Forestry is the art, science, and practice of studying and managing forests and plantations, and related natural resources. Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests. Modern forestry generally concerns itself with assisting forests to provide timber as raw material for wood products; wildlife habitat; natural water quality regulation; recreation; landscape and community protection; employment; aesthetically appealing landscapes; and a 'sink' for atmospheric carbon dioxide. A practitioner of forestry is known as a forester.
Forests have come to be seen as one of the most important components of the biosphere, and forestry has emerged as a vital field of science, applied art, and technology.
What foresters do
Foresters may be employed by industry, government agencies, conservation groups, urban parks boards, citizens' associations, or private landowners. Industrial foresters are predominantly involved in planning the timber harvests and forest regeneration. Other foresters have the specific jobs which include a broad array of responsibilities. For example, urban foresters work within city environments to enhance urban trees with their unique needs. Some foresters work in tree nurseries growing seedlings for regeneration projects. Others are involved with tree genetics or developing new building systems as forest engineers. The profession has expanded to include a wide diversity of jobs, typically requiring a college bachelor's degree up to the PhD level for highly specialized areas of work.
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USDA Agricultural Research ServiceSweetpotatoes Get High-Tech Help Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:45:00 -0500
ARS computational molecular biologist Brian
Scheffler is heading an effort to create a genomics toolkit to help plant
breeders develop new varieties of sweetpotato, the world's seventh most
important food crop. Click the image for more information about
it.
Discovery may solve
devastating rust fungus issue for bean growers
Sweet potato puree adds
to bottom line
State-of-the-art
technology being applied to agricultural problems
Sweetpotatoes Get High-Tech Help
By Jan Suszkiw
November 5, 2009 An Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
computational molecular biologist in Mississippi is launching a project to
create a genomics toolkit to help plant breeders develop new varieties of
sweetpotato.
Brian
Scheffler and his colleagues will use the state-of-the-art equipment at the
ARS Genomics
and Bioinformatics Research Unit in Stoneville, Miss., to develop and
locate DNA markers on the 90 chromosomes of sweetpotato.
Sweetpotato, the worlds seventh most important food crop, is extremely
important to global food security, according to Scheffler. Yet very little
genomics information is available in a form that sweetpotato breeders can use
to develop new varieties for enhanced nutrition or improved resistance to
stresses brought about by climate change, adverse environmental conditions, or
pests and diseases.
Scheffler will receive $120,000 in funding through the agencys 2010
T.W. Edminster Award to pay for a two-year postdoctoral research associate to
work with him on the sweetpotato project. The award, named for a former ARS
administrator, enables postdoctoral researchers to work closely with
experienced scientists in their fields of interest, as well as conduct
high-priority research on pressing agricultural issues. The Edminster Award is
presented to the highest-ranked research proposal among 50 proposals selected
for funding through ARS annual Postdoctoral Research Associates Program.
ARS scientists submitted 450 proposals to this years program.
In addition to creating genetic maps of sweetpotato, Scheffler and his
postdoctoral associate will use a high-throughput DNA sequencer to develop a
sweetpotato microarray for studying where, when and how certain genes are
expressed. Of particular interest are genes affecting rhizome (underground
stem) production in sweetpotato, especially during stress related to
environmental factors such as drought.
The markers, microarrays and gene expression data will constitute the
tools in the genomics toolkit, and should enable sweetpotato
breeders to speed their identification and integration of important new traits
into their elite breeding lines.
In addition to providing funding for Schefflers project, this
years ARS Postdoctoral
Research Associates Program will fund projects on assessing host
specificity in aphid parasitoids, developing novel controls for stable flies,
and improving drought tolerance in wheat.
ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The
sweetpotato project supports the USDA research priority of ensuring
international food security.
Spread of Western Juniper Seeds Studied Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:54:00 -0500
ARS ecologist William S. Longland is trying to
determine what gives western juniper a competitive advantage in the
environment. Photo courtesy of Joseph M. DiTomaso, University of California
- Davis, Bugwood.org
Animation of "giant
reed" plant may speed its demise
Cheatgrass' success
secret revealed
Beneficial beetles battle
pesky saltcedar
Spread of Western Juniper Seeds Studied
By Marcia Wood
November 4, 2009
Aromatic, evergreen foliage and plump, dusty-blue to nearly purple berries make western juniper appealing, whether it's a small shrub or a lofty tree. The trouble is, during the past 100 years or so, some once-open western juniper woodlands in this species' native range of California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho and Washington have become dense stands.
The result is that fire-danger ratings can skyrocket, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) ecologist William S. Longland at the agency's Exotic and Invasive Weeds Research Unit in Reno, Nev. What's more, the stands crowd out tasty, nutritious understory plants that cattle and wildlife could otherwise graze or browse.
This year, Longland developed new studies to determine whether a natural process known as diplochory gives western juniper a competitive advantage. In published research, Longland explains that diplochory is a two-step process in which seeds are handily dispersed by two different sets of "agents."
In the first step of what could turn out to be diplochory in western juniper, birds such as robins and Townsend's solitaires pluck western juniper's chunky berries from its branches, then fly away to places where they can safely eat their prize—the berry's fleshy fruit that surrounds its small, hard seed. This feeding helps survival of the seed by moving it away from the competition of the parent trees.
Seeds that birds swallow may pass through their digestive systems, land on the ground, and, in what may be the second phase of diplochory, be carried away and buried by small mammals like deer mice or kangaroo rats. Burying hides the seeds from other seed-eaters and helps the seeds germinate.
In a preliminary study, Longland's network of motion- or heat-sensor-activated cameras captured real-time snapshots of birds and mammals holding juniper berries or seeds in their beaks or paws. Though these caught-in-the-act candids strongly suggest diplochory at work, more evidence is needed. That might come from follow-up research by Longland and co-investigators Steve Vander Wall of the University of Nevada-Reno and Diana Hiibel of the Reno-based Animal Ark Wildlife Sanctuary.
ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Reducing Agriculture's Climate Change Footprint Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:31:00 -0500
Read the
magazine
story to find out more.
ARS soil scientist Jane Johnson is looking for
practical ways to keep carbon in the soil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
from agricultural production. Click the image for more information about
it.
No-till shows benefits
when switching from grasses to corn
More about no-till and
greenhouse gas emissions
Giving farmers credit for
carbon
Searching for Ways to Reduce Agriculture's Climate
Change Footprint
By Dennis
O'Brien
November 3, 2009 Curbing greenhouse gas emissions
from cultivated fields may require going beyond cutting back on nitrogen
fertilizer and changing crop rotation cycles, according to research by
Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists.
Jane
Johnson, a soil scientist at the ARS
North
Central Soil Conservation Research Laboratory in Morris, Minn., is looking
for practical ways to keep carbon in the soil and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
In a comprehensive study, she raised corn, soybean, wheat and alfalfa in
rotation so that each crop grew in the same year, on plots treated with and
without fertilizer. She also used a less-aggressive tillage system known as
strip tillage, in which only narrow bands of soil are tilled instead of an
entire field. For comparison, she replicated the cropping system adopted by
many Minnesota farmers-raising corn and soybeans in a two-year cycle on
fertilized plots tilled with a chisel or moldboard plow.
She used a hydraulic soil probe to measure the organic carbon sequestered in
the soil, and closed-vented chambers to measure emissions of carbon dioxide,
methane, and nitrous oxide. She found that when measured over the course of a
year, greenhouse gas releases were largely the same under two-year and
four-year rotation systems, and that applying nitrogen fertilizer had less
overall impact than anticipated on nitrous oxide emissions. Nitrous oxide
emissions peaked during spring thaws when the sun warmed the soil, regardless
of which tillage or rotation system was used.
Chisel and moldboard plowing increased carbon dioxide emissions for a short
time. But measured over the course of a year, carbon dioxide emissions were no
different from plots with intensive tillage than plots without it. She also
found no consistent patterns to methane releases.
Johnson's work is part of a five-year ARS project known as
GRACEnet
(Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network) in
which researchers at more than 32 sites are examining strategies to help reduce
agriculture's climate change footprint. The project supports the
U.S. Department of
Agriculture priority of responding to climate change.
Read
more about this research in the November/December 2009 issue of
Agricultural Research magazine.
ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.
USDA - National Agricultural Statistics Service ReportsDairy Products PricesCheddar Cheese prices received for US 40 pound Blocks averaged $1.47 per pound for the week ending October 31....
Dairy Products PricesCheddar Cheese prices received for US 40 pound Blocks averaged $1.45 per pound for the week ending October 24....
Agricultural PricesOctober Farm Prices Received Index Increased 9 Points. Prices Paid Index Unchanged....
Crop ProgressNASS releases Crop Progress and Condition Estimates...
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Evaluating the Forest Stewardship Program Through a National Survey of Participating Forest Land Owners - A study to determine if US Forest Stewardship Plans are meeting their purpose.
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Institute for Commercial Forestry Research - South African research and publications services. Free to sponsoring companies.
Lithuanian Forest Inventory and Management Institute - About forest management activities in the country. Includes statistics and links. In English and Lithuanian.
Resource Unit for Participatory Forestry - RUPFOR is a neutral multistakeholders' forum promoting interaction among various stakeholders in participatory forestry in India.
Seawater Forests Initiative - Promoting the development of mangrove forests, as a sustainable and environmentally beneficial enterprise for economic development of coastal desert regions. Mission statement, press releases, contacts.
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SExI Forest Simulator - Spatially Explicit Individual-based Forest Simulator (SExI-FS). Describes software to simulate tree and forest growth, including graphical representation on screen.
Texas Forest Service - Statewide leadership and professional assistance for the state's forest, tree, and related natural resources.
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The Champion Tree Project, International - Works to preserve the biggest, best, tallest, strongest, and eldest representatives of Earth's largest plants.
Theory on Harvesting in Small Scale Forestry - Describes the alternative methods to clear cutting, known as selective felling, or as uneven aged forest management.
Meta Description: [ Theory on Harvesting in Small-Scale Forestry under sustained yield restriction. A matrix approach to harvesting in Forestry. A Matrix approch to population dynamics in forestry. ]
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Tree-ring research on conifers in the French Alps - Details of research into certain specific species. Also photographs of sections of timber from a worldwide selection of trees.
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