Treesearch

The increasing frequency and severity of wildfires pose significant challenges for habitat conservation, particularly in post-fire landscapes. This study evaluates the habitat selection of the Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) in a post-fire environment using multi-level and multi-scale models derived from LANDSAT and LiDAR data. By focusing on 2nd order (home range selection) and 3rd order (microhabitat selection) habitat use, we assessed the predictive performance and ecological relevance of these datasets. Optimizing predictors across spatial scales revealed that large...

Bedrock river erosion drives landscape evolution across much of Earth’s surface. Plucking is a key mechanism of fluvial bedrock erosion, yet our understanding of the controls on plucking is limited. Discontinuity orientation (e.g., dip angle) may significantly influence plucking dynamics, but this remains untested. We present the first direct observations of the impact of dip angle on plucking processes and knickpoint morphodynamics. Using flume experiments, we modeled erosion through dipping bedrock using stacked tiles held at three orientations: upstream-dipping, horizontal, and downstrea...

Cosmic rays and solar energetic particles pose significant risks to satellites, space stations, and human space exploration. They also produce atmospheric radiocarbon (14C), which enters the carbon cycle and is recorded by paleoenvironmental proxies. Miyake events, rapid increases in atmospheric 14C, first identified in annual tree rings and later confirmed through ice core 10Be and 36Cl isotopes, are thought to result from extreme solar activity, are seven events identified over the last 14,300 years. However, uncertainty in annual 14C measurements limits precise inferences about their...

Wildland firefighters play a critical role in managing the complex relationship between humans and fire. To reduce the inherent risks that come with this role, firefighters use safety protocols such as lookouts, communications, escape routes, and safety zones (LCES). Currently, LCES implementation is conducted on the ground with limited support from geospatial information, despite the protocol’s inherently spatial nature. This study introduces GeoLCES: an analytical framework designed to enhance LCES implementation using remote sensing and geospatial modeling. GeoLCES comprises three...

Background: To navigate, animals balance nearby perceptual cues, random search, and memory. Isolating the role of memory, however, remains difficult.Methods: Here, we use a mechanistic movement model to do so, simulating animals responding solely to local perceptual cues (i.e., lacking memory) and comparing their paths with actual routes taken. By comparing route efficiency, we evaluate whether actual routes incorporate knowledge beyond the perceptual range (i.e., spatial memory).Results: We show that wolverines (Gulo gulo) employ spatial memory to plan routes through a rugged, mountainous...

Insect pests can rapidly accumulate in number and thrive in diverse environments, making them valuable models for studying phenotypic plasticity and the genetic basis of local adaptation. The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) is a major forest pest, and adult body size and generation time are 2 traits that vary among populations and directly influence reproductive success and outbreak dynamics. To identify regions of the genome linked to these 2 traits, we generated double-digest RAD sequencing data from an F2 intercross, using populations from 2 Y haplogroups with phenotypic...

1. Plant functional ecology research has primarily focused on juvenile and adult plants even though regeneration from seed can be the most consequential life-history bottleneck with cascading influence on later stages of growth and reproduction. Understandings of relationships among phenology, morphology and growth-related functional traits have improved our knowledge of plant life-history strategies and adaptive responses to changing climate. However, whether relationships among phenological and morpho-physiological traits exist during plant regeneration is unknown. We also lack understand...

Long-term monitoring is essential for wildlife conservation. Most wildlife population attributes require long-term monitoring to evaluate. Over the time for attributes to resolve through monitoring, however, information needs change. Existing frameworks to accommodate information need changes, such as adaptive monitoring and management, are built for large-scale, programmatic changes. Often, smaller, rapid changes are necessary. Fortunately, information needs can change predictably in wildlife monitoring, even when little is known about populations. Predictable changes include the desire...

Forest restoration treatments in dry conifer forests of the western United States are often done with objectives to move current forest structure toward historical conditions and, in turn, increase the system’s resilience to future wildfires. But little is known about their effects on understory plant composition, particularly over the long-term. This is especially true in the Colorado Front Range (CFR). We used a before/after control/impact study design to assess the effects of mechanical forest restoration treatments on forest structure, surface fuels and understory plant composition 1,...

New tools of synthetic biology that enable precise manipulation of genomes, metabolic pathways, and ecosystems present new opportunities, risks, ethical dilemmas, and responsibilities for stewards of biodiversity. We argue that the risks and benefits of synthetic biology for use in biodiversity conservation, which we term “synthetically assisted conservation,” can be better understood, evaluated, and regulated by precisely defining the techniques in relation to well-established and regulated conservation frameworks: conservation translocation and integrated pest management. Synthetically...