Treesearch

Understanding sex-specific differences in behavior and survival is essential for informative population modeling and evolutionary biology in animal populations. Uneven sex ratios are common in many migrant passerine species; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We used molecular sex determination, nest monitoring, and radio telemetry of fledgling Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla), to determine if sex-specific patterns of production, survival or behavior were present prior to the first migration. We tested whether: 1) sex ratios were skewed towards males at fledging; 2) postfledg...

The success of agroforestry in adapting and mitigating climate change depends on many human dimensions surrounding agroforestry. This chapter reviews research on the adoption of new practices by landowners and examines cultural perspectives on agroforestry. Diverse and complex motivators for conservation decisionmaking reflect the diversity of landowners, land management practices, and ecosystems and provide a variety of opportunities to encourage agroforestry adoption. The chapter also reviews tribal and indigenous systems as models for modern resiliency. Affirmation of time-tested...

Forage kochia (Bassia prostrata, hereafter ‘kochia’), a short-statured shrub of Eurasian origin, has been widely seeded in the Intermountain West for rangeland revegetation, post-fire rehabilitation and greenstripping. Although popular for revegetation purposes, it can be become troublesome in areas managed for biodiversity conservation. In southwestern Idaho, kochia is considered invasive in slickspot communities where it competes with sensitive endemic peppergrass species Lepidium papilliferum and L. davisii (Kinter et al. 2012, BLM 2014).

The Science Framework is intended to link the Department of the Interior’s Integrated Rangeland Fire Management Strategy with long-term strategic conservation actions in the sagebrush biome. The Science Framework provides a multiscale approach for prioritizing areas for management and determining effective management strategies within the sagebrush biome. The emphasis is on sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems and Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). The approach provided in the Science Framework links sagebrush ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to nonnative,...

The primary theme of this study is the cost-effectiveness of fuel treatments at multiple scales of investment. We focused on the nexus of fuel management and suppression response planning, designing spatial fuel treatment strategies to incorporate landscape features that provide control opportunities that are relevant to fire operations. Our analysis explored the frequency and magnitude of fire-treatment encounters, which are critical determinants of treatment efficacy. Additionally, we examined avoided area burned, avoided suppression costs, and avoided damages, and combined all three...

Wildfires can increase the frequency and magnitude of catastrophic debris flows. Integrated, proactive naturalhazard assessment would therefore characterize landscapes based on the potential for the occurrence and interactions of wildfires and postwildfire debris flows. This chapter presents a new modeling effort that can quantify the variability surrounding a key input to postwildfire debris‐flow modeling, the amount of watershed burned at moderate to high severity, in a prewildfire context. The use of stochastic wildfire simulation captures variability surrounding the timing and location...

Urban trees and forests alter building energy use and associated emissions from power plants by shading buildings, cooling air temperatures and altering wind speeds around buildings. Field data on urban trees were combined with local urban/community tree and land cover maps, modeling of tree effects on building energy use and pollutant emissions, and state energy and pollutant costs to estimate tree effects on building energy use and associated pollutant emissions at the state to national level in the conterminous United States. Results reveal that trees and forests in urban/community...

According to UN estimates, it is expected that the world population living in cities will exceed 66% in 2050 (United Nations, 2014). The complex and intense interaction of ecological and socioeconomic systems shaping cities has highlighted the need to foster an interdisciplinary approach to urban issues integrating Natural and Social Sciences (Alberti et al., 2003). Recent research has also stressed the role of urban ecosystems in providing vital services to city dwellers, and the need to embody ecosystem services in urban planning practice (Ahern et al., 2014; Colding, 2011). Ecosystem...