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Physical Sciences and Mathematics

2009

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Articles 1 - 30 of 102

Full-Text Articles in Forest Sciences

Estructura Y Composición Florística Del Bosque De La Llanura Aluvial En La Amazonía Peruana: I. El Bosque Alto, Gustav Nebel, Lars Peter Kvist, Jerome K. Vanclay, Henning Christensen, Luis Freitas, Juan Ruiz Nov 2009

Estructura Y Composición Florística Del Bosque De La Llanura Aluvial En La Amazonía Peruana: I. El Bosque Alto, Gustav Nebel, Lars Peter Kvist, Jerome K. Vanclay, Henning Christensen, Luis Freitas, Juan Ruiz

Professor Jerome K Vanclay

Three peruvian flood plain forests adjacent to the Ucayali river were sampled using nine one hectare permanent sample plots in which stems exceeding 10 cm DBH were identified and measured. These plots have been measured 4 times during 1993- 1997, and provide the basis for the results reported here. Three plots were established in each of the three forest types high restinga, low restinga, and tahuampa, characterized in part by and annual inundation of 1, 2 and 4 months per year, respectively. Stem density varies from 446 to 601 per ha, and the basal area ranges between 20-29 m2/ha. A …


Estructura Y Composición Florística Del Bosque De La Llanura Aluvial Inundable De La Amazonía Peruana: Ii. El Sotobosque De La Restinga, Gustav Nebel, Jens Dragsted, Jerome K. Vanclay Nov 2009

Estructura Y Composición Florística Del Bosque De La Llanura Aluvial Inundable De La Amazonía Peruana: Ii. El Sotobosque De La Restinga, Gustav Nebel, Jens Dragsted, Jerome K. Vanclay

Professor Jerome K Vanclay

Structure and floristic composition of small trees and shrubs (1.5 m height to 10 cm DBH) are described in two flood plain forests of the lower Ucayali river, Peruvian Amazon. The forests are of high and low restinga type, on an annual average flooded around 1 and 2 months, respectively. The soils are nutrients rich entisolls, and the vegetation forms closed high canopy forests with presence of emergents. A total of 25 permanent sample plots covering 0.64 ha were established. They are nested within six quadratic one-hectare permanent sample plots where large individuals (>= 10 cm DBH) were inventoried. …


Site Index Equation For Smallholder Plantations Of Gmelina Arborea In Leyte Province, The Philippines, Jerome K. Vanclay, Jack Baynes, Edwin Cedamon Oct 2009

Site Index Equation For Smallholder Plantations Of Gmelina Arborea In Leyte Province, The Philippines, Jerome K. Vanclay, Jack Baynes, Edwin Cedamon

Professor Jerome K Vanclay

The equation SiteIndex = Height × Log(IndexYear+0.5) / Log(Age+0.5) is suggested as a robust way to classify site index of small private Gmelina arborea plantations in Leyte province in the Philippines. Estimates of site index from this equation correlate well with other indicators of site productivity, including the observed mean annual volume increment and soil depth. An alternative equation based on slope and soil depth offers an indication of potential site productivity on unforested sites where no crop trees are present.


Managing Water Use From Forest Plantations, Jerome K. Vanclay Oct 2009

Managing Water Use From Forest Plantations, Jerome K. Vanclay

Professor Jerome K Vanclay

Tree plantations have developed a reputation for excessive water use, with age commonly used as an explanatory variable to predict water loss – but many factors have the potential to affect plantation water use, and few of these alternatives have been considered. Changes in forest cover may be correlated with other environmental changes that may affect precipitation, transpiration, and runoff, indicating that more thorough investigation is required in both field and simulation studies. Several factors influencing water use by plantations are amenable to management control, so there is scope to design and manage forest plantations deliberately for water use efficiency. …


Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Fall 2009, Tom Monaco, Scott R. Abella, Amber Lee, James E. Deacon Oct 2009

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Fall 2009, Tom Monaco, Scott R. Abella, Amber Lee, James E. Deacon

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes

USDA working to manage invasive annual grasses, effects of heat and smoke on red brome soil seed bank, how burial depth and substrate affect germination of Sahara mustard and red brome, environmental effects of the southern Nevada groundwater project


Tb202: Composition And Biomass Of Forest Floor Vegetation In Experimentally Acidified Paired Watersheds At The Bear Brook Watershed In Maine, Peter Kenlan, G. B. Wiersma, A. S. White, I. J. Fernandez Sep 2009

Tb202: Composition And Biomass Of Forest Floor Vegetation In Experimentally Acidified Paired Watersheds At The Bear Brook Watershed In Maine, Peter Kenlan, G. B. Wiersma, A. S. White, I. J. Fernandez

Technical Bulletins

The percentage cover (abundance), frequency of occurrence, biomass, species richness, and species diversity of understory herbs was measured on a paired watershed ecosystem in eastern Maine, USA. This paired watershed site (Bear Brook Watershed in Maine, BBWM) has had the West Bear Brook Watershed treated bi-monthly with granular ammonium sulfate at a rate of 28.8 kg S ha-1 yr-1 and 25.2 kg N ha-1 yr-1 since 1989. East Bear Brook Watershed serves as the reference site. More than 100 plots were randomly located across the two watersheds. The data suggest that there is generally a lower frequency of occurrence of …


Increasing The Reliability Of Ecological Models Using Modern Software Engineering Techniques, Robert M. Scheller, Brian R. Sturtevant, Eric J. Gustafson, Brendan C. Ward, David J. Mladenoff Jul 2009

Increasing The Reliability Of Ecological Models Using Modern Software Engineering Techniques, Robert M. Scheller, Brian R. Sturtevant, Eric J. Gustafson, Brendan C. Ward, David J. Mladenoff

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Modern software development techniques are largely unknown to ecologists. Typically, ecological models and other software tools are developed for limited research purposes, and additional capabilities are added later, usually in an ad hoc manner. Modern software engineering techniques can substantially increase scientific rigor and confidence in ecological models and tools. These techniques have the potential to transform how ecological software is conceived and developed, improve precision, reduce errors, and increase scientific credibility. We describe our re-engineering of the forest landscape model LANDIS (LANdscape DIsturbance and Succession) to illustrate the advantages of using common software engineering practices.


Are “Quantitative” Pits Still Necessary At Hubbard Brook?, Chris E. Johnson Jul 2009

Are “Quantitative” Pits Still Necessary At Hubbard Brook?, Chris E. Johnson

Chris E Johnson

No abstract provided.


Are “Quantitative” Pits Still Necessary At Hubbard Brook?, Chris E. Johnson Jul 2009

Are “Quantitative” Pits Still Necessary At Hubbard Brook?, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering

No abstract provided.


Assessing Organic Matter Breakdown And Associated Macroinvertebrate Community Structure In Headwater Streams: Effects Of Hydrologic Gradients And Upland Timber Harvesting, Miller Scott Jarrell Jul 2009

Assessing Organic Matter Breakdown And Associated Macroinvertebrate Community Structure In Headwater Streams: Effects Of Hydrologic Gradients And Upland Timber Harvesting, Miller Scott Jarrell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

I examined the effects of hydrologic gradients and upland timber harvesting with different streamside management zone widths on yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) processing and the associated macroinvertebrate community structure in the Cumberland Plateau ecophysic region, U.S.A. Prior to upland timber harvesting, 5.0 ± 0.1 g yellow-poplar leaf packs were constructed, zip-tied to gutter nails, and placed into 7 perennial and 6 temporary stream reaches with similar physiochemical and geomorphic characteristics. From December 2007 to May 2008, 3–5 leaf packs were collected per reach monthly. I found significant differences in the functional feeding group composition. Temporary reaches contained higher shredder, gathering-collector, predator, …


Fuel Loads, Fire Severity, And Tree Mortality In Florida Keys Pine Forests, Jay Sah, Mike S. Ross, Danielle Ogarcak, Jim R. Snyder Jun 2009

Fuel Loads, Fire Severity, And Tree Mortality In Florida Keys Pine Forests, Jay Sah, Mike S. Ross, Danielle Ogarcak, Jim R. Snyder

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

In fire dependent forested ecosystems, fire managers are greatly interested in predicting the consequences of their management-oriented prescribed burnings on post-fire tree mortality. While fire intensity is believed to be a strong predictor of tree mortality, fire behavior itself largely depends on fuel characteristics, including both their structure and spatial distribution. We examined the type and distribution of fuels, their effects on fire behavior, and the effects of fire on tree mortality in slash pine forests in the Florida Keys. We conducted a burning experiment in six blocks, and burned eleven plots, three in winter and eight in summer, over …


Overstory Dynamics In An Uncut Pine-Hardwood Stand: Lessons From Seventy Years Of Passive Management, Don Bragg, Michael G. Shelton Jun 2009

Overstory Dynamics In An Uncut Pine-Hardwood Stand: Lessons From Seventy Years Of Passive Management, Don Bragg, Michael G. Shelton

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Long-term demonstration projects on experimental forests can be adapted from their original goals to provide insights into contemporary research questions. For instance, a 32.4-hectare cutover parcel on the Crossett Experimental Forest, the eventual Reynolds Research Natural Area (RRNA), was reserved in 1936 to act as a control for more intensively managed study areas. Over the last 70+ years, the RRNA has been allow to develop under 'natural' conditions that include no harvesting or other human interventions-with the notable exception of fire control. From 1937 until the most recent measurement in 2007, overall stand basal increased from about 20 to 36 …


What Drives Decomposition Rates Of Coarse Woody Debris (Cwd)?, Steffen Herrmann, Jurgen Bauhus Jun 2009

What Drives Decomposition Rates Of Coarse Woody Debris (Cwd)?, Steffen Herrmann, Jurgen Bauhus

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Currently increasing efforts are made to manage CWD as a habitat component and a carbon store in forest ecosystems. For this a basic understanding of patterns and rates of dead wood decomposition in different forests is crucial. The decomposition rate of CWD is mainly dependent on climatic (wood temperature, wood moisture) and substrate specific (tree species, decay stage, diameter) variables. Here, we analysed the influence of these factors using a combined approach. 1) We assessed the decay rate of Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris in three diameter classes (10-20 cm, 20-40 cm, >40 cm) along a climatic/altitudinal gradient …


Seed Release In Lodgepole Pine Forests After Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak, Francios Teste, Vic J. Lieffers, Simon M. Landhausser Jun 2009

Seed Release In Lodgepole Pine Forests After Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak, Francios Teste, Vic J. Lieffers, Simon M. Landhausser

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Serotinous lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) usually regenerates after fire or harvesting provided conditions that are warm enough to open the cones. There are concerns that large-scale stand mortality due to mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak could greatly reduce natural regeneration of lodgepole pine because the closed cones are held in place in the tree canopy without any seed release. We selected 15 stands (five gray-attacked, five red-attacked, and five green) in the Sub-Boreal Spruce biogeoclimatic zone of British Columbia to determine loss of canopy seed via breakage of twig-bearing cones and cone opening (i.e., loss of serotiny) throughout …


Potential Effects Of Climate Change On Mixed Severity Fire Regimes, Jessica Halofsky, Dave L. Peterson Jun 2009

Potential Effects Of Climate Change On Mixed Severity Fire Regimes, Jessica Halofsky, Dave L. Peterson

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

The frequency, severity, and extent of wildfire are strongly related to climate, and increasing temperatures with climate change will likely lead to changes in fire regimes in many types of ecosystems. Increased spring and summer temperatures with climate change will result in relatively early snowmelt, lower summer soil and fuel moisture, and longer fire seasons in the West. These conditions will lead to increased fire frequency and extent. Higher temperatures may also interact with vegetation and fuel characteristics to increase fire intensity and severity. Mixed severity fire regimes may be uniquely influenced by these climate-induced changes in the frequency, extent, …


Assessment Of Prescribed Burning Effects In Paludified Black Spruce Forests In Ontario’S Clay Belt Region, Sebastien Renard, Sylvie Gauthier, Nicole Fenton, Yves Bergeron, David Pare Jun 2009

Assessment Of Prescribed Burning Effects In Paludified Black Spruce Forests In Ontario’S Clay Belt Region, Sebastien Renard, Sylvie Gauthier, Nicole Fenton, Yves Bergeron, David Pare

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Paludification, the accumulation of poorly decomposed organic matter principally originating from Sphagnum, transforms black spruce forests to forested peatlands in the prolonged absence of fire. High-severity wildfires reverse this process by burning the organic matter layer and thus restart forest succession; in contrast low severity wildfires remove only the tree layer and do not reduce paludification. On the Ontario Clay Belt, a physiogeographic region prone to paludification due to its cold climate and poor drainage, current forest harvest practices (Careful Logging Around Advanced Growth; CLAAG) mimic low severity fires by removing trees but lacking forest floor and soil disturbances caused …


An Integrated Study Investigating Masticated Fuel Treatments In The Rocky Mountains, Robert Keane, Helen Y. Smith Jun 2009

An Integrated Study Investigating Masticated Fuel Treatments In The Rocky Mountains, Robert Keane, Helen Y. Smith

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Many coniferous forests in the western US once supported frequent, low intensity fires, but due to a century of fire exclusion and other factors, severe wildfires have now become common. With the goal of lowering fire intensities and severities, one possible fuel treatment that is currently gaining favor in with many land managers is mastication which breaks, shreds, or grinds canopy (seedlings, saplings and pole trees) and surface fuel (fine and coarse woody material) into smaller sizes and deposits the treated fuel on the ground. However, very little is known concerning the effects of this treatment on the resulting fire …


A Post-Fire Index For Describing Mixed Severity Outcomes After Wildfire, Theresa Jain, Russel T. Graham, David S. Pilliod, Leigh Lentile Jun 2009

A Post-Fire Index For Describing Mixed Severity Outcomes After Wildfire, Theresa Jain, Russel T. Graham, David S. Pilliod, Leigh Lentile

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Kimmins (1997) argues that “words” and their correct usage are important and that the “careless use of language often causes confusion and misunderstanding and is a factor in many conflicts.” The public often lacks the technical knowledge to understand and interpret the use of inconsistent terminology and each discipline within resource science and management has developed their own definitions and application of specific terms. The fire community is no different. The only consistent component in the fire literature is the interchangeable use of the terms fire intensity, fire severity, and burn severity. Moreover, within each of these definitions, the terms …


Mechanical Mastication Showed Fewer Negative Above-And Belowground Impacts Than Slash Pile Burning, Suzanne Neal, Carolyn H. Sieg, Catherine A. Gehring, Matthew A. Bowker Jun 2009

Mechanical Mastication Showed Fewer Negative Above-And Belowground Impacts Than Slash Pile Burning, Suzanne Neal, Carolyn H. Sieg, Catherine A. Gehring, Matthew A. Bowker

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Management designed to reduce wildfire risk must consider both above- and belowground factors in order to promote native plant growth and reduce soil erosion. This goal is challenging because current methods, such as tree thinning and burning the resulting slash, can create soil disturbances that favor exotic plants. We compared mechanical mastication to slash pile burning (both 6-months and 2.5-years post treatment) and untreated controls in pinyon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus osteosperma) woodland and measured soil properties, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and understory plant composition. Our results showed slash pile burns had severely degraded soil properties, low plant and AMF abundance and …


The Influence Of Mastication On Soils And Fuels In Moist And Dry Forests Of The Northern Rocky Mountains, Theresa Jain, Russel T. Graham Jun 2009

The Influence Of Mastication On Soils And Fuels In Moist And Dry Forests Of The Northern Rocky Mountains, Theresa Jain, Russel T. Graham

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

We evaluated the applicability of mastication as a fuel treatment alternative within Northern Rocky Mountain moist and dry forests to treat post-harvest activity slash (moist forest) and standing trees (dry forest). On the moist forest site, we compared four different slash treatments, mastication, machine grapple piling, lop and scatter, and a control within a wildland urban interface setting to determine the effects of these treatments on soil nutrition, forest floor depth, and woody debris distributions. We randomly assigned the slash treatments and controls to 12 one-acre plots. Nitrogen, soil carbon, and magnesium concentrations within the soil components were not significantly …


Aspen Mortality In The Intermountain West: What Forest Inventory And Analysis Plots Tell Us, Fred Baker, John D. Shaw Jun 2009

Aspen Mortality In The Intermountain West: What Forest Inventory And Analysis Plots Tell Us, Fred Baker, John D. Shaw

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Reports of a long-term decline in area dominated by aspen forests, coupled with increased mortality attributed to long term drought, have lead to concerns of increased mortality in aspen forests. We examined data collected by USDA Forest Service Inventory and Analysis (FIA) to quantify aspen mortality. Most aspen stands in the Intermountain West are older than 80 years, a recommended rotation age for the best sites. Plot mortality rate was not related to site index or stand age. Many stands, however, have stem density greater than one would expect for self-thinning stands. At a given latitude, aspen plots with mortality …


Ecosystem Recovery Following A Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak In Northern British Columbia: A Case Of Shifting Values, Craig Delong, Bennita Kaytor, Bruce J. Rogers Jun 2009

Ecosystem Recovery Following A Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak In Northern British Columbia: A Case Of Shifting Values, Craig Delong, Bennita Kaytor, Bruce J. Rogers

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

The massive Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) outbreak in northern British Columbia created a unique opportunity to examine ecosystem change over time in response to this disturbance. Prior to this outbreak, the dominant disturbance agents were wildfire and harvesting. A key question is how timber and habitat value will change over time in response to this disturbance and how this might be impacted by extensive clearcut salvage harvest. We have established 48 permanent sample plots in MPB impacted stands. Changes in stand structure, vegetation and functional wildlife habitat along with tree mortality and growth are being monitored. There has been almost …


Surface Fuel Loadings In Mulching Treatments In Colorado Coniferous Forests, Mike Battaglia, Chuck Rhoades, Monique E. Rocca, Michael G. Ryan Jun 2009

Surface Fuel Loadings In Mulching Treatments In Colorado Coniferous Forests, Mike Battaglia, Chuck Rhoades, Monique E. Rocca, Michael G. Ryan

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Recent large-scale, severe wildfires in the western United States have prompted extensive fuel treatment programs to reduce potential wildfire size and severity. Often, unmerchantable material is mechanically masticated because removing the material is cost-prohibitive. Mastication treatments involve shredding, chopping, or chipping small trees and/or shrubs into small chunks and leaving the material on site. While it is obvious that mechanical treatments will increase surface fuel loads, few studies have addressed how treatments alter fuel particle size and quantity. We examined how mastication treatments alter the distribution of woody material size by comparing paired masticated and untreated sites in lodgepole pine …


Regeneration Dynamics In Mountain Pine Beetle-Disturbed Forests: Lessons From The Current And The 1978-82 Flathead Epidemics, Dave Coates Jun 2009

Regeneration Dynamics In Mountain Pine Beetle-Disturbed Forests: Lessons From The Current And The 1978-82 Flathead Epidemics, Dave Coates

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

There are two dominant mechanisms for development of a new tree layer and subsequent canopy recruitment after major canopy mortality events. First, regeneration may develop from a pulse of new post-disturbance recruitment. Alternatively, regeneration can be from the existing seedling bank that survived the canopy mortality event. The timing and extent of post-disturbance recruitment from seed and the relative importance of the existing seedling bank is poorly understood in MPB-disturbed forests. The recruitment of post-MPB seedlings is a function of seed-source availability, seedbed substrate, overstory structure, and time since MPB attack. In the northern interior, post-MPB recruitment was sparse in …


Patterns Of Structural Response To Simulated Partial Harvesting Of Boreal Mixedwood Stands, Mark Vanderwel, John P. Caspersen, Jay R. Malcolm Jun 2009

Patterns Of Structural Response To Simulated Partial Harvesting Of Boreal Mixedwood Stands, Mark Vanderwel, John P. Caspersen, Jay R. Malcolm

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Partial harvesting has been proposed as an approach for maintaining late-successional structure within managed boreal mixedwood stands. Although little long-term data is available to evaluate its effects in this stand type, recent advances in individual tree-based stand modeling provide an opportunity to simulate post-harvest stand development following different retention harvests. Using the stand dynamics model SORTIE-ND, we examined 40-year patterns of structural change in response to different intensities (30%, 50%, and 70% removal) and spatial patterns (uniform, small patch, large patch) of harvesting in aspen-dominated mixedwood stands. We assessed structural dynamics through a suite of variables representing the distribution of …


Stand Density In South Florida Tropical Forests: Implications For The Function And Management Of Everglades Tree Islands, M. Ross, P. L. Ruiz, J. P. Sah, L. Lopez, N. Colbert Jun 2009

Stand Density In South Florida Tropical Forests: Implications For The Function And Management Of Everglades Tree Islands, M. Ross, P. L. Ruiz, J. P. Sah, L. Lopez, N. Colbert

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Within the continental US, the broadleaved forests of south Florida are exceptional in the abundance and diversity of tree species of tropical origin. Dry tropical forests are regionally most extensive in the upper Florida Keys, but are also represented on the mainland as fragments on limestone rocklands, and as “tree islands” embedded in the Everglades marsh. The exposed Everglades tree islands have a history of human use reaching back thousands of years, and are subject to frequent disturbance from tropical storms and hurricanes. They are sensitive to the hydrology of the surrounding marsh, which can lead to gradual changes in …


Long-Term Effects Of Alternative Group Selection Harvesting Designs On Stand Production, C. Halpin, C. G. Lorimer, J. J. Hanson, B. Palik Jun 2009

Long-Term Effects Of Alternative Group Selection Harvesting Designs On Stand Production, C. Halpin, C. G. Lorimer, J. J. Hanson, B. Palik

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Interest in group selection harvesting has increased in recent years because of limitations associated with both clearcutting and single-tree selection. Field data have suggested that group selection openings can have higher production rates than single-tree gaps, but whether this translates into higher production rates at the stand level is not clear. We used CANOPY, a crown-based northern hardwoods model calibrated with data from uneven-aged and even-aged stands, to simulate sustainable harvest volumes of a number of different group selection approaches over 300 years, and also compared results with those from single-tree selection and clearcutting. When a combination of single-tree and …


Canopy Cover Prediction From Stand Density Attributes: Stocking, Crown Width, And Overlap Functions, Andrew Gray, Anne Mcintosh, Steve Garman Jun 2009

Canopy Cover Prediction From Stand Density Attributes: Stocking, Crown Width, And Overlap Functions, Andrew Gray, Anne Mcintosh, Steve Garman

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

The goals for a wide range of forest management objectives are often stated in terms of the amount and layering of canopy cover. However, measuring canopy cover is labor intensive and different techniques provide widely different estimates. Several approaches have been developed to predict cover from common tree or stand-level density attributes, with varying results. This study used line-intercept measured tree cover from 1,424 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots across Oregon to build predictive models from estimates of tree stocking, crown width, and other stand attributes (mean diameter, stand height, SDI, etc.). A variety of adjustments were applied to …


Influence Of Coarse Woody Material (Cwm) On Soil Microarthropods In Black Spruce-Feather Moss Forests Of Western Quebec, Enrique Doblas-Miranda, Timothy T. Work Jun 2009

Influence Of Coarse Woody Material (Cwm) On Soil Microarthropods In Black Spruce-Feather Moss Forests Of Western Quebec, Enrique Doblas-Miranda, Timothy T. Work

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Increasing demands for biofuels have opened the possibility for an overall decrease in the amount of residual coarse woody material (CWM) in forests. While CWM is known to be an important resource for saproxylic species that reside within downed logs, the relative importance of CWM for organisms residing beneath, in the soil is poorly understood. In this context, CWM likely modifies conditions as well as nutrient levels for soil communities that lie beneath. The relative importance of CWM for underlying soil communities may be accentuated in the black-spruce clay-belt region of Western Québec where soil nutrients are extremely limited by …


Effects Of Regeneration Practices On The Growth In Loblolly Pine Plantations From The Perspective Of Hierarchy Theory, Thomas Dean, D.Andrew Scott, Gorden Holley Jun 2009

Effects Of Regeneration Practices On The Growth In Loblolly Pine Plantations From The Perspective Of Hierarchy Theory, Thomas Dean, D.Andrew Scott, Gorden Holley

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

The long-term effects of high-production harvesting and subsequent site-preparation practices are typically evaluated from a limiting resource perspective. Machines used in the harvesting compact the soil reducing aeration and uptake of water and nutrients. Moving the entire tree from the site removes organic matter and parts of the forest floor. Models translate these effects into direct consequences on tree growth and ultimately productivity. Trees response often conflicts with model predictions in many cases. Hierarchy theory does not require organisms to behave deterministically to account for behavior, but it does require a different approach. Our proposed talk will present an application …