How are investment returns affected by competition control and southern oak seedling survival?

Increasing numbers of landowners are establishing hardwood plantations to satisfy their management objectives. Despite a dearth of research on competition control and its effects on initial hardwood plantation survival and investment returns, this study examines alternative competition control regimes for southern oak establishment. The analysis includes estimates of land expectation value for comparing alternatives. Our results suggest that greater returns can be achieved for southern oaks during both good and bad rainfall years, using methods that maximize survival through competition control

A Practical Framework for Evaluating Hauling Costs

This study demonstrates the use of an Excel program "Routechaser" to assess the effects of tract location, vehicle operating parameters, operating costs and other physical and economic inputs on the costs of transporting wood products from roadside to mill.  The application chosen, a comparison of the effects of trucking costs from four tracts in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, to eight markets, demonstrates that for forestry, as for any other real estate, value is a function of location.  This is especially true if forest management is directed toward lower valued commodity products.  Trucking costs were most restrictive on pulpwood, essentially eliminating many markets for several of the tracts.  Trucking costs eliminated one market for all quadrants, another market for three, and three markets for one quadrant each.

Financial maturity concepts with application to three hardwood timber stands

Timber is “financially mature” when its rate of value increase falls below what the landowner can earn in alternative investments that are comparable in duration, risk, liquidity, and other factors. The basic concept of financial maturity is simple, but in application it involves several very important, basic questions and issues

Potential for Carbon Storage and Technology Transfer in the Southeastern United States

As the concern over global warming grows, interest in sequestering carbon in terrestrial ecosystems is expected to intensify. Nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners in the southeastern United States can play a major role in sequestering atmospheric carbon. Sequestering carbon through reforestation/afforestation incentive programs requires participation by university Extension personnel to effectively communicate knowledge to landowners. This article discusses above and belowground carbon sequestration, carbon sequestration programs available to nonindustrial private forest landowners, and activities university Extension personnel may engage in to facilitate the implementation of such programs

Potential for Carbon Storage and Technology Transfer in the Southeastern United States

As the concern over global warming grows, interest in sequestering carbon in terrestrial ecosystems is expected to intensify. Nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners in the southeastern United States can play a major role in sequestering atmospheric carbon. Sequestering carbon through reforestation/afforestation incentive programs requires participation by university Extension personnel to effectively communicate knowledge to landowners. This article discusses above and belowground carbon sequestration, carbon sequestration programs available to nonindustrial private forest landowners, and activities university Extension personnel may engage in to facilitate the implementation of such programs

Disponibilidad y costos de producción de biomasa forestal como materia prima para la producción de bioetanol

La biomasa forestal es una alternativa ecológica y económicamente viable para la generación de bioetanol debido a que su fuente es abundante, renovable y contribuye a la reducción de gases efecto invernadero. En este estudio, se propone y analiza una metodología para la estimación de la disponibilidad y costos de producción del uso potencial de la biomasa forestal como materia prima para la producción de bioetanol en bosques de pinos del estado de Durango, México. Se usó información del Inventario Forestal Periódico, programas de manejo forestal y datos de empresas de aserraderos e industriales forestales para estimar la biomasa forestal que incluye los restos de aprovechamientos forestales (puntas, ramas) y desperdicios industriales (aserrín, costeras). Se utilizaron simulaciones Monte Carlo para estimar costos de producción de la recolección, extracción y transporte de la biomasa a centros de transformación. Los resultados indican que alrededor de 322.000 toneladas pueden utilizarse para la producción de 38 millones de litros de etanol por año. Las simulaciones Monte Carlo indican que el costo promedio de residuos forestales es de US $23,8 por tonelada (US$0,20 L–1 etanol) mientras que el de residuos industriales es de US $22,6 por tonelada (US$0,19 L–1 etanol). Los factores más importantes en el análisis de sensibilidad fueron el costo pagado a dueños del material, eficiencia tecnológica y distancia de transporte. En el corto plazo, el uso de la biomasa forestal para la generación de biocombustibles tiene varios retos entre los que se encuentran los costos de transporte y la competencia generada por industrias similares como pulpa, papel y tableros aglomerados. Como alternativa se encuentra el desarrollo de biorefinerías integradoras y el uso de medios de transporte más eficientes.La biomasa forestal es una alternativa ecológica y económicamente viable para la generación de bioetanol debido a que su fuente es abundante, renovable y contribuye a la reducción de gases efecto invernadero. En este estudio, se propone y analiza una metodología para la estimación de la disponibilidad y costos de producción del uso potencial de la biomasa forestal como materia prima para la producción de bioetanol en bosques de pinos del estado de Durango, México. Se usó información del Inventario Forestal Periódico, programas de manejo forestal y datos de empresas de aserraderos e industriales forestales para estimar la biomasa forestal que incluye los restos de aprovechamientos forestales (puntas, ramas) y desperdicios industriales (aserrín, costeras). Se utilizaron simulaciones Monte Carlo para estimar costos de producción de la recolección, extracción y transporte de la biomasa a centros de transformación. Los resultados indican que alrededor de 322.000 toneladas pueden utilizarse para la producción de 38 millones de litros de etanol por año. Las simulaciones Monte Carlo indican que el costo promedio de residuos forestales es de US $23,8 por tonelada (US$0,20 L–1 etanol) mientras que el de residuos industriales es de US $22,6 por tonelada (US$0,19 L–1 etanol). Los factores más importantes en el análisis de sensibilidad fueron el costo pagado a dueños del material, eficiencia tecnológica y distancia de transporte. En el corto plazo, el uso de la biomasa forestal para la generación de biocombustibles tiene varios retos entre los que se encuentran los costos de transporte y la competencia generada por industrias similares como pulpa, papel y tableros aglomerados. Como alternativa se encuentra el desarrollo de biorefinerías integradoras y el uso de medios de transporte más eficientes

Mutations in fam20b and xylt1 Reveal That Cartilage Matrix Controls Timing of Endochondral Ossification by Inhibiting Chondrocyte Maturation

Differentiating cells interact with their extracellular environment over time. Chondrocytes embed themselves in a proteoglycan (PG)-rich matrix, then undergo a developmental transition, termed “maturation,” when they express ihh to induce bone in the overlying tissue, the perichondrium. Here, we ask whether PGs regulate interactions between chondrocytes and perichondrium, using zebrafish mutants to reveal that cartilage PGs inhibit chondrocyte maturation, which ultimately dictates the timing of perichondral bone development. In a mutagenesis screen, we isolated a class of mutants with decreased cartilage matrix and increased perichondral bone. Positional cloning identified lesions in two genes, fam20b and xylosyltransferase1 (xylt1), both of which encode PG synthesis enzymes. Mutants failed to produce wild-type levels of chondroitin sulfate PGs, which are normally abundant in cartilage matrix, and initiated perichondral bone formation earlier than their wild-type siblings. Primary chondrocyte defects might induce the bone phenotype secondarily, because mutant chondrocytes precociously initiated maturation, showing increased and early expression of such markers as runx2b, collagen type 10a1, and ihh co-orthologs, and ihha mutation suppressed early perichondral bone in PG mutants. Ultrastructural analyses demonstrated aberrant matrix organization and also early cellular features of chondrocyte hypertrophy in mutants. Refining previous in vitro reports, which demonstrated that fam20b and xylt1 were involved in PG synthesis, our in vivo analyses reveal that these genes function in cartilage matrix production and ultimately regulate the timing of skeletal development