Treesearch

Premise of the study: Bromus tectorum (Poaceae) is an annual grass species that is invasive in many areas of the world but most especially in the U.S. Intermountain West. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were developed for use in investigating the geospatial and ecological diversity of B. tectorum in the Intermountain West to better understand the mechanisms behind its successful invasion. Methods and Results: Normalized cDNA libraries from six diverse B. tectorum individuals were pooled and sequenced using 454 sequencing. Ninety-five SNP assays were developed for use on 96.96...

We assessed the nutritional strategy of true morels (genus Morchella) collected in 2003 and 2004 in Oregon and Alaska, 1 or 2 y after forest fires. We hypothesized that the patterns of stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) in the sporocarps would match those of saprotrophic fungi and that radiocarbon (Δ14C) analyses would indicate that Morchella was assimilating old carbon not current-year photosynthate. We compared radiocarbon and stable isotopes in Morchella with values from concurrently collected foliage, the ectomycorrhizal Geopyxis carbonaria (Alb. & Schwein.) Sacc., the saprotrophic...

Anoplophora glabripennis has a complex suite of mate-finding behaviors, the functions of which are not entirely understood. These behaviors are elicited by a number of factors, including visual and chemical cues. Chemical cues include a maleproduced volatile semiochemical acting as a long-range sex pheromone, a femaleproduced cuticular hydrocarbon blend serving as a sex-identification contact pheromone, and a recently identified female-produced trail sex pheromone that is followed by mate-seeking males. However, the sensory appendages and sensilla on these appendages used to detect the...

In southwest Montana, near the town of Three Forks, Milligan Creek cuts a small and seemingly mundane notch through dry limestone hills. Milligan Creek is unassuming and small enough to be effortlessly stepped over in most places. In fact, it flows underground for much of its 4-5 mile journey to the Jefferson River. Incredibly, forty-nine species of long-legged flies (Dolichopodidae) - fully 61% of the 81 species recorded to occur in Montana (Pollet et al. 2004) - have been collected along a very short stretch of this creek (see list below). These species were found during eight short...

Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) (MPB), a native insect to western North America, caused extensive tree mortality in pine ecosystems during a recent warm and dry period. More than 24 million acres were affected, including in the relatively low elevation lodgepole (Pinus contorta) and ponderosa (P. ponderosa) pines, and the high-elevation whitebark (P. albicaulis) and limber (P. flexilis) pines.

Progress is being made to build the science foundation for effective limber pine management. The power of repeated monitoring assessments now provides valuable condition trends for limber pine (Smith et al. 2013, Cleaver et al. 2015). In Canada, the proportion of dead limber pine increased from 2003-2004 and 2009 and WPBR infection increased from 33% to 43% putting some populations at risk for extirpation (Smith et al. 2013). In northern Colorado, Wyoming, and southeastern Montana 73% of the stands have been invaded by white pine blister rust (WPBR) with an average disease incidence of...

Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) are an ecologically important herbivore because they modify vegetation through browsing and serve as a prey resource for multiple predators. We implemented a multiscale approach to characterize habitat relationships for snowshoe hares across the mixed conifer landscape of the northern Rocky Mountains, USA. Our objectives were to (1) assess the relationship between horizontal cover and snowshoe hares, (2) estimate how forest metrics vary across the gradient of snowshoe hare use and horizontal cover, and (3) model and map snowshoe hare occupancy and intensity...

Economics can affect decisions about forest resource management and utilization, and in turn, the ecosystem benefits received. In a time of market, policy, and climate transformations, economic analyses are critical to help policy-makers and resource managers make appropriate decisions. At the 2016 Meeting of the International Society of Forest Resource Economics (ISFRE), researchers and practitioners addressed these topics in 63 oral, 11 poster, 2 panel, and 2 keynote presentations. Abstracts and full manuscripts are grouped into 8 categories: Economic Impact Analysis, International...

Fire severity maps are an important tool for understanding fire effects on a landscape. The relative differenced normalized burn ratio (RdNBR) is a commonly used severity index in California forests, and is typically divided into four categories: unchanged, low, moderate, and high. RdNBR is often calculated twice--from images collected the year of the fire (initial assessment) and during the summer of the year after the fire (extended assessment). Both collection times have been calibrated to field measurements, but field data with both prefire and post-fire observations of matched plots...

As an international group of taxonomists who study a range of taxa, we consider that you misconstrued the case of a new insect species that was described on the basis of photographs (see Nature 535, 323–324; 2016).