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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Estimating Soil Seed Bank Characteristics In Ponderosa Pine Forests Using Vegetation And Forest-Floor Data, Scott R. Abella, Judith D. Springer
Estimating Soil Seed Bank Characteristics In Ponderosa Pine Forests Using Vegetation And Forest-Floor Data, Scott R. Abella, Judith D. Springer
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Soil seed banks are important for vegetation management because they contain propagules of species that may be considered desirable or undesirable for site colonization after management and disturbance events. Knowledge of seed bank size and composition before planning management activities facilitates proactive management by providing early alerts of exotic species presence and of abilities of seed banks to promote colonization by desirable species. We developed models in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in northern Arizona to estimate the size and richness of mineral soil seed banks using readily observable vegetation and forestfloor characteristics. Regression models using three or fewer predictors …
Species Richness And Soil Properties In Pinus Ponderosa Forests: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis, Daniel C. Laughlin, Scott R. Abella, W. Wallace Covington, James B. Grace
Species Richness And Soil Properties In Pinus Ponderosa Forests: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis, Daniel C. Laughlin, Scott R. Abella, W. Wallace Covington, James B. Grace
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Question: How are the effects of mineral soil properties on understory plant species richness propagated through a network of processes involving the forest overstory, soil organic matter, soil nitrogen, and understory plant abundance? Location: North-central Arizona, USA. Methods: We sampled 75 0.05-ha plots across a broad soil gradient in a Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) forest ecosystem. We evaluated multivariate models of plant species richness using structural equation modeling. Results: Richness was highest at intermediate levels of understory plant cover, suggesting that both colonization success and competitive exclusion can limit richness in this system. We did not detect a reciprocal positive …
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 …
Tree Thinning And Prescribed Burning Effects On Ground Flora In Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forests: A Review, Scott R. Abella
Tree Thinning And Prescribed Burning Effects On Ground Flora In Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forests: A Review, Scott R. Abella
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Ground flora is an important response variable to monitor after tree thinning and prescribed burning treatments designed to restore Arizona ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa P.& C. Lawson) forests. This paper reviews published literature on the effects of thinning and burning on ground flora in Arizona ponderosa pine forests in five main categories of research: ground flora biomass, species diversity, plant community composition, population processes, and individual species ecology. Research published to date suggests that thinning and burning generally increase ground flora biomass, whereas other categories of research such as community composition and population processes have been little studied in Arizona …