Treesearch

Accurate estimates of growth and structural changes are key for forest management tasks such as determination of optimal rotation times, optimal rotation times, site indices and for identifying areas experiencing difficulties to regenerate. Estimation of structural changes, especially for biomass, is also key to quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions/sequestration. We compared two different modeling strategies to estimate changes in V, BA and B, at three different spatial aggregation levels using auxiliary information from two light detection and ranging (LiDAR) flights. The study area is...

Selection of habitat characteristics by reproductive females during neonate development can mediate the influence of adverse environmental conditions on the fitness of offspring. Previous research has suggested that cavities and burrows used for reproduction by cavity-obligate species offer thermoregulatory benefits, access to prey, and can limit predation pressure. As fishers (Pekania pennanti) are secondary cavity-obligate breeders, we hypothesized that they select particular characteristics of reproductive den cavities at discrete stages of offspring development to mediate adverse...

Fuel continuity is the degree or extent of continuous or uninterrupted distribution of fuel particles in a fuel bed thus affecting a fire’s ability to sustain combustion and spread. This applies to ladder fuels as well as surface fuels (NWCG 2018).

The Sierra Nevada yellow‐legged frog (Rana sierrae) was once an abundant and widely distributed amphibian in California's alpine ranges. Rana sierraeis adapted to high‐elevation, fishless habitats. Its adaptions are reflected in a unique life cycle that involves a flexible, extended juvenile phase due to the short growing season typical of its alpine habitat. However, today this species is critically endangered, and most populations have been extirpated from their native range. Here, we present an 18‐yr‐long demographic study of a R. sierraepopulation in 15 lakes at Dusy Basin in Kings...

Streamflow is a main driver of fish population dynamics and is projected to decrease in much of the northern hemisphere, especially in the Mediterranean region, due to climate change. However, predictions of future climate effects on cold-water freshwater fish populations have typically focused only on the ecological consequences of increasing temperatures, overlooking the concurrent and interacting effects of climate-driven changes in streamflow regimes. Here, we present simulations that contrasted the consequences of changes in thermal regime alone versus the combined effects of changes...

Disturbances are part of the natural dynamics of Earth's ecosystems, with these events more common now in the Anthropocene. Yet metrics for calibrating these impacts and measuring an ecosystem's capacity to recover are lacking. Highway construction in 1989 to bypass Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in California resulted in storm‐driven infusion of exposed sediments into five streams; five nearby streams that were not intersected by the bypass construction were not affected by this event and served as controls for a natural experiment. A second large storm event in 1995 contributed...

Stream classifications can be used to understand patterns within and across river networks and are most informative when they offer insight into patterns in stream habitat or biology. We developed a classification of Hawaiian stream reaches based on influences of natural landscape features on distributions of stream organisms to understand patterns in ecological potential across five Hawaiian Islands. Our objectives were to (1) identify natural landscape variables strongly associated with species distributions and likely to affect stream habitat; and (2) classify Hawaiian stream reaches...

The relative contribution of private and public forest to the conservation of species in mixed-ownership landscapes has often been contentious because management goals vary among owners. This tension can be exacerbated by a lack of understanding about how wildlife use habitats managed by different landowners and the relative value of habitats in having different structures, configurations, and management histories. To address this knowledge gap and enhance science-based conservation planning among different ownerships, we analyzed habitat selection by 53 GPS-tagged California spotted owls...

Intensive land uses have transformed many of the Sierra Nevada's meadows from multi-thread channels with annually inundated floodplains into single-thread, incised channels that store less water and have reduced habitat quality for a diverse suite of meadow-associated wildlife. Among the organisms that inhabit montane meadows, amphibians are especially threatened. Meadows may serve as refugia for amphibians, including the declining Cascades frog (Rana cascadae), due to their complex and varied habitat conditions. We evaluated the relationship between meadow hydrological conditions and...

Occupancy modeling based on detection/non-detection data has become a common approach for monitoring changes in the populations of both sensitive and invasive species, with emerging bioacoustic technology enhancing opportunities for implementing such programs at landscape-scales. Statistical power, however, to detect small but biologically meaningful changes in site occupancy as part of landscape-scale monitoring is typically low, with large – yet hereto unknown – sampling efforts likely required for rigorous inference. Therefore, we (i) assessed sampling levels and detection probabilities...