Forest Biology Commons^™

Evaluating Immaturity Risk In Young Stands Of The Serotinous Knobcone Pine (Pinus Attenuata), Katherine Marlin

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

As wildfire becomes increasingly frequent, many plant populations risk local extirpation if fire recurs too soon, a problem dubbed “immaturity risk”. We studied the regeneration of a serotinous conifer species, knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata), as a function of the time between high-severity fires (6-79 years). We evaluated age, cone production, and regeneration at two burned sites in northern California, the Ranch Fire (2018) in Mendocino National Forest, and the Carr Fire (2018) in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. We found an average of 30.5 filled seeds in closed, brown cones (42% viability of filled seeds). The bulk of the …

Beaver Moderated Fire Resistance In The North Cascades And Potential For Climate Change Adaptation, Joseph John Weirich Iii

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Climate change and fire suppression have altered historic fire regimes, creating conditions for larger, more intense fires. Intense burns can alter watershed hydrology, increasing the potential for harmful channel incision, which impairs riparian ecosystem function by lowering the water table, disconnecting floodplains from aquatic environments. However, wetlands and functioning riparian zones can reduce burn intensity. Beaver, with their unique ability to build dams, can restore incised and degraded streams, store water, and expand wetland environments, potentially decreasing wildfire intensity, fire spread and create fire breaks across the landscape. My objective was to test the hypothesis that beaver impoundments increase landscape …

Soil Microbial Nitrogen-Transforming Genes Influenced By Tree Species And Fertilization In An Appalachian Hardwood Forest, Emma G. Fox-Fogle

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Many forest ecosystems have been receiving elevated nitrogen (N) deposition due to human activity. Increased ecosystem N threatens soil fertility, water and air quality, and modifies the soil microbially-mediated N cycle in complex ways. The current study investigates how the abundance of key functional N cycling genes within soil bacteria is altered by N deposition and further mediated by different dominant tree species at the Fernow Experimental Forest, WV. Soils were analyzed from two watersheds, where watershed 3 (WS 3) has been receiving experimental applications of N fertilizer that are 2x historic ambient N deposition and 5x the current ambient …

Climatic Drivers Of Growth In Mixed Conifer Forests Of The Sierra Nevada For Different Tree Sizes And Thinning Treatments, Andrew M. Hirsch

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Mediterranean region of northern California is projected to get increasingly warmer under all Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission scenarios, with future precipitation projections not showing much of a trend. This poses a problem to the already dry summers that are experienced in the Mediterranean region of California. If precipitation does not increase alongside temperatures, the dry seasons will likely only get drier. The use of dendroclimatology to assess how mixed conifer species in the Sierra Nevada responded to past climate is a key resource that can be used to infer how trees may respond to a future …

A Spatiotemporal Assessment Of Fish Assemblage Response To Land-Use Change And The Evaluation Of Edna Metabarcoding For Describing Diverse Fish Communities, Timothy M. Owen

Theses and Dissertations

Fish assemblages are often assessed as a biological proxy for environmental health. While humans value healthy environments for the ecosystem services and recreational opportunities they provide, it is increasingly evident that such resources can be paradoxically degraded by anthropogenic activities. In this investigation, we studied the relationship between different intensities of anthropogenic land-use change and habitat-driven fish assemblage response across multiple spatiotemporal scales. Secondarily, we explored the efficacy of eDNA metabarcoding against conventional electrofishing techniques for the purpose of describing complete fish communities. This study was conducted in the Tuckahoe Creek basin near Richmond, Virginia. This James River tributary serves …

Inoculum Potential Of Pinus Edulis-Associated Ectomycorrhizal Fungi Across A Forest Extirpation Chronosequence, Annie M. Montes

Biology ETDs

Few studies have examined inoculum potential of ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) in the absence of plant hosts, yet persistence of these fungi may be paramount to resilience of Pinus edulis and other mycorrhizal plant species. We conducted a study in which seven sites were selected in northwestern New Mexico with known dates of P. edulis extirpation and a lack of regeneration. Age classes included: two sites extirpated 10-20 years ago, two extirpated 55-65 years ago, two extirpated 500+ years ago, and one extirpated 11,000+ years ago. At each site, two plots were paired: an extirpated plot and the nearest live adult …

Research Focus: Depaul’S Tree Whisperer

Scientia

Jalene LaMontagne, a population ecologist and associate professor of biological sciences in DePaul's College of Science and Health, is researching mast seeding of white spruce and the seed cones they produce across the 3,000-mile span of North America to understand the patter of tree behavior along the ecological dipole.

Urbanization And Fragmentation Mediate Temperate Forest Carbon Cycle Response To Climate, Andrew Reinmann, Ian A. Smith, Jonathan R. Thompson, Lucy R. Hutyra

Advanced Science Research Center

Forest fragmentation is ubiquitous across urban and rural areas. While there is mounting evidence that forest fragmentation alters the terrestrial carbon cycle, the extent to which differences in ambient growing conditions between urban and rural landscapes mediate forest response to fragmentation and climate remains unexamined. This study integrates field measurements of forest structure, growth, and soil respiration with climate data and high-resolution land-cover maps to quantify forest carbon storage and sequestration patterns along edge-to-interior gradients. These data were used to contrast the response of temperate broadleaf forests to non-forest edges within rural and urban landscapes. We find that forest growth …

Hot But Not Dry: Modest Changes In Water Relations For An Epiphytic Bromeliad In A Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest, Saúl Hernández-Robinson, Eric A. Graham, Olivia Hernández-González, Roberth Us-Santamaría, José Luis Simá, Fernando Arellano-Martín, José Luis Andrade

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Premise of research. Epiphytic bromeliads endure intense seasonal environmental changes in the canopy of dry tropical deciduous forests. The analysis of the physiological responses of these epiphytes to environmental changes can be useful in assessing their plasticity, vulnerability, and adaptations to such extreme habitats.

Methodology. We measured microenvironmental variables and water relations for plants of the epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia brachycaulos in three microhabitats within the canopy of a dry tropical forest. We measured individual plants for seasonal and spatial differences in light, leaf temperature, osmotic potential, cell wall elasticity, and relative capacitance as indications of their physiological responses …

Soil Chemistry And Enzyme Data Examining Impacts Of Callery Pear Stem Cutting, Michaela J. Woods, Grace K. Attea, Ryan W. Mcewan

Five Rivers MetroParks Collaboration Data Archive

This dataset encompasses information following the collection of soil from underneath cut and treated Callery pear stems and untreated Callery pear trees. Soil was assessed for moisture, pH, and enzyme activities.

Roosting Ecology Of A Declining Population Of Northern Long-Eared Bats (Myotis Septentrionalis) In The Ozark-St. Francis National Forest Of Arkansas, Kyle Norris Edmonds

Student Theses and Dissertations

Ecological and monetary values associated with bat species are immense. Unfortunately, these benefits are at risk as disease and habitat loss have resulted in significant declines of bat populations throughout the eastern United States. Wildlife biologists and managers work tirelessly to combat the effects of these threats. Collections of species-level data during surveys provide managers with invaluable information that can be used in identification of emerging population trends. This material can then be used to generate new habitat management plans or revise existing plans in order to address the objectives of primary management goals. This thesis outlines anthropogenic factors, interspecific …

The Impacts Of Prescribed Burning And Mechanical Thinning On Insect Communities In The Arkansas Ozarks, Aaron P. Tormanen

Theses and Dissertations from 2020

Insects are important in woodland ecosystems due to their role as pollinators and as prey for bats. My research investigated the relationships between forest management, vegetation, and insects in the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas. I selected 30 stands burned at varying frequencies in the last 12 years. Twelve of these stands were burned and mechanically thinned, 12 were only burned, and 6 were untreated. I deployed blacklight traps and malaise traps in each stand monthly from mid-March to mid- November 2019. Over 42,391 insects were collected, and Lepidoptera was the most abundant order. Insects were dried, weighed, and identified …

Ectomycorrhizal Plant-Fungal Co-Invasions As Natural Experiments For Connecting Plant And Fungal Traits To Their Ecosystem Consequences, Jason D. Hoeksema, Colin Averill, Jennifer M. Bhatnagar, Edward Brzostek, Erika Buscardo, Ko-Hsuan Chen, Hui-Ling Liao, Laszlo Nagy, Nahuel Policelli, Joanna Ridgeway, J. Alejandro Rojas, Rytas Vilgalys

Faculty and Student Publications

Introductions and invasions by fungi, especially pathogens and mycorrhizal fungi, are widespread and potentially highly consequential for native ecosystems, but may also offer opportunities for linking microbial traits to their ecosystem functions. In particular, treating ectomycorrhizal (EM) invasions, i.e., co-invasions by EM fungi and their EM host plants, as natural experiments may offer a powerful approach for testing how microbial traits influence ecosystem functions. Forests dominated by EM symbiosis have unique biogeochemistry whereby the secretions of EM plants and fungi affect carbon (C) and nutrient cycling; moreover, particular lineages of EM fungi have unique functional traits. EM invasions may therefore …

Floodplain Forest Regeneration Dynamics In The Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, Whitney Anne Kroschel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Floodplain forest species diversity is driven, in part, by variation in disturbance regime. Flood patterns create heterogeneity in microsite quality from small differences in elevation across a floodplain which, in turn, influence flood timing and duration. Differences in species’ regeneration niches in relation to hydrologic patterns can account for long-term coexistence of various species. In the past century floodplain forests have exhibited a wide range of changes in stand development and species composition as a result of altered hydrology in rivers and floodplains. I evaluated the role of regeneration in floodplain forest systems of the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley …

Quantitative And Qualitative Approaches To Assess Tree Vigor And Stand Health In Dry Pine Forests, Nancy Grulke, Craig Bienz, Kate Hrinkevich, Jason Maxfield, Kellie Uyeda

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite a critical need to evaluate effectiveness of forest treatments in improving stand health, practitioners lack quantitative, repeatable metrics to assess tree vigor and stand health. We evaluated canopy and whole tree attributes of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. Ex Laws) related to carbon balance, water balance, and susceptibility to insects and pathogens in dry, pine-dominated forest stands during a multi-year drought, an environmental challenge to stand resilience. Metrics of trees in two unmanaged, and seven treated forested stands, in both uplands and lowlands to develop the quantitative approach. Whole tree and crown attributes including needle length and color, branchlet …

Effect Of Fire Suppression On Aquatic Invertebrates In Ephemeral Wetlands Embedded In Longleaf Pine Forests, Hailey E. Baker

Honors College Theses

It has been established for many years that longleaf pine forests require the ecological disturbance of fire in order to maintain a balanced ecosystem. However, a crucial part of these forests has become nearly excluded from prescribed burning. Ephemeral wetlands embedded within longleaf pine forests are a unique and dynamic seasonal habitat that provide homes, refuge, and breeding grounds for a large array of taxa. Past research suggests that fire suppression around ephemeral wetlands is causing harm to many species of amphibians and other herpetofauna, especially threatened species like the flatwoods salamander. However, other species have not been as well …

Modeling Species Distribution And Habitat Suitability Of American Ginseng (Panax Quinquefolius) In Virginia, Jacob D. J. Peters

Masters Theses, 2020-current

American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a well-known and sought-after medicinal plant native to North America that is facing increased threat of extinction due to overharvesting, herbivory, and habitat loss. Species distribution and habitat suitability models may be valuable to landowners interested in sustainable harvest or to institutions interested in the conservation and restoration of the species. With unequal sampling efforts across a region of interest, it is likely that some locations with appropriate habitat may be misrepresented in model predictions. This study refined a state-derived species distribution model for ginseng through increased sampling effort across the Cumberland Plateau …

Shifting Public Perception: Climate Change Means Living With Fire And Smoke, Robert Froembling

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The urgency to prepare for the climate crisis has never been greater. We are currently living in the sixth mass extinction and the effects are only going to accelerate. We will inherit more wildfires, larger wildfires, and more frequent wildfires.

This piece is not meant to stoke fear in its readers or be depressing, but to shift public perception on what our future holds by evaluating the laws and science presented to us. This piece will look at regional and federal regulations and assess the increased rate of forest fires and the grave public health concerns from stagnant smoke specifically …

A Floristic Survey Of Andalusia: A Historic Preservation Site In Baldwin County, Georgia, William Pharr

Biology Theses

A survey of the vascular plants of Andalusia, a historic preservation site located along Highway 441 north of Milledgeville in Baldwin County, Georgia, was conducted between August 2018 and February 2020. The site was the late home of esteemed author, Flannery O’Connor, and resides along the Georgia fall line, making it a historically significant area that could yield a unique plant community convergence, as well as rare endemic species. This floristic inventory provides baseline data on the species and plant communities of Andalusia for use in future studies regarding the flora of this area. A total of 191 vascular species …

A Comparative Ecological Study Of Limestone And Dolomite Glades In The Ozark Mountains Of Northwest Arkansas, Brittney Booth

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Glades are one of the many habitats that exist in the Arkansas Ozarks and contribute to the overall biodiversity of the state of Arkansas. For this study, five dolomite glades and five limestone glades in the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas were studied from March to October in the years 2017 and 2018 to determine the similarities or differences that might be present. One hundred and fifteen vascular plant taxa were documented in the dolomite glades and one hundred and three vascular plant taxa were documented in the limestone glades. Forty-six vascular plant taxa were unique to the dolomite glades and …

Canopy Openness As A Predictor Of Growth For Castanea Dentata Seedlings In The Cumberland Uplands Of Tennessee, Hannah Crawford

Honors Theses

Castanea dentata growth and reproduction in the forest ecosystem is limited by light. Canopy gaps could be used for restoration efforts; however, the lack of blight resistant planting material has limited what is known about the silvicultural requirements of C. dentata. I studied the survival and growth of chestnut seedlings in various sized light gaps in the Cumberland Uplands in the 2019 season. The Tennessee Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation previously established Eagle Point Railroad (Cumberland Plateau) and the Starr Farm (Eastern Highland Rim), and I established a site near Barker Pounds trailhead (Cumberland Plateau). Results indicate that canopy …

A Comparative Taxonomic And Diversity Study Of Litter-Associated Fungi In Northwest Arkansas Forests, Rajaa Abdulrazzaq Abbas Al Aanbagi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fungi are taxonomically the most species-rich group of organisms on the earth, ecologically occupy distinctive niches and interact with diverse other organisms throughout their biogeographic distributions and functionally play key roles through their various lifestyles. Plant litter, in particular, is a keystone component in ecosystems and provides heterogeneous microhabitats for the often overlooked litter-decomposing fungi and other organisms on the floor of temperate deciduous forests. Litter fungi involve indirect interactions with the plant, soil and whole food web network. However, the community structure and functions of litter-associated fungi as well as patterns of species richness distributed across various litter microhabitats …

Correcting Tree-Ring Δ13c Time Series For Tree-Size Effects In Eight Temperate Tree Species, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Katie A. Jennings, Andrew P. Ouimette, Heidi Asbjornsen

All Materials

Stable carbon isotope ratios (δ¹³C) in tree rings have been widely used to study changes in intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE), sometimes with limited consideration of how C-isotope discrimination is affected by tree height and canopy position. Our goals were to quantify the relationships between tree size or tree microenvironment and wood δ¹³C for eight functionally diverse temperate tree species in northern New England, and to better understand the physical and physiological mechanisms underlying these differences. We collected short increment cores in closed-canopy stands and analyzed δ¹³C in the most recent 5 years of growth. …

Seed Size And Germination, Meredith Cobb, Michaela J. Woods, Ryan W. Mcewan

Five Rivers MetroParks Collaboration Data Archive

This dataset encompasses information related to predictors of seed germination from the species Carya laciniosa, Juglans cinerea, and Quercus rubra. Seed sizes were recorded prior to incubation in sand, vermiculite, or without media. Seeds were then germinated with time to germination recorded in this dataset.

Chromosomal Distribution Of Genes Conferring Tolerance To Abiotic Stresses Versus That Of Genes Controlling Resistance To Biotic Stresses In Plants, Richard R.-C. Wang

Forage and Range Research Laboratory Publications

Tolerance to abiotic stresses caused by environmental conditions can prevent yield loss in crops for sustaining agricultural productivity [1]. Resistance to biotic stresses caused by diseases and insects can prevent or reduce yield loss in crops [2]. For each crop or plant species, there are many abiotic threats, such as changes in temperature, soil salinity/alkalinity, water shortage, and soil contaminants, as well as biotic challenges from pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and fungi), insects, and nematodes. Plants need to possess genes conferring tolerance to these abiotic stresses to adapt to the changing environment, due to global climate changes, in which they are …

Regional Forest Volume Estimation By Expanding Lidar Samples Using Multi-Sensor Satellite Data, Bo Xie, Chunxiang Cao, Min Xu, Barjeece Bashir, Ramesh P. Singh, Zhibin Huang, Xiaojuan Lin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Accurate information regarding forest volume plays an important role in estimating afforestation, timber harvesting, and forest ecological services. Traditionally, operations on forest growing stock volume using field measurements are labor-intensive and time-consuming. Recently, remote sensing technology has emerged as a time-cost efficient method for forest inventory. In the present study, we have adopted three procedures, including samples expanding, feature selection, and results generation and evaluation. Extrapolating the samples from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanning is the most important step in satisfying the requirement of sample size for nonparametric methods operation and result in accuracy improvement. Besides, mean decrease Gini …

Remote Sensing Monitoring Of Vegetation Dynamic Changes After Fire In The Greater Hinggan Mountain Area: The Algorithm And Application For Eliminating Phenological Impacts, Zhibin Huang, Chunxiang Cao, Wei Chen, Min Xu, Yongfeng Dang, Ramesh P. Singh, Barjeece Bashir, Bo Xie, Xiaojuan Lin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Fires are frequent in boreal forests affecting forest areas. The detection of forest disturbances and the monitoring of forest restoration are critical for forest management. Vegetation phenology information in remote sensing images may interfere with the monitoring of vegetation restoration, but little research has been done on this issue. Remote sensing and the geographic information system (GIS) have emerged as important tools in providing valuable information about vegetation phenology. Based on the MODIS and Landsat time-series images acquired from 2000 to 2018, this study uses the spatio-temporal data fusion method to construct reflectance images of vegetation with a relatively consistent …

A Preliminary Checklist Of Lichens From Kamiak Butte County Park, Washington State, Emma Sell, Amanda Chandler

2020 Symposium Posters

The semiarid Palouse ecoregion of North America was once dominated by temperate prairies and connects areas of southeast Washington, north-central Idaho, and northeast Oregon. Transformation of nearly all habitats comprising this ecosystem into agricultural lands has drastically reduced extant native grasslands to small, highly fragmented pieces. These land conversion practices, coupled with the subsequent takeover of invasive plant species, have placed the Palouse ecoregion among the most critically endangered ecosystems in the United States, with < 1% of land remaining that is suitable to host native species. The enormous loss of biodiversity across the Palouse has prompted a need for further study regarding a wide variety of organisms. In particular, lichen diversity of the Palouse ecoregion has never been formally characterized, and there are overall very few detailed studies of lichens throughout eastern Washington. To improve knowledge of Palouse lichen diversity, we first reviewed collection data from historical herbarium specimens via the Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria (CNALH) database. We then collected lichen voucher specimens from Kamiak Butte County Park (KBCP), one of the largest contiguous natural areas within the Palouse ecoregion as its relatively steep, rocky slopes make it ill-suited for agricultural conversion. KBCP consists of 298 acres of mixed Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) and Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir) forest and native grassland that rises above the surrounding farmland, as well as an east-west ridgeline …

Subalpine Forest Tree Seedling Response To Drought, Alex Goke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge of tree species’ ability to tolerate drought is necessary to anticipate future forest dynamics with climate change, especially at the seedling stage given their role in shaping forest structure. We used precipitation reduction shelters to mimic drought for subalpine conifer seedlings (A. lasiocarpa and P. engelmannii) in the Rocky Mountains and compared survivorship and morphological and physiological responses to assess relative degrees of drought tolerance. We detected no significant investment in morphological tolerance traits (e.g. root biomass, leaf:stem area ratio) but substantial reductions in net photosynthesis. While shading partially ameliorated drought effects when precipitation reduction was moderate, …

The Effect Of Sodium Chloride On Hybrid Taxodium Selections, Anna Koonce, Edward Bush, David Creech

Faculty Publications

Saltwater intrusion is a major cause of coastal erosion. New hybrid bald cypress species have been shown to exhibit salinity tolerance compared to native bald cypress species. Planting these hybrids, or Nanjing Bot Garden genotype (NBG), trees where their roots can stabilize soil and preserve land may reduce coastal erosion in areas subjected to saltwater intrusion. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether or not selected bald cypress NBG genotype tree species survive better than native bald cypress trees in areas inundated with saline water. Leaves were harvested, dried and analyzed for their elemental concentration. NBG genotype trees …