Forest Sciences Commons^™

Alternate Trait‐Based Leaf Respiration Schemes Evaluated At Ecosystem‐Scale Through Carbon Optimization Modeling And Canopy Property Data, R. Q. Thomas, M. Williams, M. A. Cavaleri, J.‐F. Exbrayat, T. L. Smallman, L. E. Street

Michigan Tech Publications

Leaf maintenance respiration (R_leaf,m) is a major but poorly understood component of the terrestrial carbon cycle (C). Earth systems models (ESMs) use simple sub‐models relating R_leaf,m to leaf traits, applied at canopy scale. R_leaf,m models vary depending on which leaf N traits they incorporate (e.g., mass or area based) and the form of relationship (linear or nonlinear). To simulate vegetation responses to global change, some ESMs include ecological optimization to identify canopy structures that maximize net C accumulation. However, the implications for optimization of using alternate leaf‐scale empirical R_leaf,m models are undetermined. Here we combine …

Out Of The Ashes: Ecological Resilience To Extreme Wildfire, Prescribed Burns, And Indigenous Burning In Ecosystems, Christina Eisenberg, Christopher Anderson, Adam Collingwood, Robert Sissons, Christopher Dunn, Curtis Edson, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

Until Euro-American colonization, Indigenous people used fire to modify eco-cultural systems, developing robust Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Since 1980, wildfire activity has increased due to fire suppression and climate change. In 2017, in Waterton Lakes National Park, AB, the Kenow wildfire burned 19,303 ha, exhibiting extreme fire behavior. It affected forests and the Eskerine Complex, a native-grass prairie treated with prescribed burns since 2006 to reduce aspen (Populus tremuloides) encroachment linked to fire suppression and bison (Bison bison bison) extirpation. One year post-fire, the Kenow wildfire caused vigorous aspen sprouting, altered stand structure to an early-seral …

Territorial Landscapes: Incorporating Density-Dependence Into Wolf Habitat Selection Studies., Shawn T O'Neil, Dean E Beyer, Joseph K Bump

Michigan Tech Publications

Habitat selection is a process that spans space, time and individual life histories. Ecological analyses of animal distributions and preferences are most accurate when they account for inherent dynamics of the habitat selection process. Strong territoriality can constrain perception of habitat availability by individual animals or groups attempting to colonize or establish new territory. Because habitat selection is a function of habitat availability, broad-scale changes in habitat availability or occupancy can drive density-dependent habitat functional responses. We investigated density-dependent habitat selection over a 19-year period of grey wolf (

The Composition And Height Of Saplings Capturing Silvicultural Gaps At Two Long-Term Experiments In Managed Northern Hardwood Forests, Sam Knapp, Christopher R. Webster, Christel C. Kern

Michigan Tech Publications

Managing forests for mixtures of canopy species promotes future resilience and mitigates risks of catastrophic resource loss. This study describes the compositions, heights, and locations within openings of gap-capturing saplings in two long-term group-selection experiments in managed northern hardwoods. We expected opening size to affect the composition of gap-capturing saplings and that composition would match advance regeneration where relatively large stems remained following harvest. We also expected sapling height to respond positively to opening size, but plateau in gap areas above 200 m², and legacy-tree retention to negatively affect sapling height. In two group-selection experiments, we found that …

Tooth Fracture Frequency In Gray Wolves Reflects Prey Availability., Blaire Van Valkenburgh, Rolf O. Peterson, Douglas W Smith, Daniel R Stahler, John A. Vucetich

Michigan Tech Publications

Exceptionally high rates of tooth fracture in large Pleistocene carnivorans imply intensified interspecific competition, given that tooth fracture rises with increased bone consumption, a behavior that likely occurs when prey are difficult to acquire. To assess the link between prey availability and dental attrition, we documented dental fracture rates over decades among three well-studied populations of extant gray wolves that differed in prey:predator ratio and levels of carcass utilization. When prey:predator ratios declined, kills were more fully consumed, and rates of tooth fracture more than doubled. This supports tooth fracture frequency as a relative measure of the difficulty of acquiring …

Deep Uncertainty, Public Reason, The Conservation Of Biodiversity And The Regulation Of Markets For Lion Skeletons, Peter Coals, Dawn Burnham, Paul Johnson, Andrew Loveridge, David Macdonald, Vivienne Williams, John A. Vucetich

Michigan Tech Publications

Public reason is a formal concept in political theory. There is a need to better understand how public reason might be elicited in making public decisions that involve deep uncertainty, which arises from pernicious and gross ignorance about how a system works, the boundaries of a system, and the relative value (or disvalue) of various possible outcomes. This article is the third in a series to demonstrate how ethical argument analysis—a qualitative decision-making aid—may be used to elicit public reason in the presence of deep uncertainty. The first article demonstrated how argument analysis is capable of probing deep into a …

Detecting Dynamic System Regime Boundaries With Fisher Information: The Case Of Ecosystems, Eva Konig, Heriberto Cabezas, Audrey L. Mayer

Michigan Tech Publications

The direct measurement of the resilience (resistance to disturbances) of an ecosystem’s current regime (or “alternative stable state”) remains a key concern for managing human impacts on these ecosystems and their risk of collapse. Approaches which utilize statistics or information theory have demonstrated utility in identifying regime boundaries. Here, we use Fisher information to establish the limits of the resilience of a dynamic regime of a predator–prey system. This is important because previous studies using Fisher information focused on detecting whether a regime change has occurred, whereas here we are interested in determining how much an ecological system can vary …

Identifying Genetic Markers For A Range Of Phylogenetic Utility–From Species To Family Level, Bokyung Choi, Michael D. Crisp, Lyn G. Cook, Karen Meusemann, Robert D. Edwards, Alicia Toon, Carsten Kulheim

Michigan Tech Publications

Resolving the phylogenetic relationships of closely related species using a small set of loci is challenging as sufficient information may not be captured from a limited sample of the genome. Relying on few loci can also be problematic when conflict between gene-trees arises from incomplete lineage sorting and/or ongoing hybridization, problems especially likely in recently diverged lineages. Here, we developed a method using limited genomic resources that allows identification of many low copy candidate loci from across the nuclear and chloroplast genomes, design probes for target capture and sequence the captured loci. To validate our method we present data from …

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Inoculation Has Similar Benefits To Fertilization For Thuja Occidentalis L. Seedling Nutrition And Growth On Peat Soil Over A Range Of Ph: Implications For Restoration, Guswarni Anwar, Erik A. Lilleskov, Rodney Chimner

Michigan Tech Publications

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are hypothesized to assist growth of northern white-cedar in acid peatlands, yet there is little direct evidence that they can provide sufficient resources, especially nitrogen (N), from unfertilized peat soils. Our objective was to determine mycorrhizal efficacy to support cedar growth and nutrient supply as part of a low-impact approach for ecological restoration of cedar in peatlands. We tested the effectiveness of AM inoculation in a greenhouse experiment in factorial combination with fertilization and liming. We also determined AM colonization rate in the different treatment combinations. We found that AM inoculation in the absence of fertilization …

Characterizing Boreal Peatland Plant Composition And Species Diversity With Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, Mara Y. Mcpartland, Michael J. Falkowski, Jason R. Reinhardy, Evan Kane, Randall K Kolka, Merritt R. Turetsky, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

Peatlands, which account for approximately 15% of land surface across the arctic and boreal regions of the globe, are experiencing a range of ecological impacts as a result of climate change. Factors that include altered hydrology resulting from drought and permafrost thaw, rising temperatures, and elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have been shown to cause plant community compositional changes. Shifts in plant composition affect the productivity, species diversity, and carbon cycling of peatlands. We used hyperspectral remote sensing to characterize the response of boreal peatland plant composition and species diversity to warming, hydrologic change, and elevated CO₂. …

Press-Pulse Odocoileus Virginianus Herbivory In Relict Tsuga Canadensis Stands In The Western Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Usa, Grace Parikh, Christopher R. Webster

Michigan Tech Publications

Ungulate herbivory occurring within a forest plant community’s natural range of variation may help maintain species diversity. However, acute or chronically elevated levels of herbivory can produce dramatic changes in forest communities. For example, chronically high levels of herbivory by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman) in regions of historically low abundance at northern latitudes have dramatically altered forest community composition. In eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis L. Carrière) stands where deer aggregate during winter, high deer use has been associated with a shift towards deciduous species (i.e., maples [Acer spp.]) dominating the regeneration layer. Especially harsh winters can lead to deer …

Genome Size Variation Within Species Of Chinese Jujube (Ziziphus Jujuba Mill.) And Its Wild Ancestor Sour Jujube (Z. Acidojujuba Cheng Et Liu), Lihu Wang, Zhi Luo, Zhiguo Liu, Jin Zhao, Hairong Wei, Ping Liu, Mengjun Liu

Michigan Tech Publications

One of the most important attributes of a genome is genome size, which can to a large extent reflect the evolutionary history and diversity of a plant species. However, studies on genome size diversity within a species are still very limited. This study aims to clarify the variation in genome sizes of Chinese jujube and sour jujube, and to characterize if there exists an association between genome sizes and geographical variation. We measured the genome sizes of 301 cultivars of Chinese jujube and 81 genotypes of sour jujube by flow cytometry. Ten fruit traits, including weight, vertical diameter, horizontal diameter, …

High Marker Density Gwas Provides Novel Insights Into The Genomic Architecture Of Terpene Oil Yield In Eucalyptus, David Kainer, Amanda Padovan, Joerg Degenhardt, Sandra Krause, Produyut Mondal, William Foley, Carsten Külheim

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Terpenoid based essential oils are economically important commodities, yet beyond their biosynthetic pathways, little is known about the genetic architecture of terpene oil yield from plants. Transport, storage, evaporative loss, transcriptional regulation and precursor competition may be important contributors to this complex trait.

Here, we associate 2.39 M single nucleotide polymorphisms derived from shallow whole genome sequencing of 468 Eucalyptus polybractea individuals with 12 traits related to the overall terpene yield, eight direct measures of terpene concentration and four biomass‐related traits.

Our results show that in addition to terpene biosynthesis, development of secretory cavities where terpenes are both synthesised and …

Genomic Signatures Of Extensive Inbreeding In Isle Royale Wolves, A Population On The Threshold Of Extinction, Jacqueline A. Robinson, Jannikke Raikkonen, Leah Vucetich, John A. Vucetich, Rolf O. Peterson, Kirk Lohmueller, Robert Wayne

Michigan Tech Publications

The observation that small isolated populations often suffer reduced fitness from inbreeding depression has guided conservation theory and practice for decades. However, investigating the genome-wide dynamics associated with inbreeding depression in natural populations is only now feasible with relatively inexpensive sequencing technology and annotated reference genomes. To characterize the genome-wide effects of intense inbreeding and isolation, we performed whole-genome sequencing and morphological analysis of an iconic inbred population, the gray wolves (Canis lupus) of Isle Royale. Through population genetic simulations and comparison with wolf genomes from a variety of demographic histories, we find evidence that severe inbreeding depression …

An Evaluation Of Isotopic (Δ2h) Methods To Provide Estimates Of Avian Breeding And Natal Dispersal, C. Lopez-Calderon, Steven L. Van Wilgenburg, Amber M. Roth, David J. Flaspohler, Keith A. Hobson

Michigan Tech Publications

Natal and breeding dispersal represents an important component of animal demography and metapopulation theory. This phenomenon also has implications for conservation and management because understanding movements of individuals potentially allows the identification of key habitats that may be acting as population sources or sinks. Intrinsic markers such as stable isotope abundance in tissues that can be associated with provenance can provide a coarse but pragmatic solution to understanding such movements. Different methodologies have been proposed to quantify natal and breeding dispersal by using stable isotope analyses of keratinous tissues (hair, feathers), each of them with their own advantages and limitations. …

Mapping Mountain Peatlands And Wet Meadows Using Multi-Date, Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing In The Cordillera Blanca, Peru, Rodney Chimner, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Sarah L. Grelik, John A. Hribljan, Ana Maria Planas Clarke, Molly Polk, Erik Lilleskov, Beatriz Fuentealba

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Wetlands (called bofedales in the Andes of Peru) are abundant and important components of many mountain ecosystems across the globe. They provide many benefits including water storage, high quality habitat, pasture, nutrient sinks and transformations, and carbon storage. The remote and rugged setting of mountain wetlands creates challenges for mapping, typically leading to misclassification and underestimates of wetland extent. We used multi-date, multi-sensor radar and optical imagery (Landsat TM/PALSAR/RADARSAT-1/SRTM DEM-TPI) combined with ground truthing for mapping wetlands in Huascarán National Park, Peru. We mapped bofedales into major wetland types: 1) cushion plant peatlands, 2) cushion plant wet meadows, and 3) …

A Novel Approach To Understanding Bird Communities Using Informed Diversity Estimates At Local And Regional Scales In Northern California And Southern Oregon, Jared D. Wolfe, John D. Alexander, Jamie L. Stephens, C. John Ralph

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Assessment and preservation of biodiversity has been a central theme of conservation biology since the discipline's inception. However, when diversity estimates are based purely on measures of presence–absence, or even abundance, they do not directly assess in what way focal habitats support the life history needs of individual species making up biological communities. Here, we move beyond naïve measures of occurrence and introduce the concept of “informed diversity” indices which scale estimates of avian species richness and community assemblage by two critical phases of their life cycle: breeding and molt. We tested the validity of the “informed diversity” concept using …

Linking Tree Growth Rate, Damage Repair, And Susceptibility To A Genus-Specific Pest Infestation, Kayla Boyes, Kathryn G. Hietala-Henschell, Alexander P. Barton, Andrew J. Storer, Jordan M. Marshall

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Pest preference and subsequent susceptibility of a host individual is likely related to previous growth patterns in that host. Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) is a pestiferous beetle introduced to North America from Asia. While all species of ash are susceptible to attack, some individual trees appear to survive infestation. We selected ash trees in southeastern Michigan, collected cores and categorized trees as high tolerance to emerald ash borer attack (high overall health, low crown dieback), low tolerance (low overall health, high crown dieback) and intermediate tolerance (in-between the other categories). We artificially wounded trees and measured wound …

On The Shoulders Of Giants: Continuing The Legacy Of Large-Scale Ecosystem Manipulation Experiments In Puerto Rico, Tana E. Wood, Grizelle González, Whendee L. Silver, Sasha C. Reed, Molly A. Cavaleri

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

There is a long history of experimental research in the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico. These experiments have addressed questions about biotic thresholds, assessed why communities vary along natural gradients, and have explored forest responses to a range of both anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic disturbances. Combined, these studies cover many of the major disturbances that affect tropical forests around the world and span a wide range of topics, including the effects of forest thinning, ionizing radiation, hurricane disturbance, nitrogen deposition, drought, and global warming. These invaluable studies have greatly enhanced our understanding of tropical forest function under different disturbance regimes …

Adaptation Strategies And Approaches For Forested Watersheds, P. Danielle Shannon, Christopher Swanston, Maria Janowiak, Stephen D. Handler, Kristen M. Schmitt, Leslie A. Brandt, Patricia Butler-Leopold

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Intentional climate adaptation planning for ecosystems has become a necessary part of the job for natural resource managers and natural resource professionals in this era of non-stationarity. One of the major challenges in adapting ecosystems to climate change is in the translation of broad adaptation concepts to specific, tangible actions. Addressing management goals and values while considering the long-term risks associated with local climate change can make forested watershed management plans more robust to uncertainty and changing conditions. We provide a menu of tiered adaptation strategies, which we developed with a focus on forests of the Midwest and Northeastern U.S., …

Urban Colonization Through Multiple Genetic Lenses: The City‐Fox Phenomenon Revisited, Alexandra L. Decandia, Kristin Brzeski, Elizabeth Heppenheimer, Catherine V. Caro, Glauco Camenisch, Peter Wandeler, Carlos Driscoll

Michigan Tech Publications

Urbanization is driving environmental change on a global scale, creating novel environments for wildlife to colonize. Through a combination of stochastic and selective processes, urbanization is also driving evolutionary change. For instance, difficulty in traversing human‐modified landscapes may isolate newly established populations from rural sources, while novel selective pressures, such as altered disease risk, toxicant exposure, and light pollution, may further diverge populations through local adaptation. Assessing the evolutionary consequences of urban colonization and the processes underlying them is a principle aim of urban evolutionary ecology. In the present study, we revisited the genetic effects of urbanization on red foxes …

Iron (Oxyhydr)Oxides Serve As Phosphate Traps In Tundra And Boreal Peat Soils, Elizabeth M. Herndon, Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Kiersten A. Duroe, Jonathan Mills, Evan Kane, Stephen D. Sebestyen, Aaron A. Thompson, Stan D. Wullschleger

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Arctic and boreal ecosystems are experiencing pronounced warming that is accelerating decomposition of soil organic matter and releasing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Future carbon storage in these ecosystems depends on the balance between microbial decomposition and primary production, both of which can be regulated by nutrients such as phosphorus. Phosphorus cycling in tundra and boreal regions is often assumed to occur through biological pathways with little interaction with soil minerals; that is, phosphate released from organic molecules is rapidly assimilated by plants or microorganisms. In contrast to this prevailing conceptual model, we use sequential extractions and spectroscopic techniques to …

Application Of Short Tandem Target Mimic (Sttm) Technique For Functional Analysis Of Micro-Rna396 In Transgenic Poplar Trees, Surattana Boonsai

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Short Tandem Target Mimic (STTM) is a commonly technique used for functional studies of a number of genes in several plant model systems. However, very little is known about application of STTM technique in tree species. In this study, STTM was applied to knock down microRNA396 (miR396) in transgenic poplar trees for the first time. STTM396 expression resulted in dramatic decrease in miR396 expression levels leading to taller plants with larger leaves and larger leaf cell size. Additionally, an expression analysis of growth regulating factor genes (GRFs) that are members of miR396 target gene family showed up-regulation of GRF07 gene …

Reexamining The Utility Of Existing Climate Adaptation Frameworks Through Application On A Northern Forest, Alexander Rice

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A review of the literature reveals the strengths and limitations of various climate adaptation frameworks and illuminates a general path by which a type of adaptation can be achieved. A number of useful frameworks exist but the number of independent case studies demonstrating the adaptation process in a detailed manner is much more limited. Additionally, components of the various adaptation processes can often seem vague and concepts such as adaptability ill-defined. For land managers approaching climate adaptation independently can be difficult, particularly in the areas of goal creation and vulnerability assessment. Within frameworks where user-defined adaptation goals dictate whether or …

Plant Community Response To Novel Silvicultural Treatments In Great Lakes Northern Hardwoods, Stefan F. Hupperts

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The objective of this dissertation is to assess plant community response across a range of silvicultural disturbances and test ecological hypotheses to better inform ecologists and forest managers. To provide context for the utility of revising silvicultural systems, I review natural disturbance regimes and historical practices that have shaped contemporary Great Lakes northern hardwood forests (Chapter 2). Further, I identify important ways to expand the silvicultural toolbox and better emulate natural disturbance regimes. Building on this theoretical underpinning, I investigate the initial regeneration and plant community response to two novel silvicultural experiments: the Northern Hardwood Experiment for Enhancing Diversity (NHSEED) …

Harvest Intensity And Delineation Of Outwash Soils In Wisconsin, Robert Richard

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The whole-tree harvest of an oak forest showed significant decreases to total nitrogen and potassium pools, and the calcium pool showed weaker evidence for significant declines in comparison to the stem-only harvest. Simulated whole-tree harvests in aspen decreased the total number of rotations by a full rotation on nutrient-poor outwash soils (Entic Haplorthods and Typic Udipsamments) by depleting the potassium, calcium, and magnesium pools in 180 years from whole-tree harvest in comparison to 225 years in the stem-only harvest. Nitrogen and phosphorus harvest removals did not compose a large percentage of ecosystem pools. Since harvest removals for some elements exceed …

Perceptions Of Forest Change In The Governmental Region Of Kaffrine, Senegal, Rhiley E. Allbee

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Sénégal is a semi-arid West African country with a diverse ethnic makeup and a rapidly growing population that is largely rural, predominantly employed within the agricultural sector, and heavily reliant on the harvesting of forest products within state owned forests where populations have usufruct rights. The country experienced significant changes in land cover throughout the 20^th century due to a series of major droughts and large expansions in agriculture. These changes were partially concentrated throughout the region of Kaffrine, where the wooded savannas of the early 20^th century were systematically replaced by agriculture and converted to a shrub …

Northern Hardwood Silviculture: Preferences Among Family Forest Owners In The Western Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Alexander C. Helman

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In the northern hardwood forests of the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, single-tree selection is the most commonly used silvicultural system. This system provides both a sustained yield of timber and attempts to emulate the windfall disturbance regime that determines the uneven aged structure of northern hardwood forests. However, with concerns about tree species diversity loss and a lack of early successional forests, even-aged regeneration methods are likely to become an increasingly crucial tool in the toolbox for managing northern hardwood forests of the Lake States. The forests of the Western Upper Peninsula are comprised of a mosaic of ownerships, …

Assessing Soil Compaction Following A Winter Timber Harvest In The Western Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Rafia Rahman

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Harvesting during winter is encouraged as a best management practice to protect soil during logging operations. The western Upper Peninsula of Michigan typically experiences early and persistent snowfall, which insulates the forest floor and prevents soils from freezing. The objective of this study is to assess the effects of slash volume, snow depth, overstory treatment, and machine traffic intensity on soil bulk density following a winter harvest of a northern hardwood forest on cobbly silt-loam soils. The harvest was conducted at the Ford Forest in Alberta, Michigan using cut-to-length harvest systems (i.e. harvester and forwarder) during which the soil remained …

Spatiotemporal Variability In Winter Severity: Consequences For White-Tailed Deer Populations And Habitat Sustainability, Grace Parikh

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Winter in the northern Great Lakes presents a suite of challenging conditions for animals, in terms of limited food availability and increased energetic cost of locomotion and thermoregulation. Variable winter severity is liable to cause interannual fluctuations in habitat viability and use by animals, in addition to modulating physiological responses in animals to conserve energy. For example, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) congregate at high densities under eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) or northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis) stands, which provide forage, thermal cover, reduced snow depth, and enhanced vigilance. However, a suite of climatic, edaphic, and …