Decay, stains, and beetles in ice-storm-damaged forests: A review

2001 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 605-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony A. Hopkin ◽  
Sylvia Greifenhagen ◽  
Jeff Holland

A potential long-term threat to ice-damaged forests exists from decays, stains, and wood-boring insects. Damage to large branches or to the main stem can result in heartwood decay, particularly in older or less healthy trees. However, in branch stubs with a diameter of less than 7.5 cm, decay progresses to only a limited degree. Stem damage is not usual after ice storms. However, sunscald is common in sugar maple stands with damaged crowns, sometimes resulting in infection by the sap rot fungus Cerrena unicolor. Fungi of the genera Ophiostoma, Ceratocystis and Ceratocystiopsis (blue stains) can cause significant staining to standing timber in damaged softwood stands; however, these fungi do not cause structural damage. Bark beetles (scolytidae) and wood-borers (buprestidae and cerambycidae), which attack damaged trees in northeastern North America are normally secondary invaders. However, thinning of the canopy from ice damage could cause increased infestation by these insects. Key words: ice storm, decay, fungi, beetle

1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 1157-1159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Melancon ◽  
Martin J. Lechowicz

A severe glaze ice storm had greater destructive impact on Fagus grandifolia than on codominant Acer saccharum trees in a mature southern Quebec forest. Both the numbers and total biomass of major branches lost by beech were significantly greater than by sugar maple compared with the contribution of each species to the canopy composition. This greater ice damage to beech suggests that reciprocal replacement processes involving beech and maple seedlings cannot completely account for the maintenance of beech–maple codominance in northern forests subject to relatively frequent ice storms. We hypothesize that the ability of beech to root sprout is important in compensating for its greater susceptibility to ice damage and contributes to the maintenance of beech–maple codominance in northern forests.


2007 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 1423-1437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles C. Ryerson ◽  
Allan C. Ramsay

Abstract Freezing precipitation is a persistent winter weather problem that costs the United States millions of dollars annually. Costs and infrastructure disruption may be greatly reduced by ice-storm warnings issued by the National Weather Service (NWS), and by the development of climatologies that allow improved design of infrastructure elements. However, neither the NWS nor developers of climatologies have had direct measurements of ice-storm accumulations as a basis for issuing warnings and developing storm design standards. This paper describes the development of an aviation routine/special weather report (METAR/SPECI) remark that will report quantitative ice thickness at over 650 locations during ice storms using new algorithms developed for the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS). Characteristics of the ASOS icing sensor, a field program to develop the algorithms, tests of accuracy, application of the algorithms, and sources of error are described, as is the implementation of an ice-thickness METAR/SPECI remark. The algorithms will potentially allow freezing precipitation events to be tracked with regard to ice accumulation in near–real time as they progress across the United States.


Author(s):  
Kateryna Davydenko

Pine bark beetles are typically associated with complexes of fungi that could reveal different functional interaction. Thus, previously nonaggressive bark beetle Ips acuminatus is considering now to be among the most serious pests of pine forest in Ukraine and other European countries and vectored fungal community is very important to assess total harm of this bark beetle. The aim of this study was to reveal the vectored fungal community associated with the pine engraver beetle, I. acuminatus with special emphasis on pathogenic fungi for further evaluation of harm bark-beetle - fungi association for Ukrainian forest. In total, 288 adult beetles were collected from Scots pine trees at six different sites through Ukraine. DNA sequencing as fungal culturing from all beetles resulted in 1681 isolates and amplicons representing 42 fungal taxa. NCBI BLAST search revealed that the overall fungal community was composed of 94 species, of which 80.85% were Ascomycota, followed by Basidiomycota and unidentified fungal group, which accounted for 10.6% and 8.5 % of the total sequences, respectively. Among these, the most commonly detected fungi for pooling dataset were Sphaeropsis sapinea (23.6%), Cladosporium pini-ponderosae (19.44%), Ophiostoma ips (19.1%), Ophiostoma canum (19.1%) and Cladobotryum mycophilum (18.06%). In the pooled dataset of isolates and amplicons for each site, Shannon diversity indices ranged between 1.9 and 2.9 while Simpson diversity index varied between 0.69 and 0.89 indicating rich species diversity. In total twelve ophiostomatoid species were detected. All ophiostomatoid fungi were showing varying degrees of virulence and O. minus was the most aggressive fungus in previous studies. It is concluded that I. acuminatus vectors a species-rich fungal community including pathogens such as ophiostomatoid fungi, Sphaeropsis sapinea, different needle pathogens and wood decay fungi that seems to be very important for the assessment of threat of I. acuminatus to the pine forest in Ukraine.


2008 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1084-1089 ◽  
Author(s):  
H K Genant ◽  
C G Peterfy ◽  
R Westhovens ◽  
J-C Becker ◽  
R Aranda ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gema Trigos-Peral ◽  
Orsolya Juhász ◽  
Péter János Kiss ◽  
Gábor Módra ◽  
Anna Tenyér ◽  
...  

Abstract Climate change is one of the major threats to biodiversity, but its impact varies among the species. Bark beetles (Ips spp.), as well as other wood-boring pests of European forests, show escalating numbers in response to the changes driven by climate change and seriously affect the survival of the forests through the massive killing of trees. Many methods were developed to control these wood-boring beetles, however, their implementation can be detrimental for other forest specialists. Ants are widely used for biological pest-control, so in our study, we aimed to test the effect of F. polyctena on the control of the wood-boring beetles. The results show that the proportion of infested trees is significantly reduced by the increase of the number of F. polyctena nests, with a strong effect on Ips species. We also show that the boring beetle community is shaped by different biotic and abiotic factors, including the presence of F. polyctena nests. However, the boring beetle infestation was not related to the latitude, altitude and age of the forests. Based on our results, we assert the effectiveness of the red wood ants as biological pest control and the importance of their conservation to keep the health of the forests.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. e665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Pawlitzki ◽  
Marc Horbrügger ◽  
Kristian Loewe ◽  
Jörn Kaufmann ◽  
Roland Opfer ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe visual pathway is commonly involved in multiple sclerosis (MS), even in its early stages, including clinical episodes of optic neuritis (ON). The long-term structural damage within the visual compartment in patients with ON, however, is yet to be elucidated.ObjectiveOur aim was to characterize visual system structure abnormalities using MRI along with optical coherence tomography (OCT) and pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (VEPs) depending on a single history of ON.MethodsTwenty-eight patients with clinically definitive MS, either with a history of a single ON (HON) or without such history and normal VEP findings (NON), were included. OCT measures comprised OCT-derived peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and macular ganglion cell/inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness. Cortical and global gray and white matter, thalamic, and T2 lesion volumes were assessed using structural MRI. Diffusion-weighted MRI-derived measures included fractional anisotropy (FA), mean (MD), radial (RD), and axial (AD) diffusivity within the optic radiation (OR).ResultsMean (SD) duration after ON was 8.3 (3.7) years. Compared with the NON group, HON patients showed significant RNFL (p = 0.01) and GCIPL thinning (p = 0.002). OR FA (p = 0.014), MD (p = 0.005), RD (p = 0.007), and AD (p = 0.004) were altered compared with NON. Global gray and white as well as other regional gray matter structures did not differ between the 2 groups.ConclusionA single history of ON induces long-term structural damage within the retina and OR suggestive of both retrograde and anterograde neuroaxonal degeneration.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 861-862
Author(s):  
Scott W. Bailey ◽  
Robert P. Long ◽  
Stephen B. Horsley

Cleavitt et al. (2018, Can. J. For. Res. 48(1): 23–31, doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2017-0233 ) report a lack of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) regeneration in Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF), Watershed 5 (W5), following whole-tree clearcut harvesting and purport that harvesting-induced soil calcium depletion contributed to regeneration failure of this species. In New England, clearcutting is a silvicultural strategy used to promote less tolerant species, especially birch (Betula spp.; Marquis (1969), Birch Symposium Proceedings, USDA Forest Service; Leak et al. (2014), doi: 10.2737/NRS-GTR-132 ), which is just the outcome that the authors report. While this study reports an impressive, long-term data set, given broad interest in sugar maple and sustainability of forest management practices, we feel that it is critical to more fully explore the role of nutrition on sugar maple dynamics, both prior to and during the experiment, and to more fully review the scientific record on the role of whole-tree clearcutting in nutrient-induced sugar maple dynamics.


2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1295-1307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Long ◽  
Stephen B. Horsley ◽  
Thomas J. Hall

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) is a keystone species in the northern hardwood forest, and decline episodes have negatively affected the growth and health of sugar maple in portions of its range over the past 50+ years. Crown health, growth, survival, and flower and seed production of sugar maple were negatively affected by a widespread decline event in the mid-1980s on the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau in northern Pennsylvania. A long-term liming study was initiated in 1985 to evaluate responses to a one-time application of 22.4 Mg·ha–1 of dolomitic limestone in four northern hardwood stands. Over the 23-year period ending in 2008, sugar maple basal area increment (BAINC) increased significantly (P ≤ 0.05) in limed plots from 1995 through 2008, whereas American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) BAINC was unaffected. For black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.), the third principal overstory species, BAINC and survival were reduced in limed plots compared with unlimed plots. Foliar Ca and Mg remained significantly higher in sugar maple foliage sampled 21 years after lime application, showing persistence of the lime effect. These results show long-term species-specific responses to lime application.


2018 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 01042
Author(s):  
Earl Shadd D. Araña, ◽  
Leira Liz A. Bisain ◽  
Rae Cecil N. Acedera ◽  
John Elmer C. Guillermo ◽  
Albert A. Griño

Vibration is one of the main factors for fatigue in structures which can cause damages such as cracks and in critical cases could result to collapse. Long term contact to vibrations can induce the cracks to be transmitted through the structural members of the building that can compromise the structural integrity of the structure. The Ozanam Building of Adamson University is situated near the Romualdez Street, which is considered as one of the main routes of cargo trucks and other heavy vehicles from the Manila North Harbor Port. It was observed that cracks were visible on the façade of the building. For that reason, the structural integrity of Ozanam Building was evaluated against the traffic-induced vibrations using vibration meter. It was found out that the maximum peak particle velocity present in Ozanam Building is 8.60 mm/s which means that the building is safe and below the threshold value for risk in structural damage. Thus, vibration due to traffic has no significant effect that can cause structural damage to the building. In addition, preventive measures were discussed in this paper to reduce the traffic-induced vibrations to an acceptable level.


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