Treesearch

Moderate-resolution (30-m) national map products have limited capacity to represent fine-scale, heterogeneous urban forms and processes, yet improvements from incorporating higher resolution predictor data remain rare. In this study, we applied random forest models to high-resolution land cover data for 71 U.S. urban areas, moderate-resolution National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Tree Canopy Cover (TCC), and additional explanatory climatic and structural data to develop an enhanced urban TCC dataset for U.S. urban areas. With a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.747, our model estimated...

Understanding the timing of key life history events is essential for effective fish conservation and management. Traditionally, predicting hatch and emergence timing in wild fish populations was challenging due to the reliance on average incubation temperature as a primary model parameter, which is often difficult to obtain in natural settings. Recent advancements have refined these models, enabling their application in wild environments using spawning dates and daily water temperature records. However, their broader use remains constrained by a lack of parameterizations for many species,...

Managers across the western US seek effective fuel treatment strategies to mitigate hazardous fuel loads and risks of high severity fire in dry conifer forests. Conventional fuel hazard reduction treatments emphasis reducing canopy fuel continuity and surface fuel loading using an even spaced, thin-from-below approach, with pile or broadcast burning of residual surface fuels. Such treatments often result in forest structures that differ from the historical conditions. Ecological restoration treatments emphasize enhancing structural heterogeneity but may produce less fire-resistant stands...

Climate change intensifies periods of climate extremes globally, threatening biodiversity. Vertebrates vulnerable to climate extremes are identified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, though future changes in these species' exposure remain unclear. Using CMIP6 climate models under four shared socioeconomic pathways, we projected changes in extreme drought, heat, and precipitation frequencies between 1974-2014 and 2050-2090 for 1634 terrestrial vertebrates considered threatened by climate extremes, focusing on 33 vertebrate diversity hotspots. Results indicate substantial...

Representing species interactions probabilistically as opposed to deterministically conveys uncertainties in our knowledge of interactions. The sources of uncertainty captured by interaction probabilities depend on the method used to evaluate them: uncertainty of predictive models, subjective assessment of experts, or empirical measurement of interaction spatiotemporal variability. However, guidelines for the estimation and documentation of probabilistic interaction data are lacking. This is concerning because our understanding of interaction probabilities depend on their sometimes elusive...

Understanding how vegetation management affects animals' habitat selection patterns is critical for comprehensive conservation planning. As part of a decade-long study (2011-2019) of 486 adult female sage-grouse in central Montana, we investigated how a conservation-based grazing program (CGP) affected greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) habitat selection at two temporal scales: (a) the seasonal scale (four biologically relevant seasons) and (b) the annual scale. We used resource selection functions to assess sagegrouse selection for pastures enrolled in a CGP as well as plant...

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition presents a global threat to ecosystem functions. In terrestrial ecosystems, N-deposition is predicted to increase plant productivity but reduce diversity by bolstering dominant plants that suppress subordinate species. However, herbivores are predicted to offset these effects by consuming excess biomass produced by N-deposition. Here, we use a multifactorial field experiment in a grassland ecosystem to investigate the effects of N-addition on top-down control by herbivores and plant diversity. We show that at ambient N, grasshoppers suppress total...

Environmental DNA techniques are continuously demonstrating their efficiencies over traditional survey methods for detecting rare species. Unionids have a need for focused conservation efforts as they represent some of the most imperiled aquatic species in North America. Freshwater mussels are notoriously difficult to detect using traditional sampling techniques due to their cryptic morphological features, benthic habitat use, and low densities. Further, the persistence of freshwater mussel populations requires that viable fish host species be present during spawning. Therefore, improved...

The frequencies, intensities, and durations of extreme weather are increasing under climate change, furthering biodiversity loss. In the Southwestern USA, rising drought frequencies and intensities are anticipated to increasingly affect wildlife and their habitat. Particularly in highly arid regions, where species live closer to the limit of physiological tolerances, increasing drought emerges as a major threat to biodiversity. Using North American Breeding Bird Survey data (1998-2022) in combination with the Standardized Precipitation-Evaporation Index (SPEI), we estimated the effects of...

Spatial stream networks (SSN) models characterize correlated ecological processes in dendritic ecosystems. Conventional SSN models rely on pre-processed stream networks and point-to-point hydrologic distances. However, this data processing may be labor-intensive and time-consuming over large spatial domains. Therefore, we propose to infer the functional connectivity of stream networks stochastically. Our physically-guided model utilizes the knowledge that water flows from high elevation to low elevation, and flow rate typically increases when two tributaries merge. We also leverage the...