A5013535676- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Landslides and related hazards
- Forest ecology and management
- Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications
- Tree-ring climate responses
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Turfgrass Adaptation and Management
- Forest Management and Policy
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture
- Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies
- Archaeology and Natural History
- Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
- Forest Insect Ecology and Management
- Genetic diversity and population structure
- Ecology and biodiversity studies
- Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
- Climate change and permafrost
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Horticultural and Viticultural Research
- Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
- Plant Physiology and Cultivation Studies
United States Geological Survey
2015-2024
Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
2015-2024
Government of the United States of America
2023
Rocky Mountain Research Station
2015-2023
Entertainment Industries Council
2015
Northern Research Station
2009-2012
The Nature Conservancy
2009-2012
Harvard University
2011
Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
2011
University of Wisconsin–Madison
2011
Fire regimes in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems have been greatly altered across the western United States. Broad-scale invasion of non-native annual grasses, climate change, and human activities accelerated wildfire cycles, increased fire size severity, lengthened seasons many to point that current wildfire-management practices postfire restoration efforts cannot keep pace ameliorate ecological consequences ecosystem loss. The greatest impact uncharacteristically frequent is...
An emerging goal of ecosystem management is to maintain ecosystems within their range natural variability, which requires attention pre‐EuroAmerican landscape‐scale processes and corresponding landscape structures (e.g., old‐growth forest distribution). The prevailing “equilibrium” view ponderosa pine landscapes, for example, holds that frequent, low‐intensity surface fires maintained open, park‐like forests large, old trees. Yet a contrasting “nonequilibrium” suggests some are subject...
Our study objectives were to model the aboveground biomass in a xeric shrub-steppe landscape with airborne light detection and ranging (Lidar) explore uncertainty associated models we created. We incorporated vegetation vertical structure information obtained from Lidar ground-measured data, allowing us scale shrub small field sites (1 m subplots 1 ha plots) larger landscape. A series of Lidar-derived metrics trained linked field-measured Random Forests (RF) regression models. Stepwise...
First posted September 10, 2015 For additional information, contact: Director, Western Ecological Research CenterU.S. Geological Survey3020 State University Drive EastSacramento, California 95819http://werc.usgs.gov/ Fire ranks among the top three threats to greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) throughout its range, and two in western part of range. The national research strategy for this species recent U.S. Department Interior Secretarial Order 3336 call science-based assessment...
Sagebrush steppe of North America is considered highly imperilled, in part owing to increased fire frequency. ecosystems support numerous species, and it important understand those factors that affect rates post-fire sagebrush recovery. We explored recovery Wyoming big (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) basin (A. tridentata) communities following the northern Columbia Basin (Washington, USA). sampled plots across 16 fires burned from 5 28 years ago, also nearby unburned locations....
Unique responses to climate change can occur across intraspecific levels, resulting in individualistic adaptation or movement patterns among populations within a given species. Thus, the need model potential genetically distinct species is increasingly recognized. However, predictive models of future distributions are regularly fit at level, often because variation unknown identified only limited sample locations. In this study, we considered role shape geographic distribution ponderosa pine...
Abstract Species distribution models (SDMs) that rely on regional‐scale environmental variables will play a key role in forecasting species occurrence the face of climate change. However, Anthropocene, number local‐scale anthropogenic variables, including wildfire history, land‐use change, invasive species, and ecological restoration practices can override to drive patterns distribution. Incorporating these human‐induced factors into SDMs remains major research challenge, part because...
Cheatgrass, a non-native annual grass, dominates millions of hectares in semiarid ecosystems the Intermountain West (USA). Post-fire invasions can reduce native species diversity and alter ecological processes. To curb cheatgrass invasion, land managers often seed recently burned areas with perennial competitor species. We sampled vegetation within (1–9 years post-fire) nearby unburned (representing pre-fire) piñon–juniper (Pinus edulis–Juniperus osteosperma) woodland sagebrush (Artemisia...
The need to conserve and manage at across multiple spatial scales sustain critical ecosystem services (e.g., food, fiber, amenities, clean water) is an accepted tenet of modern resource management (MEA 2003; Palmer et al. 2004; Foley 2005). Moreover, this “multiscalar” perspective evident in plans and, some cases, practice on public lands large private landholdings (Schulte 2006). However, most lands—particularly those relatively small <101 ha (<250 ac)—present a significant challenge...
Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex Lawson) occupies montane environments throughout western North America, where it is both an ecologically and economically important tree species. A recent study using mitochondrial DNA analysis demonstrated substantial genetic variation among populations in the U.S., identifying 10 haplotypes with unique evolutionary lineages that generally correspond spatially distributions of Pacific (P. p. var. ponderosa) Rocky Mountain scopulorum) varieties. To...
Fire is known to structure tree populations, but the role of broad-scale climate variability less clear. For example, influence climatic "teleconnections" (the relationship between oceanic-atmospheric fluctuations and anomalous weather patterns across broad scales) on forest age relatively unexplored. We sampled semiarid piñon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus osteosperma) woodlands in western Colorado, U.S.A., test hypothesis that woodland structures are shaped by climate, including links...
Insect disturbance is often thought to increase fire risk through enhanced fuel loadings, particularly in coniferous forest ecosystems. Yet insect disturbances also affect successional pathways and landscape structure that interact with (and vice-versa) over longer time scales. We applied a succession model (LANDIS-II) evaluate the relative strength of interactions between spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) outbreaks Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) northern Minnesota (USA)....
The 7th North American Forest Ecology Workshop, consisting of 149 presentations in 16 oral sessions and a poster session, reflected broad range topical areas currently under investigation forest ecology management. There was an overarching emphasis on the role disturbance, both natural anthropogenic, dynamics ecosystems, recognition that legacies from past disturbances strongly influence future trajectories. Climate invoked as major driver ecosystem change. An placed application research...