As populations of the European gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.) move into the southeast, laboratory studies indicate that the potential exists for defoliation and possible tree mortality in mixed pine-hardwood stands. This dissertation describes a field study that was initiated to determine the susceptibility and vulnerability of pure and mixed stands of loblolly pine, oaks and sweetgum in pine-oak and pine-sweetgum cover types in the Atlantic Coastal Plain physiographic province. Sixteen stands were defoliated between 1992 and 1996. Stand susceptibility was significantly related to stand composition; stands with a greater proportion of susceptible species experienced greater defoliation. Oaks and sweetgum were heavily defoliated. Pines did not suffer extensive defoliation, and results of the study indicate that the probability of widespread gypsy moth defoliation in pine plantations appears to be low. A multiple linear regression model for the prediction of mean stand defoliation is also presented. Trends in tree mortality were similar to those previously described in northeastern forests. Susceptible tree species were heavily impacted, however, oaks displayed greater vulnerability than sweetgum. Suppressed and intermediate trees in the understory, and trees that were in poor or fair condition, had a greater probability of dying subsequent to defoliation. However, under- and overstory basal area mortality rates were not significantly different in the pine-oak type, and stem mortality rates were not significantly different in either type. Loblolly pine mortality was observed, but it was difficult to isolate the source, and thereby determine whether gypsy moth defoliation was a primary causal factor. In general, the potential for extensive pine mortality in mixed pine-hardwood stands does not appear to exist. Logistic regression was found to be a useful tool in the prediction of individual tree mortality and two logistic regression equations were derived and validated for use in pine-oak and pine-sweetgum cover types. / Ph. D.

Orientador: Júlio Cesar Refosco. / Dissertação (Mestrado em Engenharia Florestal) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Florestal, Centro de Ciências Tecnológicas, Universidade Regional de Blumenau, Blumenau.

Orientador: Carlos Frederico Wilcken / Resumo: Os afídeos do gênero Cinara (Hemiptera: Aphididae) são importantes pragas de coníferas em diversos países. No Brasil o pulgão do Pinus foi detectado pela primeira vez em 1996 em plantio de Pinus taeda no estado de Santa Catarina, sendo C. atlantica registrada no estado de São Paulo em 1999. Atualmente esta espécie vem causando perdas em plantações comerciais de Pinus spp.. Este trabalho teve por objetivos: 1) Avaliar o efeito do manejo de plantas invasoras na população de C. atlantica e seus inimigos naturais em P. taeda. 2) Estudar a biologia e o potencial de predação das joaninhas sobre C. atlantica. O experimento foi instalado em área de 17,7 ha, com plantio de P. taeda de 6 meses em Buri, SP. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados com quatro tratamentos e quatro repetições. Em cada parcela foram amostradas 40 plantas, dispostas em quatro amostras de 10 plantas em linha. Os seguintes tratamentos de controle de plantas invasoras foram aplicados nas entrelinhas: a) presença de plantas invasoras (sem controle); b) manejo com roçadeira; c) manejo com gradagem; e d) manejo com herbicida. A infestação pelo pulgão do Pinus foi avaliada pela população de pulgões, por escala de notas e número de colônias/planta. Também foram atribuídas notas para a determinação dos danos. Foram realizadas 16 avaliações mensais (maio/2001 a agosto/2002), pelas quais pôde-se constatar maior população de C. atlantica nos tratamentos onde as plantas invasoras foram controladas totalmente devido ao sistema de manejo aplicado. A maior infestação foi constatada no manejo com uso de herbicida. O manejo por roçada apresentou menor número de plantas atacadas. Os danos de maior... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo). / Abstract: Aphids of genus Cinara (Hemiptera: Aphididae) are important conifer pests in several countries. In Brazil, pine aphid was detected for the first time in 1996 in planting of Pinus taeda in State of Santa Catarina, with C. atlantica registered in State of São Paulo in 1999. Nowadays this species causes losses in pine plantations. This work had as objectives: 1) evaluate the effects of weed management in C. atlantica population and its natural enemies in P. taeda; 2) study the ladybugs biology and their predation potential on C. atlantica. The experiment was carried out in an area of 17.7 ha, with P. taeda plantation of 6 months age in Buri, SP. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with four treatments and four repetitions. In each block were sampled 40 plants, distributed in four samples of 10 plants in line. The following weed control treatments were applied in interlines: a) weed presence (no control); b) management with brush cutter; c) management with disk harrow; and d) management with herbicide. Aphid population evaluated infestation by notes scale and by colonies/plant numbers. It was also attributed notes for damage evaluation. It was accomplished 16 monthly evaluations (May, 2001 to August, 2002), by which ones could verify larger population of C. atlantica in treatments where weed was controlled totally (disk harrow and herbicide). The largest infestation was verified in herbicide management areas. The brush cutter management presented smaller number of attacked plants. The main damages caused by aphids in pine plants were shoot bifurcation and multishooting. P. taeda growth was above of the average in the system with weed in interlines. Regarding the C. atlantica natural enemies evaluations, it was considered for the predators of families Coccinellidae, Chrysopidae and Syrphidae. In interlines, it was verified predators... (Complete abstract, click electronic address below). / Mestre

Orientador: Tatiele Anete Bergamo Fenilli. / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Regional de Blumenau, Centro de Ciências Tecnológicas, Programa de Pós-Graduação de Engenharia Florestal.

The Mid-Atlantic coastal forests in Virginia are stressed by episodic disturbance from storms associated with hurricanes and nor'easters. Using annual tree ring data, we adopt a dendroclimatic and statistical modelling approach to understand the response and resilience of a coastal pine forest to slow progressive climate change and extreme storm surge events. Results indicate that radial growth of trees in the study area is influenced by age, vigor, competition, microsite variability, and regional climatic trends, but dominated periodically by disturbance due to storm surges. We evaluated seven local storm surge events to understand the effect of storm surges associated with nor'easters and hurricanes on radial growth. A general decline in radial growth was observed in the year of the storm and three years following it, after which the radial growth starts recovering. Given the projected increase in hurricanes and storm surge severity with changing global climate, this study contributes to understanding declining tree growth response and resilience of coastal forests to past disturbances. This can help predict vegetation response patterns to similar disturbances in the future.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) is an ecologically and economically important southern pine, distributed across the southeastern United States. Its genetic improvement for breeding and deployment is a major goal of the Western Gulf Forest Tree Improvement Program (WGFTIP) hosted by the Texas A&M Forest Service. Rapid advances in genomics and molecular marker technology have created potential for application of Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) and Genomic Selection (GS) for accelerated breeding in forest trees. First-generation selection (FGS) and second- generation selection (SGS) breeding populations of loblolly pine from east Texas were studied to estimate the genetic diversity, population structure, linkage disequilibrium (LD), signatures of selection and association of breeding traits with genetic markers using a genome-wide panel of 4264 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Under- standing the genetic basis of local adaptation is crucial to disentangle the dynamics of gene flow, drift and selection and to address climate change. Bayesian mixed linear models and logistic regression were used to associate SNP variation with geography, climate, aridity and growth season length and markers with strong correlations were investigated for biological functions. Relatively high levels of observed (Ho = 0.178–0.198) and expected (He = 0.180-0.198) heterozygosities were found in all populations. The amount of inbreeding was very low, and many populations exhibited a slight excess of heterozygotes. The population substructure was weak, but FST indicated more pronounced differentiation in the SGS populations. As expected for outcrossing natural populations, the genome-wide LD was low, but marker density was insufficient to deduce the decay rate. Numerous associations were found between various phenotypes and SNPs, but few remained significant after false positive correction. Signatures of diversifying and balancing selection were found in markers representing important biological functions. Strong correlations supported by Bayes factors were found between various environmental variables and several SNPs. Logistic regression found hundreds of significant marker-environment associations, but none remained significant after false-positive correction, which was likely too stringent and will require further investigation. Annotations of significant markers implicated them in crucial biological functions. These results present the first step in the application of MAS to the WGFTIP for loblolly pine genetic improvement and will contribute to the knowledgebase necessary for genomic selection technology. Results from environmental association study provide important information for designing breeding strategies to address climate change and for genetic conservation purposes.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2003-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:58:43Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 oliveira_nc_me_botfca.pdf: 682915 bytes, checksum: 9584cb9e6420b97317150a74547e5407 (MD5) / Os afídeos do gênero Cinara (Hemiptera: Aphididae) são importantes pragas de coníferas em diversos países. No Brasil o pulgão do Pinus foi detectado pela primeira vez em 1996 em plantio de Pinus taeda no estado de Santa Catarina, sendo C. atlantica registrada no estado de São Paulo em 1999. Atualmente esta espécie vem causando perdas em plantações comerciais de Pinus spp.. Este trabalho teve por objetivos: 1) Avaliar o efeito do manejo de plantas invasoras na população de C. atlantica e seus inimigos naturais em P. taeda. 2) Estudar a biologia e o potencial de predação das joaninhas sobre C. atlantica. O experimento foi instalado em área de 17,7 ha, com plantio de P. taeda de 6 meses em Buri, SP. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados com quatro tratamentos e quatro repetições. Em cada parcela foram amostradas 40 plantas, dispostas em quatro amostras de 10 plantas em linha. Os seguintes tratamentos de controle de plantas invasoras foram aplicados nas entrelinhas: a) presença de plantas invasoras (sem controle); b) manejo com roçadeira; c) manejo com gradagem; e d) manejo com herbicida. A infestação pelo pulgão do Pinus foi avaliada pela população de pulgões, por escala de notas e número de colônias/planta. Também foram atribuídas notas para a determinação dos danos. Foram realizadas 16 avaliações mensais (maio/2001 a agosto/2002), pelas quais pôde-se constatar maior população de C. atlantica nos tratamentos onde as plantas invasoras foram controladas totalmente devido ao sistema de manejo aplicado. A maior infestação foi constatada no manejo com uso de herbicida. O manejo por roçada apresentou menor número de plantas atacadas. Os danos de maior... . / Aphids of genus Cinara (Hemiptera: Aphididae) are important conifer pests in several countries. In Brazil, pine aphid was detected for the first time in 1996 in planting of Pinus taeda in State of Santa Catarina, with C. atlantica registered in State of São Paulo in 1999. Nowadays this species causes losses in pine plantations. This work had as objectives: 1) evaluate the effects of weed management in C. atlantica population and its natural enemies in P. taeda; 2) study the ladybugs biology and their predation potential on C. atlantica. The experiment was carried out in an area of 17.7 ha, with P. taeda plantation of 6 months age in Buri, SP. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with four treatments and four repetitions. In each block were sampled 40 plants, distributed in four samples of 10 plants in line. The following weed control treatments were applied in interlines: a) weed presence (no control); b) management with brush cutter; c) management with disk harrow; and d) management with herbicide. Aphid population evaluated infestation by notes scale and by colonies/plant numbers. It was also attributed notes for damage evaluation. It was accomplished 16 monthly evaluations (May, 2001 to August, 2002), by which ones could verify larger population of C. atlantica in treatments where weed was controlled totally (disk harrow and herbicide). The largest infestation was verified in herbicide management areas. The brush cutter management presented smaller number of attacked plants. The main damages caused by aphids in pine plants were shoot bifurcation and multishooting. P. taeda growth was above of the average in the system with weed in interlines. Regarding the C. atlantica natural enemies evaluations, it was considered for the predators of families Coccinellidae, Chrysopidae and Syrphidae. In interlines, it was verified predators... (Complete abstract, click electronic address below).