Treesearch

Forests in the western US have undergone a profound transformation over the last 100 years due to chronic fire suppression and a cycle of extensive timber harvest followed by little silvicultural activity. Forested landscapes in this region are now dominated by intermediate age, denser stands of coniferous trees that reduce transmission of light and precipitation to the understory, with potential consequences for ungulate nutrition. We used a 20-year dataset of mule deer locations (560 animal-years of data) to evaluate long-term patterns of selection of forest stands that had been thinned...

New datasets and information infrastructure are revolutionizing how societies respond to environmental crises, while creating novel challenges. Conservation biology can learn from other fields that have confronted crises while navigating changes in the scientific process. The COVID-19 pandemic offers one such opportunity. We identify lessons from the use of big data and the sharing of preliminary scientific information in an increasingly “networked” communication system during the pandemic. Although big data were central to early pandemic responses, acquisition and sharing of big data...

Species' ranges are shifting rapidly with climate change, altering the composition of biological communities and interactions within and among species. Hybridization is among the species interactions that may change markedly with climate change, yet it is understudied relative to others. We used non-invasive genetic detections to build a maximum entropy species distribution model and investigate the factors that delimit the present and future ranges of American marten (Martes americana) and Pacific marten (Martes caurina) in a contact zone in the Northern Rockies. We found that climate...

Background. The decision making process undertaken during wildfire responses is complex and prone to uncertainty. In the US, decisions federal land managers make are influenced by numerous and often competing factors. Aims. To assess and validate the presence of decision factors relevant to the wildfire decision making context that were previously known and to identify those that have emerged since the US federal wildfire policy was updated in 2009.Methods. Interviews were conducted across the US while wildfires were actively burning to elucidate time-of-fire decision factors. Data were...

Litterfall production and decay, root biomass, and sediment accretion dynamics were investigated from restored ‘planted’ (R5, R8, R15, and R30 stands) and recolonized stands (C5, C12, and C20 stands) to investigate patterns in primary productivity, belowground biomass, and sediment accretion dynamics. Litterfall data was collected using litter traps over 12 months, while decay kinetics was investigated using a litterbag experiment. Root biomass and sediment accretion data were collected using makeshift acrylic corers. Litterfall production increased as stands aged, and tended to stabilize...

The prevalence, intensity, or outcome of interference competition and interspecific killing between predominantly solitary species operating on large spatial scales is challenging to document or test. Here, we present a detailed account of inter- and intraspecific interactions from contemporaneous GPS location data and in-field investigation. In June 2018, a GPS-collared female cougar (Puma concolor) maintained strong site fidelity for a period of 19 days, indicative of parturition behavior and establishment of a nursery site. In early July 2018, three GPS-collared black bears (Ursus...

Urban trees can reduce stormwater runoff and mitigate flood risk by increasing infiltration, and storing water in the soil, while reducing nutrient loading, and improving water quality in developed areas. Tree water use can constitute a major component of evapotranspiration, but knowledge gaps about how the local environment affects transpiration limits our ability to predict how management will affect hydrology. In this study, we investigated the influence of management context on the transpiration of deciduous tree species and the relationship between environmental factors (soil moisture...

With the onset of rapid climate change and the legacy of past forest management and fire suppression policies, the capacity for forested landscapes to maintain core functionality and processes is being challenged. As such, managers are tasked with increasing the pace and scale of management to mitigate negative impacts of future large disturbances and improve resilience and climate adaptation of large landscapes. Such efforts require consensus building, with partners and stakeholders to determine where to allocate scarce resources. We present a methodology to identify strategic (where to...

Temperate forests, characterized by cyclical annual climate with distinct seasons, occur in some of the most densely populated regions of the world. Societies depend on these forests to provision ecosystem services such as timber, water, recreation, and cultural resources. However, climate change threatens the health and continued provisioning of the critical services these forests supply. In this chapter, we provide an overview of observed and projected climate change effects on temperate forests, with a focus on disturbance, ecosystem shifts, and ecosystem services. We provide context...

We ask how environmental justice and urban ecology have influenced one another over the past 25 years in the context of the US Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program and Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) project. BES began after environmental justice emerged through activism and scholarship in the 1980s but spans a period of increasing awareness among ecologists and environmental practitioners. The work in Baltimore provides a detailed example of how ecological research has been affected by a growing understanding of environmental justice. The shift shows how unjust environmental...