Treesearch

We document the 1st record in 93 y of Umpqua Chub (Oregonichthys kalawatseti) in the North Umpqua River. Although the North Umpqua River has been surveyed for Umpqua Chub over the past 3 decades without success, we captured 34 Umpqua Chub on 14 May 2019, using baited minnow traps, 5.8 km downstream from Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River. We vouchered 1 specimen for confirmation of field identification at the Oregon State University Ichthyology Collection (OSUIC). Our unexpected capture of Umpqua Chub in the North Umpqua River supports an almost century-old record of the species...

A modern paradigm of soil organic matter proposes that persistent carbon (C) derives primarily from microbial residues interacting with minerals, challenging older ideas that lignin moieties contribute to soil C because of inherent recalcitrance. We proposed that aspects of these old and new paradigms can be partially reconciled by considering interactions between lignin decomposition products and redox-sensitive iron (Fe) minerals. An Fe-rich tropical soil (with C4 litter and either 13C-labeled or unlabeled lignin) was pretreated with different durations of anaerobiosis (0−12 days) and...

The United States national inventory program measures a subset of tree heights in each plot in the Pacific Northwest. Unmeasured tree heights are predicted by adding the difference between modeled tree heights at two measurements to the height observed at the first measurement. This study compared different approaches for directly modeling 10-year height increment of red alder (RA) and ponderosa pine (PP) in Washington and Oregon using national inventory data from 2001–2015. In addition to the current approach, five models were implemented: nonlinear exponential, log-transformed linear,...

<> Drag sampling and flagging are two of the most effective and widely applied techniques to monitor tick populations. Despite the importance of this sampling strategy, there is a lack of standardized protocols for the construction of an inexpensive tick drag/flag. To this end, we provide a step-by-step protocol that details the construction of a tick drag/flag. We provide evidence of efficacy by comparing results obtained over 3-months at 108 locations within the William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama, USA. Overall, our drag/flag sampling approach yielded 1127 larvae, 460 nymphs,...

A Bayesian probabilistic modeling platform was used and evaluated for application in a relatively complex individual-tree growth and yield model for coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), which was expressed as a mixed discrete and continuous Bayesian Network for annual projections. The modeling platform used a common and open-source Bayesian analysis program (JAGS v3.3.0), and was sufficiently flexible to handle a relatively complex model structure; namely, a differential form, highly dynamic, recursive, hierarchical, non-linear system of equations with...

Nine multipurpose silvicultural treatments, formulated as a synthesis of recently implemented prescriptions offered by forest managers, were simulated to evaluate their effectiveness at enhancing fire resistance. The Forest Vegetation Simulator was applied, within the BioSum Framework, on over 3,000 Forest Inventory and Analysis plots representing 5 million hectares of dry mixed conifer forests in eastern Washington and Oregon and California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. We developed a composite fire-resistance score based on four fuel modification principals and metrics: fuel strata gap,...

Forest land managers rely on predictions of tree mortality generated from fire behavior models to identify stands for post-fire salvage and to design fuel reduction treatments that reduce mortality. A key challenge in improving the accuracy of these predictions is selecting appropriate wind and fuel moisture inputs. Our objective was to evaluate post-fire mortality predictions using the Forest Vegetation Simulator Fire and Fuels Extension (FVS-FFE) to determine if using representative fire-weather data would improve prediction accuracy over two default weather scenarios. We used pre- and...

Understanding change in forest carbon (C) is important for devising strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. National forest inventories (NFIs) are important to meet international accounting goals, but data are often incomplete going back in time, and the amount of time between remeasurements can make attribution of C flux to specific events difficult. The long time series of Landsat imagery provides spatially comprehensive, consistent information that can be used to fill the gaps in ground measurements with predictive models. To evaluate such models, we relate Landsat spectral...

Unconventional shale gas development is a rapidly expanding driver of forest loss and fragmentation in the central Appalachian region. We evaluated the relationship between breeding passerine abundances and distance from shale gas development at a long-term (2008–2017) study site in northern West Virginia, USA. We examined responses of 27 species within 3 habitat guilds: forest interior, early successional, and synanthropic. More than half of the species evaluated showed sensitivity to distance from unconventional shale gas infrastructure (e.g., well pads, access roads, pipelines). Five...

The Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) is a species of conservation concern in the Upper Midwest of the USA. State agencies and partners in the region are working collaboratively to identify threats to G. insculpta populations and to implement effective management actions. One component of this conservation initiative is to improve our understanding of the impacts of different management strategies on long-term viability of populations. This requires estimates of population vital rates, which are currently lacking for most G. insculpta populations in the Upper Midwest and across the range...