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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Climate Interactions Drive Tree Physiology And Growth In A Northeastern Forest Ecotone, Alexandra M. Barry Aug 2023

Climate Interactions Drive Tree Physiology And Growth In A Northeastern Forest Ecotone, Alexandra M. Barry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is a threat to global forest ecosystems. In the northeastern United States, forest trees are facing rising temperatures and increasingly inconsistent moisture regimes. In addition to long-term changes in climate conditions, there is concern about the potential for more frequent and intense climate extremes, which can have severe and rapid negative effects on tree physiology and growth. Further, climate extremes may co-occur to produce a greater magnitude of effect than the sum of their parts, with a prominent example being hot droughts, which are increasing in occurrence and severity. The impact of these and other extreme climate interactions …


Microsite Requirements For Successful Regeneration In Lowland Northern White-Cedar (Thuja Occidentalis) Forests, Jeanette Allogio Dec 2020

Microsite Requirements For Successful Regeneration In Lowland Northern White-Cedar (Thuja Occidentalis) Forests, Jeanette Allogio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Declines in stands of northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis L., hereafter cedar) have been observed as both shifts in species composition and reductions in cedar densities, particularly those stands in lowland sites (Curtis 1946, Boulfroy 2012). While several factors inhibiting cedar regeneration have been identified, a thorough understanding of the conditions that best promote regeneration is lacking. Our objectives for the first chapter were to characterize the site conditions associated with successful regeneration in lowland cedar stands and to describe how spatial patterns of various cedar size classes relate to site preference and to regeneration dynamics. These objectives were achieved …


Assessing The Biological Condition Of Maine Streams And Rivers Using Benthic Algal Communities, Thomas John Danielson May 2010

Assessing The Biological Condition Of Maine Streams And Rivers Using Benthic Algal Communities, Thomas John Danielson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test and develop algal methods of evaluating the condition of Maine streams and rivers. The primary objective was to develop a statistical model to predict attainment of Maine's aquatic life criteria for water quality classes A, B, and C. I collected 298 samples of algae on rocks from 193 locations across the state. The major pattern in species composition related to conversion of forests to urban, residential, and agricultural land uses. I calculated preferred environmental conditions of 236 algal taxa for 1) concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, and dissolved ions in the water, 2) …