Treesearch

This assessment uses historical observations and datasets, as well as studies conducted in contemporary reference landscapes (i.e., those with active fire regimes and minimal management impacts) to define the natural range of variation (NRV) for red fir (Abies magnifica) and subalpine forests in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. Comparisons between historical and current conditions in the assessment area suggest that many of the ecological attributes of red fir and subalpine forests are within the NRV; however, some conditions and processes are also approaching or are...

Over millennia, many indigenous and Tribal peoples in North America's fire-prone ecosystems developed sophisticated relationships with wildland fire that continue today. This article introduces philosophical, conceptual, and operational approaches to working with American Indians through research and management partnerships in the fields of wildland fire, forestry, and fuels, with applications to climate change and forest landscape restoration strategies. Of central importance are respectful collaborative relationships among the various parties (Tribes, agencies, organizations, academics,...

Background Karuk and Yurok tribes in northwestern California, USA, are revitalizing the practice of cultural burning, which is the use of prescribed burns to enhance culturally important species. These cultural burns are critical to the livelihoods of indigenous peoples, and were widespread prior to the establishment of fire exclusion policies. One of the major objectives of cultural burning is to enhance California hazelnut (Corylus cornutaMarsh var. californica) basketry stem production for Karuk and Yurok basketweavers. To evaluate cultural burning as a form of human ecosystem engineerin...

Forest ecosystems are increasingly affected by a range of tree mortality events, which may permanently alter forest functional traits and disrupt their ecosystem services. While individual forest disturbances are well studied, interactions between multiple disturbances and changes of spatial patterns of forested landscapes are rarely quantified. In this study, we aim to analyze the role of wildfire in the Big Sur ecoregion of California on the spread of Phytophthora ramorum, an invasive pathogen which causes sudden oak death, the most important driver of mortality across 1000 km of...

Native bark beetles and wildfires are important disturbances in western coniferous forests. We consider two common interactions between bark beetles and wildfires (1) the effects of fuel reduction treatments (prescribed fire and mechanical thinning) and wildfires on bark beetles, and (2) the effects of bark beetle epidemics and associated levels of tree mortality on fuels and wildfire behavior and severity. We briefly describe the current state of knowledge and identify gaps for making informed management decisions.

Runoff and erosion processes can increase after wildfire and post‐fire salvage logging, but little is known about the specific effects of soil compaction and surface cover after post‐fire salvage logging activities on these processes. We carried out rainfall simulations after a high‐severity wildfire and post‐fire salvage logging to assess the effect of compaction (uncompacted or compacted by skid traffic during post‐fire salvage logging) and surface cover (bare or covered with logging slash). Runoff after 71 mm of rainfall across two 30‐min simulations was similar for the bare plots...

Mangroves can sequester and store massive amounts of CO2from the atmosphere in the form of live plant and detrital biomass. Large amounts of autochthonous and allochthonous carbon (C) are also stored in sediments, where waterlogged and anoxic conditions inhibit microbial breakdown of organic matter. As a result, C buried in sediments of mangroves can remain there for millennia if left undisturbed, making them critical long-term C sinks. These high levels of aboveground and belowground C stocks have elevated the importance of mangroves and other blue carbon habitats in climate change...

This paper is intended as an assessment of the state of knowledge and development of semiochemical methods for control of bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in western North America and as a roadmap for future research and development in this field. It is based on a keynote presentation given at the symposium Managing Bark and Ambrosia Beetles with Semiochemicals, held in 2018 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at the Joint Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, the Entomological Society of Canada, and the Entomological Society of British Columbia. We describe currently...

Mountains are global biodiversity hotspots where cold environments and their associated ecological communities are threatened by climate warming. Considerable research attention has been devoted to understanding the ecological effects of alpine glacier and snowfield recession. However, much less attention has been given to identifying climate refugia in mountain ecosystems where present‐day environmental conditions will be maintained, at least in the near‐term, as other habitats change. Around the world, montane communities of microbes, animals, and plants live on, adjacent to, and...

Hawaii and the US-affliated Pacifc Islands (see Figs. A2.1 and A2.2 for associated map) have high levels of endemic native biodiversity, largely as a function of varied ecosystems and isolation. For example, Hawaii is the most isolated archipelago on Earth where 90% of its 10,000 native species are endemic. This geographic area represents most major forest ecosystem types and includes thousands of oceanic islands, elevational clines from coastal to alpine in temperate and tropical ecosystems, species and communities that occur nowhere else in the world, the tallest mountains on Earth, and...