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We examine consequences of climate-induced range expansion on community composition and diversity within trees attacked by the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann). At the northernmost limit of the southern pine beetle range where populations have persisted for multiple years (currently Long Island, NY), we collected and reared bark samples and placed emergence traps on southern pine beetle-attacked pitch pine, Pinus rigida Mill. (Pinales: Pinaceae). From these samples, we quantified southern pine beetle gallery length and emergence as well as the diversity and abundance of all associated insects including known and suspected competitors, predators, and parasitoids. We compared our results to that of historic sampling data (1975–1997) in the core of southern pine beetle's range in the southern United States. Key community members were present in both the northern and southern regions; composition and relative abundances differed markedly. A key predator, the clerid beetle Thanasimus dubius (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Cleridae), was present in similar densities in both regions. Southern pine beetle infested a greater proportion of the length of the tree bole in the North. This increased tree utilization may be a consequence of a lack of resource competition by Ips De Geer (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) engraver beetles, which we found only in very low abundance in the northern sites. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of southern pine beetle range expansion. Continued study of the southern pine beetle community and temporal southern pine beetle dynamics in the North will add to our current knowledge base and aid preservation of rare and ecologically valuable pine barrens of New England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis, has expanded its range further into the northeastern United States. This expansion threatens rare and ecologically valuable interior and coastal pitch pine barrens.Pitch pine barrens restoration and southern pine beetle infestation suppression often involve leaving downed dead wood that saproxylic insects can exploit.Semiochemical‐baited traps were used to investigate the response of bark beetles and woodborers to restoration treatments at Rocky Point State Forest and the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, examples of coastal and interior pitch pine forests, respectively.A total of 29,598 saproxylic insects from 116 species of bark beetles and woodborers were captured at Rocky Point State Forest, while 23,117 individuals from 67 species were captured at Albany Pine Bush Preserve.Ips spp. were abundant at both sites with 28%–47% and 42%–74% of total collections at Rocky Point State Forest and Albany Pine Bush Preserve, respectively.Ips grandicollis did not respond to treatments at either site. However, Ips pini was found in higher numbers in thinned blocks in Rocky Point State Forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prescribed fire is a management tool that is frequently used to foster biodiversity. Simultaneously, insects that provide essential ecosystem services are globally declining. Within the pyroentomology literature, there are mixed reports of positive and negative effects that prescribed fires have on insect communities. This is likely due to not accounting for fire heterogeneity created by fire severity. To better understand prescribed fire severity effects on insect communities, we used multispectral reflectance data collected by Sentinel-2 to methodically quantify prescribed fire severity and compared ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) taxonomic and functional community composition responses between an unburned site and two burned sites with contrasting fire impacts. We found 23 ground beetle species and used 30 morphological, physiological, phenological, and ecological functional traits for each species. We found that our moderate fire severity site had different taxonomic and functional community compositions from both our unburned and high-severity sites. Surprisingly, we did not find a strong difference in taxonomic or functional ground beetle composition between our unburned and high-severity sites. Our results encourage future pyroentomology studies to account for fire severity, which will help guide conservation managers to make more accurate decisions and predictions about prescribed fire effects on insect biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pine barrens ecosystem has acidic, sandy, and nutrient-poor soil and is prone to drought and fire. In the New Jersey Pine Barrens, the predominant pitch pine (Pinus rigida) consists of two ecotypes: the regular pitch pines with heights of 4.6–12 m, and the pygmy pines of low stature (1.2–1.8 m) in the New Jersey Pine Plains. Previous ecological studies suggested that the dwarf pines in the Pine Plains that are embedded within the Pine Barrens were an evolutionary adaptation to frequent fire. Pines are obligate ectomycorrhizal (EcM) mutualists, and their root mycobiota may contribute to stress protection and plant health. However, information on the mycobiota associated with plants in the pine barrens ecosystem is lacking. To have a holistic understanding of the evolution and adaptation in this stressed environment, we used both culture-independent metabarcoding and culture-based method to characterize the mycobiota from soil and root of the two ecotypes and to identify core mycobiota. We found that Agaricomycetes, Leotiomycetes, and Mucoromycotina are predominant fungi in the New Jersey Pine Barrens ecosystem, which is rich in root mutualistic fungi. We observed that the pygmy pine roots had significantly higher density of EcM tips than the regular pine roots. This was corroborated by our metabarcoding analysis, which showed that the pygmy pine trees had higher ratio of ectomycorrhiza-forming fungi than the regular-statured pines. We hypothesize that symbiotrophic EcM fungi associated with pygmy pines are capable of mitigating high fire stress in the Pine Plains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is facilitating a novel range expansion of southern pine beetle (SPB) into globally rare north‐eastern pitch pine barrens.By assessing stand conditions present in SPB‐infested and uninfested pitch pine stands on Long Island, NY, USA, we developed a regionally‐calibrated hazard rating model that predicts stand‐level SPB susceptibility.The model indicates that a stand's SPB susceptibility increases with (1) increasing pitch pine basal area, (2) increasing instances of previous year SPB spots nearby, and (3) sandy soil texture.The model informs adaptation strategies to a novel pest dynamic by supporting the identification and prioritization of high hazard stands for prevention management.An alignment between treatments effective in reducing SPB vulnerability and conserving pine barrens communities indicates that pine barrens can be managed both to improve resilience to future threats and preserve historic ecological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prescribed fire is a management tool that is frequently used to foster biodiversity. Simultaneously, insects that provide essential ecosystem services are globally declining. Within the pyroentomology literature, there are mixed reports of positive and negative effects that prescribed fires have on insect communities. This is likely due to not accounting for fire heterogeneity created by fire severity. To better understand prescribed fire severity effects on insect communities, we used multispectral reflectance data collected by Sentinel-2 to methodically quantify prescribed fire severity and compared ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) taxonomic and functional community composition responses between an unburned site and two burned sites with contrasting fire impacts. We found 23 ground beetle species and used 30 morphological, physiological, phenological, and ecological functional traits for each species. We found that our moderate fire severity site had different taxonomic and functional community compositions from both our unburned and high-severity sites. Surprisingly, we did not find a strong difference in taxonomic or functional ground beetle composition between our unburned and high-severity sites. Our results encourage future pyroentomology studies to account for fire severity, which will help guide conservation managers to make more accurate decisions and predictions about prescribed fire effects on insect biodiversity.

Dead coarse woody debris (fungal food resources) on the forest floor is an ignition source for forest fires. The rate of decomposition of the debris is largely influenced by fungi, determining its residence time on the forest floor. We asked if southern pine bark beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) attack of pitch pine (Pinus rigida) alters the decomposition and fungal community of dead woody resources. Wood and bark from beetle infested and non-beetle infested resources were decomposed in litter bags on the forest floor. Decomposition was measured as mass loss and the fungal community by next-generation (PCR and Illumina metabarcoding) sequencing. Bark decomposed slower than wood and resources colonized by beetles decomposed faster than resources with no beetles. The initial differences in fungal communities colonizing the resources continued throughout the 42 months of decomposition. Fungal diversity was higher in wood than bark in initial decay stages, but significantly lower in wood than bark at the end of the 42 month incubation. In contrast, there were no significant differences in fungal communities between beetle infested and uninfested resources. The rate of decomposition of woody resources on the forest floor has great implications for the longevity of fuel sources for forest fires, however, our results indicate that beetle attacked wood poses no greater fire risk than other dead coarse woody debris regarding the residence time.

Climate change has altered the phenological timing of plants across the globe. These changes are especially concerning for plants with small distributions and in unique ecological sites. Here, we examined changes in phenology with respect to temperature and year over a 125-yr span for 12 herbaceous species native to the lowlands of the New Jersey Pine Barrens using herbarium specimens and citizen science observations. Among early summer flowering species, flowering occurred on average 1.42 days/°C earlier in the spring of the corresponding year. Early summer flowering species flowered at an average rate of 0.071 days/yr earlier over the 125-yr study period, whereas no significant change was detected in flowering times of late summer species. Exploration of a set of sister taxa with differing range sizes resulted in no detectable shifts in phenology, which may be explained by evolutionary relatedness or flowering in late summer. The variation in responses to species in the New Jersey Pine Barrens may alter the balance of this ecosystem in the future, as some species respond to changing temperatures, whereas others do not. These results add to a growing body of work suggesting that variations in temperature due to climate change are affecting plant phenology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global decline in biodiversity has invigorated the field of conservation biology, leading to investigation of species at risk of extinction in hopes of generating effective conservation strategies. Some highly diverse taxa, such as lichens, have received considerably less conservation attention, compared to plants and vertebrates. Here we add present the results of a comprehensive demographic survey and IUCN risk assessment of Cladonia submitis, a conspicuous macrolichen endemic to the Mid-Atlantic coast of eastern North America, across the core of its range. While it was found at several new locations, we found the species had disappeared from many locations where it once occurred. This decline, in conjunction with its restricted range, supports a status of Endangered under IUCN guidelines. While fire and sea level rise likely pose threats to the species, the most immediate threat is urbanization and alteration of coastal dunes. This evaluation does not consider collections from Japan and Sakhalin Island which have been assigned as C. submitis, due to differences in range, habitat and morphology that suggest this identification is inaccurate. In the absence of a proper taxonomic assessment or phylogenetic study to answer this question of identity, Japanese specimens could not be considered in this assessment. Altogether, this study provides a basis for effective management strategies of this charismatic species whose core range consists of the densely populated region between the American cities of Boston and Washington, D.C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the post-Civil War expansion of capitalism in the U.S., particularly industrial enclosures in the South and West, by using the example of New York City businessman William E. Dodge and his company Phelps, Dodge, & Co. The company bought three hundred thousand acres of Georgia's pine barrens in 1868, land which had previously been used as commons by yeoman farmers. The company also was responsible for the dispossession of Apache Indians in Arizona to make way for its industrial mining endeavors, while being part of the beginning of focus of wage laborers efforts to regain power over repressive and unfair labor practices. The relationship between businessmen and the majority Republican Party are explored.

Gentiana autumnalis (pine barren gentian) is a rare, fall-flowering perennial that is endemic to pine barren habitat from New Jersey to South Carolina. This disturbance-adapted, early successional species is at risk in New Jersey as a result of human interactions, namely growing season mowing and fire suppression. We used a repeated measures design to compare the differences between managed (mowing and prescribed fire) and unmanaged G. autumnalis populations for density, life stage, mortality, and fecundity. Managed populations had a greater gentian density, proportion of reproductive individuals, and seedlings compared to unmanaged populations. Implementing prescribed burns and mowing at previously unmanaged sites prior to spring growth increased gentian density, flowering, and seed set the same year. Our data support that prescribed burning and mowing can be beneficial management tools for the conservation of G. autumnalis and other disturbance-adapted species that require open early-successional habitat. However, their implementation can have negative consequences if conducted during the growing season, especially for roadside populations that are periodically mowed. Declining rare plant populations have the potential to benefit from management practices that facilitate ideal growing conditions and influence life stage transitions that will best improve population growth rate over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We examined impacts of southern pine beetle range expansion on pitch pine barrens. • This novel expansion functionally eliminated Pinus rigida from all canopy layers. • Suppression management reduced mortality, but increased downed, dead fuels. • All impacted sites shifted towards hardwood dominance, especially pine-oak forests. Abstract Southern pine beetle (SPB; Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmerman), a native insect that has historically affected pine (Pinus spp.) ecosystems in the southeastern U.S., has recently expanded northward causing extensive tree mortality in pitch pine (P. rigida) and pitch pine-oak (Quercus spp.) forests of eastern Long Island, NY. Given the historic lack of SPB within this region, little is known regarding its potential impacts. This study examined the immediate effects of SPB-induced tree mortality and management (i.e., cut-and leave suppression) on the structure and composition of affected forest communities to inform management recommendations and projections of future forest conditions. Overstory pine basal area declined significantly following SPB infestation and management (67–100% mortality), although management partly mitigated these effects. There was no immediate impact of SPB or management on seedling and sapling density or composition, with hardwood species making up the majority of this layer and pine representing <6% of stems regardless of mortality agent. Pitch pine was less likely to be browsed by ungulates than white oak and scarlet oak. SPB infestation significantly increased snag basal area, whereas downed woody debris volumes were greatest following management. Understory community composition in pitch pine stands that had SPB or were managed had greater understory plant diversity largely through a higher abundance of disturbance-adapted species. There was less between-site variation in understory species assemblages in pine-oak forests experiencing pitch pine mortality and an increase in regeneration of pitch pine and scarlet oak in these areas. Collectively, the short-term results suggest SPB could functionally eliminate pitch pine from infested stands in the absence of additional management, and that management in pine-oak stands may exacerbate this trend, leading to increasing dominance of hardwoods species in pine barren communities. Based on our results, fuels reduction treatments combined with site-specific restoration of barrens structure and composition may be useful in maintaining stands with lower fire hazard and greater resilience to this new threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prescribed fires are conducted extensively in pine-dominated forests throughout the Eastern USA to reduce the risk of wildfires and maintain fire-adapted ecosystems. We asked how fire behavior and fuel consumption during prescribed fires are associated with turbulence and energy fluxes, which affect the dispersion of smoke and transport of firebrands, potentially impacting local communities and transportation corridors. We estimated fuel consumption and measured above-canopy turbulence and energy fluxes using eddy covariance during eight prescribed fires ranging in behavior from low-intensity backing fires to high-intensity head fires in pine-dominated forests of the New Jersey Pinelands, USA. Consumption was greatest for fine litter, intermediate for understory vegetation, and least for 1 + 10 hour wood, and was significantly correlated with pre-burn loading for all fuel types. Crown torching and canopy fuel consumption occurred only during high-intensity fires. Above-canopy air temperature, vertical wind velocity, and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in buoyant plumes above fires were enhanced up to 20.0, 3.9 and 4.1 times, respectively, compared to values measured simultaneously on control towers in unburned areas. When all prescribed fires were considered together, differences between above-canopy measurements in burn and control areas (Δ values) for maximum Δ air temperatures were significantly correlated with maximum Δ vertical wind velocities at all (10 Hz to 1 minute) integration times, and with Δ TKE. Maximum 10 minute averaged sensible heat fluxes measured above canopy were lower during low-intensity backing fires than for high-intensity head fires, averaging 1.8 MJ m−2 vs. 10.6 MJ m−2, respectively. Summed Δ sensible heat values averaged 70 ± 17%, and 112 ± 42% of convective heat flux estimated from fuel consumption for low-intensity and high-intensity fires, respectively. Surprisingly, there were only weak relationships between the consumption of surface and understory fuels and Δ air temperature, Δ wind velocities, or Δ TKE values in buoyant plumes. Overall, low-intensity fires were effective at reducing fuels on the forest floor, but less effective at consuming understory vegetation and ladder fuels, while high-intensity head fires resulted in greater consumption of ladder and canopy fuels but were also associated with large increases in turbulence and heat flux above the canopy. Our research quantifies some of the tradeoffs involved between fire behavior and turbulent transfer of smoke and firebrands during effective fuel reduction treatments and can assist wildland fire managers when planning and conducting prescribed fires.

In 1901 the Chancery Court of New Jersey heard arguments in one of the largest property lawsuits ever held in Atlantic County. The suit, filed by the Estell Family, alleged that Philadelphia businessman Daniel Risley had failed to repay mortgages held by the Estells on thousands of acres of pinelands along the Tuckahoe River. Risley had developed the lands as the Estelle Colony. The lawsuit opened a window onto the economic decline, real estate speculation, and demographic changes transforming the landscape of the southern New Jersey Pine Barrens. As the colony's mostly immigrant residents struggled with building homes, farming the sandy pinelands soils, and filling a vacuum of governance with a unique example of a village improvement association, they transformed their landscape and crafted community identity out of hardship. The first years of their settlement present a significant story of placemaking in Philadelphia's nearest wilderness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After more than a decade of damage in pitch pine forests of New Jersey, an unprecedented range expansion of southern pine beetle (SPB), Dendroctonus frontalis, has recently occurred with populations established or detected in parts of the northeastern United States. Widespread tree mortality in pitch pine stands has occurred on Long Island, New York, an area previously free of SPB. Tree mortality has also been documented in several small pine stands in Connecticut. Trapping surveys have detected SPB farther north than it had previously been known to exist, with positive trap catches in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Integrated pest management plans that consist of preventative silvicultural treatments, landscape prioritization, detection and monitoring, and direct control provide the best opportunity to reduce the effects of SPB in northeastern US pine ecosystems. Most hard pine species present in the region are at risk to SPB, but less is known about white pine susceptibility. Unmanaged pine barrens are a particular concern, as they provide stand conditions conducive to SPB outbreaks. Infestation suppression implementing cut-and-leave tactics has been used in some areas of Long Island and will continue to be the primary management tool to limit damage from SPB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We recorded five species of elfins (Callophrys) during annual spring surveys targeting frosted elfin C. irus (state-listed as threatened) in 19 pine-oak barrens in central Wisconsin USA during 1994–2013. At the northwest end of its range here, C. irus co-varied with spring temperature, but declined significantly over time (eight sites verified extant of originally 17). Two other specialists increased significantly. The northern specialist, hoary elfin C. polios (nine sites), correlated positively with the previous year’s growing season precipitation. The southern specialist, Henry’s elfin C. henrici (11 sites), co-varied with winter precipitation and spring temperature and dryness. The two resident generalists had stable trends. For all species, the first observed date per year became earlier over time and varied more than the last observed date. Thus, flight period span increased with earlier first observed dates. Elfin abundance increased significantly with earlier first observed dates in the current and/or prior year. Three species (C. irus, C. henrici, a generalist) had more positive population trends in reserves than non-reserves. This suggests that C. irus declines correspond to habitat conditions. Thus, monitoring programs and habitat management specifically for C. irus appear necessary to obtain a long-term stable trend for this species in Wisconsin.

As a primary disturbance agent, fire significantly influences local processes and services of forest ecosystems. Although a variety of remote sensing based approaches have been developed and applied to Landsat mission imagery to infer burn severity at 30 m spatial resolution, forest burn severity have still been seldom assessed at fine spatial scales (≤ 5 m) from very-high-resolution (VHR) data. We assessed a 432 ha forest fire that occurred in April 2012 on Long Island, New York, within the Pine Barrens region, a unique but imperiled fire-dependent ecosystem in the northeastern United States. The mapping of forest burn severity was explored here at fine spatial scales, for the first time using remotely sensed spectral indices and a set of Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) fraction images from bi-temporal — pre- and post-fire event — WorldView-2 (WV-2) imagery at 2 m spatial resolution. We first evaluated our approach using 1 m by 1 m validation points at the sub-crown scale per severity class (i.e. unburned, low, moderate, and high severity) from the post-fire 0.10 m color aerial ortho-photos; then, we validated the burn severity mapping of geo-referenced dominant tree crowns (crown scale) and 15 m by 15 m fixed-area plots (inter-crown scale) with the post-fire 0.10 m aerial ortho-photos and measured crown information of twenty forest inventory plots. Our approach can accurately assess forest burn severity at the sub-crown (overall accuracy is 84% with a Kappa value of 0.77), crown (overall accuracy is 82% with a Kappa value of 0.76), and inter-crown scales (89% of the variation in estimated burn severity ratings (i.e. Geo-Composite Burn Index (CBI)). This work highlights that forest burn severity mapping from VHR data can capture heterogeneous fire patterns at fine spatial scales over the large spatial extents. This is important since most ecological processes associated with fire effects vary at the < 30 m scale and VHR approaches could significantly advance our ability to characterize fire effects on forest ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhynchospora leptocarpa (Slender-fruit Beaksedge, Cyperaceae) has recently been discovered existing in the Pine Barren region of southern New Jersey, and is now documented from six regional populations. Information substantiating this find and a key differentiating other local Rhynchospora species is provided, in addition to a species description and notes on floristic composition, habitat, associated species, current range, and current status. Further discussion highlights historical collections originally misidentified and deposited in herbaria. The biogeographic significance of R. leptocarpa in New Jersey is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis Nabokov) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) is a federally listed, endangered species that has experienced dramatic decline over its historic range. In surviving populations, Karner blue butterflies have a facultative mutualism with ants that could be critically important to their survival where their populations are threatened by habitat loss or disturbance. In this study, we investigated the effects of ants, wild blue lupine population status (native or restored), and fire on adult Karner blue butterfly abundance at the Concord Pine Barrens, NH, USA. Ant frequency (the number of times we collected each ant species in our pitfall traps) was higher in restored than native lupine treatments regardless of burn status during both Karner blue butterfly broods, and the trend was statistically significant during the second brood. We observed a positive relationship between adult Karner blue butterfly abundance and ant frequency during the first brood, particularly on native lupine, regardless of burn treatment. During the second brood, adult Karner blue butterfly abundance and ant frequency were not significantly correlated in any treatments or their combinations. Our findings suggest that a combination of native and restored lupine is important for supporting both Karner blue butterflies and ants at the Concord Pine Barrens, and that burning does not affect the mutualism. Thus, scientists and managers at the site may wish to target their habitat management activities to best support both Karner blue butterflies and the particular ant species that provide the greatest benefit to their survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pleistocene environment of the New Jersey Pine Barrens has been interpreted as either cool and moist, with boreal forest, or cold and dry, with semi-desert conditions. The presence of ventifacts is often cited as perfunctory evidence for strong Pleistocene wind action and sparse vegetation. This study examines sites where ventifacts had been reported and identifies abundant pebble- to boulder-sized samples with a wide suite of erosional forms. Faceting occurred when the land was sparsely vegetated, allowing abundant wind-entrained abradants to etch gravel and rocks as a consequence of katabatic winds blowing off the nearby Laurentide Ice Sheet. Most ventifacts occur on upland surfaces and attest to geomorphic stability in this part of the region's otherwise low-relief landscape. Ventifacts were reworked and incorporated within deposits attributed to periglacial mass movement, particularly during climatic amelioration. Aeolian features such as pavement einkante, scallops and weathering pits can evolve only where sustained wind velocities are very high, sand sources are abundant and vegetation is absent. The Pine Barrens' ventifacts provide evidence of cold, dry and windy conditions and aid in the interpretation of landscape evolution. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2009 and 2010, a butterfly and skipper survey was conducted at Franklin Parker Preserve (FPP) located within Woodland Township, Burlington County, New Jersey. This survey was part of the joint cooperation between the American Entomological Society and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation and funded by a Research Experience for Undergraduates grant. Franklin Parker Preserve is located in the center of the Pine Barrens, where insect fauna has not been strongly studied and inventoried, specifically with the Lepidoptera fauna. Through this survey, fifty-three butterfly and skipper species have been documented to occur on Franklin Parker Preserve property. Time of year and abundance of these species were recorded. Three Species of Special Concern listed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection were found at FPP: Callophrys hesseli Rawson & Ziegler (Hessel's Hairstreak) Euphyes bimacula Grote & Robinson (Two-Spotted Skipper) and Hesperia attalus Edwards (Dotted Skipper.) This paper provides baseline data for the butterflies and skippers in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and will be helpful for future biodiversity and conservation managements that should occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new genus Barrenia is described based on multi-gene phylogenetic analyses and phenotypic and ecological characters. Isolated from roots of switchgrass and pitch pine in the acidic and oligotrophic New Jersey Pine Barrens in this study, Barrenia likely has a wide distribution because its internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence has high similarity with a number of GenBank sequences from various ecological studies. The majority of these matching samples were from roots of plants in acidic, nutrient-poor environments, as well as from managed sugarcane plantations. Phylogenetic analyses based on ITS, LSU, and RPB1 sequence data strongly support that Barrenia is a monophyletic clade in Helotiales, distinct from any known taxa. Barrenia is phylogenetically close to Acidomelania , Loramyces , Mollisia , and Phialocephala fortinii – Acephala applanata species complex (PAC), the dark septate endophytes. Barrenia can be distinguished from Loramyces and Mollisia by its association with living plant roots. Taxa in PAC also are root endophytes but they have complex phialid arrangements that appear to be lacking in Barrenia . Plant-fungal interaction experiments showed that Barrenia panicia and Acidomelania panicicola significantly promoted root hair growth in switchgrass. Results from this work will facilitate ecological and evolutionary studies on root-associated fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During our recent survey of fungi in the oligotrophic pine barrens ecosystem, five new Pseudophialophora species, Pseudophialophora angusta , P . dichanthii , P . magnispora , P . tarda , and P . whartonensis , were uncovered from the roots of switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ) and tapered rosette grass ( Dichanthelium acuminatum ). The five new fungal species are described based on morphological characteristics and DNA sequences of SSU, ITS, LSU, MCM7 , RPB1 , and TEF1 genes. The 6-locus phylogeny indicates that Pseudophialophora species form a monophyletic clade in Magnaporthaceae of Magnaporthales. A key for all described species in Pseudophialophora is provided, including these five and three previously published species. Distinctions among the new species and other related species are discussed. The plant–fungal interaction experiment indicates that P. angusta , Pseudophialophora eragrostis , P. magnispora , Pseudophialophora schzachyrii , P. tarda , and P. whartonensis have negative effects on the growth of switchgrass. Runner hyphae were observed from the inoculated switchgrass roots, which are typical structures of root-infecting pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timber Rattlesnakes, Crotalus horridus, are an endangered species in New Jersey, where high human population density places extraordinary pressures on natural populations. Disjunct populations are found in both the northern part of the state and a few scattered locations in the southern Pine Barrens. The Pine Barrens populations were previously shown to have reduced levels of genetic diversity compared to other populations in the Mid-Atlantic region. In this study, we used microsatellite DNA to examine the remaining six known C. horridus populations in the Pine Barrens and two in the northern part of the state. Bayesian analysis, genetic distance analysis, and factorial component analysis were performed, and the results indicated that the sampled populations represented four genetic subgroups, the two northern populations comprised one subgroup and the remaining six Pine Barrens populations comprised the other subgroups. Although there was evidence for isolation by distance among the Pine Barrens populations, geographic distance alone did not account for a substantial amount of among-group variation. The combined analyses implicated paved roads as primary isolating barriers between populations. Given their geographic isolation and reduced levels of genetic diversity, intensive efforts may be required to ensure the persistence of the behaviorally and genetically unique C. horridus populations of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of a long historical record of Landsat satellite imagery made possible the development of multitemporal land-cover mapping for large regions. Use of these data sets for change detection and other landscape analyses sometimes is hampered by differences in the image-classification methods employed at different times. To resolve these problems for 1987 and 2003 land-cover data for Florida from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the authors developed an automated GIS-based technique that relied on comparisons between the two land-cover data sets as well as ancillary land-use data from Florida's five Water Management Districts. This Land Cover Correction Process demonstrably improved the accuracy of the 1987 and 2003 land-cover data and permitted more reliable measures of anthropogenic land-use changes. The improved habitat loss rates estimated for ecologically important vegetative communities such as pinelands, sandhills, and scrub using the corrected data provide valuable guidance for conservation efforts in Florida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire suppression throughout the 20th century greatly altered plant communities in fire-dominated systems across North America. Our ability to assess these effects over the long term, however, is handicapped by the paucity of baseline data. Here, we used detailed baseline data from the 1950s to track changes in the over- and understory composition of pinebarrens vegetation growing on sandy, glacial lake-bed sediments in central Wisconsin. We expected fire suppression to favor succession to closed-canopy conditions, leading to decreases in shade-intolerant and fire-adapted species and consequent reductions in alpha and gamma diversity. We also expected beta diversity to decline due to increases in shade-tolerant, firesensitive, and exotic species. In fact, fire suppression has greatly altered the structure and composition of these pine-barrens communities over the past 54 years. Woody, windpollinated, and shade-tolerant species all increased in richness and abundance, as expected, with succession following fire suppression. Contrary to expectations, local and regional species richness increased by 12% and 26%, respectively, while Shannon beta diversity declined 24.1%. Increases in canopy coverage and number of native species appear to have driven this biotic homogenization. In contrast, increases in exotic species in our study did not promote biotic homogenization, reflecting their relative rarity across sites. Our findings highlight the key role fire plays in shaping the assembly of these pine-barrens communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline in snake populations has been attributed primarily to anthropogenic disturbances, including habitat destruction and fragmentation. We radio-tracked Northern Pinesnakes ( Pituophis m. melanoleucus) in a military Target Zone and in the surrounding undisturbed buffer zone at the Warren Grove Gunnery Range in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, USA, to examine differences in spatial movement patterns and behavior. There were no differences in home range size ( X¯ = 60.0 ± 32.7 ha), core activity area ( X¯ = 10.6 ± 8.2 ha), range length ( X¯ = 1294.8 ± 32.7 m), or mean distance traveled per day ( X¯ = 65.2 ± 30.1 m) across all snakes, or between sexes (male n = 13, female n = 11), or location within ( n = 13) or outside ( n = 11) of the Target Zone. However, there were differences between tracking years. Northern Pinesnakes in 2005 and 2006 ( n = 13) traveled greater total distance and mean distance per day and had larger home ranges compared to snakes radio-tracked in 2003 and 2004 ( n = 11). In 2005 and 2006, snakes in the Target Zone traveled longer distances compared to snakes outside the Target Zone. Pinesnakes used both the Target Zone and undisturbed buffer zone for mating, nesting, foraging, and hibernating. Although the Target Zone was disturbed regularly, the open-canopied landscape, cover availability, and sandy soils maintained habitat for Northern Pinesnakes. Our data indicate that the military disturbance had little impact on the spatial ecology of Northern Pinesnakes; the disturbed area supported enough natural habitat features used by Northern Pinesnakes and was surrounded by a large tract of undisturbed landscape. These data can aid in developing mitigation and conservation strategies where the habitat of Northern Pinesnakes is threatened by development, in particular, across other military installations, which commonly overlap with the occurance of Northern Pinesnakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied home range size and maximum dispersal distance from hibernacula in Northern Pinesnakes ( Pituophis m. melanoleucus) at a 1418-ha preserve in Cumberland County, New Jersey, USA, between 1993 and 2003. We discovered 22 different winter hibernacula that were used by 39 Northern Pinesnakes. Of the 10 snakes monitored in hibernacula for 3-5 yr, shifting was observed by 8 individuals, and 2 females showed hibernacula philopatry for five consecutive years. The average minimum convex polygon home range of 14 radio-tracked Northern Pinesnakes was 105.51 ha (located 30-108 times/snake), whereas the average kernel density estimator home range was 50% isopleth = 38.99 ha and 90% isopleth = 133.15 ha. There were no differences in home range as a function of sex, but the number of years snakes were radio-tracked affected home range size. An adult male had the largest home range of 258 ha. The average distance traveled by radio-tracked Northern Pinesnakes from their winter hibernacula was 1321.05 m, with a maximum distance of 2146.91 m. Of all snakes followed, 27.3% ( n = 3) traveled <1000 m, 18.2% ( n = 2) traveled 1000-1100 m, 18.2% ( n = 2) traveled 1100-1200 m, and 36.4% ( n = 4) traveled >1200 m. The average number of hibernacula available per home range was 3.2. Snakes that were monitored for ≥2 yr had larger home ranges than snakes that were only radio-tracked for 1 yr. Thus, radio-tracking several adult snakes over a 3-5-yr period is the most effective method to determine home ranges, locate hibernacula sites of meta-populations, and reveal an understanding of their ecology, behavior, and conservation requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ant genus Aphaenogaster Mayr is an ecologically diverse group that is common throughout much of North America. Aphaenogaster has a complicated taxonomic history due to variability of taxonomic characters. Novomessor Emery was previously synonymized with Aphaenogaster, which was justified by the partial mesonotal suture observed in Aphaenogaster ensifera Forel. Previous studies using Bayesian phylogenies with molecular data suggest Aphaenogaster is polyphyletic. Convergent evolution and retention of ancestral similarities are two major factors contributing to nonmonophyly of Aphaenogaster. Based on 42 multistate morphological characters and five genes, we found Novomessor more closely related to Veromessor Forel and that this clade is sister to Aphaenogaster. Our results confirm the validity of Novomessor stat. r. as a separate genus, and it is resurrected based on the combination of new DNA, morphological, behavioral, and ecological data. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]