Transformation is a major bottleneck for genetic engineering and gene editing in forest tree species. This includes most genotypes of Populus and Eucalyptus, which are some of the world’s most widely-cultivated genera of plantation forest trees. To provide new tools for transformation, I tested the transcription factor-protein chimera consisting of...
Streams across the western United States are impaired from human alterations that have reduced freshwater habitat by simplifying channel complexity and disconnecting floodplains (Knox et al., 2022; Waples et al., 2008; Wohl, 2014). Climate change is likely to continue exacerbating these risks by warming summer surface stream temperatures (Crozier et...
Lithium serves an unparalleled role for high energy-density storage applications and is vital for the continued advancement of the world economy. However, global supply is heavily reliant on lithium deposits situated in select locations, creating unpredictability in the price and concerns for the sustained production of the resource. Additionally, future...
Low-tech habitat restoration techniques, including Stage 0 treatments, are increasingly applied but often lack robust evaluation of their effects. In 2018, one kilometer of the South Fork McKenzie (SFMK) River, OR was modified to the Stage 0 condition for the benefit of ESA-listed Chinook by raising the incised channel to...
Using summertime housing transactions data of 3,309 parcels from multiple years in Eugene-Springfield, OR, we present a hedonic price model to estimate the influence of the urban heat island (UHI) effect on housing prices in this metropolitan area. By taking advantage of the inherent random nature of summertime weather observations,...
The hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) and the varied thrush (Ixoreus naevius) are focal species for conservation of forested habitats in Oregon. Although habitat associations have been defined for both species, their response to changes in vegetation following wildfire has not been well studied. To help fill this information gap, I...
Visitors to waterways need a way to securely lock up their non-motorized watercrafts to allow for exploration of the local area and communities. The Willamette Water Trail Steering committee recognized this problem and approached the Oregon State University Prototype Development lab to develop and fabricate a solution. The engineering design...
In a radiological emergency scenario, the capability to rapidly visualize radiation emitted from debris, contamination, or absorbed in biological samples, while visualizing the non-radioactive (or “conventional” image) features within a field of view, will provide critical information to support optimization of further analysis, sample collection, and decision making. This research...
Severe wildfires are increasing in the western United States, impacting vegetation structure, and in turn, forest regeneration conditions. These wildfires are also raising a substantial amount of scientific and management concern regarding the resilience of forested ecosystems, or the ability of the ecosystem to return to a pre-fire condition. This...
As global atmospheric carbon emissions continue to rise, scientists and land managers are increasingly looking to natural ecosystems to sequester and store carbon to buffer the impacts of climate change. Despite their small geographic size, many coastal ecosystems such as salt marshes, seagrass meadows, and mangroves sequester large amounts of...