2016 Accomplishment Highlights

Center Accomplishments At-a-Glance

Refereed publications -- 85

Presentations and tours -- 195

Graduate students supported -- 5

Pictured: Staff, cooperating scientists, and graduate students gather outside the Eastern Threat Center's Raleigh, NC, office. Photo by Johnny Boggs, U.S. Forest Service.

Research, Science Delivery, and Partnership Highlights

Adapted Analysis Technique Boosts Capabilities for Monitoring Forest Change

Annual Report Keeps Finger on the Pulse of U.S. Forest Health

Climate Risk Assessment Aids Natural Resource Professionals in the Southeast

Email Alert Service Notifies Land Managers about Drought and Cattle Heat Stress Conditions

ForeCASTS Project Revisits Classic Tree Range Maps

ForWarn Provides New Insight into Duration and Impacts of Forest Disturbances

Genetics Matter: Researchers Examine Diversity Among Forest Tree Species at Risk

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Workshops Bring Together Scientists, Extension Professionals, and Policy Makers

Hot Spot Analysis Provides a Way to “Drink from the Firehose” of Forest Health Data

Landscape Ecology Meeting Draws Forest Service Scientists and Record Attendance

Landscape Pattern Analysis Reveals Global Loss of Interior Forest

More Productive U.S. National Forests and Grasslands Could Yield Less Water in a Future Climate

Native Trees Naturally Fight Invasives in Some Eastern Forests

Research Review Reveals Limitations to Drought Impact Monitoring

TACCIMO Supports First National Forest to Release Draft Forest Plan Under New Planning Rule

Pictured: Center research ecologist Steve Norman leads a field trip to explore forest fragmentation and management challenges during the annual meeting of the US-International Association for Landscape Ecology. Photo by Steve Norman, U.S. Forest Service.

International Activities

• Planned the 2016 Annual Meeting of the US-International Association for Landscape Ecology and organized symposia, contributed presentations, and led field trips to examine environmental and social issues of landscape change.
• Hosted a scientist from Instituto de Biologia, National Autonomous University of Mexico, who consulted with ForWarn project staff.
• Hosted visiting scientists from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology who contributed to global change studies under the direction of research hydrologist Ge Sun.
• Organized a special session and contributed presentations at the Association for Fire Ecology’s 6th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress.
• Held a seminar at Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) Focus Research Centre for Non-Boreal Eastern Europe.
• Provided consultation services and global forest fragmentation data to support a research project on biomass change in lowland rain forests for School of Geography, University of Leeds.
• Provided consultation services to coordinate and harmonize national and international inventory and assessment protocols related to landscape pattern research with European Commission's Joint Research Centre.
• Gave presentations at Xi’an University of Technology.
• Participated in a tour with USDA Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Program Fellow.
• Contributed presentations during numerous international meetings, conferences, workshops, and webinars, including: Annual US-China Carbon Consortium Meeting; Canadian Forest Service-Great Lakes Forestry Centre Webinar Series; EcoSummit 2016; European Geosciences Union Annual Meeting; International Pest Forum; International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Landscape Ecology Conference; IUFRO Workshop on Biological Invasions in Forests; Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments Arctic All Hands Meeting; 10th International Workshop on Spatial and Spatiotemporal Data Mining; 10th Meeting of the International Pest Risk Research Group; 13th International Conference on the Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions; XXV International Congress of Entomology; US-China Collaboration in Biodiversity Studies – Frontier Issues, New Approaches, and Opportunities Workshop; and World Conference on Natural Resource Modeling.

Pictured: Center research hydrologist Ge Sun and scientists from the University of West Hungary visit a forest hydrological station following a seminar at NEESPI Focus Research Centre for Non-Boreal Eastern Europe. Photo by Ge Sun, U.S. Forest Service.

Awards and Honors

• Southern Research Station Director's Award for Research Professional Support (Johnny Boggs, biological scientist)
  

• "Best Presentation" medal (pictured) at the 10th Meeting of the International Pest Risk Research Group (Frank Koch, presentation co-author)
• US-International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE) Certificate of Appreciation (Bill Hargrove, Kurt Riitters, Steve Norman, Danny Lee, and Stephanie Worley Firley, 2016 US-IALE annual meeting organizing committee)
• North Carolina State University "Wolfpack Certified Sustainable Workplace" award for the Center's Raleigh office