Treesearch

How does potential fire behavior differ in grass-invaded non-native forests vs open grasslands? How has land cover changed from 1950–2011 along two grassland/forest ecotones in Hawaii with repeated fires? A study on non-native forest with invasive grass understory and invasive grassland (Megathyrsus maximus) ecosystems on Oahu, Hawaii, USA was established. We quantified fuel load and moisture in non-native forest and grassland (Megathyrsus maximus) plots (n = 6) at Makua Military Reservation and Schofield Barracks, and used these field data to model potential fire behavior using the...

Emergent diseases are an ever-increasing threat to forests and forest ecosystems and necessitate the development of research tools for species that often may have few preexisting resources. We sequenced the mRNA expressed by the sudden oak death pathogen Phytophthora ramorum and its most susceptible forest host, tanoak, within the same tissue at two time points after inoculation, and in uninfected tanoak controls. Using the P. ramorum genome to differentiate host and pathogen transcripts, we detected more than 850 P. ramorum transcripts at 5 days post-inoculation and a concurrent upregulati...

This chapter explores the ways in which national forest managers may contribute to community well-being by designing projects that accomplish forest management in ways that not only meet their ecological goals, but also create economic opportunities for nearby communities. The chapter summarizes a number of strategies for enhancing the economic benefits to communities of forest restoration work, infrastructure maintenance and improvement projects, and recreation and tourism; these strategies are also summarized near the end of the chapter in the “Management Implications” section. The...

Previous chapters of this synthesis rely on multiple ecological disciplines to frame core aspects of a sustainable, resilient ecosystem. Approaching forest management in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range in a manner that promotes socioecological resilience and sustains important forest values requires consideration of not only the ecological, but also the social, economic, cultural, and institutional components of the ecosystem, using a systems approach (Higgins and Duane 2008). The term "socioecological system" has been widely used in scientific literature on resilience. Key...

California spotted owls (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) (fig. 1) have been at the forefront of Sierra Nevada management and conservation debates for 25 years because of their strong habitat associations with commercially valuable large trees, snags, and late-successional forests. Initial concerns focused on the effects of timber harvest on large trees and late-successional habitat and potential risks to California spotted owl population viability. In recent years, the debate over Sierra Nevada forest management and California spotted owls has broadened with growing recognition that past...

The major pollutants causing ecological harm in the Sierra Nevada are ozone, which can be toxic to plants, and nitrogen deposition, which can induce undesirable effects on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Other airborne pollutants of concern include black carbon, particulate matter (PM), pesticides, and heavy metals, including mercury. Atmospheric pollutants that are delivered in wet and dry forms cause deposition of nitrogen to forests and other land areas. The highest potential for ozone to injure plants occurs on western, low-elevation slopes that have elevated daytime levels that...

This chapter sets the context for the following sociocultural sections of the synthesis by providing information on the broader social, cultural, and economic patterns in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range. Demographic influences surrounding population change, including those accounted for through amenity migration, are examined. Social and cultural concerns surrounding place meanings and place attachments are reviewed next, including potential influences on responses to natural resource management. Managing for resilience includes effectively applying a “triple bottom line...

Climatic extremes, ecological disturbance, and their interactions are expected to have major effects on ecosystems and social systems in most regions of the United States in the coming decades. In Alaska, where the largest temperature increases have occurred, permafrost is melting, carbon is being released, and fire regimes are changing, leading to a transition from conifers to hardwoods in some forests. In Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands, an altered climate and sea level rise are changing hydrology and fire regimes, affecting both forest ecosystems and human communities. In...

Since its inception, the ecosystem service approach has stimulated interest from numerous planning, management, and partnership perspectives. To date, however, research that quantifies ecosystem services in the study area (in the form of explicit ecosystem service studies) has been limited. This chapter reviews and synthesizes the concept of ecosystem services, focusing on information to assist forest planners and managers in framing and describing concerns and tradeoffs in social, ecological, and economic values. It does not repeat information about specific ecosystem services that is...