This capstone study reports on global warming-induced changes to the Colorado subalpine zone climate and disturbance regimes. It assesses the impacts of these changes upon the dominant subalpine tree species and summarizes future species distribution modeling for these and other nearby species potentially suitable for the future subalpine zone in...
Moisture durability is essential for wood composites, especially those used in building construction, where products are prone to weathering. The primary focus of this research was to determine if adhesive penetration into the cell wall has a positive influence on adhesive bond durability. To fully understand the measureable effects of...
Epigenetic mechanisms are important for control of plant development, and may play a particularly important role in trees given their long life cycles and distinctive and stable tissue types. To help understand the role of epigenetics in tree development, we produced transgenic poplars with reduced activity of the DDM1 genes,...
The Altar Valley is an important working landscape that supports biodiversity and vulnerable species in Pima County, Arizona (Huckelberry 2000). This semi-desert grassland, alluvial valley and 713,807-acre watershed composed of 39 subbasins serves as an aquifer to a portion of southwestern Tucson. This region of Southern Arizona has been identified...
The boreal forest zone is located in the cool, high latitudes of the earth and represents approximately one third of the world’s remaining forested area. Maintaining the functional capacity of boreal forests is of global importance as they will both affect and be affected by climate change. Boreal forests can...
The majority of grapes grown in Oregon are produced in Western Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where two-thirds of the acreage is planted to Pinot noir. The production of Pinot noir in the Willamette Valley comes at a high cost, and growers are seeking ways to increase profits while maintaining quality fruit...
Forest species classifications are becoming increasingly automated as advances are made in machine learning. The algorithms used to identify tree species range from simple decision trees to intricate neural networks, and often excel in accurately delineating tree species. However, complex algorithms can have high input costs, including the cost of...
This thesis consists of three manuscripts addressing separate components of barley breeding, plus an introduction and a conclusion summarizing the status of barley in the Pacific Northwest, plus the implications of the research presented in this thesis. In the first manuscript, a package written for the statistical software "R" that...
Centaurea solstitialis L. (yellow starthistle) and C. × moncktonii Britt. (meadow knapweed) are members of the genus Centaurea in the Asteraceae family. Both species have become serious management concerns as invasive species in North America, often displacing native vegetation and costing land managers millions of dollars to eradicate. Seven plants...
Existing pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are mostly based on petrochemicals. In this study, a novel PSA based on a renewable material, methyl oleate, was prepared and characterized. Methyl oleate was first epoxidized to form epoxidized methyl oleate that was subsequently hydrolyzed and acidified to form epoxidized oleic acid (EOA) which...