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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Interannual Variation In Climate Contributes To Contingency In Post-Fire Restoration Outcomes In Seeded Sagebrush Steppe, Allison B. Simler-Williamson, Cara Applestein, Matthew J. Germino
Interannual Variation In Climate Contributes To Contingency In Post-Fire Restoration Outcomes In Seeded Sagebrush Steppe, Allison B. Simler-Williamson, Cara Applestein, Matthew J. Germino
Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations
Interannual variation, especially weather, is an often-cited reason for restoration “failures”; yet its importance is difficult to experimentally isolate across broad spatiotemporal extents, due to correlations between weather and site characteristics. We examined post-fire treatments within sagebrush-steppe ecosystems to ask: (1) Is weather following seeding efforts a primary reason why restoration outcomes depart from predictions? and (2) Does the management-relevance of weather differ across space and with time since treatment? Our analysis quantified range-wide patterns of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) recovery, by integrating long-term records of restoration and annual vegetation cover estimates from satellite imagery following thousands of post-fire seeding …
Soil Response To Fire Frequency In The Northern Columbia Basin Sagebrush Steppe, Leslie C. Nichols
Soil Response To Fire Frequency In The Northern Columbia Basin Sagebrush Steppe, Leslie C. Nichols
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Fire is one of the most significant disturbances in an ecosystem, as it is capable of altering the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil, and the fire frequency in semi-arid ecosystems is increasing. These changes can potentially alter plant-soil feedbacks that may affect post-fire recovery of the native plant and soil communities and lead to an ecosystem state change. However, there is much uncertainty about the magnitude of change as soils are exposed to more fires, because soil recovery and changes in fire severity following a first fire mediate the impact of successive fires on soil properties. To improve …
Mid- And Long-Term Effects Of Wildfire And Debris Flows On Stream Ecosystem Metabolism, Quenton M. Tuckett, Peter Koetsier
Mid- And Long-Term Effects Of Wildfire And Debris Flows On Stream Ecosystem Metabolism, Quenton M. Tuckett, Peter Koetsier
Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations
Wildfire is an important and prevalent agent of disturbance in vegetated landscapes across much of the Earth’s surface, including forested watersheds in the arid western USA. Between 1992 and 2003, >40% of the watersheds in the upper reaches of the Boise River watershed in central Idaho burned. The purpose of our study was to investigate the legacy effects of wildfire on stream ecosystems by analyzing the relationship between wildfire and resulting debris flows and their joint effects on stream ecosystem metabolism in 31 streams. The watersheds of ∼½ of these streams burned within the last 11 y, and some of …
Present Effects Of Past Wildfires On Leaf Litter Breakdown In Stream Ecosystems, Peter Koetsier, Teresa R. B. Krause, Quenton M. Tuckett
Present Effects Of Past Wildfires On Leaf Litter Breakdown In Stream Ecosystems, Peter Koetsier, Teresa R. B. Krause, Quenton M. Tuckett
Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations
We investigated the present effects from a 10-year-old wildfire on leaf litter breakdown rates in 3 headwater streams in central Idaho. These systems experienced a massive debris flow one year after the fire. Based on soil instability and burn patterns, we identified 3 stream conditions: unburned, burned only, and burned/scoured. We placed leaf bags containing willow leaves (Salix sp.) in each stream type and removed bags at various time intervals until all bags were collected 100 days after their introduction. Leaf material was dried and weighed, and decay rate coefficients were calculated. Macroinvertebrates colonizing the bags were enumerated and identified, …
Present Effects Of Past Wildfires On The Diets Of Stream Fish, Peter Koetsier, Quenton Tuckett, Joshua White
Present Effects Of Past Wildfires On The Diets Of Stream Fish, Peter Koetsier, Quenton Tuckett, Joshua White
Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations
We investigated present indirect effects from a decade-old burn on the diets of stream fish. Based on soil instability and burn patterns from a 12–14-year-old wildfire complex, we separated 9 streams into 3 conditions: unburned, burned, and burned/scoured (i.e., experiencing a massive scour event 1 year post-burn). In the streams, we measured light levels and water temperatures, and we estimated fish density and biomass. We removed the digestive tracts from 9–15 rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) from each stream and used a gravimetric procedure to analyze gut contents. Canopy cover development may dictate the composition of dietary items. Greater …