Projects

Monitoring and conserving waterbirds in Missouri, including Sora (Porzana carolina), Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola), and Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis), are constrained by the lack of information on migration phenology. Understanding the timing of a species’ migration is as important as knowing the species’ habitat needs and stopover ecology. Awareness regarding the time of year that habitat is needed is vital to inform habitat management, especially in highly ephemeral habitats such as palustrine emergent wetlands. Public wetlands across the central United States, including Missouri, are typically managed as migratory bird stopover habitat, with a focus on waterfowl; other wetland-dependent bird species, including rails, also use these habitats although the timing of their need is less well known.

Objective

To provide scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of forest bathing as a natural therapy for human hypertension.

Methods

Twenty-four elderly patients with essential hypertension were randomly divided into two groups of 12. One group was sent to a broad-leaved evergreen forest to experience a 7-day/7-night trip, and the other was sent to a city area in Hangzhou for control. Blood pressure indicators, cardiovascular disease-related pathological factors including endothelin-1, homocysteine, renin, angiotensinogen, angiotensin II, angiotensin II type 1 receptor, angiotensin II type 2 receptor as well as inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor α were detected. Meanwhile, profile of mood states (POMS) evaluation was used to assess the change of mood state of subjects. In addition, the air quality in the two experimental sites was monitored during the 7-day duration, simultaneously.

Results

The baselines of the indicators of the subjects were not significantly different. Little alteration in the detected indicators in the city group was observed after the experiment. While subjects exposed to the forest environment showed a significant reduction in blood pressure in comparison to that of the city group. The values for the bio-indicators in subjects exposed to the forest environment were also lower than those in the urban control group and the baseline levels of themselves. POMS evaluation showed that the scores in the negative subscales were lowered after exposure to the forest environment. Besides, the air quality in the forest environment was much better than that of the urban area evidenced by the quantitative detection of negative ions and PM10 (particulate matter <10 μm in aerodynamic diameter).

Conclusion

Our results provided direct evidence that forest bathing has therapeutic effects on human hypertension and induces inhibition of the renin–angiotensin system and inflammation, and thus inspiring its preventive efficacy against cardiovascular disorders.

• The baselines of the indicators of the subjects were not significantly different. Little alteration in the detected indicators in the city group was observed after the experiment. While subjects exposed to the forest environment showed a significant reduction in blood pressure in comparison to that of the city group. The values for the bio-indicators in subjects exposed to the forest environment were also lower than those in the urban control group and the baseline levels of themselves. POMS evaluation showed that the scores in the negative subscales were lowered after exposure to the forest environment. Besides, the air quality in the forest environment was much better than that of the urban area evidenced by the quantitative detection of negative ions and PM10 (particulate matter <10um in aerodynamic diameter).
• It has been reported that an elevated level of Hcy, known as hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy), is associated with the increment of vascular thickness, elastin fragmentation, and arterial BP [15,28]. Consistently, a significant association between SBP (systolic BP) and Hcy (p < 0.01) was observed in our study (Table 1). A mild decline in Hcy level was found in the forest group which indicated its beneficial effect on human health.

Forestry Division has begun a state-wide campaign focused on increasing awareness of the benefits that trees and forests provide to Missourians. To be effective, this “Trees Work” campaign’s messages must resonate with a wide variety of groups and population segments, and do so in the brief opportunities. To develop and evaluate such targeted messages, we must understand 1) the current level of awareness of tree and forest benefits, 2) which of benefits are most important to Missourians, and 3) what messages are most likely to motivate people to action and what barriers prevent action toward sustainability of Missouri’s forests. The campaign is planned to last several years, so baseline research provides critical information for development and evaluation.

Three communities, Columbia, Salem, and Webster Groves, were chosen, not as representatives of all Missouri but as places where the campaign was about to be piloted, for a mail survey in 2013. Questions included respondents’ awareness of various environmental campaigns and tree benefits, which campaign linkages were most important, and which messages they found most resonant. MDC mailed out 6,700 surveys and received 2,426 responses, an overall response rate of 36%.

Many people have the intuition that interacting with natural environments benefits their psychological health. This article describes empirical research on the cognitive benefits of interacting with natural environments and several theories that have been proposed to explain these effects.

In addition to 5 staffed Shooting and Outdoor Education Centers, The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) manages 69 areas with unstaffed shooting ranges across Missouri that provide various kinds of shooting opportunities including: archery, rifle, handgun, and shotgun opportunities. But MDC knew virtually nothing about the people who use MDC’s unstaffed ranges, their needs and desires, and their compliance with rules and regulations.

With 93% of the state’s land being privately owned, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) focuses on creating access to outdoor recreational activities by leasing land from private land owners. MDC administers more than one million acres of public land and actively manages more than 200,000 acres for wildlife habitat on these public conservation areas each year. According to Southwick Associates’ Hunting in America: An Economic Force for Conservation report, Missouri was ranked #8 for total number of resident hunters in the U.S. and #6 by total number of non-resident hunters. In fiscal year 2014, there were 576,000 hunters and 1.7 million wildlife watchers in the state. The number of small game, deer and turkey permits purchased has remained relatively constant over the past three years.

MDC received a three-year grant for $1.1 million through the 2014 VPA-HIP. The state’s overarching goal is to provide and expand recreational activities, such as small and large game hunting and wildlife viewing, for urban and rural residents and non-residents alike. More specifically, their goals are to:

• Increase and enhance wildlife habitat for small game and other wildlife species on private land.
• Increase the interest and number of small game hunters by providing additional lands and hunting opportunities on private lands.
• Increase youth hunter recruitment by providing access to private lands that provide hunting opportunities with less competition and hunting pressure relative to MDC Conservation Areas.
• Provide wildlife watching opportunities on private lands, especially on lands in close proximity to major metropolitan areas.

An understanding of neonicotinoid sorption and transport in soil is critical for determining and mitigating environmental risk associated with the most widely used class of insecticides. The objective of this study was to evaluate mobility and transport of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid (ICD) in soils collected from cropland, grass vegetative buffer strip (VBS), and riparian VBS soils. Soils were collected at six randomly chosen sites within grids that encompassed all three land uses. Single‐point equilibrium batch sorption experiments were conducted using radio‐labeled (14C) ICD to determine solid–solution partition coefficients (Kd). Column experiments were conducted using soils collected from the three vegetation treatments at one site by packing soil into glass columns. Water flow was characterized by applying Br− as a nonreactive tracer. A single pulse of 14C‐ICD was then applied, and ICD leaching was monitored for up to 45 d. Bromide and ICD breakthrough curves for each column were simulated using CXTFIT and HYDRUS‐1D models. Sorption results indicated that ICD sorbs more strongly to riparian VBS (Kd = 22.6 L kg−1) than crop (Kd = 11.3 L kg−1) soils. Soil organic C was the strongest predictor of ICD sorption (p < 0.0001). The column transport study found mean peak concentrations of ICD at 5.83, 10.84, and 23.8 pore volumes for crop, grass VBS, and riparian VBS soils, respectively. HYDRUS‐1D results indicated that the two‐site, one‐rate linear reversible model best described results of the breakthrough curves, indicating the complexity of ICD sorption and demonstrating its mobility in soil. Greater sorption and longer retention by the grass and riparian VBS soils than the cropland soil suggests that VBS may be a viable means to mitigate ICD loss from agroecosystems, thereby preventing ICD transport into surface water, groundwater, or drinking water resources.

List of all publications resulting from the MOFEP Woody Vegetation project.