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Full-Text Articles in Forest Sciences
Landscape-Scale Dynamics Of Aspen In Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, Margot W. Kaye, Kuni Suzuki, Dan Binkley, Thomas J. Stohlgren
Landscape-Scale Dynamics Of Aspen In Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, Margot W. Kaye, Kuni Suzuki, Dan Binkley, Thomas J. Stohlgren
Aspen Bibliography
Past studies of quaking aspen in Rocky Mountain National Park suggested that the aspen population is declining due to intensive browsing by elk (Cervus elaphus). These studies were conducted in the elk winter range, an area of intensive elk impact. The elk summer range experiences less intense grazing pressure. We tested the hypothesis that impacts of elk would be greater in the elk winter range than the summer range with landscape-scale data from the Park. The detrimental effects of elk on aspen are highly localized and, at larger spatial scales, elk browsing does not seem to be influencing the aspen …
Aspen Restoration In The Blue Mountains Of Northeast Oregon, D.M. Shirley, V. Erickson
Aspen Restoration In The Blue Mountains Of Northeast Oregon, D.M. Shirley, V. Erickson
Aspen Bibliography
No abstract provided.
Aspen's Ecological Role In The West, William H. Romme, Lisa Floyd-Hanna, David D. Hanna, Elisabeth Bartlett
Aspen's Ecological Role In The West, William H. Romme, Lisa Floyd-Hanna, David D. Hanna, Elisabeth Bartlett
Aspen Bibliography
Aspen exhibits a variety of ecological roles. In southern Colorado, the 1880 landscape mosaic contained a range of stand ages, of which half were >70 years old and half were younger. Pure aspen stands in southern Colorado are widespread and may result from previous short fire intervals that eliminated local conifer seed sources. Aspen regeneration in northern Yellowstone Park is controlled by ungulate browsing pressure and fire, so it has been limited since 1920. However, an episode of aspen seedling establishment occurred after the 1988 fires. We urgently need additional detailed, local case studies of aspen ecology to inform management …
Evaluation Of Burned Aspen Communities In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Charles E. Kay
Evaluation Of Burned Aspen Communities In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Charles E. Kay
Aspen Bibliography
Aspen has been declining in Jackson Hole for many years, a condition generally attributed to the fact that lightning fires have been aggressively suppressed since the early 1900s. It is also believed that burning will successfully regenerate aspen stands despite high elk numbers. To test this hypothesis, I evaluated 467 burned and 495 adjacent, unburned aspen stands at eight different locations within Jackson Hole. Aspen suckering was stimulated by burning, but most aspen stands still failed to produce new stems greater than 2 m tall where ungulate use was moderate or high. Only when elk use was low were burned …
Predation Risk And Elk-Aspen Foraging Patterns, C.A. White, M.C. Feller
Predation Risk And Elk-Aspen Foraging Patterns, C.A. White, M.C. Feller
Aspen Bibliography
Elk-aspen foraging patterns may be influenced by cover type, distance from roads or trails, the type of user on road or trail (park visitor, human hunter, or predator), and two general states of aspen condition (open-grown or thicket). Pellet group and browse utilization transects in the Canadian Rockies showed that elk were attracted to roads used by park visitors and avoided by wolves, and that elk possibly avoided aspen and conifer patches near backcountry trails used by wolves. In high predation risk landscapes, aspen stands were dense, lightly browsed, and rarely entered by elk. As risk decreased, elk density and …
Aspen Overstory Recruitment In Northern Yellowstone National Park During The Last 200 Years, Eric J. Larsen, William J. Ripple
Aspen Overstory Recruitment In Northern Yellowstone National Park During The Last 200 Years, Eric J. Larsen, William J. Ripple
Aspen Bibliography
Using a monograph provided by Warren (1926) and two sets of aspen increment cores collected in 1997 and 1998, we analyzed aspen overstory recruitment in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) over the past 200 years. We found that successful aspen overstory recruitment occurred on the northern range of YNP from the middle to late 1700s until the 1920s, after which it essentially ceased. We hypothesized why the browsing influence of Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) may be different now than it was historically. At a landscape scale, elk hunting outside YNP may be a significant factor changing elk foraging behavior. At …
Quaking Aspen Reproduce From Seed After Wildfire In The Mountains Of Southeastern Arizona, Ronald D. Quinn, Lin Wu
Quaking Aspen Reproduce From Seed After Wildfire In The Mountains Of Southeastern Arizona, Ronald D. Quinn, Lin Wu
Aspen Bibliography
Quaking aspen regenerated from seed after a stand replacement wildfire in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. The wildfire had created gaps in the canopy so that aspen were able to establish from seed. Seedlings were found at a mean density of 0.17 m–2, 30 m or more from the nearest potential seed trees. Six clumps of aspen seedlings contained 18–186 trees, occupying areas of 145–500 square meters at densities of 0.09-0.27 m–2. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) browsed 14.3% of the seedlings. Occasional sexual reproduction of aspen may be a general trait of the species throughout the western portion of …