Ensuring that botany and plant sciences are being included in undergraduate life science curricula is necessary for developing a future global sustainability workforce. To gain a baseline understanding, we surveyed life science educators in the U.S. about current botanical education. We further evaluated these data to determine connections to the frameworks of plant awareness disparity (PAD), a framework detailing the inability to notice or appreciate the plants in one's own environment, and Vision and Change, an educational framework in the U.S. for preparing undergraduate biology students for the 21st century. Results from 245 responses revealed that most instructors use botanical examples and implement diverse hands-on botanical experiences. Our data suggest that hands-on botanical experiences are better suited to address PAD, the more science practice-centred framework, while plant examples are better suited to increase the understanding of core concepts of Vision and Change, the more concept-centred framework. We recommend that life science educators should 1) remain diligent in providing plant examples and hands-on botanical experiences in large introductory courses, 2) incorporate more botany education in general education courses (not required by the major but required by the institutions) and non-major courses, and 3) include educators outside of botany in these efforts.

Dry tropical forests are unique, biodiverse ecosystems threatened by human development, especially deforestation for agricultural land use. Deforestation reduces carbon sequestration in landscapes and, in turn, pollutes nearby waterways. Agroforestry practices, like silvopastoralism, can mitigate these impacts by integrating trees into working landscapes, but their effect on stream water quality has not been studied. We assessed the stream condition on five silvopastoral farms in Panama’s Azuero Peninsula by utilizing aquatic macroinvertebrates as indicators. We collected aquatic macroinvertebrates and calculated the percent EPT, Diptera, and Odonata. Using ArcGIS, we measured distance to live fence, riparian connectivity, and forest patch size. We also measured tree carbon stored in the riparian area and throughout each farm. We analyzed the relationships between landscape or habitat variables and water quality scores using single linear regressions in R Studio. Percent EPT, Odonata, and diversity were positively predicted by riparian tree carbon, while percent Diptera was negatively predicted by riparian tree carbon. Our results highlight the importance of expanding agroforestry in this region and suggest that increasing tree cover in agricultural landscapes may be beneficial to stream condition, but additional research is needed.

Sustainable management strategies that facilitate the incorporation of trees into cattle pastures are widely recognized as emerging natural climate solutions. However, their potential to dually improve ecological functioning and human livelihoods has yet to be evaluated across regions on local scales, utilizing both ecological and sociological data. Further, the relationship between landowner participation in conservation management programs (CMPS) and their management priorities (i.e. production vs sustainability) also remains unclear. Therefore, the aims of this study were to evaluate the accuracy of past global-scale remote estimations of aboveground biomass and derived tree carbon density (MgC ha- 1) within pasturelands at the local scale in both temperate and tropical regions. We also sought to analyze how participation in CMPs related to the perceptions of stakeholders toward the ecological health of their system. We compared findings between farms in temperate (n = 26) and tropical (n = 16) ecosystems. We found that discrepancies exist between previous remote studies and current field estimations of tree carbon in the farms, and these differences were not regionally uniform. In contrast, stakeholders enrolled in CMPs had a higher value of trees in both regions. CMPs participants also had lower annual stocking rates than those that practiced conventional management but no differences in woody species diversity (H') or tree carbon (MgC ha- 1). We demonstrate the urgent need for local-scale studies to accurately estimate tree carbon in mosaic pasture systems and the importance of conservation management in shifting the priorities of landowners, which could eventually lead to more sustainable systems.

Global climate change threatens many species across the planet. High‐elevation species, such as red spruce ( Picea rubens ), face significant and immediate threats from climate change. Red spruce has faced anthropogenic disturbances for over a century and is only recently beginning to recover across its range. Ecological niche modeling has become a common method of identifying the suitable habitat of a species, providing vital information to land managers carrying out restoration efforts. In this study, ecological niche models were used in a novel way, predicting distribution and habitat suitability separately and simultaneously to determine the spatial extent to which red spruce forests can be restored. In addition to models, surveys were conducted to elucidate the current regeneration trends of red spruce. Furthermore, climate projections were used to determine how restoration potential may change over the course of the twenty‐first century. Comparisons between distribution and habitat suitability models indicate that there is additional habitat available for red spruce expansion. Regeneration surveys show that there is positive regeneration both within and beyond red spruce canopies, validating model comparisons. Climate change projections indicate total elimination of suitable habitat in Virginia by 2100. However, these projections likely predict increased competition for red spruce from low elevation competitors as opposed to physiological limitations imposed by climate change. It is therefore prudent to protect established populations and encourage further regeneration within and beyond current red spruce stands in anticipation of future ecological shifts.

ABSTRACT American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a globally desired medicinal plant that is becoming increasingly difficult to study due to harvest-induced rarity. Thus, this species' conservation could be greatly improved via species distribution models, making it a model organism for studying sampling bias. In an attempt to refine a state-derived distribution model for ginseng in Virginia, we conducted additional surveys in a biologically diverse yet under-sampled region of the state—the Cumberland Mountains—thereby increasing the number of documented ginseng occurrences in this region thirteen-fold (N1 = 16, N2 = 214). Our surveys resulted in the model predicting an increased probability of American ginseng occurrence not only statewide (µ1 = 0.099, µ2 = 0.104) but particularly so in the Cumberland Mountains (µ1 = 0.170, µ2 = 0.278), highlighting a consistently overlooked hotspot for biodiversity in Southern Appalachia. We suggest that more geographically balanced surveys and reduced overrepresentation of heavily protected and managed areas such as National Parks—in addition to heeding local knowledge—can be an effective method of mitigating geographic bias in predictions from species distribution models.

American chestnut ( Castanea dentata (Marsh) Borkh.), once a co-dominant canopy species in eastern U.S. forests, has been functionally extinct for almost a century. Hybrid American-Chinese chestnuts, with the potential to be blight-resistant, present an opportunity to study its functional niche. The objective of this research was to identify silvicultural strategies related to light, herbivory, and competition for increasing the success of hybrid chestnut (BC 3 F 3 generation) plantings in an Appalachian cove forest ecosystem in West Virginia (WV). Large and small circular canopy gaps were created to manipulate light with the prediction that seedlings would perform best in larger gaps. Within these gaps, landscape fabric was added to half of the seedlings to decrease vegetative competition and 30.5 cm tall tree shelters were placed around half of the seedlings to help mitigate rodent predation. After five years, results show an interaction between landscape fabric and gap size whereby landscape fabric had a positive effect on seedling height in large gaps but not in small gaps (p < 0.05). Survival was dependent on interactions between treatments with the highest seedling survival (80%) in small gaps with tree shelters and landscape fabric. Differences between treatments were less pronounced in large gaps where survival was much lower (45%). In conclusion, seedlings are likely to have the greatest long-term survival if they are planted in smaller gaps protected from vegetative competition and rodent predation.

Ecological niche modeling has become common practice amongst ecologists in the last two decades. The terms in the field of ecological niche modeling, such as ecological niche model, species distribution model, and habitat suitability model are often used interchangeably, although each term can have very different meanings depending on the context of the study. Without full understanding of model inputs and careful interpretation of model outputs, there is a possibility that the dimension of the ecological niche being predicted does not align with the modeling goals of the author. This study showcases an example which indicates that it is possible to intentionally model species distribution and habitat suitability separately. Red spruce (Picea rubens) distribution was modeled by collecting true-absence points in proximity to red spruce presence points. Red spruce suitable habitat was modeled by excluding true-absence points and only using pseudo-absence points along with presence points. Models which included presence-proximal true-absences had functionally greater discriminatory ability in map projections and were more sensitive to subtle environmental changes when compared to models which only included pseudo-absence points. Therefore, models which included true-absence points more closely approximated the current distribution of red spruce whereas models which only included pseudo-absences more closely approximated the potential distribution within the realized niche or suitable habitat of red spruce. This study demonstrates that distribution and suitable habitat can and should be modeled separately and emphasizes the necessity of carefully considering modeling objectives and methodologies when interpreting modeling outcomes.

Extensive resources have been used to breed hybrid chestnuts for reintroduction into the historical range of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata). Improving seedling quality is an efficacious method to improving restoration outcomes and nursery propagation methods can be selected to improve seedling quality, increasing the likelihood of survival. Four production methods (bed grown, air prune beds, container grown, and a multi-container method) and three media types (field soil, peat-perlite-vermiculite mix, and pine bark-rice hulls-sand mix) were compared across four measures of seedling quality (height, root collar diameter, root volume, and number of first order lateral roots) to examine their effects on seedling quality. Additional analyzes of survival and cost per seedling were conducted as well. Air prune beds performed comparably in both seedling quality and cost to standard bed grown and container grown seedlings with potential advantages over these two methods. Multi-container method seedlings underperformed compared to bed grown and container grown seedlings. A decision tree was produced to assist nurseries in selecting a propagation method most appropriate to their nursery, intended restoration site, and constraints.

To constrain global warming, we must strongly curtail greenhouse gas emissions and capture excess atmospheric carbon dioxide1,2. Regrowing natural forests is a prominent strategy for capturing additional carbon3, but accurate assessments of its potential are limited by uncertainty and variability in carbon accumulation rates2,3. To assess why and where rates differ, here we compile 13,112 georeferenced measurements of carbon accumulation. Climatic factors explain variation in rates better than land-use history, so we combine the field measurements with 66 environmental covariate layers to create a global, one-kilometre-resolution map of potential aboveground carbon accumulation rates for the first 30 years of natural forest regrowth. This map shows over 100-fold variation in rates across the globe, and indicates that default rates from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)4,5 may underestimate aboveground carbon accumulation rates by 32 per cent on average and do not capture eight-fold variation within ecozones. Conversely, we conclude that maximum climate mitigation potential from natural forest regrowth is 11 per cent lower than previously reported3 owing to the use of overly high rates for the location of potential new forest. Although our data compilation includes more studies and sites than previous efforts, our results depend on data availability, which is concentrated in ten countries, and data quality, which varies across studies. However, the plots cover most of the environmental conditions across the areas for which we predicted carbon accumulation rates (except for northern Africa and northeast Asia). We therefore provide a robust and globally consistent tool for assessing natural forest regrowth as a climate mitigation strategy. A one-kilometre-resolution map of aboveground carbon accumulation rates of forest regrowth shows 100-fold variation across the globe, with rates 32% higher on average than IPCC estimates.

Reforestation is the largest natural climate solution, while potentially reversing the biodiversity crisis, especially in tropical countries. Dry tropical forests are of particular interest because they experienced greater historic loss, and offer large reforestation opportunities. This study addressed the potential of secondary forests in dry tropical systems regenerating after 60 + years in cattle pasture to accumulate carbon while increasing floristic diversity. Total carbon and woody species diversity were quantified within experimental treatments established 15 years ago. Initial active management practices included removing exotic grass with herbicide, excluding cattle by constructing live fences, and monitoring succession relative to proximity to forested riparian zones and slope position. Overall, carbon accumulated relatively slowly in this landscape (1.30 MgC Ha(-1) Yr(-1)). Differences were seen between management practices and landscape characteristics. Lower slope plots, adjacent to forested zones, had significantly more carbon than upper slope plots, isolated from riparian zones. The initial application of herbicide decreased total carbon. However, natural regeneration of two valuable timber species with small seeds, Astronium graveolens and Cedrela odorata, benefited from this initial treatment. Live fences that were initially planted to exclude cattle significantly increased carbon of regenerating woody species. Lianas were abundant at this successional stage. Almost half of all inventoried trees (44%) had at least one liana climbing through them, with the most common species being Bauhinia glabra and Macherium microfolium. Some valuable timber tree species found within older, protected riparian forests were not yet regenerating in any treatment, such as the wind-dispersed species, Cieba pentandra, and the animal dispersed species, Hymenaea coubaril. These species may need to be actively planted at the mid-successional stage (similar to 15-20 years) to restore biodiversity. A trade-off between timber value, diversity, and carbon sequestration must be considered in reforestation programs and this depends on landscape characteristics and management. Passive management, even with invasive grass species, is a practical option when sites are located near forested riparian zones due to low cost and high timber value of a suite of native species that naturally regenerate. No intervention is needed other than continual protection from fire and grazing. However, low-cost management, such cutting lianas and enrichment planting at the mid-successional stage, is likely to increase carbon accumulation and diversity. More active management, such as planting drought-tolerant, higher timber value tree species, is recommended at sites isolated from forested riparian zones on upper slopes where carbon accumulation is lower. Tropical forest regeneration mechanisms in proximity to forest fragments can be surprisingly resilient if chronic human impacts are removed.

Panax quinquefolius, American ginseng, is one of the most valuable non-timber forest products providing provisioning and cultural ecosystem services in eastern temperate forests. Although ginseng has a broad distribution range, populations are declining due to several factors including overharvesting and habitat degradation. We designed experiments to study the effects of soil and aspect on ginseng to better identify potential reintroduction sites. We hypothesized soil and aspect would have a significant effect on ginseng performance. Performance included growth (leaf area, height, number of prongs) and reproduction (inflorescence presence). We predicted ginseng would have greatest performance in calcium-rich loam soil, on north-facing slopes. After four growing seasons, we found only soil had a significant effect on growth. This was a consistent result over four growing seasons. On average, ginseng grown in limed loam soil were 55-mm taller with 20,000 mm(2) more leaf area and more prongs than ginseng grown in soils lower in calcium. Aspect did not affect any measured variables. Given these results, we suggest identifying soils with higher levels of calcium regardless of aspect as potential ginseng habitat. This experimental study contributes to a more complete understanding of the ecology of ginseng. Further, these results can be incorporated into developing strategies for restoration and management of this valuable species.

Deforestation principally to establish cattle pastures has created large expanses of land dominated by exotic grass prior to the establishment of the Cerro Blanco Protected Forest in Ecuador. A dry forest restoration program was carried out from 2008 to 2017. Tree planting sites were cleared in parallel lines through abandoned pasture and secondary vegetation using manual labor. Native tree species were produced in a nursery on site and used in yearly plantings during the rainy season. A total of 637 hectares were planted at an average stocking density of 1,000 trees per hectare. Growth data was collected from trees planted in nine sites from 2008 to 2017. Mortality rates were determined from a sample of 400 trees of twenty-two species. Survival of all species was greater than 50%. Ten species had survival rates greater than 90%. Vitex gigantea, with high survival rates, also had significantly greater growth rates than the other species (p < 0.0001) and showed the greatest yearly accumulation of total carbon (2.07 Kg C yr(-1) stem(-1)). Other species with high growth rates were Cordia alliodora and Centrolobium ochroxylum. This restoration program demonstrates that the dry forest restoration with timely maintenance and protection from fire and grazing is possible with intensive tree planting of native species.

ABSTRACT: Each year, the US Forest Service uses prescribed fires within the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest (GWJNF). Burns are prescribed in the growing (late April–October) and dormant season (November–mid-April). The goal of the burns is to reinstate the natural fire regime, returning forests to their original species composition. Currently in GWJNF, Appalachian pine-oak forests are experiencing an increase in fire-intolerant species, while Quercus species and Gaylussacia brachycera, an endangered shrub species, are declining. In the summer of 2014, a vegetation survey was conducted on Buck Mountain, West Virginia, to determine if there was a significant difference between dormantand growing-season burns compared to a no-burn control. A total of 60 plots (15 per treatment) was established within a site burned once (in the dormant season), a site burned twice (dormant season burn followed by a growing-season burn), a site burned twice (both dormant season), and a site protected from fire (control). We hypothesized that burns would have differing effects on woody vegetation, depending on fire treatment and species' shade tolerance. We predicted that Quercus species and G. brachycera would increase after a growing season burn. We found that Quercus species regeneration, as well as G. brachycera, were more abundant at burn sites, regardless of season. Our results suggest that seasonality of burns did not affect oak and G. brachycera regeneration at Buck Mountain. Future vegetation monitoring is needed to determine if time intervals between burns affects regeneration of desired species rather than the season of burn.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a public university's design and implementation of an assessment approach that measures the change in undergraduate students' environmental stewardship reasoning and knowledge abilities over time.Design/methodology/approach - In support of a university's strategic emphasis on environmental stewardship, members of a university committee developed environmental stewardship learning outcomes for undergraduate students. The learning outcomes were not required in specific academic courses or in general education. Subsequently, volunteers from a variety of roles, in cooperation with committee members, developed a corresponding assessment test that focused on reasoning and knowledge. The instrument was revised between Spring 2011 and Spring 2014, and its validity was evaluated. An exploratory analysis of student learning over time was conducted using 22 items shared by different test forms.Findings - A series of implementations and revisions resulted in a 50-question test, the Environmental Stewardship Reasoning and Knowledge Assessment (ESRKA), which showed good reliability (0.83). A comparative analysis provided evidence of the validity of the instrument. Results from a small sample of students showed that second-year students generally performed better on the 22 items than incoming first-year students. Those taking the assessment as second-year students, 18 months after their initial assessment, scored significantly higher on the 22 items by about 10.4 percentage points (0.61 standard deviation units, t(68) = 6.23, p = 0.0001).Research limitations/implications - Because of the small sample size and revision of the items, the analysis of student learning is only exploratory.Originality/value - The learning outcomes and validated assessment instrument may be used either in whole or part by other institutions. The approach to measure changes in students' environmental stewardship reasoning and knowledge abilities as cohorts over time could assist universities in tracking environmental stewardship learning and could inform strategic implementation of learning opportunities through the curriculum, as well as through other student learning experiences.

Understanding the shifting spatial distribution of trees is central to our knowledge of forest dynamics. We studied the spatial distribution of Tsuga canadensis L. Carr (Eastern Hemlock) as a function of age and size of canopy trees (greater than 75 cm dbh) and proximity to a stream in a remnant old growth forest fragment that has no record of human clearing or logging (Cathedral State Park, West Virginia). There appeared to be relatively continuous regeneration; however, cohort peaks indicated some disturbance history. We found spatially distinct age structures, with trees up to 315 years old. Trees greater than 102 cm dbh, or greater than 241 years old, were, on average, significantly closer to the stream. We suspect that the oldest individuals are concentrated near the stream because they are sheltered from wind disturbance. This knowledge can help us prioritize sites that are most important to protect from the woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand) when treating individual trees.

In this study, we used targeted active-learning activities to help students improve their ways of reasoning about carbon flow in ecosystems. The results of a validated ecology conceptual inventory (diagnostic question clusters [DQCs]) provided us with information about students' understanding of and reasoning about transformation of inorganic and organic carbon-containing compounds in biological systems. These results helped us identify specific active-learning exercises that would be responsive to students' existing knowledge. The effects of the active-learning interventions were then examined through analysis of students' pre- and postinstruction responses on the DQCs. The biology and non–biology majors participating in this study attended a range of institutions and the instructors varied in their use of active learning; one lecture-only comparison class was included. Changes in pre- to postinstruction scores on the DQCs showed that an instructor's teaching method had a highly significant effect on student reasoning following course instruction, especially for questions pertaining to cellular-level, carbon-transforming processes. We conclude that using targeted in-class activities had a beneficial effect on student learning regardless of major or class size, and argue that using diagnostic questions to identify effective learning activities is a valuable strategy for promoting learning, as gains from lecture-only classes were minimal.

Forest fragmentation continues to increase throughout the United States and many studies show a trend toward taxonomic homogenization in fragments. Characterizing the species composition and diversity of remaining forest fragments and identifying factors influencing composition and diversity can help to inform management practices and aid in setting conservation priorities. Because influencing factors tend to be site-specific, studies of local and regional fragment community composition are needed. We studied forest community composition and diversity in four forest fragments of the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. We found significant (p < 0.05) differences in tree species diversity (H') as well as abundance of exotic species across forest fragments. In addition, results of nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMS) showed that there were significant differences in species composition among fragments. Soil properties and stand age, in addition to presence of exotic species, were the most important factors influencing differences in tree species composition. Older fragments on high quality soils, with low abundances of exotic species and low levels of disturbance, were more diverse and had greater abundances of economically and ecologically valuable overstory species such as Quercus spp., Carya spp., Nyssa sylvatica and Liriodendron tulipifera. Younger fragments on clay/sandy soils with higher disturbance levels had higher abundances of exotic invasive species, such as Ailanthus altissima and Microstegium vimineum, and lower abundances of late-successional native hardwood tree species. Based on seedling and sapling species composition, we predict that these forest fragments are likely to change in species composition with mortality of overstory trees.

This study examines the ecological niche of American chestnut (Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh) and the latest blight resistant American chestnut × Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) hybrids. Planted seedlings of chestnut, tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.) and chestnut oak (Quercus prinus L.) were subjected to two levels of light and two soil types in parallel field and greenhouse studies. The field study took place in the Appalachian ridge and valley province of Virginia. Growth and survival were quantified after three growing seasons. The interaction between light levels and topographic position (soil type) was significant for growth rates in the field and greenhouse. Species were significantly different from each other although hybrid varieties were not significantly different from each other or from pure American chestnut. Tulip poplar showed the greatest growth rates under all treatments in the field. Both tulip poplar and chestnut had the greatest growth rates in large gaps within mesic, mid and lower slope (MML) sites in the field. In contrast to growth, optimal conditions for survival differed among species. Tulip poplar had the greatest survival (71%) within large gaps in MML sites while chestnuts and oaks had the greatest overall survival (64%) in small gaps within xeric, upper slope and ridge (XUR) sites. In the greenhouse, tulip poplar did not outperform chestnut. Discrepancies in field and greenhouse studies were accounted for by uncontrolled factors, such as rodent predation. We conclude that optimal sites for planting American chestnut hybrids are in small gaps located within XUR sites.