Treesearch

The LANDIS-II forest landscape model simulates the successional response of forests to disturbances at landscape scale (104 – 108 ha). PnET-Succession is one of several succession extensions to LANDIS-II, and it is among the more mechanistic suc-cession extensions. To increase its robustness for novel abiotic conditions and species assemblages, PnET-Succession includes many algorithms from the PnET-II forest ecophysiology model, which rely heavily on first principles of physiology, chemistry and physics. In the decade since PnET-Succession was originally coded, code revisions have accumulat...

Low-intensity surface fire is required to restore and maintain Quercus-Pinus mixedwood composition, structure, and function. However, historical fire exclusion has resulted in altered vegetation-fuel-fire feedbacks in long-unburned mixedwoods. Fire is now being reintroduced to reduce fire-intolerant understory and midstory stem density, consume excessive litter accumulation, eradicate the duff layer, and achieve various other goals; however, the consequences of restoring fire are poorly understood. The goal of this study was to quantify the effects of fire reintroduction on intra-stand...

Prescribed fire is a management tool that is frequently used to foster biodiversity. Simultaneously, insects that provide essential ecosystem services are globally declining. Within the pyroentomology literature, there are mixed reports of positive and negative effects that prescribed fires have on insect communities. This is likely due to not accounting for fire heterogeneity created by fire severity. To better understand prescribed fire severity effects on insect communities, we used multispectral reflectance data collected by Sentinel-2 to methodically quantify prescribed fire severity...

Introduction: Decision support models that predict both when and where to expect emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), are needed for the development and implementation of effective management strategies against this major invasive pest of ash (Fraxinus species) in North America and other regions such as Europe. We present a spatialized model of phenology and climatic suitability for EAB for use in the Degree-Days, Risk, and Phenological event mapping (DDRP) platform, which is an open-source decision support tool to help detect, monitor, and...

The emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), is an invasive woodboring pest of ash trees (Fraxinus sp.) in North America. Among the Asiatic parasitoids being released for the management of EAB in North America, Oobius agrili Zhang and Huang (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is the only EAB egg parasitoid. To date, more than 2.5 million O. agrili have been released in North America; however, few studies have examined its success as a biological control agent of EAB. We conducted studies to assess O. agrili establishment, persistence, spread, and EAB egg...

This article addresses the challenge posed by the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a wood–boring insect that threatens to kill ash trees, one of the North America’s most vital tree genera. Current strategies include monitoring, treatment, and removal. However, the absence of a private-public partnership hinders progress on private ash trees. We propose two cost-sharing programs where local governments reimburse landowners for their management costs. This approach considers the EAB’s dynamic growth over two periods based on different treatment decisions. Two mathematical models are developed for...

Due to a combination of climate change-driven threats and economic opportunities, cities across the world are investing billions of dollars in waterfront infrastructure and coastal restoration. Urban planners and park managers are often tasked with designing and programming blue spaces to maximize ecosystem services (ES) for local users. However, it is not always clear which ES are most valued, and by whom. Thus, the design of urban waterfronts presents challenges in identifying how communities engage with these spaces and how new planning might alter such uses if not accounted for. This...

Appropriately designed fuel treatments reduce negative outcomes of wildfire and in some cases promote beneficial wildfire outcomes. Wildfires are a landscape scale phenomenon; therefore, fuel treatments should be evaluated at a landscape level to maximize effectiveness. This requires shifting perspective to think of a landscape mosaic, rather than an individual site. Given the inability to treat all forests at risk from wildfire, understanding where and how fuel treatments can be most influential at the landscape scale is crucial. Scientists at the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain...

Most terrestrial plants disperse by seeds, yet the relationship between seed mass, seed dispersal traits, and plant dispersion is poorly understood. We quantified seed traits for 48 species of native and introduced plants from the grasslands of western Montana, USA, to investigate the relationships between seed traits and plant dispersion patterns. Additionally, because the linkage between dispersal traits and dispersion patterns might be stronger for actively dispersing species, we compared these patterns between native and introduced plants. Finally, we evaluated the efficacy of trait...

Understanding how habitat fragmentation affects individual species is complicated by challenges associated with quantifying species-specific habitat and spatial variability in fragmentation effects within a species’ range. We aggregated a 29-year breeding survey data set for the endangered marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) from >42,000 forest sites throughout the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and northern California) of the United States. We built a species distribution model (SDM) in which occupied sites were linked with Landsat imagery to quantify murrelet-specific...