Treesearch

Many national parks have incorporated the use of management-ignited prescribed fire in their management plans. Soil and cambium heating, forest floor fuel reduction, and soil nutrient increases have been measured on eight independent, planned management fires over a 9-year period in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Findings show that instantaneous lethal temperature (150°F [66°C]) can be reached in the soil and within the cambium of giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) and sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) trees during prescribed burning. Mortality has not occurred to any of the...

Accurate estimates of biomass components and fuel characteristics of southern California chaparral plant communities are important for planning prescribed fires, suppressing wildfires, and for understanding the ecological interactions between fire and chaparral community development and succession. We have sampled chaparral biomass and fuels on a variety of sites as part of our research into the fire ecology of chaparral. These sites have spanned a broad geographic range, as well as a range in age, species composition and productivity. Total aboveground biomass of chaparral stands greater...

We have constructed a sex-averaged genetic linkage map in coastal Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco var menziesii) using a three-generation outcrossed pedigree and molecular markers. Our research objectives are to learn about genome organization and to identify markers associated with adaptive traits. The map reported here is comprised of 141 markers organized into 17 linkage groups and covers 1,062 centiMorgans (cM). Of the markers positioned on the map, 94 were derived from a Douglas-fir complimentary-DNA (cDNA) library that was constructed from new-growth needle tissue....

DNA sequences from 87 Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) cDNA RFLP probes were determined. Sequences were submitted to the GenBank dbEST database and searched for similarity against nucleotide and protein databases using the BLASTn and BLASTx programs. Twenty-one sequences (24%) were assigned putative functions; 18 of which were from plant species. Six sequences aligned with conifer genes, including genes from Douglas-fir. Similarities among the 87 sequences were revealed by analyses with FASTA, suggesting either redundancy or isoforms of the same gene. Assignment of...

Chaparral is an intermediate fire-return interval (FRI) system, which typically bums with high-intensity crown fires. Although it covers only perhaps 10% of the state of California, and smaller areas in neighboring states, its importance in terms of fire management is disproportionately large, primarily because it occurs in the wildland-urban interface through much of its range. Historic fire regimes for chaparral are not well-documented, partly due to lack of dendrochronological information, but it appears that infrequent large fires with FR1 of 50-100+ years dominated. While there are...

The frequency, extent, and severity of fires strongly influence development patterns of forests dominated by Douglas-fir in the Pacific Northwest. Limited data on fire history and stand structure suggest that there is geographical variation in fire regimes and that this variation contributes to regional differences in stand and landscape structure. Managers need region-specific fire regime data to develop process-based management schemes to manage new late-successional reserves (LSR). This study quantifies fire regimes and stand structural patterns in a LSR in Douglas-fir-dominated forests...

We sought to determine the presence or absence of marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) within the northern Inner North Coast Ranges of northwestern California. We conducted murrelet surveys and collected environmental data during 1995 and 1996 on national forest lands that were south of the Klamath Mountains Section and within B. marmoratus management Zone 2 as designated by the Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team. Using a stratified random sampling design, we surveyed for murrelets within the 2 coniferous forest habitat types most likely to be used by murrelets: late...

A century since its introduction to North America from Europe, white pine blister rust has come to be recognized as one of the catastrophic plant disease epidemics in history. It has yet to stabilize, continuing to spread and intensify. The nine native white pine hosts comprise major timber producers, important watershed protectors, keystone ecological species, and the oldest trees on earth. All are highly susceptible and some have been damaged severely in parts of their native range, as well as where they have been planted as exotics. Resistance, the most promising approach to control,...

A formal task of the Forest Genetic Resources Study Group/North American Forestry Commission/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Working Party 2.04.09 / Division 2- Physiology and Genetics / International Union of Forest ResearchOrganizations, this international directory lists more than 1,800 forest geneticists and tree breeders from 86 countries. Each listing includes the entrant's title, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and email address, when available. Indices organize entrants by country, by alphabetical order, by taxa of interest, and by research subjects.

Upper montane forests in the central and southern Sierra Nevada of California were classified into 26 plant associations by using information collected from 0.1-acre circular plots. Within this region, the forested environment including the physiographic setting, geology, soils, and vegetation is described in detail. A simulation model is presented for this portion of the Sierra Nevada that refines discussions of climate, and disturbance regimes are described to illustrate the interaction between these features of the environment and vegetation in the study area. In the classification,...