Treesearch

Metropolitan development in the USA has historically relied on systems of centralized infrastructure that assume a population density and level of economic activity that has not been consistently sustained in post-industrial urban landscapes. In many cities, this has resulted in dependence on systems that are environmentally, economically, and socially unsustainable. Reliance on this deteriorating social and physical infrastructure results in waste and decreased efficiencies. While numerous cities could exemplify this trend, the present work highlights two compelling cases: Detroit,...

Mode of inheritance of hatch traits in Lymantria dispar L. was determined by crossing populations nearly fixed for the phenotypic extremes. The nondiapausing phenotype was inherited via a single recessive gene and the phenotype with reduced low temperature exposure requirements before hatch was inherited via a single dominant gene. There was no evidence for sex-linkage or cytoplasmic effects with either gene. Eggs from 43 geographic populations were evaluated for hatch characteristics after being held for 60d at 5ºC followed by incubation at 25ºC. There was considerable variation both...

Microbial-mediated decomposition and nutrient mineralization are major drivers of forest productivity. As landscape-scale fuel reduction treatments are being implemented throughout the fire-prone western United States of America, it is important to evaluate operationally how these wildfire mitigation treatments alter belowground processes. We quantified these important belowground components before and after management-applied fuel treatments of thinning alone, thinning combined with prescribed fire, and prescribed fire in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) stands at the Southwest Plateau,...

In many forests of the world, the summer season (temporal element) brings drought conditions causing low soil moisture in the upper soil profile (spatial element) - a potentially large barrier to seedling establishment. We evaluated the relationship between initial seedling root depth, temporal and spatial changes in soil moisture during drought after outplanting, and subsequent seedling performance using seedlings of Pinus ponderosa Laws. var. ponderosa grown in three containers similar in dimension except for depth (i.e. three stocktypes). Soil moisture patterns were quantified and...

The effects of climate change on species interactions are poorly understood. Investigating the mechanisms by which species interactions may shift under altered environmental conditions will help form a more predictive understanding of such shifts. In particular, components of climate change have the potential to strongly influence floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and, in turn, plant-pollinator interactions. In this study, we experimentally manipulated drought and herbivory for four forb species to determine effects of these treatments and their interactions on (1) visual plant...

Primary productivity in tropical forests is often considered limited by phosphorus (P) availability. Microbial activity is a key regulator of available P through organic matter decomposition (supply) as well as microbial immobilization (depletion). Environmental conditions, such as soil moisture and temperature can fluctuate significantly on hourly to daily timescales in tropical forested ecosystems. Given the ability of microbes to respond rapidly to changing environmental conditions we would expect concomitant changes in the available soil P pool. Despite the potential for soil P...

We identified 162 roosts for 36 male Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) across 3 study areas in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas, USA, during the autumn swarm (late Aug to late Oct, 2005 and 2006). Bats utilized 14 tree species; snags of shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) were the most utilized (30% of roosts) and pines were selected over hardwoods. Diameter of trees and snags used for roosting ranged from 7.8 cm to 68.6 cm diameter at breast height (dbh), but bats used trees
20 cm dbh at a greater proportion than their availability. Roosts were located in a number of different forested cover...

The field of adaptive management has been embraced by researchers and managers in the United States as an approach to improve natural resource stewardship in the face of uncertainty and complex environmental problems. Integrating multiple knowledge sources and feedback mechanisms is an important step in this approach. Our objective is to contribute to the limited literature that describes the benefits of better integrating indigenous knowledge (IK) with other sources of knowledge in making adaptive-management decisions. Specifically, we advocate the integration of traditional phenological...

Fire scars are initiated by cambial necrosis caused by localized lethal heating of the tree stem. Scars develop as part of the linked survival processes of compartmentalization and wound closure. The position of scars within dated tree ring series is the basis for dendrochronological reconstruction of fire history. Macroanatomical features were described for western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex P. Lawson & C. Lawson), and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) injured by fire in 2003 and harvested in 2011 at the Lolo National...

The conservation value of residential landscapes is becoming increasingly apparent in our urbanizing world. The ecological characteristics of residential areas are largely determined by the decisions of many individual "managers." In these complex socio-ecological systems, it is important to understand the factors that motivate human decision-making. Our first objective was to quantify wildlife resources and management activities in residential landscapes and compare vegetation in front and back yards. Our second objective was to test three hypotheses linked with variation in yards:...