Forests
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Science magazine posted an interesting story online about wind damage to trees, In the article they claim that research has shown that trees generally all break at wind speeds of 94 mph or higher, although trees can lose branches or tip over at lower speeds, especially if the ground is wet and their root systems…
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SERCH announced in their newsletter today (see earlier post) that their next installment on the climate vulnerabilities of loblobby pines is now available at https://globalchange.ncsu.edu/serch/climate-vulnerabilities-of-loblolly-pine-part-ii-precipitation/. The first part discussed the impacts of rising temperatures; this part describes the impacts of variable precipitation on the trees in the Southeast.
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The US Department of Agriculture has just released a new report on the impacts of drought on forests and rangelands. It includes descriptions of the types of drought, impacts on water supplies and vegetation, and includes information on how to deal with the impacts effectively. You can find it at https://www.fs.fed.us/sites/default/files/DROUGHT_book-web-1-11-16.pdf.
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EarthSky reported recently that 2015 was the worst year on record for wildfires in the United States, based on area covered. Estimates by the National Interagency Fire Center were that more than 10 million acres burned. Many of those were in the western US, which has been plagued by severe drought and high temperatures this…
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The Forest Service’s Southern Research Station has produced a new map for the United States which shows the extent of forested plots that have at least one invasive species present. The study that the map is based on shows that in Southeastern forests, about 39 percent of all the plots tested had at least one…
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According to the Southeast Regional Climate Hub, the PINEMAP DSS (decision support system) is now available online. According to SERCH, it is “a map-based collection of climate and forest productivity web tools designed to provide region-wide information on likely future climate risks, opportunities, and impacts on southern pines at the watershed scale.” The goal is…
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The Southeast Regional Climate Hub has released a new blog post by John Hastings, NCSU, on the impacts of changing climate on loblolly pine in the Southeast. This is the first of a two-part report on climate impacts on the most commercially important tree species in the region. You can read it at https://globalchange.ncsu.edu/serch/climate-vulnerabilities-of-loblolly-pine-part-i-temperature/.