Climate Adaptive Silviculture for the City: Practitioners and Researchers Co-create a Framework for Studying Urban Oak-Dominated Mixed Hardwood Forests

Urban forested natural areas are an important component of the forest and tree canopy in northeastern United States urban areas. Although similar to native forests in surrounding regions in structure, composition, and function, these natural areas are threatened by multiple, co-occurring biological and climate stressors that are exacerbated by the urban environment. Furthermore, forests in cities often lack application of formal silvicultural approaches reliant upon evidence-based applied ecological sciences. These include both urban- and climate-adapted silvicultural techniques to increase the resilience and sustainability of native forests in cities. With this in mind, we convened a group of urban forest practitioners and researchers from along a latitudinal gradient in the northeastern United States to participate in a workshop focused on co-developing long-term, replicated ecological studies that will underlie the basis for potential silvicultural applications to urban forests. In this article we review the process and outcomes of the workshop, including an assessment of forest vulnerability, and adaptive capacity across the region, as well as shared management goals and objectives. We discuss the social and ecological challenges of managing urban oak-dominated mixed hardwood forests relative to non-urban forests and identify potential examples of urban- and climate-adapted silviculture strategies created by practitioners and researchers. In doing so, we highlight the challenges and need for basic and long-term applied ecological research relevant to silvicultural applications in cities.

Spatial dynamics of spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, invasion of the Northeastern United States

Spotted lanternfly (SLF), Lycorma delicatula (White) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), is a non-native planthopper that recently established in the Northeastern United States. Little is known about the spatial dynamics of its invasion and key drivers associated with its regional spread. Here, using field survey data from a total of 241,366 survey locations from 2014–2019 in the eastern USA, we quantified rates of SLF spread and modeled factors associated with the risk of SLF invasion. During the study period, SLF invasion appears to be associated with both short- and long-distance dispersal. On average, the number of newly invaded counties per year increased since initial discovery, with 0–14 long-distance dispersal events per year and median jump distances ranging from 55 to 92 km/year throughout the study period. Radial rates of spread, based on two of the three analysis methods applied, varied from 38.6 to 46.2 km/year. A Cox proportional hazards model suggested that risk of SLF invasion increased with a proxy for human-aided dispersal, human population per county. We anticipate that SLF will continue to spread via both long- and short-distance dispersals, especially via human activities. Efforts to manage SLF populations potentially could target human-mediated movement of SLF to reduce rates of spread.

Fear and voting: Evidence of a threat-opportunity model of citizenship acquisition among lower income immigrants of color beginning the naturalization process

Citizenship acquisition is viewed as the key indicator of political incorporation into US society and one motivated by the desire to formally engage in the civic realm, but we know naturalization is undertaken for many reasons. What we know less about is what motivates particular groups. Through surveying 74 lower socio-economic immigrants of color initiating the naturalization process at free citizenship clinics in the Boston, Massachusetts area in the northeastern United States in fall 2019, we examine the stated motivations to naturalize. The survey data reveal that the desire to engage politically is the most commonly cited primary motivation to naturalize (44%), followed by a desire to feel safer in the US (29%). When looking at primary and secondary motivations, 66% cite the ability to vote, and 59% cite the desire to feel safer. The combined motivations of security and political engagement suggest a “threat-opportunity” model of citizenship acquisition, whereby immigrants assess the external socio-political threats and seek to neutralize them through both naturalizing and then engaging politically to change the environment. At the same time, statistically significant relationships between motivations and ethno-racial group and country of origin suggest additional factors must be examined.

Historical Accounts Provide Inference into Population Dynamics of American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) in the Northeastern USA

ABSTRACT American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) are declining across much of North America, yet the initial timing of the population decrease is unclear. In an attempt to elucidate when kestrel declines began, we examined historical descriptions of abundance within the northeastern United States. Within The Peregrine Fund's research library, we found 54 descriptions of kestrel abundance in northeastern states dating from 1839 to 2013. Our analysis indicates a cubic trend in descriptions of kestrel abundance with a peak occurring in 1951. After that peak, the population began its current decline, yet the population appears to have been stable beforehand. That the current decline is apparent in our data set lends credence to our methodology and suggests that populations were likely secure until approximately 1951. Our results thus suggest that populations of American Kestrels in the northeastern United States began declining before systematic monitoring began in 1966. Future research should thus examine what environmental changes occurred around the early- to mid-20th century in the northeastern USA to cause population declines of American Kestrels.