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1
Crabtree, Sheri Beth. "SEXUAL AND ASEXUAL REPRODUCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN PAWPAW [ASIMINA TRILOBA (L.) DUNAL]." Lexington, Ky. : [University of Kentucky Libraries], 2004. http://lib.uky.edu/ETD/ukypssc2004t00208/etd.pdf.
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Thesis (m.s.)--University of Kentucky, 2004.<br>Title from document title page (viewed Jan. 7, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 80p. : ill. Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-79).
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Donoghue, John, and John Donoghue. "Geographic Range Size: Measuring The Fundamental Unit Of Biogeography and Evaluating Climatic Factors That May Influence Longitudinal Range Size Gradients In North American Trees." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/623260.
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This research seeks to advance our understanding of how to make better informed species conservation decisions on a global scale and advance our understanding of how species' spatial distributions (their geographic ranges) may be respond to climate change, so we can know which areas should be set aside to ensure their present and future conservation. To understand how species' geographic ranges may change, it's important to first assess how geographic ranges are defined and measured. The quantifiable measurement of a species' geographic range, (its geographic range size), is a key criterion the International Union for the Conservation of Nature uses to determine the conservation status and prioritization of species worldwide. Thus, part one of this thesis evaluates different measures for how geographic range size is commonly quantified in the conservation community, to determine whether some range size measures are more reliable than others.Further, to evaluate how species' geographic ranges may respond to climate change, I examine the climatic factors influencing observable longitudinal range size gradients in the North American tree species range maps from E.L. Little's Atlas of North American Trees.
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Griffin, Richard Daniel. "North American Monsoon Paleoclimatology From Tree Rings." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/301558.
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The North American monsoon is central to Southwestern climate and is a research focus in climatology. Of the various monsoon paleoclimate proxies, precisely dated and seasonally resolved tree-ring records offer unique opportunity for contextualizing modern instrumental observations and climate model projections. Focused on latewood, the dark-colored sub-annual component of conifer tree rings that forms in the late growing season, this dissertation research represents a systematic effort to diagnose the tree-growth response to monsoon climate, to develop a replicated network of monsoon-sensitive chronologies, and to characterize monsoon paleoclimate variability in the southwestern United States. A pilot study using latewood measurements from five locations assessed seasonal climate response sensitivity to various chronology development techniques. Results informed a protocol for chronology development, which was used to produce a unique network of 53 monsoon-sensitive latewood chronologies for the southwestern United States. A chronology subset was used to develop the first monsoon precipitation reconstruction for a large and important region of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. This reconstruction revealed monsoon paleodroughts more persistent and extreme than any during the instrumental era and indicated that the southwestern decadal droughts of the last 470 years were characterized not just by cool-season precipitation deficits, but also by persistently dry monsoon conditions. The previously noted tendency for winter and summer precipitation to be out of phase was found to be unstable through time and anomalously strong during the recent instrumental era. The paleoclimatic significance of the new sub-annual chronology network was characterized in terms of chronology signal strength, climate response seasonality, and dominant spatiotemporal structure. With only a few exceptions, the latewood chronologies were found to contain monsoon-specific climate signal that was not available from previously existing records of annual tree-ring width. Principal components analysis revealed that the chronology network captures both temporal variability and spatial structure inherent to monsoon precipitation. As such, proxy data developed in this dissertation are unique are uniquely suited for studying spatiotemporal variability in monsoon paleoclimate. Outcomes from this dissertation are broadly relevant in environmental research and could potentially inform long-term strategies for adaptive management of natural resources.
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Shao, Xuemei. "Statistical relationships between tree growth and climate in western North America." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/185825.
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The objective of this study is to examine large-scale spatial patterns of tree growth and climatic variation and to investigate the possible role of climate in determining tree growth patterns over space. This study represents one of the first uses of geostatistical methods to extract information about the spatial variation of climate from tree rings in western North America. It is also one of the first uses of data in spatial series to study the relationships of spatial variations between climate and tree growth. Geostatistics analyzes the spatial structure of the variables by assuming that adjoining data are correlated with each other over space and that the particular relationship expressing the extent of spatial correlation can be analytically and statistically captured in a function. It is applied to both June Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and ring-width index data from western North America. One basic assumption of applying geostatistics in this study is that the spatially uncorrelated small-scale variations are insignificant and represent background noise in large-scale dendroclimatic studies. The statistical relationships between the spatial variations of June PDSI and ring-width index are studied by simple scatter diagrams and correlation analysis. This is done in terms of yearly variations and variations of spatial patterns. Both of them support the contention that the large-scale spatial variations in ring-width index data can be used to infer the spatial variations of climate variables. Based upon the results of this research it can be concluded that geostatistics is a viable method to characterize the spatially correlated variations in dendroclimatology. By applying geostatistics to data sets, information about the spatial variations of climate contained in tree-ring data are enhanced, and the large-scale variations of climate are emphasized. The analysis of yearly relationships over space is particularly useful for identifying statistical relationships between climate and tree growth in a geographic region. The main factors of climate controlling ring-width index are identified as well as the less frequent limiting events. Once the statistical relationships are validated, they can be used to infer the spatial variations of past climate from variations in tree-ring index.
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Ledger, Rebecca. "Modelling tree species distributions in North America and Europe." Thesis, University of York, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.503319.
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Hall, Karen Renae. "COMPUTERIZED DENDROLOGY: The identification and natural history of the pine trees of southeastern North America." NCSU, 1998. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-19980511-132319.
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<p>HALL, KAREN RENAE. COMPUTERIZED DENDROLOGY: The identification and natural history of the pine trees of southeastern North America. (Under the direction of Richard R. Braham.) A computer database of the pines of southeastern North America was developed using hyper-text markup language. This interactive program allows users to learn about bark, buds, leaves, reproductive structures, geographic range, climate, and natural history of pines. Audio files pronounce the scientific and vernacular names of trees. A search engine allows comparison of textual and graphic information of different characteristics.<P>
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Galla, Stephanie J. "Exploring the Evolutionary History of North American Prairie Grouse (Genus: Tympanuchus) Using Multi-locus Coalescent Analyses." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2013. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc271815/.
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Conservation biologists are increasingly using phylogenetics as a tool to understand evolutionary relationships and taxonomic classification. The taxonomy of North American prairie grouse (sharp-tailed grouse, T. phasianellus; lesser prairie-chicken, T. pallidicinctus; greater prairie-chicken, T. cupido; including multiple subspecies) has been designated based on physical characteristics, geography, and behavior. However, previous studies have been inconclusive in determining the evolutionary history of prairie grouse based on genetic data. Therefore, additional research investigating the evolutionary history of prairie grouse is warranted. In this study, ten loci (including mitochondrial, autosomal, and Z-linked markers) were sequenced across multiple populations of prairie grouse, and both traditional and coalescent-based phylogenetic analyses were used to address the evolutionary history of this genus. Results from this study indicate that North American prairie grouse diverged in the last 200,000 years, with species-level taxa forming well-supported monophyletic clades in species tree analyses. With these results, managers of the critically endangered Attwater's prairie-chicken (T. c. attwateri) can better evaluate whether outcrossing Attwater's with greater prairie-chickens would be a viable management tool for Attwater's conservation.
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Hartsough, Peter Chrisopher. "Isotopic cycling in a tropical treeline environment North American monsoon dynamics at Nevado de Colima, Mexico /." abstract, 2008. http://0-gateway.proquest.com.innopac.library.unr.edu/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3339118.
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Carrillo, Cruz Carlos Mauricio. "North American Monsoon Variability from Paleoclimate Era to Climate Change Projection: A Multiple Dataset Perspective." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/338900.
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In the southwestern United States, the North American monsoon (NAM) is the main driver of severe weather and accounts for nearly half the annual precipitation. How the monsoon has behaved in the past and how it will change in the future is a question of major importance for natural resource management and infrastructural planning. In this dissertation, I present the results of three studies that have investigated North American monsoon variability and change from the perspective of paleoclimate records, future climate change projections, and simulation of the low-frequency variability with the longest retrospective atmospheric reanalysis. In the first study, a monsoon-sensitive network of tree-ring chronologies is evaluated within its ability to reproduce NAM variability during the past four centuries. Matrix methods are used to detect the low-frequency spatiotemporal variability. The treering chronologies can reasonable characterizes the dominant modes of NAM climate variability. The monsoon tree-ring network is able to reproduce the interannual variability of cool and warm season precipitation, in a manner similar to the period of the instrumental record. Earlywood and latewood adjusted chronologies reveal low frequency climate variability at decadal and longer timescales that is beyond the ability of the instrumental record to temporally well resolve. This low-frequency climate variability seems to be part of a much larger cycle that coincides with the occurrence of multiyear persistent droughts. In the second study, we consider the modes of natural climate variability identified in the previous study to objectively assess the degree of physical uncertainty in climate change projections for NAM from Regional Climate Models (RCMs) used in the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP). Climate change projection models are evaluated mainly on their ability to represent warm season driven by quasi-stationary Rossby wave trains and El Niño Southern Oscillation – Pacific Decadal Variability (ENSO-PDV). It is concluded that use of the NARCCAP model ensemble mean for NAM climate projections is probably not suitable. NARCCAP RCMs are largely a slave to their driving global models and their error in the specification of large-scale atmospheric circulation. Only one out of eight NARCCAP RCMs has a reasonable representation of the seasonal cycle of monsoon precipitation and ENSOdriven interannual variability in both the 20th and 21st centuries. No decadal variability was observed in any of the NARCCAP RCMs. In the third study, the low-frequency drought signal found with tree-ring chronologies is further explored within the framework of a regional climate modeling. Version 2 of the Twentieth-Century Reanalysis (DD-20CR) is dynamically downscaled over a contiguous U.S.-Mexico domain. Statistic analysis of the DD-20CR suggests that the low-frequency drought signal in the Southwest is driven by atmospheric circulation changes on global to continental scales that affect precipitation in Central American as well. DD-20CR reproduces the spatial patterns of precipitation associated with climate variability at decadal and longer timescales in a manner that compares well with observational records and tree-ring chronologies. Low-frequency climate variability is therefore likely responsible for the multiyear persistent droughts in the last four centuries, as independently evaluated from the tree-ring monsoon-sensitive network.
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Chambers, Dominic. "Challenges in modeling the abundance of 105 tree species in eastern North America for climate change research." Thesis, McGill University, 2011. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=104594.
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Trees are expected to modify their distribution and abundance in response to climate change with important consequences on forestry management practices and forest diversity. Whereas Species Distribution Models have been commonly used to relate known occurrence of species to the current climate as a first step to project future suitable environmental space, modeling abundance patterns using Species Abundance Models (SAMs) remains a challenge. This research aimed to: 1) evaluate the predictive performance of SAMs in predicting the current abundance of 105 tree species in eastern North America in response to climatic, topographic and edaphic predictors, and 2) explain the variation in SAMs' performance among species. The relative importance values of 105 tree species were first related to environmental predictors using Random Forest. The predictive performance of SAMs for each tree species was then assessed using the coefficient of determination (R²). Finally, multiple linear regression was performed to explain the variation in SAMs' performance among species (R²) using biogeographical and spatial attributes of species as explanatory variables. Predicting the current relative abundance of tree species using a combination of climatic, topographic, and edaphic variables was only partially successful. The coefficients of determination (R²) for all SAMs ranged from 0.000 to 0.857 with a mean of 0.258 and a standard deviation of 0.18. Black spruce (Picea mariana) had the best predictive model and Florida maple (Acer barbatum) the worst. Forty-one species out of 105 (39 %) had R² ≥ 0.3. These species had climate as the best and/or second best environmental predictor, except for Quercus macrocarpa, Pinus rigida, Pinus resinosa, and Ulmus alata, which were best predicted by non-climatic variables. The variation in the performance of SAMs among species was best explained by the range of relative abundance values and the spatial aggregation of species. This study highlighted the challenge in accurately predicting the relative abundance of trees in relation to current and therefore future climate, and identified species for which modeling approach worked best and for which abundance patterns would likely respond to climate change.<br>Les arbres sont susceptibles de modifier leur distribution et leur abondance en réponse aux changements climatiques avec d'importantes conséquences pour la gestion des ressources forestières et la biodiversité des forêts. Alors que les Modèles de distribution des espèces ont été couramment utilisés pour mettre en relation l'occurrence des espèces avec le climat actuel comme première étape dans l'évaluation des changements potentiels futurs, la modélisation des abondances à l'aide de Modèles d'abondance des espèces reste un défi. Cette recherche avait pour but : 1) d'évaluer la performance de modèles d'abondance pour prédire l'abondance relative actuelle de 105 espèces d'arbres de l'est de l'Amérique du Nord en réponse aux variables climatiques, édaphiques et topographiques, et 2) d'expliquer la variation entre les espèces dans les performances de ces modèles. L'importance relative des 105 espèces a d'abord été reliée aux variables environnementales à l'aide de l'algorithme mathématique Random Forest. La performance des modèles pour chaque espèce a été évaluée avec le coefficient de détermination (R²). Finalement, une régression linéaire multiple a servi à expliquer la variation des performances entre les espèces (R²) en utilisant les attributs biogéographiques et spatiaux des espèces comme variables explicatives. La prédiction de l'abondance relative des arbres avec les variables utilisées n'a été que partiellement réussie. Les coefficients of détermination (R²) allaient de 0.000 à 0.857 avec une moyenne de 0.258 et un écart-type de 0.18. L'épinette noire (Picea mariana) a montré la meilleure performance et Acer barbatum a obtenu la pire performance. Quarante et une espèces sur 105 (39 %) ont eu des R² ≥ 0.3. Ces espèces avaient le climat comme premier et/ou second prédicteur, sauf pour Quercus macrocarpa, Pinus rigida, Pinus resinosa, et Ulmus alata, qui ont répondu en priorité aux variables non-climatiques. La variation dans les performances des modèles entre espèces s'expliquent par l'étendue de leurs valeurs d'abondance relative et leur agrégation spatiale. Cette étude a démontré les limites à prédire l'abondance relative des arbres en fonction du climat présent et donc futur, et a permis d'identifier les espèces pour lesquelles l'approche de modélisation est possible et pour lesquelles l'abondance relative pourrait conséquemment être sensible aux changements climatiques.
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Szejner, Paul, William E. Wright, Flurin Babst, et al. "Latitudinal gradients in tree ring stable carbon and oxygen isotopes reveal differential climate influences of the North American Monsoon System." AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/621424.
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The arrival of the North American Monsoon System (NAMS) terminates a presummer hyperarid period in the southwestern United States (U.S.), providing summer moisture that is favorable for forest growth. Montane forests in this region rely on winter snowpack to drive much of their growth; the extent to which they use NAMS moisture is uncertain. We addressed this by studying stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in earlywood and latewood from 11 sites along a latitudinal gradient extending from Arizona and New Mexico to Utah. This study provides the first regional perspective on the relative roles of winter versus summer precipitation as an ecophysiological resource. Here we present evidence that Ponderosa pine uses NAMS moisture differentially across this gradient. C-13/C-12 ratios suggest that photosynthetic water use efficiency during latewood formation is more sensitive to summer precipitation at the northern than at the southern sites. This is likely due to the fact that NAMS moisture provides sufficiently favorable conditions for tree photosynthesis and growth during most years in the southern sites, whereas the northern sites experience larger summer moisture variability, which in some years is limiting growth. Cellulose O-18 and C-13 values revealed that photoassimilates in the southern sites were produced under higher vapor pressure deficit conditions during spring compared to summer, demonstrating a previously underappreciated effect of seasonal differences in atmospheric humidity on tree ring isotope ratios. Our findings suggest that future changes in NAMS will potentially alter productivity and photosynthetic water use dynamics differentially along latitudinal gradients in southwestern U.S. montane forests.
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Gibson, Jacob R. "Individualistic Response of Piñon and Juniper Tree Species Distributions to Climate Change in North America's Arid Interior West." DigitalCommons@USU, 2011. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/908.
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Piñon and juniper tree species have species-specific climatic requirements, resulting in unique distributions and differential responses to climate change. Piñons and junipers co-dominate the arid woodlands of North America as groups with widespread hybridization. Two piñons, Pinus edulis; P. monophylla, and four junipers, Juniperus deppeana var. deppeana; J. monosperma; J. occidentalis; J. osteosperma, are endemic to the midlatitude interior west and form three groups of hybridizing sister species, P. edulis-P. monophylla; J. deppeana var. deppeana-J. monosperma; J. occidentalis-J. osteosperma. Recent droughts have caused widespread mortality among piñons, but have had less impact on junipers and indicate shifts in co-occurrence have already begun in response to global climate change. Within these groups hybridization likely plays an important role in such distribution changes.
The central objective of this thesis is to forecast the distributions of piñons and junipers endemic to the US under modeled climate change for the 21st century. Species distribution models are built with an emphasis placed on aligning the life cycle dynamics of the species within the temporal and spatial resolution of predictor variables, and within the modeling technique. Two concerns surrounding species distribution modeling are addressed. First, concerns regarding the extent to which species are at equilibrium with the current climate are addressed by incorporating dispersal into the model building process. Second, concerns regarding the potential role of hybridization between closely related species are addressed by building distribution models for each of the three sister species groups as well as the six component species.
Species distribution models exhibited individualistic responses to modeled climate change. Modeled areal loss was greater than gain for all species, which is reflected in changes of co-occurrence. Piñon-juniper richness is forecast to increase in the northern Colorado Plateau, eastern Great Basin, and Rocky Mountains. The sister-species models forecast greater areal gain, and less areal loss, along hybridization zones for P. edulis-P. monophylla and for J. occidentalis-J. osteosperma, but forecast greater areal loss along the periphery of the component species distributions. The sister-species model for J. deppeana var. deppeana-J. monosperma forecasts overall greater areal loss than the component species. In general, forecast changes in latitude and elevation are about one third of the changes inferred, from the fossil record, to have occurred following the transition to the current interglacial ~10,000 years ago.
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Krichbaum, Steven P. "Ecology and Conservation Biology of the North American Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) in the Central Appalachians." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1523017722959154.
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Mathys, Amanda Sarah. "Mapping the distribution of conifer tree species in response to environmental changes across western North America using a physiologically based approach." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/63313.
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Over the past decade, changes in climate have been sufficient to affect both the composition and function of forest ecosystems. The extent that projected climate change will continue to impact tree species vulnerabilities remains unclear and has been mainly assessed based on simple relationships between the distribution of mature trees and climate variables. The objective of this thesis was to assess the effects of regional climate and soil variations on the current and future distribution of 20 major conifer tree species across western North America and determine the impacts of changing environmental variables on tree species vulnerabilities. The spatial variation in properties of soil water availability and soil fertility was combined in the process-based model 3-PG to provide detailed projections of species shifts in response to changes in environmental conditions. The relative importance of limitations imposed on photosynthesis by suboptimal temperatures, frost, solar radiation, soil water and vapor pressure deficits was ranked in a decision tree analysis based on tree species occurrences across the region. The baseline distributions of the tree species were predicted with an average accuracy of 84% (κ = 0.79), based on their recorded presence and absence on 43,404 field survey plots. Inclusion of soil properties was crucial to improving the overall accuracy of the species distribution models and 75% of the species directly responded to changes in the soil water input. At the ecoregion level, this thesis identified the highest vulnerability of the 20 tree species analyzed to occur within the North American Deserts, particularly in the Thompson-Okanagan Plateau of British Columbia (BC). Comparison of areas suitable for tree species range expansion with a large empirical dataset on tree seedling occurrences in BC agreed on average 79%, serving as indicators of early species responses to climate shifts in the province. Outcomes of this thesis demonstrate species-specific responses to current and future climatic variations and can contribute to informing forest management for climate change adaptation.<br>Forestry, Faculty of<br>Graduate
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Moore, William. "Intuition of an Outsider: From Nothing to Voice in George Scarbrough’s Poetry." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2021. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3899.
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Long acknowledged as a committed poet of place, this thesis examines tones of outsiderness and alienation that characterize George Scarbrough’s poetry. Scarbrough draws on familiarity with his childhood in southeast Tennessee, and from an outsider’s outlook, a perspective veritably prompted by the rejection he suffered as a homosexual and lover of language, Scarbrough’s poetry addresses the daunting themes of fear and nothingness. Analysis of his poetry also reveals qualities of hope and endurance, a commitment to received forms, and Modern innovation. Through his poetic voice, culminating in the alter ego of Han-shan, Scarbrough provides vital insights into the human experience.
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Holmes, Richard L., Rex K. Adams, and Harold C. Fritts. "Tree-Ring Chronologies of Western North America: California, Eastern Oregon and Northern Great Basin with Procedures Used in the Chronology Development Work Including Users Manuals for Computer Programs COFECHA and ARSTAN." Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/304672.
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Well replicated tree-ring samples were collected, dated
and measured for California west of the Sierra Nevada,
eastern Oregon and the northern Great Basin. A computer
program was developed and used to check crossdating quality.
Another computer program to generate and analyze tree-ring
chronologies was evaluated, further developed cooperatively
and used to produce chronologies for the dated site
collections.
This report contains these site chronologies in three
versions along with site descriptions and chronology
statistics. Users manuals are included for the two computer
programs. The effect on a chronology of poor crossdating is
discussed, and a study of standardization of tree-ring
measurement series is reported. Some new techniques are
described for processing tree-ring samples.
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Griffin, Daniel, David M. Meko, Ramzi Touchan, Steven W. Leavitt, and Connie A. Woodhouse. "Latewood Chronology Development For Summer-Moisture Reconstruction In The US Southwest." Tree-Ring Society, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/622641.
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Tree-ring studies have demonstrated that conifer latewood measurements contain information
on long-term North American monsoon (NAM) variability, a hydroclimatic feature of great
importance to plants, animals, and human society in the US Southwest. This paper explores data-treatment options for developing latewood chronologies aimed at NAM reconstruction. Archived wood samples for five Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii, Mirb. Franco) sites in southeastern Arizona are augmented with new collections. The combined dataset is analyzed along with time series of regionally averaged observed precipitation to quantify the strength of regional precipitation signal in latewood time series and to identify ways of increasing the signal strength. Analysis addresses the signal strength influences of including or excluding ‘‘false’’ latewood bands in the nominal ‘‘latewood’’ portion of the ring, the necessary adjustment of latewood width for statistical dependence on antecedent earlywood width, and tree age. Results suggest that adjusted latewood width chronologies from individual sites can explain around 30% of the variance of regional summer (July–August) precipitation—increasing to more than 50% with use of multiple chronologies. This assessment is fairly insensitive to the treatment of false latewood bands (in intra-annual width and 𝛿¹³C variables), and to whether latewood-width is adjusted for dependence on earlywood-width at the core or site level. Considerations for operational chronology development in future studies are (1) large tree-to-tree differences in moisture signal, (2) occasional nonlinearity in EW-LW dependence, and (3) extremely narrow and invariant latewood width in outer portions of some cores. A protocol for chronology development addressing these considerations is suggested.
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Miller, Heather L. "Under the Shadow of the Awful Gallows-Tree: The Murder Trials of Thomas Dula and Ann Melton as a Case Study in Gender and Power in Reconstruction Era Western North Carolina." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2015. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2518.
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This is a micro-history that explores everyday life on a small scale by tracing the common, if elusive lives of Thomas Dula, Ann Melton, and Laura Foster, and the communities they lived in, to explore the culture in which they lived—and died. Reactions to the murder unleashed an outpouring of discourse embedded in broader, national debates concerning gender roles. The dominant cultural theme that emerged from the murder trials as reflected in middle-class newspapers maintained that true women did not kill and real men acted as gentlemen and defenders of women’s honor. The project mines a wealth of primary source material: court documents, population censuses, and newspapers. By examining the discourse surrounding Tom Dula’s execution and Ann Melton’s acquittal for the murder of Laura Foster it illuminates the murder narrative as a public forum for discussing gender roles and power in 1860s America.
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"Functional Traits Affecting Photosynthesis, Growth, and Mortality of Trees Inferred from a Field Study and Simulation Experiments." Doctoral diss., 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.43988.
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abstract: Functional traits research has improved our understanding of how plants respond to their environments, identifying key trade-offs among traits. These studies primarily rely on correlative methods to infer trade-offs and often overlook traits that are difficult to measure (e.g., root traits, tissue senescence rates), limiting their predictive ability under novel conditions. I aimed to address these limitations and develop a better understanding of the trait space occupied by trees by integrating data and process models, spanning leaves to whole-trees, via modern statistical and computational methods. My first research chapter (Chapter 2) simultaneously fits a photosynthesis model to measurements of fluorescence and photosynthetic response curves, improving estimates of mesophyll conductance (gm) and other photosynthetic traits. I assessed how gm varies across environmental gradients and relates to other photosynthetic traits for 4 woody species in Arizona. I found that gm was lower at high aridity sites, varied little within a site, and is an important trait for obtaining accurate estimates of photosynthesis and related traits under dry conditions. Chapter 3 evaluates the importance of functional traits for whole-tree performance by fitting an individual-based model of tree growth and mortality to millions of measurements of tree heights and diameters to assess the theoretical trait space (TTS) of “healthy” North American trees. The TTS contained complicated, multi-variate structure indicative of potential trade-offs leading to successful growth. In Chapter 4, I applied an environmental filter (light stress) to the TTS, leading to simulated stand-level mortality rates up to 50%. Tree-level mortality was explained by 6 of the 32 traits explored, with the most important being radiation-use efficiency. The multidimentional space comprising these 6 traits differed in volume and location between trees that survived and died, indicating that selective mortality alters the TTS.<br>Dissertation/Thesis<br>Doctoral Dissertation Biology 2017
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Sabin, Joel Sean. "Investigating eastern North American tree species richness and diversity using relevé data." 2005. http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/uga%5Fetd/sabin%5Fjoel%5Fs%5F200505%5Fms.
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Hamilton, James Victor. "The dynamics of labor in North Carolina's Christmas tree industry." 2004. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-07072004-144313/unrestricted/etd.pdf.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--North Carolina State University, 2004.<br>Includes vita. Originally issued in electronic format. UMI number: 3137112. Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-159). Also available via the World Wide Web.