Forest ThreatNet

• The Landscape Dynamics Assessment Tool (LanDAT) can help natural resource conservation practitioners monitor and assess impacts on changing landscapes and the ecological services and benefits they provide to people. New users can learn more during upcoming workshops to be held at the National Conservation Training Center on July 26 or at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area on September 13.
• The North Carolina Forest Service (NCFS) features a new webpage that describes a paired watershed timber harvesting research study. Center biological scientist Johnny Boggs led the collaborative project with NCFS to examine the effectiveness of forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) for protecting water quality in North Carolina's Piedmont region.
• Center research ecologist Kurt Riitters, whose publications usually describe landscape pattern analysis, has co-authored a paper describing the GuidosToolbox, a software package that can be used to perform such analyses. He and co-author Peter Vogt of the European Commission Joint Research Centre are building new functionality into the software that can assist with reporting on forest fragmentation. The goal is to harmonize fragmentation assessments across continents.
• Just in time for summer, Center research hydrologist Ge Sun is featured in NSI: Nature Science Investigator, a self-guided activity book that introduces children to Forest Service scientists in a variety of fields. According to its publisher, "NSI is perfect for a day hiking, a weekend at the campground, or an afternoon exploring the backyard!"
• ForWarn is featured among the User Stories on the MathWorks website. MathWorks developed the MATLAB software that powers ForWarn's Time Series Product Tool and Phenological Parameters Estimation Tool. The User Story provides technical details of how NASA Stennis Space Center engineers (key ForWarn partners) used the software to develop the tools.
• The Center-hosted USDA Southeast Regional Climate Hub has published its summer newsletter. Subscribe to receive future issues.
• The Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC), a Center partner, features new topic pages based on the recently published Considering Forest and Grassland Carbon in Land Management. Global Carbon, Carbon and Land Management, Forest Management for Carbon Benefits, Grassland Carbon and Management, and Forest Soil Carbon provide background on issues and climate change effects and highlight management options. Interested in digging a little deeper? Many CCRC topic pages include multiple tabs of content on more specific issues. CCRC has also added the USGS LandCarbon Visualization Tools to its featured Climate Change and Carbon Tools.

• First Friday All Climate Change Talks (FFACCTs) are monthly information sharing forums featuring presentations about research activities focused on climate change impacts to forest ecosystems. Visit the FFACCTs webpage for archived resources and upcoming FFACCTs presentation topics.
• The U.S. Forest Service Research and Development newsletter highlights science news across the agency. Read the July issue, and subscribe to receive future issues.

New Publications and Products (search Treesearch for all Forest Service pubs and abstracts):

• Ward, E.J., J.-C. Domec, J. King, G. Sun, S. McNulty, and A. Noormets. 2017. TRACC: an open source software for processing sap flux data from thermal dissipation probes. Trees – Structure and Function. DOI: 10.1007/s00468-017-1556-0
• Hallema, D.W., G. Sun, P.V. Caldwell, S.P. Norman, E.C. Cohen, Y. Liu, E.J. Ward, and S.G. McNulty. 2017. Assessment of wildland fire impacts on watershed annual water yield: Analytical framework and case studies in the United States. Ecohydrology 10(2):e1794. doi: 10.1002/eco.1794
• Riitters, K., J.K. Costanza, and B. Buma. 2017. Interpreting multiscale domains of tree cover disturbance patterns in North America. Ecological Indicators 80:147-152. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.05.022

Personnel Updates

• Christine Charles and Jessie Ventzke have joined the Center's Raleigh office for the summer field season. Charles is a rising junior studying Soil and Water Sciences at Purdue University, and Ventzke is a Michigan State University senior in the Environmental Biology/Zoology program. Both internships are part of the federal Pathways program.
• Xiaodong Liu has joined the Center's Raleigh office as a visiting scholar. He is a lecturer of Forestry at the College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China. His current research focuses on ecosystem-scale water and carbon cycles and regional assessments of forest management impacts on water resources.

• Asko Noormets, a long-time Center cooperating scientist from North Carolina State University, has accepted an Associate Professor position with Texas A&M University. His new role begins in July. Noormets will continue to coordinate research at flux tower sites in North Carolina.
• Kier Klepzig, the Southern Research Station Assistant Director for Research and a mite-y champion of the Eastern Threat Center's work since 2009, has accepted a position as the Director of the Joseph Jones Ecological Research Center in Ichauway, Georgia. His new role begins in July.