Treesearch

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...

Sublimation is an important hydrological flux in cold, snow‐dominated ecosystems. In high‐elevation spruce‐fir forests of western North America, spruce beetle outbreaks have killed trees, reduced the canopy, and altered processes that control sublimation. We evaluated two hypotheses related to effects of disturbance on sublimation in this ecosystem: (1) the dominant source for sublimation is canopy intercepted snow and (2) the loss of canopy following a beetle disturbance leads to less total sublimation. To incorporate uncertainty hierarchically across multiple data sources and address...

Aquatic invasive species are recognized as a global threat to conservation of native species and a cost to society. To develop effective suppression and monitoring programs for invasive species, fisheries managers require accurate, affordable, and efficient tools for invasive species detection. In the U.S. Pacific Northwest, the rapid expansion of invasive Esox lucius (northern pike) poses threats to native species as well as the viability of tribal, sport, and commercial fisheries. To help monitor changes in the distribution of this species, we developed and rigorously field‐tested an...

Despite increasing attention to the role that multiple sets of knowledge, including citizen-based knowledge, have in developing more resilient and sustainable pathways for flood management, informal knowledge systems have yet to gain legitimacy and be integrated into formal planning and decision-making process. Here we show that a knowledge systems lens can bring to the fore the prospects and barriers to align different knowledge systems for urban resilience. Focusing on two communities in San Juan, Puerto Rico, we use knowledge systems analysis to identify, analyze, and compare the...