Skip to main content

Search by keywords, or use filters to narrow down results by type, topic, or ecosystem.

Document Type

Topic

Ecosystem

Displaying 3261 - 3280 of 6038 results

Insect outbreaks are major disturbances that affect a land area similar to that of forest fires across North America. The recent mountain pine bark beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak and its associated blue stain fungi (Grosmannia clavigera)…
Author(s): David E. Reed, Brent E. Ewers, Elise G. Pendall, John M. Frank, Robert Kelly
Year Published:

The 2000 Valley Complex wildfire burned in steep montane forests with ash cap soils in western Montana, USA. The effects of high soil burn severity on forest soil hydrologic function were examined using rainfall simulations (100mmh-1 for 1 h) on 0.5…
Author(s): Peter R. Robichaud, Joseph W. Wagenbrenner, Frederick B. Pierson, Kenneth E. Spaeth, Louise E. Ashmun, Corey A. Moffet
Year Published:

Determining how ecological filters (e.g., climate, soils, biotic interactions) influence where species succeed in heterogeneous landscapes is challenging for long-lived species (e.g., trees), because filters can vary over space and change slowly…
Author(s): Winslow D. Hansen, William H. Romme, Aisha Ba, Monica G. Turner
Year Published:

There are few places in western North America, and increasingly in the northern regions of Canada and Alaska, where wildfire and its effects are unfamiliar sights. Last year, wildfires burned more than 800,000 hectares of National Forest lands; the…
Author(s): Peter H. Singleton, Victoria A. Saab, William M. Block, Brian Logan, Craig Thompson
Year Published:

Wildfire is a global phenomenon that plays a vital role in regulating and maintaining many natural and human-influenced ecosystems but that also poses considerable risks to human populations and infrastructure. Fire managers are charged with…
Author(s): Christopher D. O'Connor, Matthew P. Thompson, Francisco Rodriguez y Silva
Year Published:

Current phylogenetic evidence shows that fire began shaping the evolution of land plants 125 Ma, although the fossil charcoal record indicates that fire has a much longer history (>350 Ma). Serotiny (on-plant seed storage) is generally accepted…
Author(s): Tianhua He, Claire M. Belcher, Byron B. Lamont, Sim L. Lim
Year Published:

There is a widespread view among land managers and others that the protected status of many forestlands in the western United States corresponds with higher fire severity levels due to historical restrictions on logging that contribute to greater…
Author(s): Curtis M. Bradley, Chad T. Hanson, Dominick A. DellaSala
Year Published:

Fire is a natural process and the dominant disturbance shaping plant and animal communities in many coniferous forests of the western US. Given that fire size and severity are predicted to increase in the future, it has become increasingly important…
Author(s): Angela M. White, Patricia N. Manley, Gina L. Tarbill, T. Will Richardson, Robin E. Russell, Hugh Safford, Solomon Z. Dobrowski
Year Published:

Abundance, size, and spatial distribution of standing dead trees (snags), are key indicators of forest biodiversity and ecosystem health. These metrics represent critical habitat components for various wildlife species of conservation concern,…
Author(s): Angeles Casas, Mariano Garcia, Rodney B. Siegel, Alexander Koltunov, Carlos Ramirez, Susan L. Ustin
Year Published:

Prescribed fire is a primary tool used to restore western forests following more than a century of fire exclusion, reducing fire hazard by removing dead and live fuels (small trees and shrubs).  It is commonly assumed that the reduced forest…
Author(s): Phillip J. van Mantgem, Anthony C. Caprio, Nathan L. Stevenson, Adrian J. Das
Year Published:

The dangers and costs associated with wildfires are rising and predicted to escalate rapidly in decades to come, primarily because of continued home development on fire-prone lands and the effects of climate change. Those interested in reducing…
Author(s): Ray Rasker
Year Published:

Shifts in rainfall patterns due to climate change are expected to increase drought-induced stress and mortality in forests, with widespread, negative consequences for forest productivity. Additionally, the extent, frequency and severity of natural…
Author(s): Jennifer Fraterrigo, Tyler Refsland
Year Published:

On the afternoon of Aug. 29, 1985, the Butte Fire on the Salmon National Forest in central Idaho made a sudden high-intensity crown run up Wallace Creek, a side drainage of the Salmon River. Over the next 90 minutes, this run consumed…
Author(s): David Thomas
Year Published:

Forest recovery from past disturbance is an integral process of ecosystem carbon cycles, and remote sensing provides an effective tool for tracking forest disturbance and recovery over large areas. Although the disturbance products (tracking the…
Author(s): Feng R. Zhao, Ran Meng, Chengquan Huang, Maosheng Zhao, Feng A. Zhao, Peng Gong, Zhiliang Zhu, Le Yu
Year Published:

Effectively addressing wildfire risk to communities on large multi-owner landscapes requires an understanding of the biophysical factors that influence risk, such as fuel loads, topography, and weather, and social factors such as the capacity and…
Author(s): Geoffrey Koch
Year Published:

As large, high-severity forest fires increase and snowpacks become more vulnerable to climate change across the western USA, it is important to understand post-fire disturbance impacts on snow hydrology. Here, we examine, quantify, parameterize,…
Author(s): Kelly E. Gleason, Anne W. Nolin
Year Published:

Climate and disturbance regimes are both changing rapidly, and it is increasingly important for ecologists and park managers to understand the past and anticipate what lies ahead. The frequency, severity, and extent of natural disturbances are…
Author(s): Monica G. Turner, Daniel C. Donato, Winslow D. Hansen, Brian J. Harvey, William H. Romme, Anthony L. Westerling
Year Published:

Mastication of standing trees to reduce crown fuel loading is an increasingly popular method of reducing wildfire hazard in the wildland-urban interface of Canada. Previous research has shown that masticated fuel beds can leave considerable…
Author(s): Dan K. Thompson, Tom J. Schiks, B. Mike Wotton
Year Published:

We contend that traditional approaches to forest conservation and management will be inadequate given the predicted scale of social-economic and biophysical changes in the 21st century. New approaches, focused on anticipating and guiding ecological…
Author(s): Stephen W. Golladay, Katherine L. Martin, James M. Vose, David N. Wear, Alan P. Covich, Richard J. Hobbs, Kier D. Klepzig, Gene E. Likens, Robert J. Naiman, Allan W. Shearer
Year Published:

The persistence of ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine forests in the 21st century depends to a large extent on how seedling emergence and establishment are influenced by driving climate and environmental variables, which largely govern forest…
Author(s): M. D. Petrie, A. M. Wildeman, John Bradford, Robert M. Hubbard, William Lauenroth
Year Published: