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Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
The Effects Of Weather On Facilitating The Intensification And Collapse Of Bark Beetle Outbreaks In Ponderosa Pine Forests Of The Northern Rocky Mountains And The Black Hills, Jordan T. Lestina
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Bark beetles are a diverse family of insect herbivores, of which the most aggressive species can cause significant tree mortality, and are integral components of disturbance regimes in conifer dominated forests of North America. Recent drought events across the western U.S. have been broadly associated with the initiation of multiple bark beetle outbreaks in ponderosa pine forests during the last two decades. Changing weather conditions, such as those observed during the onset of drought, affect outbreak progression through their influence on bark beetle physiology and life history traits and the overall vigor and defensiveness of host trees. This study used …
Assessment Of The Ponderosa Woodlands In Nebraska's Wildcat Hills: Implications For Juniperus Encroachment And Management, Allie Victoria Schiltmeyer
Assessment Of The Ponderosa Woodlands In Nebraska's Wildcat Hills: Implications For Juniperus Encroachment And Management, Allie Victoria Schiltmeyer
School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) is a dominant tree species across western North America. Its eastern distribution includes three populations in western Nebraska. This study assesses the distribution, structure and age of ponderosa pine woodlands in one of those regions, the Wildcat Hills. The Wildcat Hills have escaped severe wildfires seen in recent decades in other ponderosa pine regions. Nevertheless, the Wildcat Hills woodlands face multiple threats including climate change, wildfire, drought, pine beetles, and invasive species. Key to these threats is the stand structure of pine woodlands, which have increased in density across much of ponderosa pine’s range. …
Plant Recruitment In A Northern Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forest: Testing Seed- And Leaf Litter- Limitation Hypotheses, Scott R. Abella
Plant Recruitment In A Northern Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forest: Testing Seed- And Leaf Litter- Limitation Hypotheses, Scott R. Abella
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Seed availability and leaf litter limit plant establishment in some ecosystems. To evaluate the hypothesis that these factors limit understory plant recruitment in Pinus ponderosa forests, I conducted a seeding and litter removal experiment at six thinned sites in the Fort Valley Experimental Forest, northern Arizona. Experimental seeding of four native species (Penstemon virgatus, Erigeron formosissimus, Elymus elymoides, and Festuca arizonica) and raking of litter occurred in 2005. Seeding resulted in a substantial recruitment of 14 to 103 seedlings/m2 (1 to 10/ft2) one month after seeding for two species (P. virgatus and E. elymoides), but these densities subsequently declined by …
Fire Effects On Gambel Oak In Southwestern Ponderosa Pine-Oak Forests, Scott R. Abella, Peter Z. Fule
Fire Effects On Gambel Oak In Southwestern Ponderosa Pine-Oak Forests, Scott R. Abella, Peter Z. Fule
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) is ecologically and aesthetically valuable in southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests. Fire effects on Gambel oak are important because fire may be used in pine-oak forests to manage oak directly or to accomplish other management objectives. We used published literature to: (1) ascertain historical fire regimes in pine-oak forests, (2) discern prescribed burning effects on Gambel oak survival and diameter growth, and (3) provide suggestions for using fire to manage oak. Frequent fire is part of Gambel oak’s historical environment, as historical fire return intervals often averaged less than 10 years in pine-oak forests. More …
A Unique Old-Growth Ponderosa Pine Forest In Northern Arizona, Scott R. Abella
A Unique Old-Growth Ponderosa Pine Forest In Northern Arizona, Scott R. Abella
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Old-growth ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests are uncommon in the Southwest, and only one oldgrowth forest (the Gus Pearson Natural Area [GPNA]) has been researched in the ponderosa pine belt surrounding the city of Flagstaff in northern Arizona. The purpose of this study was to measure soil characteristics, current and pre-Euro-American settlement (1885) tree structure, and understory plant composition in a 6-ha remnant old-growth forest on volcanic, red cinder soils. Soil bulk density was extremely low (0.21 Mg/m3) in this forest because of high volumetric contents of cinders >2 mm diameter. As a result, volumetric soil moisture, organic C, and …
A Comprehensive Guide To Fuels Treatment Fractices For Ponderosa Pine In The Black Hills, Colorado Front Range, And Southwest, M. E. Hunter, W. D. Shepperd, L. B. Lentile, J. E. Lundquist, M. G. Andreu, J. L. Butler, F. W. Smith
A Comprehensive Guide To Fuels Treatment Fractices For Ponderosa Pine In The Black Hills, Colorado Front Range, And Southwest, M. E. Hunter, W. D. Shepperd, L. B. Lentile, J. E. Lundquist, M. G. Andreu, J. L. Butler, F. W. Smith
JFSP Research Project Reports
The objective of this paper is to present recommendations for fuels treatments in ponderosa pine forests in the Southwest, Colorado Front Range, and Black Hills of South Dakota. We have synthesized existing knowledge from the peer-reviewed literature and administrative studies and acquired local knowledge through a series of discussions with fuels treatment practitioners. We describe specific treatments, the circumstances under which they can be applied, and treatment effects. We provide recommendations related to where, how, and how often fuels treatments may be prescribed to achieve desired outcomes. Desired outcomes address social, political, economic, and ecological factors.
Forest-Floor Treatments In Arizona Ponderosa Pine Restoration Ecosystems: No Short-Term Effects On Plant Communities, Scott R. Abella, W. Wallace Covington
Forest-Floor Treatments In Arizona Ponderosa Pine Restoration Ecosystems: No Short-Term Effects On Plant Communities, Scott R. Abella, W. Wallace Covington
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Leaf litter accumulation during fire exclusion and increases in tree density in postsettlement southwestern Pinus ponderosa forests may limit the establishment of understory vegetation. We performed an experiment in P. ponderosa forests of northern Arizona to ascertain plant community responses to forest-floor scarification and Oi removal on thirty-six 100-m2 plots overlaid on an existing ecological restoration experiment that involved tree thinning and prescribed burning. Constrasting with findings from many other forest types, forest-floor treatments had no effect on community diversity or composition during the 2-year experiment. Sørensen similarities were as high as 97% between posttreatment years within treatments; and successional …
Past, Present, And Future Old Growth In Frequent-Fire Conifer Forests Of The Western United States, Scott R. Abella, W. Wallace Covington, Peter Z. Fule, Leigh B. Lentile, Andrew J. Sanchez Meador, Penelope Morgan
Past, Present, And Future Old Growth In Frequent-Fire Conifer Forests Of The Western United States, Scott R. Abella, W. Wallace Covington, Peter Z. Fule, Leigh B. Lentile, Andrew J. Sanchez Meador, Penelope Morgan
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Old growth in the frequent-fire conifer forests of the western United States, such as those containing ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), Jeffrey pine (P. jeffreyi), giant sequoia (Sequioa giganteum) and other species, has undergone major changes since Euro-American settlement. Understanding past changes and anticipating future changes under different potential management scenarios are fundamental to developing ecologically based fuel reduction or ecological restoration treatments. Some of the many changes that have occurred in these forests include shifts from historically frequent surface fire to no fire or to stand-replacing fire regimes, increases in tree density, increased abundance of fire-intolerant trees, decreases in understory …
Changes In Understory Vegetation Of A Ponderosa Pine Forest In Northern Arizona 30 Years After A Wildfire, Amanda L. Bataineh, Brian P. Oswald, Mohammad M. Bataineh, Hans M. Williams, Dean W. Coble
Changes In Understory Vegetation Of A Ponderosa Pine Forest In Northern Arizona 30 Years After A Wildfire, Amanda L. Bataineh, Brian P. Oswald, Mohammad M. Bataineh, Hans M. Williams, Dean W. Coble
Faculty Publications
Wildland fires can cause shifts in understory species composition and production. Many studies have examined short-term changes in understory vegetation following a wildfire; however, very few long term studies are available. The objective of this study was to examine changes in understory (herb and shrub) species composition and production since the 1972 Rattle Burn wildfire on the Coconino National Forest near Flagstaff, Arizona. Understory species composition and production were originally sampled in 1972, 1974, and 1980 and were re-sampled during July and August of 2002 and 2003 on 30 plots in each of four sites: high severity burn, low severity …
Host Selection In Subterranean Termites: Factors Affecting Choice (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), Deborah Ann Waller
Host Selection In Subterranean Termites: Factors Affecting Choice (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), Deborah Ann Waller
Biological Sciences Faculty Publications
The effects of block size and species on preference were examined for the subterranean termite Reticulitermes sp. (Rhinotermitidae) in choice and no-choice tests. Termites significantly preferred Douglas fir over Ponderosa pine and red oak, irrespective of block size. The less-preferred woods were eaten in large amounts in no-choice tests, and all three woods appeared to be favorable for the termites and their gut protozoans. In single species tests, termites ate significantly more from larger blocks of Douglas fir, but ate similar amounts from large and small blocks of Ponderosa Pine and red oak. These results suggest that several factors can …
Mycorrhizae Of Ponderosa Pine In Nebraska Grassland Soils, R. W. Goss
Mycorrhizae Of Ponderosa Pine In Nebraska Grassland Soils, R. W. Goss
Historical Research Bulletins of the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station
While the genus Pinus has been the subject of extensive mycorrhizal studies there are only a few scattered references to western yellow pine, P. ponderosa, and no detailed descriptive literature on the mycorrhizae of this species. P. ponderosa is indigenous to Nebraska and the one species most extensively grown in local nurseries for windbreaks and farm plantings. Similarly, there is little information on mycorrhizae in the Great Plains between the forested regions of the Mississippi River states and the Rocky Mountains. Because this predominantly grassland area is sparse in natural tree growth the individual tree as an ornamental or …