A model of spread and intensification of dwarf mistletoe infection in young western hemlock stands

1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Bloomberg ◽  
R. B. Smith ◽  
A. Van Der Wereld

The following relationships were quantified in a mathematical computer model to predict spread and intensification of dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobiumtsugense (Rosendahl) G. N. Jones) infection, originating from residual trees, in regeneration of western hemlock (Tsugaheterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.): distribution of dwarf mistletoe infections in residual source trees, dwarf mistletoe seed production, escape from crown and dispersal, interception of seeds by neighboring trees, distribution of seeds within crowns, development of dwarf mistletoe infections, mortality of plants, and tree crown growth. The model included options for thinning or sanitation by removal of infected residual or regeneration trees. Predictions by the model for a 10-year period did not differ significantly (p = 0.05) from results of a field plot with respect to average number of infections per tree, percentage of infections at 1-m distances from the residual tree, and percentage of infections in each quadrant centered on residual source tree. Predictions of the effects of stocking density and sanitation or thinning on infection agreed with results obtained from experiments with other tree species.

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Smith

Development of dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobiumtsugense (Rosendahl) G.N. Jones) on 51 western hemlock (Tsugaheterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) trees planted in 1963 at varying distances from an infected residual tree is described. Distribution of infections in the planted trees related directly to seed-dispersal patterns, i.e., it was influenced mainly by distance and direction from the infected residual. Factors controlling the numbers of infections produced included the amount of throughfall and winter depredation of seed, germination, and infection success. From an initial dispersal of 100 seeds, an average of 37 attached firmly and were retained on the branches the next spring, 23 germinated, and 13 caused infection. The influence of early autumn frosts, death of established infections, and variation in resistance levels in the trees on the ultimate number of functioning infections is documented. It was concluded that with early removal of the overstory source, levels of infection sufficiently high to cause significant early damage on all intervening regeneration would result with about 86 evenly scattered, severely infected residuals per hectare.


1956 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Lyons

The seed capacity of red pine cones varies from about 30 to over 110, depending on the size of the cone and its position in the tree crown, and is determined by the number of ovules that are structurally complete at the time of pollination. These ovules occur in a central "productive" region and constitute less than one-half of the total. The remaining ovules, most: of which are in the proximal part of the cone, never become structurally perfect, and do not contribute to seed production. Abortion of ovules in the productive region usually reduces seed production efficiency to 50–60%, and is accompanied mainly by withering of the nucellus in the first year and failure to produce archegonia early in the second year. The extent of ovule abortion during the first year varies indirectly with cone size, seed capacity, and height in tree.


1970 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 1-99
Author(s):  
Svend Th. Andersen

The present work deals primarily with a determination of the relative pollen productivity of various trees from North Europe by means of their representation in pollen analyses of surface samples from forests, with the aim to calculate correction factors for pollen diagrams.Surface samples from 2 forests in Denmark were examined. The forest composition was determined by tree crown areas and tree basal areas in small sample plots. The relation of the tree crown areas to the tree basal areas was determined for the various tree species, and the data for crown area composition, basal area composition and tree frequency were compared.The pollen preservation in the various surface samples was examined.Data on wind conditions are mentioned in the chapter about pollen dispersal in the forest, and the various modes of pollen transfer are discussed. The amount of exotic pollen in the samples is used as a calculation basis for the tree pollen frequencies, and the occurrence and composition of the exotic pollen is discussed.The relationship of the forest composition to the tree pollen deposition is discussed. Pollen deposition and pollen productivity is expressed by a regression equation. The relative pollen productivity of the tree species is expressed in relation to a reference species, in the present case Fagus silvatica. Pollen representation and relative pollen representation are determined by a comparison of pollen percentages with percentages for areal frequency.Pollen productivity factors, pollen representation and correction factors were determined for Danish species of Quercus, Betula, Alnus, Carpinus, Ulmus, Fagus, Tilia and Fraxinus by means of the pollen frequencies in the surface samples. Corrected pollen percentages were compared with the tree areal percentages in the sample plots. Data for the pollen frequencies of forest plants other than the trees are presented. The data on trees from Denmark are compared with other data from Northern Europe, and correction factors were calculated for species of Pinus, Picea and Abies.Tree pollen spectra from outside the forest are discussed and the relative pollen representation is calculated. The present calculations of the relative pollen productivity of the trees are compared with previous estimates, and the application of the correction factors to pollen diagrams is discussed.


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e6227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Dalponte ◽  
Lorenzo Frizzera ◽  
Damiano Gianelle

An international data science challenge, called National Ecological Observatory Network—National Institute of Standards and Technology data science evaluation, was set up in autumn 2017 with the goal to improve the use of remote sensing data in ecological applications. The competition was divided into three tasks: (1) individual tree crown (ITC) delineation, for identifying the location and size of individual trees; (2) alignment between field surveyed trees and ITCs delineated on remote sensing data; and (3) tree species classification. In this paper, the methods and results of team Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM) are presented. The ITC delineation (Task 1 of the challenge) was done using a region growing method applied to a near-infrared band of the hyperspectral images. The optimization of the parameters of the delineation algorithm was done in a supervised way on the basis of the Jaccard score using the training set provided by the organizers. The alignment (Task 2) between the delineated ITCs and the field surveyed trees was done using the Euclidean distance among the position, the height, and the crown radius of the ITCs and the field surveyed trees. The classification (Task 3) was performed using a support vector machine classifier applied to a selection of the hyperspectral bands and the canopy height model. The selection of the bands was done using the sequential forward floating selection method and the Jeffries Matusita distance. The results of the three tasks were very promising: team FEM ranked first in the data science competition in Task 1 and 2, and second in Task 3. The Jaccard score of the delineated crowns was 0.3402, and the results showed that the proposed approach delineated both small and large crowns. The alignment was correctly done for all the test samples. The classification results were good (overall accuracy of 88.1%, kappa accuracy of 75.7%, and mean class accuracy of 61.5%), although the accuracy was biased toward the most represented species.


1977 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 891-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. K. KROGMAN ◽  
E. H. HOBBS

In field plot experiments conducted in southern Alberta over a 6-yr period, highest seed yields of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. cv. Beaver) were obtained with one or two irrigations in the first half of the growing season. In outdoor lysimeters protected from rain, moisture stress for more than 8 days before seed ripening severely reduced seed production. Under field conditions, stored soil moisture from irrigation during the vegetative stage of growth plus occasional rain in July and August permitted irrigation of alfalfa for seed to be stopped at the bud to early bloom stage (June to early July).


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Maschler ◽  
Clement Atzberger ◽  
Markus Immitzer

Knowledge of the distribution of tree species within a forest is key for multiple economic and ecological applications. This information is traditionally acquired through time-consuming and thereby expensive field work. Our study evaluates the suitability of a visible to near-infrared (VNIR) hyperspectral dataset with a spatial resolution of 0.4 m for the classification of 13 tree species (8 broadleaf, 5 coniferous) on an individual tree crown level in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve ‘Wienerwald’, a temperate Austrian forest. The study also assesses the automation potential for the delineation of tree crowns using a mean shift segmentation algorithm in order to permit model application over large areas. Object-based Random Forest classification was carried out on variables that were derived from 699 manually delineated as well as automatically segmented reference trees. The models were trained separately for two strata: small and/or conifer stands and high broadleaf forests. The two strata were delineated beforehand using CHM-based tree height and NDVI. The predictor variables encompassed spectral reflectance, vegetation indices, textural metrics and principal components. After feature selection, the overall classification accuracy (OA) of the classification based on manual delineations of the 13 tree species was 91.7% (Cohen’s kappa (κ) = 0.909). The highest user’s and producer’s accuracies were most frequently obtained for Weymouth pine and Scots Pine, while European ash was most often associated with the lowest accuracies. The classification that was based on mean shift segmentation yielded similarly good results (OA = 89.4% κ = 0.883). Based on the automatically segmented trees, the Random Forest models were also applied to the whole study site (1050 ha). The resulting tree map of the study area confirmed a high abundance of European beech (58%) with smaller amounts of oak (6%) and Scots pine (5%). We conclude that highly accurate tree species classifications can be obtained from hyperspectral data covering the visible and near-infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Our results also indicate a high automation potential of the method, as the results from the automatically segmented tree crowns were similar to those that were obtained for the manually delineated tree crowns.


1989 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-195
Author(s):  
F. A. Baker ◽  
K. Knowles ◽  
T. R. Meyer ◽  
D. W. French

The ethylene-releasing chemical Cerone was applied in early August to two strands of jack pine infested with the lodgepole pine dwarf mistletoe in northwestern Manitoba. Nine weeks after aerial application, Cerone failed to cause appreciable abscission of dwarf mistletoe aerial shoots, while almost 90% of the aerial shoots on branches treated from the ground had abscised. Ground application of Cerone could reduce spread of dwarf mistletoe by limiting seed production. Key Words: Arceuthobium, jack pine, chemical control


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