Treesearch

Background. Wildfires, prescribed fires and slash-pile burns are disturbances that occur in many terrestrial ecosystems. Such fires produce variable surface heat fluxes causing a spectrum of effects on soil, such as seed mortality, nutrient loss, changes in microbial activity and water repellency. Accurately modeling soil heating is vital to predicting these second-order fire effects. The process-based Massman HMV (Heat-Moisture-Vapor) model incorporates soil water evaporation, heat transport and water vapor movement, and captures the observed rapid evaporation of soil moisture. Aims....

The interplay between tectonic rock uplift and climatically modulated erosion governs landscape evolution and influences how mountain ranges affect climate, biogeochemical cycling, ecology, and biodiversity. The Himalayas, Earth’s highest mountain range, have inspired a large body of work suggesting that Himalayan topography is primarily governed by southward-propagating tectonic deformation. Here, we use a new coupled surface process and orographic precipitation model to test this hypothesis, and to assess the extent to which orographic precipitation effects have modulated the influence...

As ecosystem disturbances increase due to human induced global change, accurately quantifying ecosystem resilience has never been more critical. This study introduces a spatially explicit Ecosystem Resilience Index (ERI), that integrates vegetation function, structure, and composition recovery metrics. We provide proof-of-concept for this index by applying it to a wildfire in northwestern Montana by leveraging novel and existing remote sensing datasets to evaluate ecosystem resilience and environmental drivers. First, we independently assessed each metric of ecosystem recovery, and...

Balsam woolly adelgid, Adelges piceae (Ratz.) (BWA), invasive in North America, was first detected on subalpine fir [Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.] in several northern Utah counties in 2017. BWA phenology is known to vary by elevation and climate; a degree-day (DD) model focused on population expansion into the Intermountain West is needed. Bark samples were collected weekly from infested subalpine fir in early summer through late fall at 5 northern Utah sites from August 2020 to December 2022. At a single site, additional samples were collected biweekly to monthly during winter and...

Data-driven decision support can help guide sustainable grazing management by providing an accurate estimate of grazing capacity, in coproduction with managers. Here, we described the development of a decision support model to estimate grazing capacity and illustrated its application on two sites in the western United States. For the Montgomery PassWild Horse Territory in California and Nevada, the upper limit estimated in the capacity assessment was 398 horses and the current population was 654 horses. For the Eagle Creek watershed of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest of eastern...

The relative influence of climate and Indigenous cultural burning on past forest composition in southern New England, US, remains debated. Employing varied analyses, this study compared data on Indigenous settlements from over 5000 years before present (YBP) with relative tree abundances estimated from pollen and land survey records. Results suggested that fire-tolerant vegetation, mainly oak (Quercus spp.), was more abundant near Indigenous settlements from 4955 to 205 YBP (i.e., 86-91% fire-tolerant trees), and significantly (p < 0.05) higher from 3205 to 205 YBP; fire-tolerant vegetation...

Many disease epidemics recur seasonally, and such seasonal epidemics can be shaped by species interactions among parasites, pathogens, or other microbes. Field experiments are a classic approach for understanding species interactions but are rarely used to study seasonal epidemics. Our research objective was to help fill this gap by manipulating the seasonal timing of the establishment of infectious diseases while tracking epidemics and other ecological responses. To do this, we conducted a multiyear field experiment in an old field in the Piedmont of North Carolina, USA, dominated by the...

Extreme fire spread events rapidly burn large areas with disproportionate impacts on people and ecosystems. Such events are associated with warmer and drier fire seasons and are expected to increase in the future. Our understanding of the landscape outcomes of extreme events is limited, particularly regarding whether they burn more severely or produce spatial patterns less conducive to ecosystem recovery. To assess relationships between fire spread rates and landscape burn severity patterns, we used satellite fire detections to create day-of-burning maps for 623 fires comprising 4267...

Many barriers prevent ranchers from supporting prescribed fire on grazing leases or their own land. Barriers include negative perceptions of fire resources limitations, and fear of liability. We surveyed ranching landowners around four National Grasslands in North and South Dakota - public grazinglands managed by the USDA Forest Service - to assess landowner attitudes towards prescribed fire and provide insight into the barriers to using prescribed burning on the National Grasslands. Respondents reported being motivated by an interest in stewardship and want managers to prioritize sound...

Geospatial products of land use and land cover are broadly used in many applications. The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium, a group of Federal agencies with a common need for remote sensing data and derivative products, have developed a suite of a geospatial land use and land cover products, with broad use across a variety of applications. Increasingly, other Federal and non-Federal entities have produced additional land use and land cover datasets. With different mapping methodologies, thematic legends and definitions, and intended purposes, the broad array of...