Discover the cutting-edge research shaping the future of forestry! Our faculty members and graduate students are at the forefront of innovation, addressing critical challenges and exploring sustainable solutions to ensure the health and vitality of our forests.
Here is a look at the research publications from UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship this month.
Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Field-testing whitebark pine resistance to white pine blister rust: A simple, effective approach to progeny testing for restoration
Iain Reid, Richard Hamelin, Sally Aitken
The whitebark pine is being threatened by a disease called white pine blister rust caused by an introduced pathogen. Traditional methods for testing resistance to this disease are expensive and labor-intensive, limiting the development of resistant trees for forest restoration. In this study, they tested a new method that uses natural rust infection to quickly and cost-effectively screen large numbers of tree families, finding promising results that could help identify resistant trees for restoration efforts, even in regions lacking specialized testing facilities.
Physiological, transcriptome and metabolome analyses provide molecular insights to seasonal development in Ginkgo biloba xylem
Yousry El-Kassaby
Ginkgo biloba trees have valuable wood, but we know little about how their inner tissue develops throughout the seasons. By studying changes in certain molecules, scientists found that genes and compounds related to wood formation and plant hormones vary with the seasons, suggesting hormones like abscisic acid may play a key role in how the tree grows each year.
Progress in phylogenetics, multi-omics and flower coloration studies in Rhododendron
Yousry El-Kassaby
Rhododendron flowers come in many colors and are important for plant research. Recent studies have made progress in understanding the genetics behind these colors, including how genes affect pigment production and how they’ve changed over time. This knowledge helps pave the way for creating new flower varieties with specific traits through breeding.
Perspectives: Regenerative forestry–Managing forests for soil life
Cindy Prescott
Current forestry practices often neglect the importance of maintaining healthy forest soils. By implementing five key practices, such as keeping living roots near trees, using diverse tree species, and monitoring soil quality, forests can better support soil biodiversity and resilience, ultimately benefiting the entire ecosystem.
Towards more inclusive community landscape governance: Drivers and assessment indicators in northern Ghana
Terry Sunderland
In Ghana, the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission gave local communities more say in managing natural resources through the CREMA governance system. However, despite efforts, some groups like Fulani herders, women, and youth still feel left out. The study suggests ways to improve inclusivity in community-based governance but acknowledges persistent challenges due to cultural barriers and power imbalances.
WTO must complete an ambitious fisheries subsidies agreement
Tara Martin
The World Trade Organization (WTO) took a big step forward in June 2022 by agreeing on new rules to limit harmful subsidies for fishing, which threaten ocean sustainability. Now, with an important meeting in February 2024, they have an opportunity to strengthen these rules further, ensuring fairer and more sustainable practices for all. Scientists from around the world urge the WTO to prioritize sustainability and equity in fisheries regulations, emphasizing the need to address the root causes of overfishing and to protect vulnerable coastal communities.
Modeling instream temperature from solar insolation under varying timber harvesting intensities using RPAS laser scanning
Leanna Stackhouse, Nicholas Coops, Spencer Kuiper, Scott Hinch, Sarah Gergel
This study found that the amount of sunlight reaching streams affects their temperature, which is important for the health of freshwater ecosystems. By using data from aerial scans, the researchers showed that cutting down trees near streams can make the water hotter, potentially harming fish. This highlights the need to keep vegetation along streams to maintain suitable temperatures for fish, and it also shows that using aerial scans can help monitor how environmental changes affect them.
Neonectria bordenii sp. nov., a potential symbiote of the alder bark beetle, and its detection by quantitative PCR
Allan Carroll
Understanding the fungi that live with bark beetles is crucial for understanding their impact on forests. Researchers discovered a new type of fungus, Neonectria bordenii, living with alder bark beetles in red alder trees,. They then developed a quick test to find it in individual beetles, allowing them to determine its role as a possible ally of the beetles.
Department of Forest Resources Management
Changing governance of green spaces
Cecil Konijnendijk
Governance is how different groups like governments, businesses, and community organizations work together to make decisions about parks and other green areas. With changing ideas about the benefits of green spaces and calls for fairness and teamwork, governance methods need to adapt, ranging from traditional government-led approaches to newer shared and mixed methods involving various actors, including citizens.
Key questions for understanding drivers of biodiversity-ecosystem service relationships across spatial scales
Matthew Mitchell
Researchers aimed to understand how biodiversity loss affects ecosystem services at different spatial scales. They surveyed the current literature and identified ecological and social factors that influence biodiversity-ecosystem service relationships. They developed a framework categorizing these drivers, concluding that various combinations of factors will shape ecosystem services differently across scales, offering predictions to guide future research in this field.
Multidecadal mapping of status and trends in annual burn probability over Canada’s forested ecosystems
Christopher Mulverhill, Nicholas Coops
Wildfires burn vast forest areas each year, requiring detailed assessments of fuel conditions. By analyzing satellite data, researchers can estimate the likelihood of wildfires in Canadian forests, finding strong correlations with actual burn areas and identifying key variables like canopy cover and spring precipitation. This approach reveals important trends in burn probability over time, highlighting shifts in forest composition and the influence of dynamic climatic conditions, emphasizing the value of satellite data for effective fire management.
Knowledge translation for the advancement of practice: a survey of facilitators and barriers in arboriculture and urban forestry
Lukas Olson, Andrew Almas
Professionals in arboriculture and urban forestry rely on various sources like discussions with peers, conferences, and social media for knowledge sharing. Virtual conferences during the pandemic improved accessibility but were criticized for networking limitations, while paywalls hindered access to published literature.
Landsat assessment of variable spectral recovery linked to post-fire forest structure in dry sub-boreal forests
Sarah Smith-Tripp, Nicholas Coops, Christopher Mulverhill
After wildfires, forests can change a lot, which affects how the ecosystem works. It’s important to measure how forests recover after fires, but it’s hard because the areas affected can be tough to reach. Scientists are using satellite images and special aircraft to study how different types of trees grow back after wildfires in British Columbia, Canada, helping forest managers make better decisions.
Exploring associations between social interaction and urban park attributes: Design guideline for both overall and separate park quality enhancement
Keunhyun Park
Urban parks facilitate social interactions and community well-being. This observational study in Utah, USA, emphasizes the significance of overall park quality, particularly aesthetic features and maintenance, in promoting social interaction within urban parks. It highlights that subjective perceptions of park environments are more influential than objective measures in attracting social interactions.
Department of Wood Science
Evaluation of vibration properties of an 18-story mass timber–concrete hybrid building by on-site vibration tests
Cristiano Loss
This study explores how an 18-story tall hybrid timber-concrete building performs in lateral vibrations. By conducting on-site tests and using computer modelling, authors were able to assess the influence of non-structural components like partitions and cladding walls on the building’s lateral response, and they recommended carefully modeling panel-to-panel connects in floors and joints at the intersections between the timber floors and concrete cores to improve accuracy when designing similar buildings. This research helps practitioners better understand how these tall buildings behave under lateral loads, which is essential for designing them safely and effectively under wind and earthquakes.
Effect of hornification on the isolation of anionic cellulose nanofibrils from Kraft pulp via maleic anhydride esterification
Dingyuan Zheng, Xia Sun, Hao Sun, Yeling Zhu, Jiaying Zhu, Penghui Zhu, Zhengyang Yu, Yuhang Ye, Feng Jiang
The process of isolating cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) without using a catalyst has been effective, but its effectiveness is affected by the state of the wood pulp used. This study found that dried wood pulp resulted in larger and less fragmented CNFs compared to never-dried pulp, indicating that hornification, a drying-induced process, reduces the efficiency of CNF isolation.
A decision-aid system for subway microenvironment health risk intervention based on backpropagation neural network and permutation feature importance method
Shiyao Zhu, Haibo Feng
Subway rides are a big part of many people’s daily routines, but they can also pose health risks. A new system was created to help deal with these risks by using a mix of computer algorithms. This system can figure out how different factors in the subway affect health risks. Using real data from a subway station in Nanjing, the system was tested and shown to work. With this system, we can better understand and address health risks in subway environments, making commutes safer for everyone.
