Friday, August 9, 2019

"White Oak(Quercus alba) dominated the pre-European settlement(prior to 1780's) forests of southwestern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and central West Virginia"..........."20th century reduction in fire frequency resulted in reduced oak abundance and accelerated recruitment of fire intolerant species such as Red Maple(Acer rubrum"..................."Based on witness tree data, the presettlement forests were primarily oak forests"........... "White oak was dominant by a large margin; on average, black oak was the second most abundant species and, notably, much more important than northern red oak".......... "Shade tolerant species, particularly red maple, were much less abundant than in current inventories"................"For the one area where size distribution data are available, the structure of this forest suggests a variable disturbance regime that allowed trees of all shade tolerances and growth strategies to occupy the overstory"................"For the counties of this study, forest clearing was at least initially more closely tied to early settlement patterns and local economies"................"Although some intensive logging occurred in the study area in connection with the charcoal industry and the extension of the railroads, the processes of forest clearing for agriculture, fire, and grazing were well underway by the time the most intensive logging operations of the late 1800s occurred elsewhere in the region"..............."Thus human disturbances began earlier, lasted longer, and varied in intensity; but their impact on forest composition was no less significant, and continued into the early 20th century when clearing of second growth forests, as well as invasive insects and disease, further altered forest composition and structure"............... "By the time of the most current forest inventories, significant shifts in species composition and dominance became evident"............."This change was marked by a significant increase in early successional species such as yellow-poplar, red maple, and black cherry that thrived in a high light environment where a combination of fire suppression, deer herbivory, and high levels of understory shade had reduced the potential for oak success"

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http://community.wvu.edu/~jrentch2/pub4.pdf Changes in Presettlement Forest Composition for Five Areas in the Central Hardwood Forest, 17...
Thursday, August 8, 2019

"The longleaf pine forest ecosystem of the southeastern USA depends on frequent fire to maintain their structure and the unique diversity of plants and animals they support"............. "Longleaf pine forests once covering 90 million acres stretching from Virginia to Texas are now found on only about 3 percent of their original range"............"It thrives in a southern pine savanna—a sandy, dry environment that frequently burns. It's more grassland than a forest"............. "The habitat supports a diverse wildlife suite, the red-cockaded woodpecker, its iconic, keystone bird species"......... "They're one of the few woodpeckers that nest in live trees, making longleaf pines a perfect match as they are susceptible to red heart fungus, which decays the heartwood of living pines"............."That makes it an ideal feeding ground for Cockaded-woodpeckers, which excavate the cavities in live trees"..........."At least 27 species of vertebrates have been documented using abandoned red-cockaded cavities including wood ducks, flying squirrels, redbellied woodpeckers, redheaded woodpeckers, eastern bluebirds, brown-headed nuthatches, tufted titmice and great crested flycatchers.

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http://peninsularfloridalcc.org/profiles/blogs/red-cockaded-woodpecker-a-rare-bird-s-stronghold-in-longleaf-pine https://phys.org/news/20...
Tuesday, August 6, 2019

500 FOOT WINDMILLS, SOLAR PANEL FARMS AND ELECTRIC CARS ARE THE FARTHEST THING FROM GOING GREEN—MORE LIKE GOING DESTRUCTIVE!............"A single electric-car battery weighs about 1,000 pounds".........."Fabricating one requires digging up, moving and processing more than 500,000 pounds of raw materials somewhere on the planet".............."The alternative? Use gasoline and extract one-tenth as much total tonnage to deliver the same number of vehicle-miles over the battery’s seven-year life"................"Building one wind turbine requires 900 tons of steel, 2,500 tons of concrete and 45 tons of non-recyclable plastic"............."Solar power requires even more cement, steel and glass— not to mention other metals".............."Global silver and indium mining will jump 250% and 1,200% respectively over the next couple of decades to provide the materials necessary to build the number of solar panels, the International Energy Agency forecasts"..............."Building enough wind turbines to supply half the world’s electricity would require nearly two billion tons of coal to produce the concrete and steel, along with two billion barrels of oil to make the composite blades"............."More than 90% of the world’s solar panels are built in Asia on coal-heavy electric grids". "Until we truly come up with a real green energy alternative, nuclear power, gas, coal, oil and wood destroy much less of the planet than the delusions screamed at us by so many "carnival barker" politicians"

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-you-want-renewable-energy-get-ready-to-dig-11565045328 If You Want ‘Renewable Energy,’ Get Ready to Di...
Monday, August 5, 2019

Well-manicured grass lawns have long been associated with the American Dream, but a growing "rewilding" movement now seeks to reclaim yard space for nature............My own California yard is now a CERTIFIED WILDLIFE HABITAT as defined by the National Wildlife Federation, offering food, cover, water and a place to raise young....................By ripping out a good 40% of my front and back lawn and planting native trees, shrubs and flowers, the quality of my yard's habitat changed, attracting mammals, birds, reptiles and pollinators............It is fair to note that overcoming the American tradition of having a lawn in favor of letting nature take its course is not always an easy sell to your neighbors………….I am here to tell you that it is well worth the effort—for them, you and the creatures that we live among

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click on link to read full article https://phys.org/news/2019-08-wild-ungardening-root-america.html music from the 1970's capturing ...
Friday, August 2, 2019

Wherever they have all existed through the millenia together, Wolves, Pumas and Elk have all thrived.............A new Study depicts how Elk optimize their chances of survival by understanding the locales and times of day when their life-long predators hunt and sleep............"In the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, Cougars hunt mainly in forested, rugged areas at night, whereas wolves hunt mainly in grassy, flat areas during morning and at dusk".................."Elk sidestep both cougars and wolves by selecting for areas outside these high-risk domains, namely forested, rugged areas during daylight when cougars were resting, and grassy, flat areas at night when wolves were snoozing"..............."The bottom line is the ability for elk to coexist with wolves and cougars is consistent with their "long, shared evolutionary history"

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https://phys.org/news/2019-08-cougars-wolves-yellowstone-elk-threats.html AUGUST 2, 2019 Fearing cougars more than wolves, Yellowst...
Thursday, August 1, 2019

The Appalachian mixed mesophytic forest—A USA biodiversity gem!

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http://www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu/tbw/OLD/soils.veg.fall.2016/lecture.outlines/ecology.chap.24/temperate.forests/mixed_mesophytic_forest.htm ...