Treesearch

Wind and weather in mountainous areas are complex because of the underlying terrain. Typically, regional computer models are needed with sufficiently high resolution to resolve such complex conditions. However, this high-resolution weather information usually becomes available only when the critical time in fighting a severe fire event is long past, thus the advantage of using high-resolution weather models for fire management seems limited. To address this problem, we have developed an experimental system called FireBuster that is designed to streamline and automate many intermediate...

Futures research is a transdisciplinary field of inquiry that uses a variety of methods to explore possible, plausible, and preferable futures. The goal is to develop foresight—insight into how and why the future could be different than today—to improve policy, planning, and decision making. Scores of futures research methods have been developed or adapted from other disciplines, beginning with pioneering work in the US military and RAND Corporation in the 1950s and 1960s. But many social scientists and natural resource professionals are unaware of these methods and most have never heard...

Emerald ash borer (EAB; Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888) has been a persistent disturbance for ash forests in the United States since 2002. Of particular concern is the impact that EAB will have on the ecosystem functioning of wetlands dominated by black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marsh.). In preparation, forest managers need reliable and complete maps of black ash dominated stands. Traditionally, forest survey data from the United States Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program have provided rigorous measures of tree species at large spatial extents but are limited when providing estimates...

Background: Below-ground bud banks have experienced much recent interest due to discoveries that they (1) account for the majority of seasonal population renewal in many communities, (2) are crucial to regeneration following disturbance, and (3) have important consequences for plant population dynamics and plant and ecosystem function across a number of habitats. Scope: This review presents an overview of the role of bud banks in plant population renewal, examines bud bank life history, summarizes bud bank traits and their potential ecological implications, synthesizes the response of bud...

The Arctic is undergoing dramatic environmental change with rapidly rising surface temperatures, accelerating sea ice decline and changing snow regimes, all of which influence tundra plant phenology. Despite these changes, no globally consistent direction of trends in spring phenology has been reported across the Arctic. While spring has advanced at some sites, spring has delayed or not changed at other sites, highlighting substantial unexplained variation. Here, we test the relative importance of local temperatures, local snow melt date and regional spring drop in sea ice extent as...

Understanding climatic influences on annual basal area growth (ABAG) rates of individual trees is necessary to predict future stand dynamics. We fitted nonlinear ABAG models for shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) with climate variables linearly added to the arguments of logistic and exponential multiplicative functions of climate variables as climate modifiers to incorporate 14 growing seasons and 30 month-specific climate variables including standardized precipitation index. Data were collected from permanently established plots in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Six re-measurement events...

The US Endangered Species Act has enabled species conservation but has differentially impacted fire management and rare bird conservation in the southern and western US. In the South, prescribed fire and restoration-based forest thinning are commonly used to conserve the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis; RCW), whereas in the West, land managers continue to suppress fire across the diverse habitats of the northern, Californian, and Mexican spotted owls (Strix occidentalis subspecies; SO). Although the habitat needs of the RCW and SO are not identical, substantial...

Assessment and preservation of biodiversity has been a central theme of conservation biology since the discipline's inception. However, when diversity estimates are based purely on measures of presence–absence, or even abundance, they do not directly assess in what way focal habitats support the life history needs of individual species making up biological communities. Here, we move beyond naïve measures of occurrence and introduce the concept of “informed diversity” indices which scale estimates of avian species richness and community assemblage by two critical phases of their life cycle:...

This case study was developed as part of a larger, interdisciplinary research project to assess the social, hydrological, and ecological effects of beaver-related watershed restoration approaches in rangeland streams of the Western United States. It is one of five case studies being undertaken to investigate the social context of beaver- (Castor canadensis) related restoration in western rangelands. Research in the Bridge Creek watershed of the John Day River basin has found that beaver dam analogues (BDAs) improved habitat for fish listed under the Endangered Species Act, garnering...

The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry (the Institute) celebrates its 75th Anniversary with the publication of this Special Issue of Forests. This Issue is based on presentations delivered in a symposium held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2014. It augments a quarter century of scientific knowledge and capitalizes on a unique set of synergies chartered by a strategy based on shared stewardship, innovative transdisciplinary collaborations, and breakthroughs in science and technology. The manuscripts contained here present...