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Objective  Local failure of incompletely resected vestibular schwannoma (VS) following salvage stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) using standard doses of 12 to 13 Gy is common. We hypothesized that dose-escalated SRS, corrected for biologically effective dose, would have superior local control of high-grade VS progressing after subtotal or near-total resection compared with standard-dose SRS. Design  Retrospective cohort study. Setting  Tertiary academic referral center. Participants  Adult patients treated with linear accelerator-based SRS for progressive VS following subtotal or near-total resection. Main Outcome Measures  Dose-escalated SRS was defined by a biologically effective dose exceeding a single-fraction 13-Gy regimen. Study outcomes were local control and neurologic sequelae of SRS. Binary logistic regression was used to evaluate predictors of study outcomes. Results  A total of 18 patients with progressive disease following subtotal (71%) and near-total (39%) resection of Koos grade IV disease (94%) were enrolled. Of the 18 patients, 7 were treated with dose-escalated SRS and 11 with standard-dose SRS. Over a median follow-up of 32 months after SRS, local control was 100% in the dose-escalated cohort and 91% in the standard-dose cohort (p  = 0.95). Neurologic sequelae occurred in 28% of patients, including 60% of dose-escalated cohort and 40% of the standard-dose cohort (p  = 0.12), although permanent neurologic sequelae were low at 6%. Conclusions  Dose-escalated SRS has similar local control of recurrent VS following progression after subtotal or near-total resection and does not appear to have higher neurologic sequalae. Larger studies are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer models used to predict forest and fuels dynamics and wildfire behavior inform decisionmaking in contexts such as postdisturbance management. It is imperative to understand possible uncertainty in model predictions. We evaluated sensitivity of the Fire and Fuels Extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator predictions to parameters that determine dynamics of standing dead trees (snags) and surface woody fuels. Predicted peak coarse and fine woody fuels were not sensitive to the decomposition rate of snags but were sensitive to decomposition rate of surface fuels regardless of initial snag density. Predictions of coarse woody fuel were sensitive to the snag fall rate when there was a higher initial density of snags. Fire behavior predictions were most sensitive to whether stylized fuel models or modeled fuels were used in calculations. When modeled fuels were used, fire behavior predictions were sensitive to the decomposition rate of surface fuels. Although this analysis does not inform the accuracy of model predictions, it does show where there is potential uncertainty in predictions of woody fuels succession and associated fire behavior. It is likely that any model that predicts postdisturbance fuel succession will also be sensitive to parameters that control snag dynamics and fuel decomposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2010, several moose (Alces alces) populations have declined across North America. These declines are believed to be broadly related to climate and landscape change. At the western reaches of moose continental range, in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, wildlife managers have reported widespread declines of moose populations. Disturbances to forests from a mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonum ponderosae) outbreak and associated salvage logging infrastructure in British Columbia are suspected as a mechanism manifested in moose behavior and habitat selection. We examined seasonal differences in moose habitat selection in response to landscape change from mountain pine beetle salvage logging infrastructure: dense road networks and large intensive forest harvest cutblocks. We used 157,447 global positioning system locations from 83 adult female moose from 2012 to 2016 on the Bonaparte Plateau at the southern edge of the Interior Plateau of central British Columbia to test whether increased forage availability, landscape features associated with increased mortality risk, or the cumulative effects of salvage logging best explain female moose distribution using resource selection functions in an information‐theoretic framework. We tested these hypotheses across biological seasons, defined using a cluster analysis framework. The cumulative effects of forage availability and risk best predicted resource selection of female moose in all seasons; however, the covariates included in the cumulative models varied between seasons. The top forage availability model better explained moose habitat use than the top risk model in all seasons, except for the calving and fall seasons where the top risk model (distance to road) better predicted moose space use. Selection of habitat that provides forage in winter, spring, and summer suggests that moose seasonally trade predation risk for the benefits of foraging in early seral vegetation communities in highly disturbed landscapes. Our results identified the need for intensive landscape‐scale management to stem moose population declines. Additional research is needed on predator densities, space use, and calf survival in relation to salvage logging infrastructure. © 2020 The Wildlife Society. Female moose are selecting intensively logged areas and their populations are declining within them. Equally intensive landscape management through restoration and deactivations of aspects of salvage logging (i.e., roads) and landscape scale restoration is necessary to stem these declines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Question: Salvage logging and prescribed fire are commonly applied in forests worldwide, yet little is known about the combined impacts of these management actions on early‐successional ecosystems. We questioned how operational‐scale prescribed fire would affect ground flora cover, species diversity, and life‐history trait expression in Pinus palustris woodlands differentially impacted by an Enhanced Fujita scale 3 (EF3) tornado and salvage logging. Location: Fall Line Hills, Alabama, USA (32°55ʹ30ʺ N, 87°24ʹ00ʺ W). Methods: The composition and foliar cover of woody and herbaceous plants ≤1 m height were monitored before and after prescribed fire in 600 1‐m2 quadrats distributed throughout mature, wind‐disturbed, and salvage‐logged Pinus palustris woodlands. Plant taxa were categorized by growth habit and life form to aid interpretation of multivariate analyses used to illustrate differences in ground flora assemblages between disturbance categories. Results: Prescribed fire reduced ground flora cover, but not diversity, which remained greatest in wind‐disturbed sites that were not salvage‐logged. Though ground flora assemblages remained disparate between disturbance categories, prescribed fire imposed some consistent selective pressures on plants with common life‐history strategies. Post‐fire understorey tree cover reductions coincided with increased shrub cover throughout the treatment area. Nonetheless, differences in graminoid cover were exaggerated after prescribed fire, and representation of the geophyte life form was relatively constant across space and time. Conclusions: Prescribed fire did not counteract salvage‐mediated reductions in ground flora diversity. Retention of downed deadwood maximized early‐successional plant diversity in wind‐disturbed sites. Trait‐based ground flora analyses enabled a more detailed understanding of disturbance effects than aggregate metrics of foliar cover and diversity. In ecosystems with high floristic diversity, grouping plants by common life‐history traits can provide a simple and effective means to monitor impacts of management actions on ecosystem recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfire shapes the structure, dynamic and functioning of boreal forests. With predicted warmer and drier summers, increased incidence and intensity of crown‐fires may affect plant–soil interactions with consequences for post‐fire fertility and forest productivity.We assessed how severity of crown‐ and ground‐fire in boreal pine forests affected post‐fire responses of soil fungal communities and their associated enzyme activities, and how variation in fire severity interacts with salvage (post‐fire) logging in impacting soil fungi.Crown fire‐induced tree mortality had a stronger impact on fungal biomass and community composition than did ground‐fire‐induced loss of soil organic matter. Severe crown‐fire led to replacement of ectomycorrhizal‐ and litter‐associated fungi by stress‐tolerant ascomycetes. Elevated activities of hydrolytic enzymes in burned areas were correlated with root‐associated ascomycetes and moulds, suggesting opportunistic exploitation of labile organic substrates. Fire did not, however, increase the abundance of more potent basidiomycete decomposers in the organic layer, nor did it enhance organic matter oxidation by fungal peroxidases, indicating that the potential for major post‐fire losses of carbon due to stimulated decomposition is limited. Rather, peroxidase activity was low in burned areas, likely reflecting the absence of ectomycorrhizal fungi. Post‐fire salvage logging induced larger shifts in fungal communities in areas with low crown‐fire severity.Synthesis. Historically, boreal pine forests have been shaped by low‐severity ground‐fires. Our study highlights a risk that increasing occurrence of high‐severity crown‐fire as climate warms will have detrimental effects on mycorrhizal‐mediated functions that are pivotal for maintaining organic matter turnover, soil fertility and forest resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Runoff and erosion processes can increase after wildfire and post‐fire salvage logging, but little is known about the specific effects of soil compaction and surface cover after post‐fire salvage logging activities on these processes. We carried out rainfall simulations after a high‐severity wildfire and post‐fire salvage logging to assess the effect of compaction (uncompacted or compacted by skid traffic during post‐fire salvage logging) and surface cover (bare or covered with logging slash). Runoff after 71 mm of rainfall across two 30‐min simulations was similar for the bare plots regardless of the compaction status (mean 33 mm). In comparison, runoff in the slash‐covered plots averaged only 22 mm. Rainsplash in the downslope direction averaged 30 g for the bare plots across compaction levels and decreased significantly by 70% on the slash‐covered plots. Sediment yield totalled 460 and 818 g m−2 for the uncompacted and compacted bare plots, respectively, and slash significantly reduced these amounts by an average rate of 71%. Our results showed that soil erosion was still high two years after the high severity burning and the effect of soil compaction nearly doubled soil erosion via nonsignificant increases in runoff and sediment concentration. Antecedent soil moisture (dry or wet) was the dominant factor controlling runoff, while surface cover was the dominant factor for rainsplash and sediment yield. Saturated hydraulic conductivity and interrill erodibility calculated from these rainfall simulations confirmed previous laboratory research and will support hydrologic and erosion modelling efforts related to wildfire and post‐fire salvage logging. Covering the soil with slash mitigated runoff and significantly reduced soil erosion, demonstrating the potential of this practise to reduce sediment yield and soil degradation from burned and logged areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sediment delivery following post‐fire logging is a concern relative to water quality. While studies have assessed the effect of post‐fire logging on sediment yields at different spatial scales, none have explicitly identified sediment sources. Our goal was to quantify post‐fire and post‐salvage logging sediment yields and use rill patterns to identify sediment sources. We measured the extent and type of logging disturbance, length of rills per unit area or "rill density", ground cover, and sediment yields in nine logged and five control small catchments or "swales", 0.09 to 0.81 ha, for 5 years after the 2013 Rim Fire in California's Sierra Nevada. The logged swales had a mean ground disturbance of 31%. After the first wet season following logging, there was no difference in either mean rill density (0.071 and 0.088 m m−2, respectively) or mean transformed, normalized sediment yields between the control and logged swales. Untransformed mean sediment yields across three sites ranged from 0.11–11.8 and 1.1–3.2 Mg ha−1 for the controls and salvage‐logged swales, respectively. Rill density was strongly related to sediment yield and increased significantly with the amount of high‐traffic skid trail disturbance in logged swales. Rill density was not significantly related to the amount of bare soil despite a significant relationship between sediment yields and bare soil. Rills usually initiated in bare soil and frequently connected high traffic skid trails to the drainage network after being diverted by waterbars. Rill connectivity and sediment yields decreased in control and logged swales where vegetation or other surface cover was high, suggesting this cover disconnected rills from the drainage network. Increasing ground cover on skid trails and between areas disturbed by post‐fire logging and stream channels may reduce sediment yields as well as the hydrologic connectivity between hillslopes and the drainage network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active wildfire seasons in the western U.S. warrant the evaluation of post‐fire forest management strategies. Ground‐based salvage logging is often used to recover economic loss of burned timber. In unburned forests, ground‐based logging often follows best management practices by leaving undisturbed areas near streams called stream buffers. However, the effectiveness of these buffers has not been tested in a post‐wildfire setting. This experiment tested buffer width effectiveness with a novel field‐simulated rill experiment using sediment‐laden runoff (25 g/L) released over 40 min at evenly timed flow rates (50, 100 and 150 L/min) to measure surface runoff travel length and sediment concentration under unburned and high and low soil burn severity conditions at 2‐, 10‐ and 22‐month post‐fire. High severity areas 2‐month post‐fire had rill lengths of up to 100 m. Rill length significantly decreased over time as vegetation regrowth provided ground cover. Sediment concentration and sediment dropout rate also varied significantly by soil burn severity. Sediment concentrations were 19 g/L for the highest flow 2‐month post‐fire and reduced to 6.9–14 g/L 10‐month post‐fire due to abundant vegetation recovery. The amount of sediment dropping out of the flow consistently increased over the study period with the low burn severity rate of 1.15 g L−1 m−1 approaching the unburned rate of 1.29 g L−1 m−1 by 2‐year post‐fire. These results suggest that an often‐used standard, 15 m buffer, was sufficient to contain surface runoff and reduce sediment concentration on unburned sites, however buffers on high burn severity sites need to be eight times greater (120 m) immediately after wildfire and four times greater (60 m) 1‐year post‐fire. Low burn severity areas 1‐year post‐fire may need to be only twice the width of an unburned buffer (30 m), and 2‐year post‐fire these could return to unburned widths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Europe, salvage-logging is a common management activity to partially recover economic value from wind disturbed forests. In the near future, wind damage to forests is predicted to increase due to climate change. Therefore, an economic assessment of wind damage effects on recovered timber value is useful information in the decision-making process. In this study, we aim to assess the influence of different stem damage heights on the monetary value of recovered timber. We simulated stem breakage at three heights for the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.): 3, 5, and 7 m. For comparison, we used an uprooted tree without stem breakage. Our results revealed that the most negative influence on the recovered timber value was stem breakage at 3 m, which decreased the monetary value by 35%. The stem breakage at 5 and 7 m decreased the recovered timber value by 9–10%. Over the analysed period (2006–2017), no significant differences in the monetary value of the recovered timber were found between uprooted lumber and stems with breakage at 5 and 7 m. The price fluctuations in the market have a significant influence on the recovered timber value, which might cause a larger decrease in monetary value than stem breakage.

High severity wildfires impact hillslope processes, including infiltration, runoff, erosion, and sediment delivery to streams. Wildfire effects on these processes can impair vegetation recovery, producing impacts on headwater and downstream water supplies. To promote forest regeneration and maintain forest and aquatic ecosystem functions, land managers often undertake active post‐fire land management (e.g., salvage logging, sub‐soiling, re‐vegetation). The primary objective of our study was to quantify and compare sediment yields eroded from (a) burned, (b) burned and salvage logged, and (c) burned, salvage logged, and sub‐soiled plots following the 2015 Valley Fire in the northern California Coast Range. We distributed 25 sediment fences (~75 m2 contributing area) across four hillslopes burned at high severity and representative of the three management types. We collected eroded sediment from the fences after precipitation events for 5 years. We also quantified precipitation, canopy cover, ground cover, and soil properties to characterize the processes driving erosion across the three management types. Interestingly, during the second year after the fire, sediment yields were greater in the burned‐only plots compared with both the salvage logged and sub‐soiled plots. By the third year, there were no differences in sediment yields among the three management types. Sediment yields decreased over the 5 years of the study, which may have occurred due to site recovery or exhaustion of mobile sediment. As expected, sediment yields were positively related to precipitation depth, bulk density, and exposed bare soil, and negatively related to the presence of wood cover on the soil surface. Unexpectedly, we observed greater sediment yields on the burned‐only plots with greater canopy closure, which we attributed to increased throughfall drop size and kinetic energy related to the residual canopy. While these results will aid post‐fire management decisions in areas with Mediterranean climates prone to low intensity, long duration rainstorms, additional research is needed on the comparative effects of post‐fire land management approaches to improve our understanding of the mechanisms driving post‐fire erosion and sediment delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salvage logging is thought to have negative impacts on soil functionality because it may increase soil compaction and reduce vegetation cover and soil organic matter content. We investigated whether and to what extent burning and subsequent logging initially altered soil functionality of a Mediterranean forest of Pinus halepensis M. Soil functionality indicators (e.g. soil enzyme activities, basal soil respiration, glomalin-related soil protein, and microbial carbon) were measured in March and October 2017 in unburned forest plots, nearby plots severely burned by wildfire in July 2016, and nearby burned plots severely burned by wildfire and then logged in December 2016 using a lightweight agricultural tractor. The results showed significant differences among three groups: unburned soils sampled in spring (1) and autumn (2), and burned soils (not subject or subject to logging) sampled in spring and autumn. In unburned plots, seasonality had a significant effect, which disappeared in burned plots regardless of whether they had been logged. The burned plots had higher content of organic matter and total nitrogen than the unburned soils but they were not correlated to higher soil respiration or microbial biomass. There were not any differences in any of the soil functionality indicators between the unlogged and logged burned plots. In addition, the burned plots had a higher glomalin-related soil protein content than the unburned soil in the autumn measurement. Overall, the results suggest a short-term wildfire impact of soil properties whereas logging using a lightweight tractor produced no significant impacts in this sparse Mediterranean pine forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western North American forest ecosystems are experiencing rapid changes in disturbance regimes because of climate change and land use legacies (Littell et al. 2018). However, as a group representing authors from many of the spotted owl studies included in the Lee (2018) meta-analysis, as well as forest and fire scientists with extensive research experience in western forest ecosystems, we disagree with its central conclusions that high-severity (or stand-replacing) fire does not affect or threaten spotted owls. Statistical/Technical Issues Focus on the summary (mean) effects in the presence of high among-study variability A key conclusion reached by Lee (2018:1) was that "Spotted Owls were usually not significantly affected by mixed-severity fire" and most studies "found no significant impact of fire on mean owl parameters." Moreover, this key insight about fire impacts on individuals was enabled by the detailed study of a banded population of spotted owls in Jones et al. (2016) and involved dynamics that were not possible to identify in many of the occupancy studies of unbanded owls used in Lee (2018). In the case of spotted owls, intensive, long-term studies of marked individuals demonstrate that owls can be displaced by severe fire (Jones et al. 2016) and that severe fire can create sink habitats (Rockweit et al. 2017), both processes that are difficult capture within a meta-analyses framework and likely contributed to Lee's (2018) conclusion that severe fire does not adversely affect spotted owls. [Extracted from the article]

In response to US Fish and Wildlife Service and USDA Forest Service planning documents that emphasized fire as a primary threat to spotted owl ( I Strix occidentalis i ) population persistence (e.g., USFWS 2017, USDA 2018), I performed a detailed multifaceted meta-analysis of all published studies of spotted Owls and forest fire (Lee 2018). Forest Service planning documents assume (paraphrasing): fire can harm owls and therefore owl territories and other owl habitat must be logged to protect owls from fire (e.g., USDA 2019). Jones et al. agreed with me that severe fire has not yet resulted in substantial declines in spotted owl populations, and fire has not been an overriding driver of recently observed long-term spotted owl population declines. In addition to finding no significant negative mean effects of fire on owls, Lee (2018) reported multiple significant effects of fire covariates on specific owl parameters. [Extracted from the article]

Continuing long and extensive wildfire seasons in the Western US emphasize the need for better understanding of wildfire impacts including post‐fire management scenarios. Advancements in our understanding of post‐fire hillslope erosion and watershed response such as flooding, sediment yield, and debris flows have recently received considerable attention. The potential impacts of removing dead trees, called salvage logging, has been studied, however the use of remotely sensed imagery after salvage logging to evaluate spatial patterns and recovery is novel. The 2015 North Star Fire provided an opportunity to evaluate hillslope erosion reduction using two field experiments and coincidental remotely sensed imagery over 3 years. Simulated rill experiments with four flow rates were used to quantify hillslope erosion on skidder trails with and without added logging slash compared with a burned‐only control. Seven replicated hillslope silt fence plots with the same treatments were also evaluated for natural rainfall events. WorldView‐2 satellite imagery was used to relate ground cover and erodible bare soil between the two experiments using multi‐temporal Normalized Differenced Vegetation Index (NDVI) values. Results indicate that the skid trails produced significantly more sediment (0.70 g s−1) than either the slash treated skid trail (0.34 g s−1) or controls (0.04 g s−1) with the simulated rill experiment. Similarly, under natural rainfall conditions sediment yield from hillslope silt fence plots was significantly greater for the skid trail (3.42 Mg ha−1) than either the slash treated skid trail (0.18 Mg ha−1) or controls (0 Mg ha−1). An NDVI value of 0.32 on all plots over all years corresponded to a ground cover of about 60% which is an established threshold for erosion reduction. Significant relationships between NDVI, ground cover, and sediment values suggest that NDVI may help managers evaluate ground cover and erosion potential remotely after disturbances such as a wildfire or salvage logging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind and bark beetle disturbances have increased in recent decades, affecting Europe's coniferous forests with particular severity. Management fostering forest diversity and resilience is deemed to effectively mitigate disturbance impacts, yet its efficiency and interaction with other disturbance management measures remain unclear.We focused on Central Europe, which has become one of the hotspots of recent disturbance changes. We used the iLand ecosystem model to understand the interplay between species composition of the forest, forest disturbance dynamics affected by climate change, and disturbance management. The tested measures included (a) active transformation of tree species composition toward site‐matching species; (b) intensive removal of windfelled trees, which can support the buildup of bark beetle populations; and (c) reduction of mature and vulnerable trees on the landscape via modified harvesting regimes.We found that management systems aiming to sustain the dominance of Norway spruce in the forest are failing under climate change, and none of the measures applied could mitigate the disturbance impacts. Conversely, management systems fostering forest diversity substantially reduced the level of disturbance. Significant disturbance reduction has been achieved even without salvaging and rotation length reduction, which is beneficial for ecosystem recovery, carbon, and biodiversity.Synthesis and applications: We conclude that climate change amplifies the contrast in vulnerability of monospecific and species‐diverse forests to wind and bark beetle disturbance. Whereas forests dominated by Norway spruce are not likely to be sustained in Central Europe under climate change, different management strategies can be applied in species‐diverse forests to reach the desired control over the disturbance dynamic. Our findings justify some unrealistic expectations about the options to control disturbance dynamics under climate change and highlight the importance of management that fosters forest diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 2004 a large windstorm affected forests dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst, 1881) in the High Tatras National Park, Slovakia, and was followed by a wildfire (2005) and bark beetle outbreak. In this study we investigate temporal changes of breeding bird community (their species richness, density and diversity) as well as different nest-position guilds, in relation to disturbance type. Bird species composition was surveyed in two periods (2006 and 2007, and 2017 and 2018) using the point count method on four plots differing by disturbance type – undisturbed forest, unlogged windthrow, salvage logged windthrow and burnt salvage logged windthrow. A total of three visits per point and breeding season were performed at forty point count sites. We also assessed the successional shift in habitat characteristics between the two monitored periods. In total, 55 bird species and 2059 individuals were recorded on the plots during the study. We observed no effect of disturbance type on mean species richness, abundance and Simpson's diversity per point; however, those characteristics did significantly increase over the study duration. While differently disturbed points had previously differed in their (nest-position) guild number and diversity, the differences between them disappeared over time. We found different trajectories of temporal change in the composition of the species communities and guild diversity in relation to disturbance type, but in a similar direction. During the first period, the greater the initial differences in the severity of disturbance among the disturbance types, the greater the differences were in the composition of bird communities; however, the differences gradually diminished as the forests regenerated. Alterations in habitat structure caused by natural and anthropogenic disturbance and by subsequent succession were the most probable reasons for the altered bird communities and observed patterns of recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present trends in smart world reflects the extensive use of limited resources through information and communication technology. The limited resources like space, mobility, energy, etc., have been consumed rigorously towards creating optimized but smart instances. Thus, a new concept of IoT integrated smart city vision is yet to be proposed which includes a combination of systems like noise and air loss monitoring, web monitoring and fire detection systems, smart waste bin systems, etc., that have not been clearly addressed in the previous researches. This paper focuses on developing an effective system for possible monitoring of losses, traffic management, thus innovating smart city at large with digitalized and integrated systems and software for fast and effective implementations. In our proposed system, a real time data analysis is performed. These data are collected by various sensors to analyze different factors that are responsible for such losses. The proposed work is validated on a real case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post-disturbance areas, salvage logging is a common management practice that can negatively affect ecosystem services and alter successional pathways of natural regeneration. In this study, we aim to investigate the effects of salvage logging in post-fire areas on the regeneration and height of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) on dry-poor, wet-poor, and peat soils. We used the Poisson generalised linear mixed-effects model and linear mixed-effect model to assess the effects of salvage logging on the abundance and height of Scots pine. In all forest types in post-fire areas, Scots pine and birch (Betula pendula Roth and Betula pubescens Ehrh.) were the most common tree species, accounting for 70–100% of the total regeneration abundance. Salvage logging resulted in significantly higher abundance of Scots pine only on mesic-peat soil. Mean height of Scots pine was significantly lower in stands with larger abundance of remnant living trees. In our study, we did not find conclusive evidence of negative effects of salvage logging on the abundance and height of Scots pine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frequency of wildfire is expected to increase with time as a function of climate change. Recent studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that pyrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can cause greater‐than‐additive effects in Hyalella azteca in the presence of low concentrations of Cu. We hypothesized that freshwater animals inhabiting Cu‐contaminated sites, such as those in the vicinity of Cu mines, may be vulnerable to nonadditive toxicity from contaminants released by wildfires. To investigate the interaction between Cu and water conditioned by burnt wood ash (fire extract), we exposed H. azteca for 14 d to binary mixtures of 225 mg/kg Cu‐enriched artificial sediment (225 mg Cu/kg) and a fire extract dilution series (12.5, 25, 50, 75, and 100%). All binary mixtures of Cu‐enriched sediment and fire extract resulted in complete mortality with the exception of Cu‐enriched sediment + 12.5% fire extract. The combination of Cu‐enriched sediment with 12.5% fire extract had a more‐than‐additive effect on survival and tissue Cu concentration, but there was no reduction in growth or acetylcholinesterase activity compared to the 225 mg/kg Cu–contaminated sediment or fire extract control, respectively. Acetylcholinesterase activity was significantly reduced in amphipods exposed to fire extract, but the presence of Cu did not exacerbate this effect. The results suggest that Cu‐contaminated water bodies that receive runoff from wildfires are at risk of enhanced toxicity. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:1988–1997. © 2020 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following wildfires, salvage logging is applied for silvicultural, safety or even aesthetic reasons. Such operations impact on biological legacies, impair natural vegetation recovery and may affect several animal species that depend on vegetation structure and specific plant resources. Rodents, such as wood and Algerian mice, use vegetation cover as protection against predators and are important prey, moderately effective seed dispersers and efficient seed predators. Different post-fire management strategies may either promote rodent abundance, enhancing their key biological roles, or result in low rodent abundance, creating a low seed predation window of opportunity when assisted regeneration of burnt forests is required. In order to evaluate the effects of post-fire salvage logging on plant-animal interactions, we compared plant regeneration, the availability of trophic resources (seeds and fleshy fruits), rodent foraging activity and rodent relative abundance between unlogged and logged burnt pine forests in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula at different distances (up to 700 m) from the burnt area perimeter. The results show that vegetation recovered more slowly in salvage logged than in unlogged areas. Foraging activity of rodents increased both with the volume of woody debris, mainly derived from salvage logging, and with increasing foliage cover. Management strategies aimed at promoting the presence of rodents and associated biodiversity can, however, hamper assisted regeneration by seed sowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has issued written guidance on its expectations for terrestrial vertebrate fauna surveys to support environmental impact assessments (EIA). We report on one of the few circumstances where a direct comparison of the results from an EIA vertebrate fauna survey, that did not, in our opinion, appear to conform with the EPA's guidance statement expectations but was seemingly accepted by the EPA, and a comprehensive terrestrial vertebrate fauna salvage program were undertaken at the same site. This has enabled us to comment on the consequences of not undertaking a survey that complies with the EPA's expectations. Excluding incursions by non-local species, bats and avian fauna, ~33% of terrestrial vertebrate fauna species recorded during the fauna salvage program were not reported as being present in the EIA survey. The relative abundance of various species differed appreciably between the fauna salvage program and the EIA survey, and an endangered species present in the project area was not identified as likely to occur. We believe these differences occurred because of a single-season EIA survey, insufficient trapping effort, a failure to survey an important fauna habitat, the presumption that a threatened species would be absent due to a lack of local records and records in the available habitat types. A comprehensive review and rewrite of the outdated Western Australian EPA vertebrate fauna survey guidelines and a requirement for proponents and environmental practitioners to meet (or exceed) the revised guidelines are the recommended outcomes. This study compares the results of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) vertebrate fauna survey for a project near the coast in the south-west of the Pilbara in Western Australia with the results of a fauna salvage program at the same site. It discusses why there are appreciable differences between these results in the species recorded and relative abundance of those species and makes recommendations to improve EIA surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of post-fire forest is essential for carbon cycling and forest ecosystem. Effects of post-fire logging on soil respiration have not been well studied, in particular in permafrost regions. We examined soil respiration rate, soil temperature and soil moisture during two growing seasons within the permafrost area of Daxing’anling in northeastern China. We were interested in the effects on soil respiration of (1) the forest fire and (2) the post-fire salvage logging. Soil respiration was measured by applying LI-8100 (LI-COR Inc.) measurement system. Heterotrophic soil respiration was measurement with the trenching method that cut off the roots resulting in root death without removing them. Our results indicated that the autotrophic soil respiration significantly increased after fire (P < 0.05). Selective-cutting increased both total soil respiration and heterotrophic soil respiration, while clear-cutting reduced soil respiration and both respiration components. Soil respiration of the selective-cut plot were significantly higher than that of the clear-cut plot (P < 0.05). Fire was associated with an increase in the share of autotrophic soil respiration, while salvage-logging of post-fire forest reduced this share, as the ratio of autotrophic soil respiration in the clear-cut plot was significantly lower than that in the unlogged area (P < 0.05). With increasing salvage logging intensity after fire disturbance, soil temperature increased. The varying and somewhat contradicting effects of different logging practices on soil respiration in burnt forest ecosystems require more studies to disentangle the effect of salvage logging and fire on soil respiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood‐inhabiting fungal communities are a diverse and ecologically critical part of forest ecosystems, yet the spatial structure of fungal biodiversity in these ecosystems is largely unknown. Legislation allowed harvesting of deadwood from temperate rainforests on conservation lands in New Zealand following Cyclone Ita in 2014. Harvesting guidelines specified widely spread harvesting, on the assumption that rare fungal species may be highly spatially restricted, but were not based on quantitative assessment. We sampled fungi in and on logs of Dacrydium cupressinum (Podocarpaceae) a long‐lived, common, canopy tree in lowland New Zealand forests. DNA was extracted from 81 logs varying in decay state across a 40 km long region of West Coast (South Island) forests, and sequenced using general fungal primers for metabarcoding to identify OTUs (operational taxonomic units). We examined three axes of rarity: occupancy, dominance when present, and niche breadth (as spatial extent and decay state specialization). Low‐occupancy fungi were common, including a group of infrequently occurring but dominant when present fungi, the majority of which were Ascomycota. Despite this, there was an overall positive relationship between occupancy and dominance. Widespread, dominant fungi were most commonly Basidiomycota. Testing all fungal OTUs, there were no more fungi with maximum range sizes < 4 km than would be expected at random. Of the 351 low‐occupancy OTUs found two to four times, only 12 had maximum range sizes < 900 m, and there was no more spatial restriction at scales < 900 m than would be expected by random chance, although there was some evidence of niche breadth restriction based on decay state similarity. The results show that fungal communities in deadwood are highly diverse, and include many rare taxa. Nonetheless, the lack of fungal OTUs with spatial restriction at scales < 900 m suggests that spatially dispersed timber harvesting will not mitigate risks of harvesting to rare fungal biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals that face natural and human-mediated landscape disturbance processes can demonstrate different modalities of phenotypic variation to influence local population persistence. Differences in the frequency and pervasiveness of environmental variation can cause an individual's phenotype to demonstrate either directional plasticity (i.e., environmental matching), canalization, or increased trait variance. Furthermore, how important a trait's influence is on fitness can further mediate the nature of phenotypic outcomes to environmental variation. We explored the effects of multi-decadal chronosequences of logging and fire-related forest disturbance on morphological variation of the generalist lizard species, the Yellow-bellied water skink (Eulamprus heatwolei) in Southern Australia. There was evidence that both logging and fire-related disturbance could influence multiple elements of vegetation structure that would construe a major source of environmental variation for lizards. Nevertheless, neither logging nor fire-related disturbance effects resulted in significant differences in lizard morphological traits. However, there was evidence that years post-fire disturbance was associated with a modest but significant increase in a measure of lizard morphological variance. For the most part, we suggest that lizards exhibit canalization in their morphological responses to disturbance related environmental variation. In forests ecosystems with complex temporal and spatial regimes of environmental variation, canalization of lizard morphology could be expected to ensure phenotypic stability within or across generations to favor geometric, over arithmetic, fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems are shaped by a range of drivers including human and natural disturbances. They also may be subject to interactions between disturbances which can affect ecological processes, biodiversity and ecosystem condition; yet few ecosystems have been subject to multiple studies of the effects of interacting disturbances. This limits the understanding of ways to mitigate the impacts of interacting disturbances.Over the past 37 years, we have completed a range of studies of interacting effects in the Mountain Ash Eucalyptus regnans forests of south‐eastern Australia. Here we summarize evidence for interacting disturbances in this ecosystem. This includes evidence of linked or coupled disturbances (termed interaction chains; sensu Foster et al., Global Change Biology, 22, 2016, 1325) between logging and subsequent fire severity. We also describe effects of other interacting disturbances such as those resulting from post‐fire (salvage) logging as well as landscape‐level, spatio‐temporal changes in forest cover associated with logging and wildfires.Policy implications. Insights from research in Mountain Ash forests provide broader lessons for managing interacting disturbances in forest ecosystems. These include the importance of cataloguing and mapping multiple disturbances in both space and time and developing conceptual models of ecosystem dynamics and ecological processes. Where there is a high risk of interactions between disturbances, appropriate management actions could include: (a) eliminating some drivers or re‐assessing levels of human extraction of resources, (b) reducing the spatial and/or temporal overlap of drivers and (c) identifying leverage points where management actions are most likely to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire severity affects both ecosystem N-loss and post-fire N-balance. Climate change is altering the fire regime of interior Alaska, although the effects on Siberian alder (Alnus viridis ssp. fruticosa) annual N-fixation input (kg N ha-1 yr-1) and ecosystem N-balance are largely unknown. We established 263 study plots across two burn scars within the Yukon-Tanana Uplands ecoregion of interior Alaska. Siberian alder N-input was quantified by post-fire age, fire severity, and stand type. We modeled the components of Siberian alder N-input using environmental variables and fire severity within and across burn scars and estimated post-fire N-balance using N-loss (volatilized N) and N-gain [biological N-fixation and atmospheric deposition]. Mean nodule-level N-fixation rate was 70% higher 11-years post-fire (12.88 ± 1.18 μmol N g-1 hr-1) than 40-years post-fire (7.58 ± 0.59 μmol N g-1 hr-1). Structural equation modeling indicated that fire severity had a negative effect on Siberian alder density, but a positive effect on live nodule biomass (g nodule m-2 plant-1). Post-fire Siberian alder N-input was highest in 11-year old moderately burned deciduous stands (11.53 ± 0.22 kg N ha-1 yr-1), and lowest in 11-year old stands that converted from black spruce to deciduous dominance after severe fire (0.06 ± 0.003 kg N ha-1 yr-1). Over a 138-year fire return interval, N-gains in converted black spruce stands are estimated to offset 15% of volatilized N, whereas N-gains in burned deciduous stands likely exceed volatilized N by an order of magnitude. High Siberian alder density and nodule biomass drives N-input in burned deciduous stands, while low N-fixer density (including Siberian alder) limits N-input in high severity black spruce stands not underlain by permafrost. A severe fire regime that converts black spruce stands to deciduous dominance without alder recruitment may induce progressive N-losses which alter boreal forest ecosystem patterns and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the latest version of the ISBA‐CTRIP land surface system, focusing on the representation of the land carbon cycle. We review the main improvements since the year 2012, mainly added modules for wild fires, carbon leaching through soil and transport of dissolved organic carbon to the ocean, and land cover changes but also improved representation of photosynthesis, respiration, and plant functional types. This version of ISBA‐CTRIP is fully described in terms of land carbon pools, fluxes, and their interactions. Results are compared with the previous version in an off‐line mode forced by observed climate during the historical time period. The two simulations are presented to demonstrate the model performance compared to an ensemble of observed and observation‐derived data sets for gross and net primary productivity, heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration, above and below ground biomass, litter, and soil carbon pools. New developments specific to the new version such as burned area, fire emissions, carbon leaching, and land cover are also validated against observations. The results show clearly that the latest version of ISBA‐CTRIP outperforms the former version and reproduces generally well the observed mean spatial patterns in carbon pools and fluxes, as well as the seasonal cycle of leaf area index. The trends of the global fluxes over the last 50 years agree with other global models and with available estimates. This comparison gives us confidence that the model represents the main processes involved in the terrestrial carbon cycle and can be used to explore future global change projections. Plain Language Summary: The land surface exchanges energy, water, and carbon with the atmosphere and partly controls the atmospheric CO2 concentration. It is therefore crucial to represent correctly the carbon cycle on land in models designed to be used in Earth System Models. We present here the improvements made to the representation of the land carbon cycle by the land surface system ISBA‐CTRIP. We improved the representation of several processes using published data, and we added processes that were not represented. The new version of the model performs better than the previous one at representing the carbon fluxes and pools, when compared to a series of observation data sets. This evaluation suggests that we can use ISBA‐CTRIP to explore the changing climate and carbon cycle. Key Points: This paper documents the updates to the biogeochemical module of the ISBA‐CTRIP land surface system for use in the CNRM‐ESM 2‐1 Earth system modelThe newly represented processes are the leaching of carbon and transport of dissolved organic carbon to the ocean, fire with area burned and carbon emissions, and land cover changesThe largest improvements in the representation of net primary productivity are due to improved autotrophic respiration [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many regions, forestry practices are shifting to partial harvesting approaches that seek to maintain species and structural diversity in managed forests. We monitored windthrow for 21 years following partial cutting treatments with 0%, 30%, and 60% removal in a large, replicated experiment located in mixed-species mature and old-growth forests of fire origin. There was no evidence that wind damage to merchantable trees (≥17.5 cm) varied among the three removal treatments. We found no evidence of a short-term spike in susceptibility to windthrow after partial cutting during the initial years following treatment. Over 21 years, a total basal area of 2.4 m2·ha–1 was damaged, which was 5.9% of the original standing basal area at the start of the experiment. We found clear differences in susceptibility to windthrow among the different tree species. The percentage of original standing trees that were windthrown varied from 0% to 23.7%. Eight of nine species had ≤10% damage over the monitoring period. Foresters should be aware of differences among tree species in risk of wind damage but should not use a general concern about susceptibility to windthrow as a reason to avoid partial cutting systems (that can achieve a diversity of management objectives) in structurally diverse, multispecies forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postfire salvage logging is used to reduce economic losses; however, burned trees are rapidly colonized by wood-boring insects, which reduce the merchantable value of the wood. This study aims to predict wood borer (Monochamus Megerle in Dejean, 1821) attacks after wildfire as a function of rapidly available variables such as tree basal area, stem diameter, and burn severity using the differenced normalized burn ratio (dNBR). In 2011, we sampled 60 black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.) or jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) plots in five burns from 2010 in the Haute-Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada. A 50 cm bole section was debarked on seven trees in each plot to estimate wood borer attack density. Wood borer attacks were more abundant in black spruce than in jack pine. As a continuous variable, dNBR unveiled a quadratic effect of burn severity on attack density in black spruce, which was higher at moderate burn severity. In jack pine, the highest levels of attack density were found at high burn severity. Models produced in this article will help forest managers to better prioritize areas for salvage logging and thus reduce economic losses due to wood borer activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salvage logging, or logging after natural disturbances such as wildfires, insect outbreaks, and windstorms, is carried out to recover some of a forest's natural and/or economic capital. However, trade‐offs between management objectives and a lack of consensus on the ecological consequences of salvage logging impair science‐based decision making on the management of forests after natural disturbances. We conducted a global meta‐analysis of the impacts of salvage logging on regulating ecosystem services and on fuel loads, as a frequent post‐disturbance objective is preventing subsequent wildfires that could be fueled by the accumulation of dead trunks and branches. Salvage logging affected ecosystem services in a moderately negative way, regardless of disturbance type and severity, time elapsed since salvage logging, intensity of salvage logging, and the group of regulating ecosystem services being considered. However, prolonging the time between natural disturbance and salvage logging mitigated negative effects on regulating ecosystem services. Salvage logging had no overall effect on surface fuels; rather, different fuel types responded differently depending on the time elapsed since salvage logging. Delaying salvage logging by ~2–4 years may reduce negative ecological impacts without affecting surface fuel loads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prescribed fire is the largest source of fine particulate matter emissions in the Southeastern United States, yet its air quality impacts remain highly uncertain. Here, we assess the influence of prescribed fire on observed pollutant concentrations in the region using a unique fire data set compiled from multiyear digital burn permit records. There is a significant association between prescribed fire activity and concentrations recorded at Southeastern monitoring sites, with permitted burning explaining as much as 50% variability in daily PM2.5 concentrations. This relationship varies spatially and temporally across the region and as a function of burn type. At most locations, the association between PM2.5 concentration and permitted burning is stronger than that with satellite‐derived burn area or meteorological drivers of air quality. These results highlight the value of bottom‐up data in evaluating the contribution of prescribed fire to regional air pollution and reveal a need to develop more complete burn records. Plain Language Summary: Prescribed fires, planned and intentionally ignited wildland fires, are frequently used in the Southeastern United States for different land management purposes, such as reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires and restoring ecosystems. They are also the largest source of fine particle emissions into the atmosphere in the Southeast. However, the extent to which prescribed fires contribute to air pollution in the region remains unclear. In this study, data gathered from state burn permit records and regulatory air quality monitors are used to show that prescribe fire has an important influence on air pollution at multiple Southeastern locations. Additionally, our analysis suggests that burning permits can be more informative than satellite‐derived fire data when evaluating the impacts of prescribed fire on regional air quality. These results reveal a need to improve available records of prescribed fire activity in order to better understand its full effect on air pollution in the Southeast. Key Points: Burn permit records show an association between prescribed fire and air pollution recorded at monitoring sites in the Southeast United StatesFire permits can explain more than 25% of the variability in observed PM2.5 concentration, and prescribed fire influence can persist for over a dayAt most sites, the association between air quality and permitted burning is stronger than the association with satellite‐derived burn area [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a wildfire, regeneration to forest can take decades to centuries and is no longer assured in many western U.S. environments given escalating wildfire severity and warming trends. After large fire years, managers prioritize where to allocate scarce planting resources, often with limited information on the factors that drive successful forest establishment. Where occurring, long‐term effects of postfire salvage operations can increase uncertainty of establishment. Here, we collected field data on postfire regeneration patterns within 13‐ to 28‐yr‐old burned patches in eastern Washington State. Across 248 plots, we sampled tree stems <4 m height using a factorial design that considered (1) fire severity, moderate vs. high severity; (2) salvage harvesting, salvaged vs. no management; and (3) potential vegetation type (PVT), sample resides in a dry, moist, or cold mixed‐conifer forest environment. We found that regeneration was abundant throughout the study region, with a median of 4414 (IQR 19,618) stems/ha across all plots. Only 15% of plots fell below minimum timber production stocking standards (350 trees/ha), and <2% of plots were unstocked. Densities were generally highest in high‐severity patches and following salvage harvesting, although high variability among plots and across sites led to variable significance for these factors. Post hoc analyses suggested that mild postfire weather conditions may have reduced water stress on tree establishment and early growth, contributing to overall high stem densities. Douglas fir was the most abundant species, particularly in moderate‐severity patches, followed by ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, western larch, and Engelmann spruce. Generalized additive models (GAMs) revealed species‐level climatic tolerances and seed dispersal limits that portend future challenges to regeneration with expected future climate warming and increased fire activity. Postfire regeneration will occur on sites with adequate seed sources within their climatic tolerances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disturbances are frequent events across the Canadian boreal forest and can affect both below‐ and above‐ground ecosystem processes. How disturbances change below‐ground soil fungal communities and in‐turn affect pine establishment and performance is poorly understood. Such understanding has become increasingly important in light of observed changes in disturbance regimes in recent years due to climate change.We used a greenhouse experiment to determine how soil inoculum collected from lodgepole pine stands undisturbed (control) or disturbed by fire, mountain pine beetle outbreak, logging and salvage logging affect pine seedling performance in western Canada. We first characterized whether fungal communities of seedling roots change as a function of inoculum source, and then determined whether changes in fungal community composition impact pine seedling performance (biomass and height).Root fungal communities of pine seedlings from logged and salvage logged disturbances differed from their respective paired controls, while soils from natural disturbances (fire and beetle outbreak) did not. Among disturbances, the pine root fungal communities of fire and salvage logged disturbances differed.In parallel to the root fungal communities, seedling performance also decreased when comparing logging and salvage logging disturbances to paired controls. Among disturbance treatments, seedlings from the salvage logged disturbance did not grow as big as seedlings inoculated with soils from burned forests.Synthesis and application. Our findings indicate that anthropogenic disturbances (logging and salvage logging) can have cross‐generational impacts on pine seedling performance, through functional shifts in seedling root fungal community structure. Furthermore, the impacts of soil fungi on pine seedlings appear to be pronounced following salvage logging, stressing the importance of compound disturbance events. These findings may be important to land managers considering clear‐cut logging or salvage logging in pine forests, particularly where soil biotic communities are likely to be one of the predominate factors in pine establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of ecological time series allows to assess the relative contribution of density-dependent and density-independent factors influencing the regulation of the population of a species. In this study, we investigated whether the annual fluctuation in the population of Middle Spotted Woodpeckers Dendrocoptes medius can be attributed to the direct or delayed density-dependent regulation or to the density-independent factors such as weather conditions during the preceding winter and previous breeding season and/or disturbance in the habitat associated with sanitary felling and salvage logging of trees. This study was conducted in the Czeszewo Forest Reserve, which protects the remnants of semi-natural flood-plain forest, and in the Łówkowiec Forest, which is a managed oak-dominated stand, during 19 seasons (2001–2019). Time series diagnostic revealed that the growth rate of population of Middle Spotted Woodpecker in protected semi-natural riverine forest and in managed oak forest was determined by first-order negative feedback, suggesting an important role of direct density-dependent mortality in the regulation of an equilibrium in population size. The effect of density-dependent process varied between study sites, being lower in riverine forest, where population size has increased distinctly in recent years. In both study areas, we detected strong positive effects of wind chill temperature during the preceding winter on population growth rates. We did not find evidence for the assumption that the increase in population growth rate is affected by weather conditions in the previous breeding season and by the disturbance in the habitat associated with sanitary felling and salvage logging of trees. Our results suggest that Middle Spotted Woodpeckers can benefit from global climate warming by an enhanced rate of winter survival or an increase in the accessibility of food, e.g., insects and other arthropods. The lack of time-lag significant correlations between population fluctuations suggests local habitat conditions, e.g., forest management, can modify inter-annual variability in time series of the Middle Spotted Woodpecker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Open fractures with severe soft-tissue injuries are clinically challenging to treat. While several scoring systems are available to grade these clinical conditions, the Gustilo Anderson grading system is most commonly used. This grading system neither offers any clue regarding salvaging open fractures of Grade III B and above, nor does it help the surgeon to assess the outcomes in such injuries. Hence, a new system of grading was assessed to address this deficiency. Materials and Methods: Five hundred and twelve open fracture cases were analyzed for this study. Two hundred and twenty-seven patients sustained Grade III injuries according to the Gustilo Anderson classification; Of these, 175 patients had Grade III A open fractures and 52 patients were of Grade III B and above. The 52 patients with open fractures of Grade III B and above were scored using mangled extremity severity score (MESS), Ganga score, and our novel scoring system. The accuracy in deciding amputation and predict outcomes were measured. Results: The scores assessed by the new scoring system were compared with MESS, Gustilo grading, and Ganga score system. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated our scoring system to be more accurate compared to all other scoring systems (P = 0.02). A receiver operating characteristic curve was plotted to compare all other scoring systems. The area under the curve (0.996 ± 0.003) for our scoring system was significantly higher with the less standard error of the mean than other scoring systems compared. Conclusions: Our new scoring system was more accurate in predicting limb salvage and outcomes compared to the existing scoring systems for open fractures of Grade III B and above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudo successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (p-SILAR) is an emerging technique for deposition of quantum dots (QDs) on a variety of nanoparticles (NPs); however, it has a limitation of wastage of water-based ionic precursors those are hazardous in nature as well. In this study, we have strategically ensured the removal of ionic species from aqueous solutions, by salvaging efficient metal sulfides (i.e. PbS, CdS, ZnS, CuS, Ag2S, and SnS) exhibiting 62%, 47%, 66%, 86%, 91%, and 99% degradation of Congo-red dye, respectively, resulting a reaction rate of 0.016, 0.011, 0.021, 0.034, 0,083, and 0.04 min−1. The qualitative characterization of successfully salvaged metal sulfide photocatalysts was carried out using scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM), coupled with optical, crystallographic, and elemental elucidation. Importantly, residual aqueous ionic solutions were detoxified and water was brought back to its pure and drinkable state, avowing the standardization of wastewater treatment bi-effectually. Specifically, anionic precursors having pH value of ~ 12 and cationic precursors of SnCl2 and Pb(NO3)2 having pH values of ~ 4 were taken to 7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Nutrient cycling generally recovers rapidly following disturbance in forest ecosystems. Concerns have been expressed that the resilience of this function may be altered by enhanced disturbance frequency, and especially by the use of salvage logging. A sudden hemlock looper (Lambdina fiscellaria) outbreak in a boreal forest leading to tree mortality in discrete patches allowed us to evaluate the impact of disturbance type (logging vs insect defoliation) as well as the cumulative effects of both disturbances (that is, salvage logging of defoliated sites) on soil nutrients, providing a rare opportunity to test for interactions between these two disturbances. We assessed, within 2–3 years following treatments, whether both individual disturbances had distinct effects on soils properties and whether their cumulative effects were either additive, synergistic or antagonistic. Defoliation generally increased the soil nutrient concentrations, especially of soluble nitrogen forms, when compared to the undisturbed controls. The spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrient concentrations was also much greater in defoliated stands than in the other treatments. Logging alone had an effect that was less variable and generally of lower amplitude than defoliation. Contrary to what was expected, salvage logging led to soil properties that were more similar to those of undisturbed controls, indicating that antagonistic interactions occurred. Our results showed that, under the conditions of this study, salvage logging could reduce the potential for soil nutrient leaching and lead to more homogenous soil conditions. These results bring new light on the effect of cumulative disturbances and could be useful to guide post-disturbance forest management decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salvage logging following natural disturbances may alter the natural successional trajectories of biological communities by affecting the occurrences of species, functional groups and evolutionary lineages. However, few studies have examined whether dissimilarities between bird communities of salvaged and unsalvaged forests are more pronounced for rare species, functional groups and evolutionary lineages than for their more common counterparts.We compiled data on breeding bird assemblages from nine study areas in North America, Europe and Asia, covering a 17‐year period following wildfire or windstorm disturbances and subsequent salvage logging. We tested whether dissimilarities based on non‐shared species, functional groups and evolutionary lineages (a) decreased or increased over time and (b) the responses of rare, common and dominant species varied, by using a unified statistical framework based on Hill numbers and null models.We found that dissimilarities between bird communities caused by salvage logging persisted over time for rare, common and dominant species, evolutionary lineages and for rare functional groups. Dissimilarities of common and dominant functional groups increased 14 years post disturbance.Salvage logging led to significantly larger dissimilarities than expected by chance. Functional dissimilarities between salvaged and unsalvaged sites were lower compared to taxonomic and phylogenetic dissimilarities. In general, dissimilarities were highest for rare, followed by common and dominant species.Synthesis and applications. Our research demonstrates that salvage logging did not decrease dissimilarities of bird communities over time and taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic dissimilarities persisted for over a decade. We recommend resource managers and decision makers to reserve portions of disturbed forest to enable unmanaged post‐disturbance succession of bird communities, particularly to conserve rare species found in unsalvaged disturbed forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rock-hewn cave cut out of limestone was accidentally discovered in 2012 during road repairs and maintenance work conducted by Great Amman Municipality on the corner of the street leading to the Amman Citadel. The recommendations were to conduct a salvage excavation at the above-mentioned cave. Therefore, an immediate physical inspection was conducted in order to assess the needs of excavating and to avoid further collateral damage. The campaign for the excavation of the cave took place between 22 February and 10 March 2012. Two limestone sarcophagi from the Roman period were found in the cave. The stone coffin is one of several types of the burial customs known to the Romans whether in the Near East or in their original homeland. The social and economic conditions of the people during the Roman Period determined the quality of their tombs, the funerary rites to be held and the funerary tools accompanying them in the other life. Consequently, people belonging to poor families are deprived of the same quality of services in comparison to their rich counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1558 the Portuguese ship Espadarte, with a cargo of spices, Ming porcelain, and an estimated 12.4 kg gold hoard, was shipwrecked off the Island of Mozambique. Acommercial salvor, under licence from the Mozambique government, salvaged the porcelain and gold, around 2001-2003. This agreement, entered into in 1999, caused public resentment. When half of the items were sold at auction in 2004 a bitter war of words erupted between Mozambique anthropologists and jurists, and the Mozambique government. The salvor readily supplied information about the dating and identity of the porcelain. This was not the case for the gold hoard. It appears that the salvor, because of the controversy, cautiously withheld or even refrained from gathering such information. This paper is an attempt to unravel the story of the gold. It was found that the hoard was assembled by one or more friars of the Dominican order. They probably obtained the natural gold from the Kingdom of Monomotapa, melted it down to cast ingots and undertook goldsmithing work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Windstorms have recently caused noteworthy destruction across the Northern forests of Turkey. The intensive forest management practices applied for more than 60+ years may unknowingly have resulted in wind-sensitive forests in the region. After a storm, the forest service salvages the losses, but no further precaution is taken against future storms. To our knowledge, there has not been any research looking into the cumulative effects of environmental factors on storm damage in Turkish forests. Maxent, which is an ecological niche model, might help decision-makers in developing forest management strategies against storms given its ease of use, known successful performance, and flexible variable evaluation approach. This study revealed that management preferences were mainly responsible for forest storm damage in Kastamonu Province, Turkey. Context: Excessive wind cause serious damages to individual trees and forest stands. When unintentionally coupled with the forest management preferences, catastrophic levels of damage might be unavoidable. Aims: The main objective was to assess the environmental factors contributing to the impact of a strong windstorm that occurred between March 14 and 15, 2013 and resulted in 1.5-million m3 timber losses in the Kastamonu Regional Directorate of Forestry. Methods: Maximum entropy modeling (Maxent) and geographic information systems (GIS) were used to evaluate the factors contributing to the forest damage. Results: Stand type, diameter class, and elevation were the most important variables affecting the level of wind damage. The pure and mixed coniferous stands were the hardest hit when compared with the deciduous stands. The damage increased as the density of forest roads grew. Conclusion: It was concluded that windstorms pose serious threats to Turkish forests. Storm damage risks must therefore be integrated into forest management. In order to better understand the environmental factors contributing to the destructive effects of windstorms in forests, it would be best to focus on the telltale signs pointing the wrong-doing in forest management preferences at larger environmental scale rather than looking for reasons behind the occurrences of scattered small-scale damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salvage logging in burned forests can negatively affect habitat for white-headed woodpeckers (Dryobates albolarvatus), a species of conservation concern, but also meets socioeconomic demands for timber and human safety. Habitat suitability index (HSI) models can inform forest management activities to help meet habitat conservation objectives. Informing post-fire forest management, however, involves model application at new locations as wildfires occur, requiring evaluation of predictive performance across locations. We developed HSI models for white-headed woodpeckers using nest sites from two burned-forest locations in Oregon, the Toolbox (2002) and Canyon Creek (2015) fires. We measured predictive performance by developing one model at each of the two locations and quantifying discrimination of nest from reference sites at two other wildfire locations where the model had not been developed (either Toolbox or Canyon Creek, and the Barry Point Fire [2011]). We developed and evaluated Maxent models based on remotely sensed environmental metrics to support habitat mapping, and weighted logistic regression (WLR) models that combined remotely sensed and field-collected metrics to inform management prescriptions. Both Maxent and WLR models developed either at Canyon Creek or Toolbox performed adequately to inform management when applied at the alternate Toolbox or Canyon Creek location, respectively (area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve [AUC] range = 0.61–0.72) but poorly when applied at Barry Point (AUC = 0.53–0.57). The final HSI models fitted to Toolbox and Canyon Creek data quantified suitable nesting habitat as severely burned or open sites adjacent to lower severity and closed canopy sites, where foraging presumably occurs. We suggest these models are applicable at locations similar to development locations but not at locations resembling Barry Point, which were characterized by more (pre-fire) canopy openings, larger diameter trees, less ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), and more juniper (Juniperus occidentalis). Considering our results, we recommend caution when applying HSI models developed at individual wildfire locations to inform post-fire management at new locations without first evaluating predictive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Climate and land-use change have led to disturbance regimes in many ecosystems without a historical analog, leading to uncertainty about how species adapted to past conditions will respond to novel post-disturbance landscapes. Objectives: We examined habitat selection by spotted owls in a post-fire landscape. We tested whether selection or avoidance of severely burned areas could be explained by patch size or configuration, and whether variation in selection among individuals could be explained by differences in habitat availability. Methods: We applied mixed-effects models to GPS data from 20 spotted owls in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA, with individual owls occupying home ranges spanning a broad range of post-fire conditions after the 2014 King Fire. Results: Individual spotted owls whose home ranges experienced less severe fire (< 5% of home range severely burned) tended to select severely burned forest, but owls avoided severely burned forest when more of their home range was affected (~ 5–40%). Owls also tended to select severe fire patches that were smaller in size and more complex in shape, and rarely traveled > 100-m into severe fire patches. Spotted owls avoided areas that had experienced post-fire salvage logging but the interpretation of this effect was nuanced. Owls also avoided areas that were classified as open and/or young forest prior to the fire. Conclusions: Our results support the hypothesis that spotted owls are adapted to historical fire regimes characterized by small severe fire patches in this region. Shifts in disturbance regimes that produce novel landscape patterns characterized by large, homogeneous patches of high-severity fire may negatively affect this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]