Sub-Soiling and Genotype Selection Improves Populus Productivity Grown on a North Carolina Sandy Soil

This study reports the stem volume of 10 Populus genotypes in a randomized split-plot design with different tillage treatments (disking versus sub-soiling) after two years of growth. Height, diameter at breast height (DBH), stem aboveground volume index, survival, Melampsora rust resistance, leaf area index (LAI), chlorophyll content, and foliar nitrogen concentration (Foliar N) were measured to identify how tillage treatments might alter poplar growth. Stem volume index and LAI were positively correlated and differed significantly among tillage treatments, taxa, and genotypes. Melampsora rust resistance was also positively correlated with volume index, but significant differences were only detected among taxa and genotypes. Foliar N and chlorophyll did not correlate to stem volume for genotypes or tillage treatments. Overall, sub-soiling yielded 37% more estimated volume compared to disking. Within the sub-soiled treatments, four genotypes (140, 176, 185, and 356) had high survival (>80%) and produced substantial stem volume (>32 dm3·tree−1). These findings show that tillage practices do impact poplar stem volumes after two years and that sub-soiling improves productivity for poplar short rotation woody crops on loamy fine-sandy soils

Interdisciplinary Collaboration on Green Infrastructure for Urban Watershed Management: An Ohio Case Study

Many older Midwestern cities of the United States are challenged by costly aging water infrastructure while working to revitalize urban areas. These cities developed much of their water infrastructure before the Clean Water Act became law and have struggled to mitigate contaminant loading to surface waters. An increasingly common approach to resolving these challenges is the integration of green infrastructure with gray infrastructure improvements to manage point and non-point source pollution. Stakeholder engagement and collaboration during green infrastructure planning can help address impairments and promote community involvement through the revitalization process. Mill Creek watershed in Cincinnati, OH, USA has seen improvement in watershed integrity indicators after being impaired for many decades by flashy hydrology, combined sewer overflows, and water quality degradation. A workshop was conducted to examine how integrated green and gray infrastructure has contributed to improvements in Mill Creek over the past several decades. This effort sought to examine internal and external factors that influence a multi-stakeholder watershed approach to planning, implementing, and evaluating green infrastructure techniques. Community investment and physical infrastructure, access to datasets, and skills and knowledge exchange were essential in improving use attainment in the Mill Creek. Strategic placement of green infrastructure has the potential to maximize water quality benefits and ecosystem services. However, green infrastructure deployment has been more opportunistic due to the diversity of stakeholder and decision maker interests. Future work should consider collaborative approaches to address scaling challenges and workforce development to maximize green infrastructure benefits

Positive water linkages of producing short rotation poplars and willows for bioenergy and phytotechnologies

The production of short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) such as poplars and willows is a promising component of global bioenergy and phytotechnology portfolios. In addition to the provision of biomass feedstocks and pollution remediation, these trees and shrubs have been sustainably grown to conserve or utilize water in a variety of applications. Growing these woody plants for multiple uses supports many of the United Nation\u27s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG6) and Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG7). As a result, focusing on ecosystem services such as freshwater and biomass has become an important aspect of deploying these production systems across variable landscapes. The current review consists of an introduction of ecosystem services and the SDGs, as well as SRWCs and their applications. The middle section of the review contains case studies highlighting the positive water linkages of producing short rotation poplars and willows for bioenergy and phytotechnologies. The review concludes with a section that combines the common themes that are consistent among the case studies to address options for integrating new bioenergy feedstock production systems into rural and urban landscapes to promote environmental, social and economic sustainability. This article is categorized under: Bioenergy > Economics and Policy Bioenergy > Climate and Environment