Treesearch

The density of mesquite (Prosopis spp.) and other woody species has increased on desert and semidesert grasslands in the southwestern United States. This increase in woody species has been associated with the decline of native herbaceous plants and a loss of biological diversity and productivity. There have been numerous attempts to reverse this situation. The effort reported here employed crushing the woody species with heavy equipment, with and without seeding native perennial grasses, and the use of prescribed fire. The treatments were not expected to kill the woody species but to...

This assessment provides information on the current conditions of riparian and groundwater-dependent ecosystems on the Dixie and Fishlake National Forests. We summarized dominant riparian community types and described riparian fish and wildlife habitat. We used peer-reviewed literature, data from the Forests and other partners, and site visits to inventory and map the distribution of riparian and groundwater-dependent ecosystems, as well as to evaluate the status of four key ecosystem characteristics: (1) surface water and groundwater fluctuations, (2) water quality, (3) channel and...

‘Managed grazing’ is gaining attention for its potential to contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing bare ground and promoting perennialization, thereby enhancing soil carbon sequestration (SCS). Understanding why ranchers adopt managed grazing is key to developing the right incentives. In this paper, we explore principles and practices associated with the larger enterprise of ‘regenerative ranching’ (RR), which includes managed grazing but infuses the practice with holistic decision-making. We argue that this broader approach is appealing due to a suite of ecological, economic...

Red turpentine beetle, Dendroctonus valens (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is a non-aggressive pine bark beetle native to North America, and more aggressive invader in China. Dispersing pioneer beetles are attracted to potential host trees by oleoresin monoterpene kairomones, but respond more strongly to those combined with ethanol, a mixture often released from stressed, dying, or recently dead trees. (+)-3-Carene, usually the dominant or co-dominant monoterpene in ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, is a stronger attractant than α-pinene or β-pinene where tested over a large portion...

Scientists and natural resource managers use bioindicators for overcoming the limitations of instrument-based monitoring networks. Low sampling costs make lichen bioindicators an invaluable tool for detecting finer scaled patterns in air quality than can be detected using instruments. Between 1989 and 2012, three Forest Service programs collected more than 8,300 surveys of epiphytic lichen communities, creating one of the largest systematically sampled lichen datasets in the world. More than 90 studies use these data as a baseline for tracking air quality, climate, and other changes on...

The “NTFPs from Trees” factsheet series explains uses, markets, status, and management implications for several tree species valued for nontimber forest products. **Species status information has been revised to reflect updated data (June 2021).**

Questions: What are the rate, reversibility, and degree of symmetry in plant species compositional change in response to the addition and removal of cattle grazing in the shortgrass steppe? Specifically, how does the imposition and removal of grazing affect the abundance of perennial C4 shortgrasses and C3 midgrasses that are of primary importance for livestock production in the region?Location: Shortgrass steppe, northeastern Colorado, USA, in the North American Great Plains.Methods: We evaluate rates and magnitude of basal cover change in newly ungrazed and newly grazed sites (established...

This report presents considerations of potential hazards and mitigation measures associated with conducting field research in the context of a pathogenic epidemic or pandemic situation. We use an example of a specific risk assessment developed for advising decisions on initiating or continuing field activities (in this case, markresight and passive acoustic monitoring) associated with ongoing research of northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States under conditions imposed by the COVID-19 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavir...

Future land use projections are needed to inform long-term planning and policy. However,most projections require downscaling into spatially explicit projection rasters for ecosystemservice analyses. Empirical demand-allocation algorithms input coarse-level transition quotasand convert cells across the raster, based on a modeled probability surface. Such algorithmstypically employ contagious and/or random allocation approaches. We present ahybrid seeding approach designed to generate a stochastic collection of spatial realizationsfor distributional analysis, by 1) randomly selecting a seed...

The status of wild bees has received increased interest following recent estimates of large-scale declines in their abundances across the United States. However, basic information is limited regarding the factors affecting wild bee communities in temperate coniferous forest ecosystems. To assess the early responses of bees to bark beetle disturbance, we sampled the bee community of a Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii(Mirb.), forest in western Idaho, United States during a Douglas-fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugaeHopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), outbreak beginning in summer 2016....