What landscapes best represent the land uses and land covers (LU/LC) of the continental United States? Would the set include a cornfield? A forest? A backyard? Combining principles of landscape ecology and computer science, we identified a small set of âexemplar landscapesâ, representing…
Woody biomass has gained considerable attention in the U.S. as a feedstock for producing renewable bioenergy. Though these resources are generally not cost competitive with fossil fuels under current technology and market conditions, they are likely to generate numerous socioeconomic and…
Even though recent discussions on food prices and indirect land use change point atpotential conflicts associated with the production of biofuels the appraisal of biofuels as an effective instrument to slow down climate change and reduce energy dependency still prevails. The EU Renewable Energy…
Widely occurred woody encroachment in grass-dominated ecosystems has the potential to influence soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) pools at local, regional, and global scales. Evaluation of this potential requires assessment of both pool sizes and their spatial patterns. We…
Riparian ecosystems are important elements in landscapes that often provide a disproportionately wide range of ecosystem services and conservation benefits. Their protection and restoration have been one of the top environmental management priorities across the US over the last several years.…
Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) is an ephemeral perennial introduced to North America from Europe for ornamental use. This species is becoming widespread in shady, moist woodlands and lawns in the northern United States and southern Canada. Despite its invasive attributes, lesser celandine…
Over 14 million hectares of erosion prone cropland in the United States has been converted into grasslands through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) administered by the United States Department of Agriculture, however, studies of the effects of CRP enrollment on plant communities and…
Urban land use and land cover change significantly affect spatial and temporal patterns of runoff, which in turn impacts surface water quality. With the exponential growth in urban areas over the past three decades, changes in land use and land cover to cater for the growth of cities has been a…
Impacts of rural land development on natural resources in the United States have been well documented and research on rural land development provides important inputs to land conservation policy and program development. Although numerous land-use studies have been completed for the western and…
The agricultural sector is a small but significant contributor to the overall anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and a major contributor of N2O emission in the United States. Land management practices or systems that reduce GHG emission would aid in slowing climate change. We measured…
Accurate identification of bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) cultivars is necessary to ensure the purity of the cultivars produced by sod farmers, to protect the intellectual property of cultivar developers, and to assure cultivar purity for the benefit of turfgrass consumers. Vegetatively propagated…
The flows of the Rio Conchos are of vital economic importance not only to the agricultural sector in the Mexican side of the Rio Grande basin but also for meeting Mexico's obligation to deliver water to the United States. During the previous decade, a severe drought dramatically decreased…