During the past 100 years, researchers have investigated the potential of hundreds of tree and shrub species for use in applications of tree-ring research. Although several lists of species known to crossdate have been published, investigated species that do not crossdate are rarely included despite the usefulness of this information for future research. This paper provides a list of the Latin and common names of 573 species that have been investigated in tree-ring research, information on species known to crossdate, and information on species with measurement and/or chronology data in the International Tree-Ring Data Bank. In addition, a measure of the suitability of a species for future tree-ring applications, the Crossdating Index (CDI), is developed and proposed for standard usage.

Phipps showed that the cross-sectional area of successive tree rings in suppressed red maples and chestnut oaks, sampled at three-foot intervals above the base, is approximately constant. I show that this invariance in cross-sectional area is consistent with ring width varying as the inverse square root of ring number and with mean ring diameter and trunk diameter each scaling as the square root of ring number. These results may be useful in formulating growth rules for tree trunks of selected species, under constant environmental conditions, in terms of a single independent variable. For example, if elastic similarity holds, trunk height is proportional to the two-thirds power of trunk diameter. This relation implies that trunk height scales as the cube root of ring number. Thus, trunk height and trunk diameter may, in principle, both be expressed in terms of one independent variable, ring number.

I chose the topic for my diploma thesis " The Excursion for the Elementary School Pupils along the Riverside of the Vrchlice River Aiming at Woody Plants". I took that topic intentionally just for several reasons. I wanted to bring a scenic valley of the Vrchlice river to pupilsˇ attention, to make the identification of woody plants more attractive in the natural scientific excursion, and to consolidate pupils' relation to nature and neighbouring environment. The first theoretical part deals with the general description of this valley and at the same time with the characteristic of animals and plants. Selected sorts of woody plants are described in the most detailed way as they became initial ones for working out worksheets and for the natural scientific excursion. The next part of the diploma thesis concerns inquiry research the goal of which was to find out the interest of teachers from nearby basic schools in worksheets dealing with the woody plants issues of the river Vrchlice. Worksheets dealing with selected wooden plants were elaborated on the basis of the research assessment. Those worksheets were verifield in the follow-up excursion. The closing part evaluates whether all the set targets were accomplished. Keywords Woody plants, educational excursion, worksheets, plants, pupils

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Verticillium wilt, caused by Verticillium dahliae Kleb, is one of the most economically important diseases of woody hosts such as ash (Fraxinus spp.), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), and redbud (Cercis canadensis). The causal agent has a broad host range, including not only woody hosts but also important vegetable and field crops, and it is distributed worldwide. Diagnosis of V. dahliae in infected woody hosts is often based on the occurrence of vascular discoloration and time-consuming isolation. However, not all woody hosts exhibit vascular discoloration symptoms, and not all vascular discoloration symptoms are due to infection by V. dahliae. In this study, real-time PCR-based assays were evaluated and employed for rapid and accurate detection of V. dahliae in different woody hosts. DNA was extracted in large quantities from presumptively infected woody hosts by collecting drill-press shavings from sample tissue, bead-beating, and extracting using a CTAB method. Six published primer sets were evaluated against genomic DNA of V. dahliae as well as selected negative controls, and two sets (VertBt-F/VertBt-R and VDS1/VDS2) showed promise for further evaluation using DNA extracts from field samples. The VertBt primers amplified a species-specific 115-bp fragment of the expected size, while the VDS primers amplified the expected specific 540-bp fragment. However, the VertBt primer set exhibited higher sensitivity in detection of V. dahliae even in asymptomatic trees. The PCR-based methods developed here could be used as rapid tools for pathogen detecting and monitoring, thus informing plant pathogen management decisions.

Several invasive woody plants grow in forest fragments at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Seymour, Indiana. The objective of this study was to determine what woody species were growing in two upland forests and to assess the level of dominance that invasive species had in these areas. The variables of depth into the forest and directional aspect were also considered. Thirty-two belt transects were sampled and 54 woody species were found, including six invasive species: Ailanthus altissima (tree-ofheaven), Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry), Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive), Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle), Lonicera maackii (amur honeysuckle), and Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose). Importance values were calculated as an indicator of relative species dominance. Detrended Correspondence Analysis and Cluster analysis suggested that the invasive species were grouped on the forest edge transects; aspect was not found to be a determinant in where invasive species grew. Correlation coefficients demonstrated a significant difference between transect depth and the following variables at both forests: woody species density per transect, invasive species dominance, Elaeagnus umbellata density per hectare, and Lonicera japonica dominance. Rosa multiflora was one of the three most dominant understory species in both forests; on the edge transect, it was one of the top two. Soil temperatures were also measured at each transect, but no consistent trends were found within the data. In light of resources available, it is suggested that land managers focus on controlling Rosa multiflora and Ailanthus altissima. / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

Soil nitrogen (N) is a major factor limiting forest growth. While inorganic N forms such as ammonium (NH4) and nitrate (N03-) have been the focus of plant N nutrition studies, a growing body of research has shown direct uptake of organic N forms (including amino acids) is common across the plant kingdom. However, there are few examinations of the contribution amino acid N makes to plant nutrition in temperate forest regions. The main goals of this thesis were to determine i) potential contributions amino acid-N and inorganic-N could make to N-nutrition of some temperate forest plants, ii) N-form adaptations among species that could lead to N-niche partitioning among them, and iii) the influence of m ycorrhizae on plant growth and N-form uptake. I determined the relative availabilities of amino acid N and inorganic N in three sites near Jordan River, British Columbia, biomass production of four species of forest plants. some associated with m ycorrhizae, when given inorganic (NH4-, N03-) or organic (glycine, glutamic acid) N, and short-term uptake (24 hours) of labelled N H4+, N03-, glycine, and glutamic acid using Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis ), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii ), blueberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium) and salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis). All species performed well when supplied with N prim arily as NH4+, and NH4+ tended to be the most available N -source in all soils tested. Soils dominated b y salmonberry tended to have greater N03- production and lower amino acid-N: inorganic-N ratios compared to soils dominated by blueberry. This corresponded to the good growth and short-term 15NO3-uptake of salmonberry when grown with N supplied primarily as N03-, compared to other N-form treatments. Blueberry grew significantly more when given NH4- and N03-compared to amino acids. Thus, while blueberry has the ability to take up and use N03-for growth, sites on which it was dominant had low N03- availability. Mycorrhization did not improve biomass production, and in some cases actually decreased biomass. However, 15N uptake tended to be improved in mycorrhizal plants compared to non¬mycorrhizal plants. The comparable rates of short-term 15N uptake from amino acids and inorganic-N by all plants. in addition to the coin parable amino acid-N and inorganic-N availability in soils, suggested that am ino acids may be significant contributors to the N - nutrition of these tern perate species. However, biomass production was often reduced in amino acid treatments, which this was not always reflected by short-term '5N uptake.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Alnarp : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning). Umeå : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.