Treesearch

The major emphasis of this chapter is to address the species richness and population densities of land vertebrates in riparian mesquite bosques (woodlands). We find no single publication that lists vertebrates - amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals - of riparian mesquites of the Southwest lowlands. These vertebrates are listed for a few river valleys, such as the Santa Cruz River (Webb et al. 2014) and San Pedro River (Stromberg and Tellman 2009), but not for the Southwest as a whole. This chapter presents a summary of the vertebrate fauna of mesquite bosques. Our lists of vertebrates...

The science of riparian ecology in the West developed over several decades, especially in the Southwest and California, as the importance of this ecosystem, its components, productivity, functions, and relationship to system hydrology became better understood. While it seems incredible today, it was only 50 years ago that streamside vegetation in the arid Southwest and portions of California were the subject of much concern as most flood control and water agencies wanted the permanent removal of riparian habitat. The early research within riparian habitats in the 1950s and 1960s focused...

Streams and riparian zones have been fertile ground for ecosystem science and a battleground for forest policy and management in the wet Pacific Northwest west of the crest of the Cascade Range for many decades. Competing, high-value resources of salmon and big Douglas-fir timber and their iconic places in cultures of the region sharpened the clash of values. Landslides from forestry operations and roads and elevated water temperature in streams where forest cover had been removed were points of physical connection between steep slope forestry and cold-water fishes. Logging slash from...

Changes in human populations, water use, climate, and related disturbances are impacting riparian ecosystems throughout the western United States. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the arid American Southwest (Gutzler 2013; Molles et al. 1998; Webb et al. 2007). Changes in southwestern riparian ecosystems are often visible to the casual eye in the form of reduced and channelized water along stream courses, loss or changes in riparian vegetation, fire, and urbanization. To manage these changes and improve ecosystem resiliency for the future, a better understanding of the impacts of...

Much of fire behavior is driven by fine-scale patterns of fuel moisture; however, moisture predictions typically occur over large scales. The source of fine-scale variation in moisture results from a combination of fuelbed properties and overstory forest structure that influences water movement and distribution of solar radiation. Fine-scale moisture variation is of particular relevance in humid forests managed with frequent prescribed fire where fire behavior variation is tightly linked to differential fire effects. Results of a three-tiered experiment combining laboratory and field...

Aim: Population dynamics and disturbances have often been simplified or ignored when predicting regional‐scale tree species distributions in response to climate change in current climate‐distribution models (e.g., niche and biophysical process models). We determined the relative importance of population dynamics, tree harvest, climate change, and their interaction in affecting tree species distribution changes. Location: Central Hardwood Forest Region of the United States. Major taxa studied: Tree species. Methods: We used a forest dynamic model, LANDIS PRO that accounted for population...

Interagency Hotshot Crews (IHCs) are a crucial firefighting suppression resource in the United States. These crews travel substantial distances each year and work long and arduous assignments that can cause accumulated fatigue. Current dispatching practices for these crews are supposed to send the closest resource while adhering to existing fatigue-management policies. In this research, we designed a simulation process that repeatedly implements an optimisation model to assign crews to suppression requests. This study examines the potential effects of using an optimisation approach to...

As innovative harvest systems are developed, the extent to which they can be utilized on the landscape based on machine capabilities is often unclear to forest managers. Spatial decision support models may aid contractors and forest planners in choosing appropriate logging systems based on topography and stand characteristics. Lidar and inventory data from 91 sample plots were used to model site characteristics for 2627 stands in the Slate Creek drainage on the Nez Perce Clearwater National Forest in north-central Idaho, USA, and were integrated into a decision support model to compare...

Heat produced from woody biomass accounts for a significant portion of renewable energy in the United States. Economic and federal policy factors driving institutional adoption of woody biomass heating systems have been identified and examined in previous studies, as have the effects of state policies in support of biomass heating. However, plans for a number of mid- to large-scale biomass facilities have been abandoned after being proposed in communities with many of the factors and policies considered favorable to the adoption of such systems. In many of these cases, opponents cited...

While much research over the past 30 years has focused on the deleterious effects of excess N on forests and associated aquatic ecosystems, recent declines in atmospheric N deposition and unexplained declines in N export from these ecosystems have raised new concerns about N oligotrophication, limitations of forest productivity, and the capacity for forests to respond dynamically to disturbance and environmental change. Here we show multiple data streams from long-term ecological research at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, USA suggesting that N oligotrophication in...