Canopy density modifies leaf predisposition to Plasmopara viticola but does not affect downy mildew epidemics in grapevine

We designed an experiment with potted plants grown outdoors to investigate the expression of shade avoidance in simulated sparse and dense canopies by two perennial grasses known to express contrasting responses to low red:far-red ratios (R:FR). Plants were grown in canopy microenvironments designed to lower the R:FR by reflection of horizontally propagated FR from neighbors and by direct attenuation of R by filters located above plants. Two specific hypotheses were tested: (1) Paspalum dilatatum will express greater shade avoidance than Schizachyrium scoparium to low R:FR in both sparse and dense canopies, and (2) low R:FR will produce greater expressions of shade avoidance in sparse than in dense canopies in both species. P. dilatatum was more responsive to low R:FR than S. scoparium in both the sparse and dense canopies and lower ramet number plant−1 was the only common shade avoidance response between species in sparse canopies. P. dilatatum also showed significant reductions in juvenile ramet initiation, juvenile ramet mass, total shoot mass, and shoot:root ratios in sparse canopies, but only juvenile ramet initiation was reduced in dense canopies. The suppression of juvenile ramet initiation in the dense canopy was at least partially modulated by the vertically propagated R:FR because a similar reduction in PFD and horizontally propagated R:FR showed 42% greater juvenile ramet initiation in the respective control. S. scoparium only showed a significant reduction in ramet number plant−1 and a significant increase in blade length in sparse canopies, but no significant responses occurred in dense canopies. Consequently, neither hypothesis was rejected. Variable shade avoidance responses between species and canopy densities indicate that both interspecific variation and various proportions of vertically and horizontally propagated low R:FR can influence the expression of shade avoidance responses of perennial grasses in field settings.

Pruning of small fruit crops can affect habitat suitability for Drosophila suzukii

Canopy density effects on particulate matter attenuation coefficients in street canyons during summer in the Wuhan metropolitan area

A collection representing the native range of pecan was planted at the USDA − ARS Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Station, Byron, GA. The collection (867 trees) is a valuable genetic resource for characterizing important horticultural traits. Canopy density during leaf fall is important as the seasonal canopy dynamics provides insights to environmental cues and breeding potential of germplasm. The ability of visual raters to estimate canopy density on a subset of the provenance collection (76 trees) as an indicator of leaf shed during autumn along with image analysis values was explored. Mean canopy density using the image analysis software was less compared to visual estimates (11.9% vs 18.4%, respectively). At higher canopy densities, the raters overestimated foliage density, but overall agreement between raters and measured values was good (ρc = 0.849 to 0.915), and inter-rater reliability was high (R2 = 0.910 to 0.953). The provenance from Missouri (MO-L), the northernmost provenance, had the lowest canopy density in November, and results show that the higher the latitude of the provenance, the lower the canopy density. Based on regression, the source provenance latitude explained 0.609 of the variation using image analysis, and 0.551 to 0.640 when based on the rater estimates of canopy density. Visual assessment of pecan canopy density due to late season leaf fall for comparing pecan genotypes provides accurate and reliable estimates and could be used in future studies of the whole provenance collection.

Global warming occurs because many greenhouse gases (GHG) retain heat from the earth, which causes the earth’s surface temperature to increase. The GHG contributing most to global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2) due to its highest atmosphere concentration and long life span. The increasing CO2 concentrations in urban areas are caused by transportation and industrial activities. City parks with high tree densities are the potential to reduce CO2 concentration. However, studies related to tree canopy density in reducing CO2 concentrations have not been widely carried out. This study aims to determine the CO2 concentration on two different canopy densities. This research was conducted in March - April 2021 in Taman Kota 1 BSD. Primary data collection was carried out by three replicates based on time as follows: 06.00 am, 01.00 pm, and 05.00 pm at low canopy density and high canopy density locations, respectively, by using the AZ 7725 Carbon dioxide meter tool. The low canopy density had a leaf area index (LAI) of 1.039, whereas the high canopy density had an LAI of 1.409. The highest CO2 concentration is 582.43 ppm in the high canopy density in the morning, while the lowest is 463.16 ppm occurred at the low canopy density in the afternoon. In the morning, CO2 from respiration is still concentrated under the dense canopy because there is less wind to disperse. In the afternoon, the wind speed is higher so that CO2 is more easily distributed.

To understand the decomposition characteristics of Pinus massoniana foliar litter and the degradation of its refractory compounds in plantations under five canopy densities, a litter bag experiment over a decomposition time of 392 days was carried out. The results show that canopy density significantly affected decomposition rates of litter and degradation rate of lignin and cellulose. Litter decomposition rates decreased significantly with decreasing canopy density. Both lignin and cellulose degradation rates were lower with canopy densities of 0.62 and 0.74 as compared with the three other densities. Lignin and cellulose losses were more rapid in the first 118 days. Soil fauna had significant impacts on litter decomposition and the degradation of refractory compounds. Canopy density had significant effects on factors such as soil properties and soil fauna community structure, which could be conducive to the decomposition of litter and the degradation of litter recalcitrant components. Canopy density between 0.6 and 0.7 might be a favorable management practice promoting litter decomposition and beneficial for the sustainable development of P. massoniana plantations.

We took 5-year-old Pinus koraiensis seedlings under natural secondary forests with canopy densities of 0.2-0.3, 0.4-0.6, and 0.7-0.9 at Laoshan Plantation Experimental Station in Maoershan Experimental Forest Farm of Northeast Forestry University as monitor object, and P. koraiensis seedlings under full-light environment as control (CK), to investigate the photosynthetic characteristics and the anatomical structure of P. koraiensis needles in response to the changes of canopy densities. The results showed that the height and diameter of P. koraiensis seedlings tended to decrease while specific leaf area increased with the increases of canopy densities. The total biomass of P. koraiensis seedlings under different canopy densities ranked in an order of 0.4-0.6＞CK＞0.7-0.9＞0.2-0.3. Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was significantly and positively correlated with leaf biomass, stem biomass, and root biomass. The net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, and intercellular CO2 concentration of P. koraiensis seedlings showed a decreasing trend with the increases of canopy densities, while the stomatal conductance showed an increasing trend. Net photosynthetic rate and chlorophyll a/b showed a significant positive correlation with PAR. Stomatal density showed a gradual decreasing trend with the increases of canopy densities, and the needle cross-sectional area, mesophyll tissue area, xylem area, and phloem area of P. koraiensis seedlings under canopy density 0.4-0.6 were significantly higher than those in other treatments. P. koraiensis seedlings with stronger photosynthetic abilities and higher needle anatomy parameters under canopy density 0.4-0.6, and were able to maintain strong competitiveness in this habitat. Those results indicated that 5-year-old P. koraiensis seedlings need certain shading environment.

Highlights A LiDAR-guided automatic airflow control system for precision sprayers was developed. Three models were built to measure the amount of airflow required for apple trees. The study confirmed that adjusting the fan inlet could control airflow penetration into tree canopies. Results suggest that the system can reduce spray drift and off-target losses. Abstract. The airflow discharged from orchard airblast sprayers is a primary component for successfully carrying spray droplets to the target trees. Because of the variation in orchard tree canopies, control of the airflow to minimize off-target loss during spray application is essential. An automatic airflow control system for precision sprayers was developed to maximize spray droplet coverage on targets and minimize off-target loss while considering the tree canopy densities. The primary component of the system was an iris damper, which was designed as a retrofit attachment on the fan inlet of a three-point airblast intelligent sprayer. A 3D light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor was installed at the top of the sprayer to acquire the tree canopy data. A motor was employed to control the damper opening with a micro-controller. To develop the models required for automatic airflow control, field experiments were conducted at three canopy density orchards with different cultivars (GoldRush, Gala, and Fuji). A total of 15 trees (five trees from each cultivar) were randomly selected, and five different damper openings (openings 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) were tested for each tree. Opening 1 represented the same air inlet as a traditional precision airblast sprayer, while openings 2, 3, 4, and 5 were the sequentially reduced air inlets of the sprayer. A canopy density measurement algorithm was scripted to measure the canopy point density of individual trees. Three models were built to show relationships between (1) tree canopy point densities and airflows; (2) canopy densities and damper openings; and (3) damper opening and motor steps. The combination of the two models (2 & 3) was used to assess the amount of airflow required for a specific canopy density. Field validations for medium and high-density trees showed that the system achieved adequate spray penetration at the top, middle, bottom, back-left, and back-right positions of the tree sections and reduced off-target loss at the ground and edge of next row sections using openings 4 and 2, respectively. However, the mechanical motion of the damper required 3 s to move from minimum to maximum opening, so the average canopy density was recommended to control the airflow. The overall results suggested that the automatic airflow control system could reduce spray drift and off-target losses and improve spray application efficiency in orchards. Keywords: Automation, Canopy sensing, Fan inlet, Precision spraying, Variable rate application.

Bats are important but threatened insectivorous predators, making them a core group to consider when weighing the risks and benefits of insecticide use for combating pest outbreaks. Bats may benefit from open spaces created when insect pests defoliate tree canopies. Applying insecticides could also make treated areas less attractive to bats by lowering insect availability and increasing canopy densities. Here, we examined the effects of a one‐time insecticide treatment of oak forest plots with tebufenozide under outbreak and non‐outbreak scenarios of the forestry pest species Lymantria dispar in a full‐factorial and well‐replicated field experiment. The activity of all bats and of closed‐, edge‐ and open‐space foragers was measured at 44 plots over 3 years using autonomous acoustic bat recorders. We simultaneously estimated the biomass of available flying insect prey using light trapping and quantified changes in tree canopy density using satellite‐based radar. Contrary to our expectations, we found higher bat activity in insecticide‐treated plots than in untreated plots, including plots with predicted L. dispar outbreaks. There was no overall prey reduction at treated plots. Moreover, the high canopy density, particularly at treated plots, likely promoted biomass of non‐moth, non‐beetle flying insects. This suggests that bats, especially open‐space foragers, responded to the increasing availability of other insects at treated plots with a higher canopy density, rather than to a decrease in prey availability. Synthesis and applications: L. dispar drastically decreased the canopy density of outbreak plots, whereas insecticide treatment protected the tree canopy from defoliation. However, bats were not promoted by lower canopy density, and there was no decrease in insect prey availability between plots. Bats continued to be active at forest plots treated with tebufenozide, which may be due to insect prey harboured in the denser tree foliage at these plots. Overall, we did not observe the expected strong negative response of bat activity to tebufenozide treatment when using acoustic bat monitoring. However, there may be other risks to consider, such as pesticide exposure and food web alterations, which must be evaluated using different methods.

This study examines the impact of canopy density, side wind speed, nozzle tilt angle, and droplet size on droplet penetration during plant protection spraying operations. Experiments conducted in citrus orchards evaluated how side wind speed and nozzle tilt angle influence droplet penetration across various canopy densities. A Phase Doppler Analyzer (PDA) was used to assess droplet size variations under different nozzle tilt angles and side wind speeds, yielding a multiple linear regression equation (R2 = 0.866) that links nozzle tilt angle and side wind speed with droplet size. Results showed that droplet size decreases with increasing nozzle tilt angle at a constant crosswind speed. Further experiments investigated the effects of droplet size and canopy leaf area density on droplet penetration, involving three canopy leaf area densities, four wind speeds, and six nozzle tilt angles. Droplet deposition and canopy coverage were measured under various spraying parameters, with conventional operations (0° nozzle tilt and orthogonal wind speeds) serving as controls. The study found that adjusting nozzle tilt angle and wind speed enhances droplet penetration in different canopy structures. Optimal parameters varied with leaf area density (LAD): an 18° tilt angle and 3 m/s wind speed for a LAD of 5.94 m3/m3, a 45° tilt angle and 2 m/s wind speed for a LAD of 8.47 m2/m3, and a 36° tilt angle and 3 m/s wind speed for a LAD of 11.12 m2/m3. At 1 m/s, droplet deposition followed a downward parabolic trend with changes in nozzle tilt angle, whereas at 2 m/s, deposition followed an upward parabolic trend. At a side wind speed of 3 m/s, droplet deposition remained unchanged with nozzle tilt angle but decreased with increasing canopy density. Nonlinear regression analysis indicated that leaf area density had a greater impact on deposition differences than droplet size, with droplet penetration decreasing as leaf area density increased. This study provides a reference for enhancing fog droplet penetration techniques in plant protection operations, offering practical guidelines for optimizing spraying conditions and improving pesticide use efficiency in different canopy structures.

<b><sc>Abstract.</sc></b> The airflow of a sprayer is a primary component for successfully carrying spray droplets to the target trees. With the variation in orchard tree canopies, it is essential to control the airflow during spray operation. The study aimed to develop an automatic airflow control system for precision sprayers, considering the tree canopy densities for successful spray droplet depositions. The system was developed by retrofitting an iris damper at a three-point hitch airblast intelligent sprayer, which was installed at the sprayer's fans air inlet. A light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor was installed at the top of the sprayer. The LiDAR was used to acquire the tree canopy data, and a motor was employed to control the damper's opening with a micro-controller. To investigate the usefulness of the airflow control, a series of field tests was conducted at two different canopy density orchards with different varieties (GoldRush and Fuji). A total of eight trees (four trees from each variety) were randomly selected, and three different damper openings (full opening, intermediate opening, and full closing) were tested for each tree. Water sensitive papers (WSPs) were placed at five different locations of the tree (top, middle, bottom, back-left, and back-right). The airflows were measured at the back-side of the trees, and the spray performance was evaluated based on spray droplet depositions at the WSPs. A canopy density measurement algorithm scripted in MATLAB® was used to measure the canopy point density of individual trees. Two relationships (models) were built between 1) tree canopy points densities and airflows 2) canopy densities and damper openings. The combination of the two models was used to assess the amount of airflow required for a specific canopy density. Results of this study reported the system achieved good mean spray depositions of 37.4%, 36.09%, 51.01%, 23.0%, and 23.72% at the top, middle, bottom, back-left, and back-right positions, respectively for high-density trees using full damper opening. The intermediate opening provided some good insights for low-density trees, however, extensive investigations are needed to make the recommendation.

We investigated the structure of the litter invertebrate community in 141 pine (Pinus sylvestris Linnaeus, 1753) forest sites with five variants of canopy density (30-44, 45-59, 60-74, 75-89 and 90-100%) in the steppe zone of Ukraine. The total number of litter macrofauna specimens collected at each site decreased from an average of 84/100 trap-days in the sparsest stands (30-40% density) to 4-39 specimens/100 trap-days in the forests with a denser canopy. The number of macrofauna species caught in the pitfall traps does not vary significantly with different degrees of canopy density. The Shannon-Weaver and Pielou diversity indexes show increases corresponding to increasing stages of canopy density. The average share of phytophages in the trophic structure of the litter macrofauna does not vary with canopy density. The relative number of saprophages decreases from 54% in the forests with the sparsest canopy to 11-13% in the forests with denser canopies. The relative number of saprophages in pine forests (22%) is lower than that in deciduous forests (40%). The share of zoophages in the trophic structure of the litter macrofauna increases significantly with the increase in the pine forest canopy density (from 21% in the sparsest plots to 59% in the densest). The relative number of polyphages is highest (47-65%) when the canopy density is 45-89%. At canopy densities below or above this range, the share of polyphages in the community decreases to 20 and 24%, respectively. Regardless of canopy density, Formicidae and Lycosidae invariably rank amongst the first three dominant families. Nine families of invertebrates dominate in the pine forest stands with the highest density (90-100%), and 5-7 families dominate in the stands with lower density. For the pine forest litter macrofauna, we have observed an extreme simplification of the community size structure compared with natural and planted deciduous forests of the steppe zone of Ukraine.

Canopy density and forest biomass estimation are critical for understanding of the carbon cycle, climate change and detecting health status of the forest ecosystems. This study was conducted on the coastal forests reserves in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania. A systematic sampling design was used to establish a total of 110 temporary sample plots in all study sites. The stratification of the forests was adopted to identify closed forest patches with less anthropogenic effects. The study assessed the forest canopy density and above ground biomass with relative carbon stock for closed forest classes. Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park in Zanzibar recorded higher average canopy densities of 63% followed by Ngezi (46%), Pugu forests (26%) and Kazimzumbwi (16%). However, Ngezi forest had higher forest biomass than all study sites with the overall mean AGB of 138.5 tAGB/ha equivalent to carbon stock of 67.9 tC/ha. Tree species, Bombax rhodognaphala (Msufi mwitu) and Antiaris toxicaria (Mgulele) recorded the highest biomass of 1099 tABG/ha and 703 tAGB/ha (equivalent to 538 tC/ha and (345 tC/ha)) respectively. The study revealed that about 35% of the total closed forest patches at Pugu FR were covered by lower canopy density which accounted about 490 ha. Kazimzumbwi FR was dominated by lower canopy density which represented about 64% of the total forest cover area (1750 ha).

The estimation of forestry parameters is essential to understanding the three-dimensional structure of forests. In this respect, the potential of X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been recognized for years. Many studies have been conducted on deriving tree heights with SAR data, but few have paid attention to the effects of the canopy structure. Canopy density plays an important role since it provides information about the vertical distribution of dominant scatterers in the forest. In this study, the position of the scattering phase center (SPC) of interferometric X-band SAR data is investigated with regard to the densest vegetation layer in a deciduous and coniferous forest in Germany by applying a canopy density index from high-resolution airborne laser scanning data. Two different methods defining the densest layer are introduced and compared with the position of the TanDEM-X SPC. The results indicate that the position of the SPC often coincides with the densest layer, with mean differences ranging from −1.6 m to +0.7 m in the deciduous forest and +1.9 m in the coniferous forest. Regarding relative tree heights, the SAR signal on average penetrates up to 15% (3.4 m) of the average tree height in the coniferous forest. In the deciduous forest, the difference increases to 18% (6.2 m) during summer and 24% (8.2 m) during winter. These findings highlight the importance of considering not only tree height but also canopy density when delineating SAR-based forest heights. The vertical structure of the canopy influences the position of the SPC, and incorporating canopy density can improve the accuracy of SAR-derived forest height estimations.

This study evaluated the determinant patterns of spatial distribution among the sympatric species Mazama americana and Mazama nana in the Iguau National Park under the principles of competitive exclusion and coexistence of ecologically related species. Three potential models of habitat partition were proposed to evaluate the relations among the occurrence frequencies of the species and a set of seven biotic and abiotic variables measured near of each sample unit. Animal occurrences were determined by the location of fecal samples (sample units) found along the park. Samples were genetically identified by PCR/RFLP technique, using a species-specific cytochrome b gene marker of the mitochondrial DNA extracted from fecal samples. In the Parapatric Partition Model, frequencies of each species (dependant variable) were compared with respect to the altitude (m) above the sea level, used here as an index of the two forest types considered in this model. In the Niche Differential Selection Model, species were contrasted under its values of declivity (%), canopy height (m), canopy density (%), understory density (%) and the number of vegetal strata (1-5). In the Temporal Partition Model, the activity patterns obtained from a camera trap monitoring performed in both height extremes of the park were compared among the species. Significant results for differentiation of the species' occurrence frequencies were observed for altitude, canopy and understory densities and number of vegetal strata, beyond a partial relation to declivity. An observed correlation between altitude and some of the niche variables (declivity, canopy and understory densities) suggests a more determinant role of the Parapatric Distribution Model to modulate the local distribution of both species, in detriment of the Niche Differential Selection one. The lack of significant differences between both daily activity patterns lead to the rejection of the Temporal Partition Model. An additional analysis of the fecal pellet dimensions (length and width) showed a high overlap of values from both species, refusing the validity of its use as secure identification tool for this species in the region.