher John Butnor wondered how dormant-season prescribed fire affects forest soil fertility in the months after a burn. Do nutrients from burned pine straw, grasses, and woody debris remain in the forest? Others have studied soil a year or more after a prescribed burn. Butnor’s research compares soil chemistry before burning and…  More 

Translating National Forest Policies to Local Forest Management

by Naomi Cohen-Shields, SRS Science Communications Intern  • 
The USDA Forest Service operates at the national, regional, and local levels and must account for a variety of constraints and considerations across its range. Therefore, national-level priorities may not always translate into local-scale management actions. One example of a Forest Service, National Forest System priority area is carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration is the process…  More 

Longleaf Pine on the Santee Experimental Forest

by Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications  • 
In 1989, South Carolina’s Francis Marion National Forest lost close to a third of its pine and hardwood trees to Hurricane Hugo. USDA Forest Service land managers have spent the last thirty years recovering from that disturbance and working to meet the state’s growing needs for clean water, forest products, recreation areas, and wildlife habitat.…  More 

New Book on Restoring Longleaf Pine Ecosystems

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
A definitive book about longleaf pine ecosystem restoration is now available. Experts from the USDA Forest Service, Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, and many other organizations contributed to the book. Ecological Restoration and Management of Longleaf Pine Forests integrates ecology, hydrology, wildlife, and silviculture. Its seventeen chapters synthesize decades of research on longleaf pine…  More 

Sabbaticals Bring Exciting Innovations to Forest Research

by Teresa Jackson, SRS Public Affairs  • 
Three U.S. Forest Service scientists will be expanding on current research — or focusing on new or emerging research — as recipients of the SRS sabbatical program. The sabbaticals will give these researchers the opportunity to collaborate with researchers from around the world. “The sabbatical will afford each of the scientists an opportunity to be…  More 

Immigration and Reproduction Complicate Coyote Control Programs

by Jennifer Moore Myers and Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Coyotes arrived in the Southeast relatively recently. “Beginning in the early 20th century, coyotes started moving eastward,” says John Kilgo, a research biologist with the U.S. Forest Service. “But they weren’t recorded in South Carolina until the late 1970s.” From an evolutionary perspective, they’ve been incredibly successful. They have become quite common in the Southeast.…  More 

Harvest Disturbance Recovery in Wet Pine Flats

by Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications  • 
Just after Hurricane Hugo roared over the Atlantic coastal plain in 1989, U.S. Forest Service research soil scientist Bill McKee (now retired) visited Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina. Some of its wet pine flats were so badly damaged that they looked like they had been clearcut. McKee was joined by Michael Aust and…  More