We focussed on the influence of historical fire and varied fire management practices on the structure of globally endangered pine rockland ecosystems on two adjacent islands in the Florida Keys: Big Pine Key and No Name Key. We reconstructed fire history in two stands from fire scars on South Florida slash pines (Pinus elliottii Engelm. var. densa Little & Dor.) that were accurately dated using...

South Florida slash pines provide an important microhabitat for some native Florida species, however, less than 1% of the original slash pine forest remains due to deforestation and hurricanes (DERM, 1995). This population decline makes it essential to study the genetic diversity of the remaining pine forest. Therefore, in this study we tested the hypothesis that geographic isolation has led to...

Field-collected adults of the southern pine sawyer, Monochamus titillator (F.) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), naturally infested with fourth-stage juveniles (dauerlarvae) of the pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer, 1934) Nickle, 1970, were maturation fed on excised shoots of typical slash pine, Pinus elliottii Engelm. var elliottii, for 21 days. During August 1981, a ...

We evaluated evenand uneven-aged silvicultural options for slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm.) using empirical data and the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) model. Data were collected from a mature unthinned slash pine plantation in a flatwoods site in Florida, and used to simulate six scenarios of evenand uneven-aged silvicultural regimes applied to slash pine stands, including a no-action o...

Gliocladium virens was isolated from slash pine trees symptomatic and asymptomatic for pine wilt disease with frequencies of 24% and 10%, respectively. Populations of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the nematode incitant of this disease, reproduced on this fungus and inhibited its growth. Growth inhibition of the fungus was characterized by an absence of sporulation and by the formation of chains o...

concentration and size of induced lesions were determined following inoculation of stems of slash pine (Pinus elliottii Englm. var. elliottii) and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) with Ophiostoma minus (Hedgc.) H.P. Sydow, O. ips (Rumb.) Nannf or sterile water. In a second experiment, the rate of ethylene production and monoterpene concentration were determined following inoculation of slash pine...

We examined photosynthetic characteristics of two fast- and two slow-growing half-sib families of both loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. elliottii Engelm.) on two sites in northern Florida to: (1) quantify variation in light-saturated net photosynthesis (Amax) associated with vertical crown position and foliage age; (2) quantify the amount and distribution of l...

The forest simulation model, 3-PG, has been widely applied as a useful tool for predicting growth of forest species in many countries. The model has the capability to estimate the effects of management, climate and site characteristics on many stand attributes using easily available data. Currently, there is an increasing interest in estimating biomass and assessing the potential impact of clim...

In 1991, a series of experiments was initiated to examine the effectiveness and research value of inoculating 6-week-old seedlings of slash (Pinus ellionii var. ellionii) and loblolly pine (I’. raeda) with suspensions of basidiospores of Cronartium quercuum f. sp. fusiforme onto wounds made by severing the upper approximately 1 cm of the stems. These experiments were to evaluate the wound techn...

Sequence characterized amplifled region (SCAR) markers were derived from random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs) that segregate in a longleaf pine x slash pine Fi family. Nine RAPD fragments, five from longleafpine and four from slash pine, were cloned and end sequenced. A total of 13 SCAR primer pairs, with lengths between 17 and 24 nucleotides, were developed. Nine (for SCAR loci FGPO04, FG...