Treesearch

Before fire models can be understood, evaluated, and effectively applied to support decision making, model-based uncertainties must be analyzed. In this chapter, we identify and classify sources of uncertainty using an established analytical framework, and summarize results graphically in an uncertainty matrix. Our analysis facilitates characterization of the underlying nature of each source of uncertainty (inherent system variability versus limited knowledge), the location where it manifests within the modeling process (inputs, parameters, model structure, etc.), and its magnitude or...

The prevention of biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes to protect ecosystem stability and functions is of major importance to stabilize overall diversity. Intense agriculture leads to a loss in species richness and homogenization of species pools, but the processes behind are poorly understood due to a lack of systematic case studies: The specific impacts by agriculture in contrast to other land-use creating open habitat are not studied as such landscapes hardly exist in temperate regions. Applying systematic grids, we compared the plant species distribution at the landscape scale...

A broad range of participatory methods can be employed to understand the vulnerability of social-ecological systems threatened by various drivers of change including climate change and land-use change. Understanding this vulnerability is critical for managing natural resources, particularly water resources that flow across jurisdictional boundaries, and support conflicting uses. This paper demonstrates Q-methodology, a promising participatory method infrequently applied in the vulnerability context, with a case study investigation of the vulnerability of stakeholders reliant on water-based...

Forests of western North America are currently experiencing extensive tree mortality from a variety of bark beetle species, and insect outbreaks are projected to increase under warmer, drier climates. Unlike the abrupt biogeochemical changes typical after wildfire and timber harvesting, the outcomes of insect outbreaks are poorly understood. The mountain pine bark beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) began to attack lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) at the Fraser Experimental Forest in 2002 and spread throughout the research area by 2007. We compared streamwater nitrogen (N) from 2003 through...

Tiller recruitment of perennial grasses in mixed-grass prairie primarily occurs from belowground buds. Environmental conditions, such as temperature, soil moisture and grazing can affect bud outgrowth of both invasive and native perennial grasses. Differential bud outgrowth responses of native and invasive species to climate change and grazing could alter competitive interactions that have implications for future land management. The aims of this work were to (i) compare how spring temperature altered bud outgrowth of native Pascopyrum smithii (Rydb.) Á. Löve (western wheatgrass) and...

The loss of foundational but fire-intolerant perennials such as sagebrush due to increases in fire size and frequency in semi-arid regions has motivated efforts to restore them, often with mixed or even no success. Seeds of sagebrush Artemisia tridentata and related species must be moved considerable distances from seed source to planting sites, but such transfers have not been guided by an understanding of local climate adaptation. Initial seedling establishment and its response to weather are a key demographic bottleneck that likely varies among subspecies and populations of sagebrush.

The Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis (IW-FIA) program measures forestland conditions at great extent with relatively high spatial resolution, including the collection of tree-ring data. We describe the development of an unprecedented spatial tree-ring data set for the IW-FIA that enhances the baseline plot data by incorporating ring-width increment measured from increment cores collected on IW-FIA plots. Whereas the IW-FIA program has used increment cores consistent with traditional forestry (stand age, site index, and vigor), there are key differences in sampling approaches...

Valley segments, stream reaches, and channel units are three hierarchically nested subdivisions of the drainage network (Frissell et al. 1986), falling in size between landscapes and watersheds (see Chapter 1) and individual point measurements made along the stream network (Table 2.1; also see Chapters 3 and 4). These three subdivisions compose the habitat for large, mobile aquatic organisms such as fishes. Within the hierarchy of spatial scales (Figure 2.1), valley segments, stream reaches, and channel units represent the largest physical subdivisions that can be directly altered by human...

European colonization of the new world led to rapid conversion of wildlands to agricultural and urban landscapes. The desire to protect remaining natural lands, in the late 1800s, emerged as the modern concept of protected areas. The argument for formal landscape protection was that by removing the influence of humans, natural ecosystems would continue to maintain native species and natural ecological processes (Gaston et al., 2008). There is growing evidence, however, that protected areas are not presently functioning as originally envisioned. Ecological change within protected areas has...

Understanding response of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest development following a mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae) epidemic has important management implications for winter habitat conditions for Merriam’s wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo merriami; hereafter, turkeys). Therefore, we quantified habitat changes over time for turkeys following a widespread MPB epidemic in the Black Hills of South Dakota and evaluated how many years it will take for optimal winter habitat conditions within ponderosa pine forests to recover following such a disturbance. To do so, we...