The discovery of emerald ash borer (EAB) in Dutchess County, directly across the Hudson River from a large infestation found two years ago in the City of Kingston and its vicinity, has been confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This marks the first discovery of EAB east of the Hudson.

Ash Tree Killing Insect Now East of the Hudson – NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation

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Understanding the causes and consequences of wildfires in forests of the western United States requires integrated information about fire, climate changes, and human activity on multiple temporal scales. We use sedimentary charcoal accumulation rates to construct long-term variations in fire during the past 3,000 y in the American West and compare this record to independent fire-history data from historical records and fire scars. There has been a slight decline in burning over the past 3,000 y, with the lowest levels attained during the 20th century and during the Little Ice Age (LIA, ca. 1400–1700 CE [Common Era]). Prominent peaks in forest fires occurred during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (ca. 950–1250 CE) and during the 1800s. Analysis of climate reconstructions beginning from 500 CE and population data show that temperature and drought predict changes in biomass burning up to the late 1800s CE. Since the late 1800s , human activities and the ecological effects of recent high fire activity caused a large, abrupt decline in burning similar to the LIA fire decline. Consequently, there is now a forest “fire deficit” in the western United States attributable to the combined effects of human activities, ecological, and climate changes. Large fires in the late 20th and 21st century fires have begun to address the fire deficit, but it is continuing to grow.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112839109

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5. Under the ‘business as usual’ scenario, population models projected a 90% decline in the size of tapped and untapped populations within 50 years and a 50% decline in frankincense yield within 15 years. Model simulations for restoration scenarios revealed that populations and frankincense production could only be sustained with intensive management leading to full sapling recruitment and a 50–75% reduction in adult mortality.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2011.02078.x

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Oak trees “produce huge, abundant amounts one year and not in other years,” Dr. Ashton said. “I don’t think it’s bad — the whole system fluctuates like this.”One theory for why oak trees vary their acorn yield is the so-called predator satiation hypothesis. Under this theory, during bumper years, the trees litter the forest floor with seeds so completely that squirrels, jays, deer and bears cannot possibly eat them all. Then, in off years, the trees ramp down production to keep the predator populations from growing too large to be satiated.But the variability of weather in New York and New England could also be playing a role in the shortage this year.“A lot of it has to do with the initial spring,” Dr. Ashton said. Acorn production is high when “everything converges on a perfect spring.”It takes a red oak 18 months to grow an acorn. The tree is pollinated in the spring of one year, and its acorns drop in the fall of the next year. The rainy spring of 2010 could have dampened the wind-driven transfer of pollen from one tree to another, resulting in the acorn dearth this year.While acorn fluctuation is normal, what is unusual this year is the abundance followed by the steep drop. “In a sense, it’s just another trough,” Dr. Ostfeld said. “But this is the most extreme pair of years that we’ve seen.”Dr. Ostfeld describes acorns as an engine that drives the forest ecosystem. “When that engine is cooking along,” he said, “you get these heavy knock-on effects.”The population of field mice, for instance, exploded this summer. While that was good for the mice, it was bad news for ground-nesting birds like the wood thrush, whose nests are susceptible to rodent predation. In addition, the large numbers of mice caused an increase in the tick population.On the other hand, Dr. Ostfeld said, “when you get a failure of the engine, things just change radically.”Now the field mouse population is expected to crash — about 90 percent have died off in similar glut-dearth acorn sequences in the past. And the outlook is not good for the ground-nesting birds, which face an increased threat from hawks and owls.“The adult wood thrush will take it on the beak by the one-two punch,” Dr. Ostfeld said.

Boom and Bust in Acorns Will Affect Many Creatures, Including Humans – NYTimes.com

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The World Climate Research Programme, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, the International Human Dimensions Programme, and DIVERSITAS: An International Programme of Biodiversity Science, will form part of an integrated strategy on researching environmental change that will include social sciences.Together they will work under a single framework for global environmental change research, to be known as the Earth System Sustainability Initiative (ESSI).Scientists from national scientific bodies representing 140 nations, and 30 international scientific unions, voted yesterday (28 September) to approve the move, which they say is urgently needed to deliver fast and relevant scientific information for human development in the face of multiple threats to the planet.

Major global change research initiatives to join forces – SciDev.Net

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Dutch elm disease (DED) has spread through Europe and North America since the beginning of the twentieth century. In response, several independent genetic improvement programmes for breeding DED-resistant elms have been established on both sides of the Atlantic. Assimilating a wide range of resistant clones of different parentage should help ensure survival of the elm in the event of mutation of the pathogen. The Italian elm breeding programme began in the late 1970s and has recently raised a new variety by crossing a specimen of U. chenmoui with the Dutch hybrid clone ‘405’. This new release, named ‘Morfeo’, is extremely resistant to DED and has an attractive form and foliage. It is also fast-growing, tolerant of drought and soils waterlogged in winter, therefore proving well adapted to the climates of both north-western Europe and the Mediterranean. Following trials in England, ‘Morfeo’ is considered of potential importance in the conservation of several invertebrates endangered by the consequences of DED.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0329.2011.00737.x

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