Treesearch

Most previous studies of resting habitat for fishers (Pekania pennanti) in the Pacific coastal region of the western United States and Canada were focused on habitat conditions within rest sites (typically ≤0.5 ha), which include the rest structure (e.g., live tree, snag, log) at its center. Studies of selection for rest structures were sparse and compared characteristics of rest structures to those occurring within rest sites; none investigated selection by sampling resource availability throughout the study area. In addition, limited data were available on the use of rest microsites...

Global climate change may detrimentally affect future generations of numerous forest tree species, hampering their longterm sustainability if appropriate evolutionary responses remain lacking. To face these novel threats, conservation biologists are in need of a thorough understanding and identification of adaptive variation in key fitness traits. We here provide an elaborate synthesis of pre-existing and novel analyses of an association mapping, genecological and landscape genomic study integrating genotypic, environmental and phenotypic data to gain insights into the genetic basis of...

Seed zones for forest tree species are a widely used tool in reforestation programs to ensure that seedlings are well adapted to their planting environments. Here, we propose a climate-based seed zone system for Mexico to address observed and projected climate change. The proposed seed zone classification is based on bands of climate variables often related to genetic adaptation of tree species: mean coldest month temperature (MCMT) and an aridity index (AHM). The overlay of the MCMT and AHM for the 1961–1990 period resulted in 63 climate-based zones. Climate change observed over the last...

Tribal communities in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America (USA) have long-standing relationships to ancestral lands now managed by federal land management agencies. In recent decades, federal and state governments have increasingly recognized tribal rights to resources on public lands and to participate in their management. In support of a new planning initiative to promote sustainable land management, we reviewed scientific publications to examine relationships between tribal social-ecological systems and public lands in the region. We identified key ecocultural resources...

Increasing the population of spring Chinook salmon and summer steelhead in Washington state’s Methow River is a goal of the Upper Columbia Spring Chinook Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Plan. Spring Chinook salmon and summer steelhead are listed as endangered and threatened, respectively, under the Endangered Species Act. Installing logjams and reconnecting the river to its floodplain are management actions being undertaken to restore salmon habitat. However, researchers with the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Idaho State University...

Managers use restorative fire and thinning for ecological benefits and to convert fuel-heavy forests to fuel-lean landscapes that lessen the threat of stand-replacing wildfire. In this study, we evaluated the long-term impact of thinning and prescribed fire on soil biochemistry and the mycorrhizal fungi associated with ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). Study sites were located in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon where prescribed fire treatments implemented in 1998 and thinning treatments in 2000 included prescribed fire, mechanical thinning of forested areas, a combination of...

Trail-based recreation is a popular use of public forests in the United States, and four types are common: allterrain vehicle (ATV) riding, mountain biking, hiking, and horseback riding. Effects on wildlife, however, are controversial and often a topic of land use debates. Accordingly, we studied trail-based recreation effects on elk (Cervus canadensis), a wide-ranging North American ungulate highly sought for hunting and viewing on public forests, but that is sensitive to human activities, particularly to motorized traffic on forest roads. We hypothesized that elk would respond to...

Through contracting and timber sales, the private sector is engaged in management of national forest lands and local community economies in the United States. But there is little recent research about current relationships between these lands and timber purchasers that could better inform future timber and biomass sale and business assistance policies and programs. We conducted a survey of timber-purchasing businesses active in six USDA Forest Service regions where ecosystem restoration and wildfire risk reduction policies have been prevalent to examine their characteristics, reliance on...

Sparsely settled forests (SSF) are poorly studied, coupled natural and human systems involving rural communities in forest ecosystems that are neither largely uninhabited wildland nor forests on the edges of urban areas. We developed and applied a multidisciplinary approach to define, map, and examine changes in the spatial extent and structure of both the landscapes and human populations of SSF in the United States. We estimated that the SSF in the contiguous United States, which are home to only 6–7% of the population, account for over 60% of all forested land and over 30% of all land....

Air quality is a critical issue affecting the health of billions of people worldwide, yet often little is known about what is in the air we breathe. To reduce air pollution’s health impacts, pollution sources must first be reliably identified. Otherwise, it is impossible to design and effectively enforce environmental standards. However, urban networks of air quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify the sources of air pollutants, especially for pollutants that do not disperse far from their sources. Developing high-resolution pollution maps with data from these widely...