This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Trees support so much life on Earth – but one important component might easily be overlooked. The phyllosphere – the aerial surfaces of plants, including leaves – is a microbial habitat for diverse microorganisms. Phyllosphere bacteria play key roles in plant health, human health, and ecosystem function, but unfortunately, not much is known about how plants and their associated microbes influence each other. A recent study evaluated this relationship in a diverse neotropical forest. Using shotgun metagenomics, researchers found that the metabolic functions of phyllosphere microbes varied based on their tree hosts. While overall there was low variability in plant-associated microbes, suggesting that certain microbes form a “core microbiota” for neotropical trees, bacterial metabolism and membrane transport functions varied between plant species..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students begin by reading Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" as an example of how overdevelopment can cause long-lasting environmental destruction. Students discuss how to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of human industry. Student teams are asked to serve as natural resource engineers, city planning engineers and civil engineers with the task to replant the nearly destroyed forest and develop a sustainable community design that can co-exist with the re-established natural area.

Are you interested in investigating how nature engineers itself? How engineers copy the shapes found in nature (“biomimetics”)? This Freshman Seminar investigates why similar shapes occur in so many natural things and how physics changes the shape of nature. Why are things in nature shaped the way they are? How do birds fly? Why do bird nests look the way they do? How do woodpeckers peck? Why can’t trees grow taller than they are? Why is grass skinny and hollow? What is the wood science behind musical instruments? Questions such as these are the subject of biomimetic research and they have been the focus of investigation in this course for the past three years.

This image was generated with DALL-E AI for a presentation about Knowledge Equity and Open Education in March 2023. It has been used several times to illustrate the ideas behind sharing knowledge openly. 

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"How do you fix a broken heart? According to a new study, TREEs can help—that is, tissue regeneration enhancer elements. The study found that these short DNA control modules from zebrafish can precisely regulate gene expression in mammals to promote healing after a heart attack. Heart attack, or myocardial infarction, and heart failure are common and devastating cardiac conditions. But the hearts of adult mammals can’t regenerate well after injury, making treatment difficult. One option is to attempt to use gene therapy with viral vectors to enhance heart cell proliferation, thus improving cardiac regeneration. However, current gene therapies are limited in their ability to control their cargoes, leading to strong, continuous delivery in one or more organs. And unchecked cell proliferation can lead to problems like tumor formation, making methods for precise control essential. Zebrafish TREEs are promising mediators of such precise control..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Tree Steward Manual is designed for Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners who are training to be certified advanced Master Gardener tree stewards. Written by a dedicated team of volunteers who themselves completed advanced Master Gardener tree steward training, the manual covers a wide range of topics, specific to each region of Virginia, including identifying trees, selecting and planting appropriate trees for local landscapes, caring for trees, and troubleshooting tree problems.

In Virginia, advanced Master Gardener tree steward training is offered by the local Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program. Once the training is completed, volunteers become certified advanced EMG tree stewards and commit to a specific number of volunteer hours working on local tree steward projects. EMG tree stewards work on projects based on the needs of their local community as determined mutually between the local agent/coordinator and active tree stewards.

While Tree Steward Manual was developed with EMG training in mind, it is also appropriate for general readers who want to deepen their knowledge of trees and tree care. ​​

How to Access this Book This text is available in multiple formats including PDF, a low-resolution PDF which is faster to download, and ePub found on the left side of your screen. It is also available online in Pressbooks at https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/treesteward. If you are printing this book to use in Tree Steward training, please see the "How to Use This Book" page for instructions. The main landing page for this book is: https://doi.org/10.21061/treesteward.

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Table of Contents
1. About Advanced Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners and the Tree Steward Training Manual
2. The Learning Experience
3. The Benefits (and Disadvantages) of Trees
4. Botany of Trees
5. Tree Taxonomy, Identification, and Measurement
6. Soil Properties and Management
7. Trees and Ecology
8. Siting, Selecting, and Planting
9. Tree Health Care and Pruning

Publication Information
ISBN: 978-1-949373-70-7 (PDF)
ISBN: 978-1-949373-71-4 (EPUB)
ISBN: 978-1-949373-72-1 (PressBooks)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/treesteward

Attribution This book was created by a dedicated team of Extension Master Gardener Volunteers and published in 2021. The book was edited by Carol King and Laura Marlowe. Chapters were authored by Carol King, Megan Tierney, Daina Henry, Patsy McGrady, Gwen Harris, Cherilyn Kern, Laurie Fox, Ed Olsen, Carol Fryer, and Cindy Ogle.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Tropical ecosystems can transition between forest and savanna but how these transitions are affected by changing rainfall patterns remains uncertain Climate changes interact with local grazing and wildfires to determine the growth of tropical trees and grasses A new study looks at how feedback between wildfires, herbivore grazing, and rainfall variability impacts the amount of tree cover in the tropics Researchers found that fires stabilize savannas under intermediate rainfall values while increasing rainfall variability boosted the potential for sudden transition between forest and savanna A similar phenomenon was found under drier rainfall conditions, but in this case herbivores kept grasslands open Forest-savanna transitions have important implications for ecosystem services and people How tropical forests and savannas will function in the future depends on interactions between rainfall, fires and herbivores Staal A., et al..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.