Life Sciences Commons^™

The New Natural Distribution Area Of Aspen (Populus Tremula L.) Marginal Populations In Pasinler In The Erzurum Province, Turkey, And Its Stand Characteristics, Halil Bariş Özel, Sezgin Ayan, Serdar Erpay, Bojan Simovski

Aspen Bibliography

Background and Purpose: Genetic diversity is the basis for adaptation and survival of tree species under changing environmental conditions, representing the key issue of stability and productivity of forest ecosystems. This paper studies the marginal population characteristics and stand dynamics of aspen tree (Populus tremula L.) in natural, pure and mixed forest stands with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). These populations were observed on founding sites between Timarli Valley and Timan Plateau located in Pasinler in the Erzurum Province in Turkey.
Materials and Methods: Three replicated sample sites were established according to a randomised block design …

Dependence Of Aspen Stands On A Subsurface Water Subsidy: Implications For Climate Change Impacts, D. M. Love, M. D. Venturas, J. S. Sperry, P. D. Brooks, J. L. Pettit, Y. Wang, W. R. L. Anderegg, X. Tai, D. S. Mackay

Aspen Bibliography

The reliance of 10 Utah (USA) aspen forests on direct infiltration of growing season rain versus an additional subsurface water subsidy was determined from a trait- and process-based model of stomatal control. The model simulated the relationship between water supply to the root zone versus canopy transpiration and assimilation over a growing season. Canopy flux thresholds were identified that distinguished nonstressed, stressed, and dying stands. We found growing season rain and local soil moisture were insufficient for the survival of 5 of 10 stands. Six stands required a substantial subsidy (31–80% of potential seasonal transpiration) to avoid water stress and …

Phylogeographic Analyses Of A Widely Distributed Populus Davidiana: Further Evidence For The Existence Of Glacial Refugia Of Cool‐Temperate Deciduous Trees In Northern East Asia, Zhe Hou, Zhaoshan Wang, Zhanyang Ye, Shuhui Du, Shuya Liu, Jianguo Zhang

Aspen Bibliography

Despite several phylogeographic studies had provided evidence to support the existence of glacial refugia of cool‐temperate deciduous trees in northeast China, the species used in these studies were limited by the species ranges, which could not exclude the possibility that northern populations were the colonists from southern refugial populations during the last glacial maximum (LGM). Here, we estimated the nucleotide variation in Populus davidiana, a widespread species distributed in Eurasia. Three groups in northeast, central, and southwest China were constructed according to the simulation results from SAMOVA, composition of chloroplast haplotypes and structure results. We revealed that the northeast …

Interactions Between Fire Severity And Forest Biota In The Central Sierra Nevada: Formation And Impact Of Small-Scale Fire Refugia And The Effect Of Fire On Forest Structure Predictive Of Fisher (Pekania Pennanti) Den Habitat, Erika M. Blomdahl

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fire is a natural and essential component of forests in western North America. Fire maintains biodiversity through the creation of different habitat types, and regular fire rotations reduce the accumulation of woody fuels and thick understory plant densities that give rise to catastrophic fire. The practice of fire exclusion has altered western forests and increased the risk of widespread change under rising temperatures projected for the 21^st century. To manage for the reintroduction of fire it is critical that we understand the interactions between fire and forest biota in recently fire-suppressed forests.

In Chapter 2, I studied the formation …

The Importance Of Small Fire Refugia In The Central Sierra Nevada, California, Usa, Erika M. Blomdahl, Crystal A. Kolden, Arjan J.H. Meddens, James A. Lutz

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Fire refugia – the unburned areas within fire perimeters – are important to the survival of many taxa through fire events and the revegetation of post-fire landscapes. Previous work has shown that species use and benefit from small-scale fire refugia (1 m² to 1000 m²), but our understanding of where and how fire refugia form is largely limited to the scale of remotely sensed data (i.e., 900 m² Landsat pixels). To examine the causes and consequences of small fire refugia, we field-mapped all unburned patches ≥1 m² within a contiguous 25.6 ha forest plot that …

Beyond The 1984 Perspective: Narrow Focus On Modern Wildfire Trends Underestimates Future Risks To Water Security, Brendan P. Murphy, Larissa L. Yocom, Patrick Belmont

Ecology Center Publications

The western United States remains well below historical wildfire activity, yet misconceptions abound in the public and news media that the area burning by wildfire each year in the American West is unprecedented. We submit that short‐term records of wildfire and a disproportionate focus on recent fire trends within high‐profile science stoke these misconceptions. Furthermore, we highlight serious risks to long‐term water security (encompassing water supply, storage, and quality) that have only recently been recognized and are underestimated as the result of skewed perspectives of wildfire. Compiling several data sets, we illustrate a comprehensive history of western wildfire, demonstrate that …

Mule Deer Impede Pando’S Recovery: Implications For Aspen Resilience From A Single-Genotype Forest, Paul C. Rogers, Darren J. Mcavoy

Ecology Center Publications

Aspen ecosystems (upland Populus-dominated forests) support diverse species assemblages in many parts of the northern hemisphere, yet are imperiled by common stressors. Extended drought, fire suppression, human development, and chronic herbivory serve to limit the sustainability of this keystone species. Here we assess conditions at a renowned quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) grove—purportedly the largest living organism on earth—with ramifications for aspen biogeography globally. The “Pando” clone is 43 ha and estimated to contain 47,000 genetically identical aspen ramets. This iconic forest is threatened in particular by herbivory, and current management activities aim to reverse the potential for …

Conservation Of Aquatic Biodiversity In The Context Of Multiple-Use Management On National Forest System Lands, Brett B. Roper, James M. Capurso, Yvette Paroz, Michael K. Young

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) manages 193 million acres of public lands across 43 states and Puerto Rico. The original intent behind reserving lands managed by the USFS was to improve and protect forests, secure favorable conditions for water flows, and furnish a continuous supply of timber for the nation. Through time national forests have evolved, so they are managed for a broad array of uses. Differing expectations have led to conflicts between aquatic conservation and other aspects of the USFS’ mandate. In the 1990s, these conflicting goals came to a head with the listing of the …

Aspen Recruitment In The Yellowstone Region Linked To Reduced Herbivory After Large Carnivore Restoration, Luke E. Painter, Robert L. Beschta, Eric J. Larsen, William J. Ripple

Aspen Bibliography

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) recruitment during the 1980s–90s was suppressed by Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis) herbivory on winter ranges in the Yellowstone region, and saplings (young aspen taller than 2 m) were rare. Following the 1995–96 reintroduction of gray wolves (Canis lupus), browsing decreased and sapling recruitment increased in Yellowstone National Park. We compared aspen data from inside the park to data collected in three winter ranges outside the park. For most areas, the percentage of young aspen browsed annually was 80–100% in 1997–98, decreasing to 30–60% in 2011–15. Sapling recruitment was inversely …

Effects Of Stand Structure, Browsing, And Biophysical Conditions On Regeneration Following Mountain Pine Beetle In Mixed Lodgepole Pine And Aspen Forests Of The Southern Rockies, Kristen A. Pelz, Frederick W. Smith

Aspen Bibliography

Aspen (Populus tremuloides) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) co-occur in the southern Rocky Mountains (USA), where mountain pine beetle (MPB, Dendroctonus ponderosae) has caused extensive lodgepole pine mortality since the late 1990s. Both species excel in post-disturbance high-light environments, but lodgepole pine has generally been thought to establish poorly on undisturbed seedbeds, and aspen suckering may be inhibited by intact aspen overstory. We ask whether lodgepole pine and aspen will regenerate in sufficient quantities to revegetate these forests. We visited a random sample of aspen and lodgepole pine stands across the affected landscape …

A Landscape-Level Assessment Of Whitebark Pine Regeneration In The Rocky Mountains, Usa, Sara A. Goeking, Deborah K. Izlar, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) has recently experienced high mortality due to multiple stressors, and future population viability may rely on natural regeneration. We assessed whitebark pine seedling densities throughout the US Rocky Mountains and identified stand, site, and climatic variables related to seedling presence based on data from 1,217 USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis plots. Although mean densities were highest in the whitebark pine forest type, 83% of sites with seedlings present occurred in non-whitebark pine forest types, and the highest densities occurred in the lodgepole pine forest type. To identify factors related to whitebark pine …

Land Cover And Use Change In Utah: A Comparison Of Field- Vs. Aerial Image-Based Observations, Jennifer Lynn Bakken

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Image-based Change Estimation program (ICE) was developed by the US Forest Service Forest Inventory & Analysis (FIA) program and the Geospatial Technology Applications Center in response to the 2014 Farm Bill calling for more timely and accurate estimates of land cover and use change. ICE monitors change throughout the US on a state by state basis by assessing each FIA plot using high resolution imagery from two dates in time. In the western US, FIA measures 10% of the plots each year to report on status, trends, and sustainability of our Nation’s forests. However, this 10 year cycle misses …

Fitness Consequences Of Interspecific Nesting Associations Among Cavity-Nesting Birds, James C. Mouton, Thomas E. Martin

Aspen Bibliography

Interspecific aggregations of prey may provide benefits by mitigating predation risk, but they can also create costs if they increase competition for resources or are more easily detectable by predators. Variation in predation risk and resource availability may influence the occurrence and fitness effects of aggregating in nature. Yet tests of such possibilities are lacking. Cavity-nesting birds provide an interesting test case. They compete aggressively for resources and experience low nest predation rates, which might predict dispersion, but across 19 years of study we found that they commonly aggregate by sharing nest trees. Tree sharing was more common when aspen …

Removal Of Invasive Plants From Pando Exclosure 2018, Marc Coles-Ritchie

Aspen Bibliography

On July 10-11, 2018 volunteers and staff from Great Old Broads for Wilderness and Grand Canyon Trust removed invasive plants from the Pando exclosure, a fenced portion of the Pando Clone aspen forest adjacent to Fish Lake, in Central Utah. This area has been fenced to restore a portion of the Pando Clone that has been lacking recruitment for decades, by protecting young aspen from browsing by deer and cattle. We have been removing invasive species for five years from this exclosure.

The 2018 trip included 10 women and one staffer of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, from the states …

Phytochemical Screening Of Quaking Aspen (Populus Tremuloides) Extracts By Uplc-Qtof-Ms And Evaluation Of Their Antimicrobial Activity, Annabelle St-Pierre, Dorian Blondeau, André Lajeunesse, Julien Bley, Nathalie Bourdeau, Isabel Desgagné-Penix

Aspen Bibliography

The continual emergence of pathogen resistance is a recurring challenge and pushes for the development of antimicrobial compounds. Here, we investigated compounds from quaking aspen trees (Populus tremuloides) as potential antimicrobial agents. Several extractions using different solvents were realized, and corresponding antimicrobial activity was tested against eight microorganisms. Results revealed that polar extraction solvents including water, ethanol and methanol gave the best extraction yields (>15.07%). Minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal/fungicidal concentration (MBC/MFC) demonstrated that water extracts had the best antimicrobial activity by a weak to moderate inhibition of growth of all eight tested microorganisms in addition to …

Building Resistance And Resilience: Regeneration Should Not Be Left To Chance, James N. Long, Marcella A. Windmuller-Campione, R. Justin Derose

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Contemporary forest planning has tasked managers with developing goals associated with resistance and resilience. In practice, silviculturists use forest structure and tree species composition to characterize goals and desired future conditions, write prescriptions, and monitor outcomes associated with resistance and resilience. Although rarely discussed in the exploding literature relating to forest resistance and resilience, silvicultural regeneration methods are important and underutilized tools to meet these goals. We propose alternative silvicultural systems for building resistance and resilience to two common large-scale bark beetle disturbance agents in the Intermountain West, United States: mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) and spruce beetle (Dendroctonus …

Managing For Multiple Objectives In Southwestern Forests: Evaluating The Trade-Offs Between Enhancing Mexican Spotted Owl Nest Habitat And Mitigating Potential Crown Fire, Daniel C. Deane Mckenna

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA), the United States’ forest census, measured sixty-six Mexican spotted owl nest stands in order gain insight into the structure and composition of the nest habitat of this threatened species. I used these data, along with the greater FIA database and the Forest Vegetation Simulator to explore questions surrounding the management of Mexican spotted owl habitat, specifically how to balance the objective of sustaining and enhancing nest habitat in face of increasing forest fire size and severity in the Southwest. My research consisted of three studies. The first study quantified the structure and composition of …

Low Offspring Survival In Mountain Pine Beetle Infesting The Resistant Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Supports The Preference-Performance Hypothesis, Erika L. Eidson, Karen E. Mock, Barbara J. Bentz

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The preference-performance hypothesis states that ovipositing phytophagous insects will select host plants that are well-suited for their offspring and avoid host plants that do not support offspring performance (survival, development and fitness). The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), a native insect herbivore in western North America, can successfully attack and reproduce in most species of Pinus throughout its native range. However, mountain pine beetles avoid attacking Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva), despite recent climate-driven increases in mountain pine beetle populations at the high elevations where Great Basin bristlecone pine grows. Low preference for a potential …

Short-Term Regeneration Dynamics Of Wyoming Big Sagebrush At Two Sites In Northern Utah, Sara J. Germain, Rebecca K. Mann, Thomas A. Monaco, Kari E. Veblen

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) is a widespread shrub across the western United States, and there is great interest among scientists and land managers in its ecology and conservation, particularly with regard to maintaining structural heterogeneity of sagebrush stands for wildlife habitat and livestock forage. Yet little is known about its short-term regeneration dynamics and the implications of those dynamics for changes in stand structure. We examined changes among sagebrush size classes across 3 years, as well as emergence of sagebrush from seed bank and seed rain samples at 2 sagebrush shrub land sites in northern …

Rapid Regeneration Offsets Losses From Warming-Induced Tree Mortality In An Aspen-Dominated Broad-Leaved Forest In Northern China, Pengwu Zhao, Chongyang Xu, Mei Zhou, Bo Zhang, Peng Ge, Nan Zeng, Hongyan Liu

Aspen Bibliography

Worldwide tree mortality as induced by climate change presents a challenge to forest managers. To successfully manage vulnerable forests requires the capacity of regeneration to compensate for losses from tree mortality. We observed rapid regeneration and the growth release of young trees after warming-induced mortality in a David aspen-dominated (Populus davidiana) broad-leaved forest in Inner Mongolia, China, as based on individual tree measurements taken in 2012 and 2015 from a 6-ha permanent plot. Warming and drought stress killed large trees 10–15 m tall with a total number of 2881 trees during 2011–2012, and also thinned the upper crowns. …

Spatiotemporal Patterns Of Unburned Areas Within Fire Perimeters In The Northwestern United States From 1984 To 2014, Arjan J. H. Meddens, Crystal A. Kolden, James A. Lutz, John T. Abatzoglou, Andrew T. Hudak

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

A warming climate, fire exclusion, and land cover changes are altering the conditions that produced historical fire regimes and facilitating increased recent wildfire activity in the northwestern United States. Understanding the impacts of changing fire regimes on forest recruitment and succession, species distributions, carbon cycling, and ecosystem services is critical, but challenging across broad spatial scales. One important and understudied aspect of fire regimes is the unburned area within fire perimeters; these areas can function as fire refugia across the landscape during and after wildfire by providing habitat and seed sources. With increasing fire activity, there is speculation that fire …

Authors And Editors Assort On Gender And Geography In High-Rank Ecological Publications, Kezia R. Manlove, Rebecca M. Belou

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Peer-reviewed publication volume and caliber are widely-recognized proxies for academic merit, and a strong publication record is essential for academic success and advancement. However, recent work suggests that publication productivity for particular author groups may also be determined in part by implicit biases lurking in the publication pipeline. Here, we explore patterns of gender, geography, and institutional rank among authors, editorial board members, and handling editors in high-impact ecological publications during 2015 and 2016. A higher proportion of lead authors had female first names (33.9%) than editorial board members (28.9%), and the proportion of female first names among handling editors …

Great Basin Forb Restoration: Lupine Response To Altered Precipitation Predicted By Climate Change, Andrea Jo Johnson, Kristin Hulvey, Scott Jensen, Tom Monaco

Research on Capitol Hill

Abundance of native forb species is declining, leading to degraded ecosystems within the Great Basin.

Forbs provide many ecosystem functions, including wildlife habitat for species such as Sage Grouse, increased biodiversity, resistance to erosion, and protection from invasive plant species.

Climate change is predicted to affect timing, frequency, and intensity of precipitation within the Great Basin. During the fall season, precipitation is expected to increase by 30%.

Changes in precipitation will likely affect fall emergence of forbs, which is essential for overwintering and establishment.

Learning how precipitation affects forb emergence could lead to new methods that increase fall emergence and …

The Three Creeks Allotment Consolidation: Changing Western Federal Grazing Paradigms, Taylor Payne

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The federal government owns approximately 47% of all land in the western United States. In the state of Utah, about 64% of the land base is managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The government has historically issued permits to owners of private lands to allow the owners to graze their livestock on public lands. The permits (allotments) are generally of 10-year duration and allow for an annual season of use. In some cases, continued and repeated historical annual grazing practices may not be ideal for permit holders and their communities nor …

Effects Of Climate Change On Forest Vegetation In The Northern Rockies Region, Robert E. Keane, Mary Frances Mahalovich

Aspen Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Resource Selection Of Free-Ranging Horses Influenced By Fire In Northern Canada, Sonja E. R. Leverkus, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Marten Geertsema, Brady W. Allred, Mark Gregory, Alexandre R. Bevington, David M. Engle, J. Derek Scasta

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Free-ranging or feral horses (Equus ferus caballus) were important to the livelihood of First Nations and indigenous communities in Canada. The early inhabitants of the boreal region of British Columbia (BC) capitalized on naturally occurring wildfires and anthropogenic burning to provide forage for free-ranging horses and manage habitat for wildlife. This form of pyric herbivory, or grazing driven by fi re via the attraction to the palatable vegetation in recently burned areas, is an evolutionary disturbance process that occurs globally. However, its application to manage forage availability for free-ranging horses has not been studied in northern Canada. Across Canada, there …

Large Effect Quantitative Trait Loci For Salicinoid Phenolic Glycosides In Populus: Implications For Gene Discovery, Scott A. Woolbright, Brian J. Rehill, Richard L. Lindroth

Aspen Bibliography

Genomic studies have been used to identify genes underlying many important plant secondary metabolic pathways. However, genes for salicinoid phenolic glycosides (SPGs)—ecologically important compounds with significant commercial, cultural, and medicinal applications—remain largely undescribed. We used a linkage map derived from a full‐sib population of hybrid cottonwoods (Populus spp.) to search for quantitative trait loci (QTL) for the SPGs salicortin and HCH‐salicortin. SSR markers and primer sequences were used to anchor the map to the V3.0 P. trichocarpa genome. We discovered 21 QTL for the two traits, including a major QTL for HCH‐salicortin (R2 = .52) that colocated …

The Impact Of Reconstructed Soils Following Oil Sands Exploitation On Aspen And Its Associated Belowground Microbiome, Franck Stefani, Nathalie Isabel, Marie-Josee Morency

Aspen Bibliography

Oil sands surface mining in the Athabasca region of northern Alberta (Canada) is a significant anthropogenic disturbance that resets boreal forest development and succession to early stages. During surface mining, the vegetation is cleared, the topsoil is salvaged, and the overburden (the layer of sand and clay in between the topsoil and the oil sands) is piled (see Fig. 2 in Audet et al.1 for an explanation of the land-reclamation procedure). After mining is finished, the landforms (composed of overburden and tailings sand) are capped with organic matter-rich soil covers made of either upland-derived forest floor-mineral mix (FFMM) or a …

Hart Prairie Preserve Site Visit To Assess Aspen Health Nature Conservancy, Flagstaff, Az, Amanda Grady

Aspen Bibliography

On June 11, 2018, Amanda Grady, Entomologist, Arizona Zone, Forest Health Protection, performed a site visit to evaluate aspen health on the Nature Conservancy lands at Heart Prairie Preserve (HPP) near Flagstaff. Specifically, the evaluation was to determine whether or not the aspen within exclosures on Fern Mountain have symptoms or signs of Oystershell scale (OSS), an emergent forest pest contributing to aspen decline in northern Arizona.

Climate-Induced Gradients Of Populus Sp. Forest Biomass On The Territory Of Eurasia, Usoltev Vladimir Andreevich, Omid Shobairi, Chasovskikh Viktor Petrovich

Aspen Bibliography

On the basis of the compiled database in a number of 413 sample plots with determinations of forest biomass of the genus Populus sp. on the territory of Eurasia from France to southern China and Japan statistically significant transcontinental decreasing of stem, above ground and total biomass as in the direction from northern temperate to subequatorial zonal belt and in the direction from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to the continentality pole in Siberia is established. Unlike wood story, understory biomass in these directions has not decreased, and increasing. The root: shoot ratio increases in the range between northern temperate …