Research Highlights
-
Scientists analyzed the success of current native seed supply systems from around the world to provide guidance and inspiration for future native seed markets.Year2024Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Nancy L. Shaw
-
Differences in pollen nutrition among plant species can predict bee visitors and support pollinator diversity.Year2024Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Anthony D. VaudoState(s)NevadaCalifornia
-
Research on Interagency Hotshot Crews using workforce data from 2012 to 2018 found that the more additional days Hot Shots were assigned on fires during the year, the more likely they were to stay on the job.Year2024Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Erin J. Belval
-
Scientists reconstructed the taxonomy of Lamprey using DNA analysisYear2024Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Kellie Carim, Michael K. YoungState(s)Oregon
-
Around the world, forests are critical land-based carbon sinks (places where carbon is pulled from the air and stored). NRS scientists wanted to know if climate change is affecting the productivity of U.S. forests in different regions of the country which could, in turn, decrease their effectiveness as carbon sinks. They used modeling techniques to estimate productivity trends for eastern and western U.S. forests.Year2024Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Grant M. Domke
-
We reviewed the causes of altered fire regimes in sagebrush landscapes, summarized literature on treatments in sagebrush ecosystems that modify 1) shrub fuels, 2) pinyon and juniper canopy fuels, and 3) fine herbaceous fuels, and discussed the effects of these treatments on fuels, fire behavior, and resilience and resistance.Year2024Research Station
-
The ForSys spatial planning system was developed by USDA Forest Service Research and Development to modernize agency tools to prioritize forest and fuel management investments and understand tradeoffs among alternative scenarios.Year2024Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Michelle A. Day, Alan Ager
-
Invasive-dominated grasslands in Hawaiʻi are resilient to disturbance and will take large management inputs to shift to different species assemblages.Year2024Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Stephanie Yelenik, Susan CordellState(s)Hawaii
-
Socially vulnerable communities are disproportionately exposed to water shortages, but the underlying drivers of vulnerability differ substantially across the U.S.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Travis Warziniack, Mike Knowles
-
Pinyon pine seedlings from drier environments have adaptations that may allow them to survive in more stressful environmental conditions.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Alexandra K. Urza, Jeanne C. ChambersState(s)Nevada
-
This first volume field guide summarizes plant, seed, and fruit identification information, general species ecology, and important tips related to seed collection and planting and is designed to aid seed collectors, seed growers, nursery staff, landowners, restoration practitioners, and land managers as they increase the supply and use of native forbs in restoration.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Nancy L. Shaw, Sarah C. Barga
-
After an unusual, late-fall wildfire in a European beech forest in the pre-Alps of northern Italy, the finest roots (0‒0.3 mm diameter) were generally the most responsive to fire, with the effect more pronounced at the shallowest soil depth.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Kasten Dumroese
-
Researchers evaluated the impact of forest management operations on where and how much carbon gets stored in the ecosystem 50 years after treatment in Northern California.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Jianwei Zhang, Deborah S. Page-DumroeseState(s)California
-
Numerous simulation studies reviewed by Forest Service researchers address the question of where, when, and how to implement fuel treatments on fire-prone landscapes.Year2023Research Station
-
Fire has been found to remove the existance of plant-soil feebacks—wherein plants benefit from growing in soils that they have themselves cultured to have specific microbial assemblages—for native Hawaiian trees.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Stephanie YelenikState(s)Hawaii
-
The success of forest restoration seeding efforts after fire in Hawaii are driven by elevation, canopy cover and invasive grasses.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Stephanie YelenikState(s)Hawaii
-
Reducing invasive grass cover by 50% can lead to passive forest regeneration in mesic restoration forests in Hawaiʻi.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Evan Rehm, Stephanie YelenikState(s)Hawaii
-
Gordon Grant, a research hydrologist with the Pacific Northwest Research Station, applied a theory he first developed for rivers to a fundamental problem in predicting the impacts of volcanic eruptions: how much lava is flowing out of a volcano over time. His critical flow theory predicts that the wavelengths of standing waves in both water and lava can be used to estimate the depth and velocity of the flow. A team of scientists tested this idea using data from the 2018 Kilauea eruption in Hawaii and found that their estimates were very close to other flow measurements.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Gordon GrantState(s)OregonHawaii
-
Measuring the potential impact of environmental stressors on natural resources is difficult because it involves complex interactions among environmental factors. To address this challenge, a team of scientists with the Pacific Northwest Research Station and the U.S. Geological Survey used a novel approach to develop a decision-aiding tool that assesses the potential injury to natural resources from the effects of industrial contaminants and pollutants.Year2023Research StationPrincipal Investigator(s): Bruce G. Marcot, Ph.D.State(s)Oregon