Other Environmental Sciences Commons^™

A Modified Advection-Aridity Model Of Evapotranspiration, Jozsef Szilagyi, Michael T. Hobbins, Janos Jozsa

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Analytical Solution Of The Coupled 2-D Turbulent Heat And Vapor Transport Equations And The Complementary Relationship Of Evaporation, Jozsef Szilagyi, Janos Jozsa

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Estimating Spatially Distributed Monthly Evapotranspiration Rates By Linear Transformations Of Modis Daytime Land Surface Temperature Data, J. Szilagyi, J. Jozsa

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ecological Divergence Of Two Sympatric Lineages Of Buggy Creek Virus, An Arbovirus Associated With Birds, Charles R. Brown, Abinash Padhi, Amy T. Moore, Mary Bomberger Brown, Jerome E. Foster, Martin Pfeffer, Valerie A. O'Brien, Nicholas Komar

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Most arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) show distinct serological subtypes or evolutionary lineages, with the evolution of different strains often assumed to reflect differences in ecological selection pressures. Buggy Creek virus (BCRV) is an unusual RNA virus (Togaviridae, Alphavirus) that is associated primarily with a cimicid swallow bug (Oeciacus vicarius) as its vector and the Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and the introduced House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) as its amplifying hosts. There are two sympatric lineages of BCRV (lineages A and B) that differ from each other by .6% at the nucleotide level. Analysis of 385 …

2009 Interior Least Tern And Piping Plover Monitoring, Research, Management, And Outreach Report For The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Mary Bomberger Brown, Joel G. Jorgensen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This document reports on our monitoring, research, management, and outreach activities during the past 12 months (2009). We prepared it to inform our partners, cooperating agencies, funding sources, and other interested parties of our activities and to provide a preliminary summary of our results.

The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership (TPCP), based at the University of Nebraska–School of Natural Resources, and the Nongame Bird Program (NBP), based at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) work cooperatively on Interior Least Tern and Piping Plover monitoring, research, management, and education-outreach activities. While the proximate focus of our work is the Lower …

Incorporation Of Crop Phenology In Simple Biosphere Model (Sibcrop) To Improve Land-Atmosphere Carbon Exchanges From Croplands, Erandathie Lokupitiya, S. Denning, K. Paustian, I. Baker, K. Schaefer, Shashi B. Verma, T. Meyers, C. J. Bernacchi, Andrew E. Suyker, M. L. Fischer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Croplands are man-made ecosystems that have high net primary productivity during the growing season of crops, thus impacting carbon and other exchanges with the atmosphere. These exchanges play a major role in nutrient cycling and climate change related issues. An accurate representation of crop phenology and physiology is important in land-atmosphere carbon models being used to predict these exchanges. To better estimate time-varying exchanges of carbon, water, and energy of croplands using the Simple Biosphere (SiB) model, we developed crop-specific phenology models and coupled them to SiB. The coupled SiBphenology model (SiBcrop) replaces remotely-sensed NDVI information, on which SiB originally …

Corrigendum To “Incorporation Of Crop Phenology In Simple Biosphere Model (Sibcrop) To Improve Land-Atmosphere Carbon Exchanges From Croplands” Published In Biogeosciences, 6, 969–986, 2009, Erandathie Lokupitiya, S. Denning, K. Paustian, I. Baker, K. Schaefer, Shashi B. Verma, T. Meyers, C. J. Bernacchi, Andrew E. Suyker, M. L. Fischer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

In the above mentioned manuscript a mistake in Fig. 11 occured. The corrected version of the figure is as follows.

A Century Of Climate Change For Fairbanks, Alaska, Gerd Wendler, Martha Shulski

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Climatological observations are available for Fairbanks, Interior Alaska, for up to 100 years. This is a unique data set for Alaska, insofar as it is of relatively high quality and without major breaks. Applying the best linear fit, we conclude that the mean annual temperature rose from -3.6°C to -2.2°C over the century, an increase of 1.4°C (compared to 0.8°C worldwide). This comparison clearly demonstrates the well-known amplification or temperature change for the polar regions. The observed temperature increase is neither uniform over the time period nor uniform throughout the course of a year. The winter, spring, and summer seasons …

Lichen Recovery Following Heavy Grazing By Reindeer Delayed By Climate Warming, David R. Klein, Martha Shulski

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Introduced reindeer, Rangifer tarandus, over exploited lichen-rich plant communities on St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea. A die-off of the reindeer followed, exacerbated by extreme weather in 1964, resulting in extirpation of the reindeer. A similar pattern of removal of lichens as major components of plant communities has occurred following introductions of reindeer to other islands at high latitudes. By 1985, two decades following die-off of the reindeer, total lichen biomass was only 6% of that in similar plant communities on adjacent Hall Island, not reached by the reindeer. By 2005, 41 y after the reindeer die-off, lichen …

A Scanner-Based Approach To Soil Profile-Wall Mapping Of Root Distribution, J. M. Dauer, J. M. Withington, J. Oleksyn, J. Chorover, O. A. Chadwick, P. B. Reich, D. M. Eissenstat

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Comprehensive Guide To Fuel Management Practices For Dry Mixed Conifer Forests In The Northwestern United States, Theresa B. Jain, Michael Battaglia, Han-Sup Han, Russell T. Graham, Jeremy S. Fried, Christopher R. Keyes, Jonathan Sandquist

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This guide describes the benefits, opportunities, and trade-offs concerning fuel treatments in the dry mixed conifer forests of northern California and the Klamath Mountains, Pacific Northwest Interior, northern and central Rocky Mountains, and Utah. Multiple interacting disturbances and diverse physical settings have created a forest mosaic with historically low- to mixed-severity fire regimes. Analysis of forest inventory data found nearly 80 percent of these forests rate hazardous by at least one measure and 20 to 30 percent rate hazardous by multiple measures. Modeled mechanical treatments designed to mimic what is typically implemented, such as thinning, are effective on less than …

A Comparison Of Fire Severity Patterns In The Late 19th And Early 21st Century In A Mixed Conifer Forest Landscape In The Southern Cascades, Alan H. Taylor, Carl N. Skinner, Becky Estes

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The extent and severity of fires in the United States during the last decade has been remarkable. Since 2002, there has been seven years (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012) when over 2.8 million ha have burned, more than twice the previous decade. The extent of recent fire activity has increased risks to lives and property (Cohen 2008; , biodiversity and species-at-risk (Spies et al. 2006), the timber value of forests (Butry et al. 2001) and forests as a carbon sink (Hurteau et al. 2008, 2011). Although one driver of the increase in fire extent, at least in western …

Validation Of Smoke Transport Models With Airborne And Lidar Experiments, Shawn P. Urbanski, Wei Min Hao, Vladimir Kovalev

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This document reports our success in achieving the objectives and accomplishing the deliverables proposed in the project “Validation of Smoke Transport Models with Airborne and Lidar Experiments”. This final report is divided into four sections. Section 1, the Background, describes the purpose of the project and summarizes the project objectives and how accomplishment of these objectives addresses the original research solicitation JFSP AFP-2008-1, Task 6. The Background section also provides relates the project purpose material on smoke dispersion and air quality forecasting systems. The goal of Section 2 is to illustrate how the accomplished tasks contribute towards the project objective …

A Synthesis Of Post-Fire Road Treatments For Baer Teams: Methods, Treatment Effectiveness, And Decisionmaking Tools For Rehabilitation, Randy B. Foltz, Peter R. Robiochaud, Hakjun Rhee

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

We synthesized post-fire road treatment information to assist BAER specialists in making road rehabilitation decisions. We developed a questionnaire; conducted 30 interviews of BAER team engineers and hydrologists; acquired and analyzed gray literature and other relevant publications; and reviewed road rehabilitation procedures and analysis tools. Post-fire road treatments are implemented if the values at risk warrant the treatment and based on regional characteristics, including the timing of first damaging storm and window of implementation. Post-fire peak flow estimation is important when selecting road treatments. Interview results indicate that USGS methods are used for larger watersheds (>5 mi2) and NRCS …

Creating Stand-Level Prescriptions That Integrate Ecological And Fuel Management Objectives Across The Eastern Cascades – A Workshop, John F. Lehmkuhl, Sue Livingston, Karl Halupka, Eric Knapp, John Bailey, Bill Gaines

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The primary goal of this workshop was to develop a range of fuel reduction prescriptions that integrate fuel and ecological objectives specifically related to northern spotted owl (NSO) conservation in dry forests of the Cascade Range in eastern Washington and Oregon and northern California. The workshop was held at the Eagle Crest Resort, Redmond, Oregon, from October 13-15, 2009. Over 200 managers and scientists attended from California, Oregon, and Washington. Most (82%) of the 194 people who formally registered for the workshop worked for federal land management, research, or regulatory agencies. The rest were a mix of university faculty and …

Characterizing Lessons Learned From Federal Biomass Removal Projects, Dennia R. Becker, Dalia Abbas, Kathleen E. Halvorsen, Pamela J. Jakes, Sarah M. Mccaffrey, Cassandra Moseley

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The idea of offsetting the costs of wildfire hazardous fuels reduction treatments by selling the biomass removed is appealing. There are however challenges to biomass utilization that impedes progress. For instance, the lack of biomass processing capacity may impede progress in some regions, while in other regions an inconsistent supply of biomass available for wood products markets limits private investment. Despite efforts to increase biomass utilization, uncertainty exists of regarding the characteristics necessary to stimulate biomass utilization, effectiveness of agency and local efforts, and the role of partnerships in building the types of capacity necessary to expedite biomass removal. The …

Delivery And Demonstration Of Surface Wind Simulation Tool For Fire Management Decision Support, Mark Finney, Larry Bradshaw, Bret Butler

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

One major source of uncertainty in fire behavior predictions is the spatial variation in winds blowing over mountainous terrain. Fire managers have not had access to “real time” predictions of surface wind flow. With the generous support of the JFSP and additional funding from several USDA Forest Service sources a wind simulation tool has been developed and tested. This project had three primary objectives: 1. Support wildland fire incident management teams with surface wind flow simulations. 2. Validate, improve and document the utility of gridded wind as a fire management decision support tool. 3. Produce technical documentation, including a user’s …

Development And Delivery Of Version 2 Of The Fire And Fuels Extension To The Forest Vegetation Simulator, Nicholas Crookston, Stephanie Rebain, Elizabeth Reinhardt, Gary Dixon

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project provided for an improved version of the Fire and Fuels Extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS), a program whose original development was largely financed by the JFSP. The program is widely used by JFSP member agencies and several JFSP-sponsored research projects to support analysis at the stand to large landscape spatial scales. New research results rendered version 1 obsolete and experience with the model demonstrated that some parts of it needed to be improved. Equally important are issues regarding support, training, and system usability. We conducted 42 on-site training sessions over the last 4 years and also …

Does Prescribed Burning In Southern Forests Release Significant Amounts Of Mercury To The Atmosphere?, Thomas A. Waldrop, Mac A. Callahn, John A. Stanturf

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Mercury (Hg) emissions from prescribed fire present a potential impact on air quality that could motivate regulators to further restrict prescribed burning. Atmospheric deposition of Hg (originating from industrial sources) to forests is well documented, and the prescribed burning of two to four million acres per year in the South recycles an unknown (but potentially significant) amount of Hg into the atmosphere and surface waters by volatilization and post-fire runoff. This and other environmental concerns present a significant challenge to local land managers who use prescribed fire. Our objectives were (1) to estimate local and South-wide emission of Hg due …

Effect Of Mechanical Mastication Followed By Prescribed Fire On Mycorrhizas And Hypogeous Fungi In Mixed Hardwood Chaparral, Darlene Southworth, Jennifer Gibson, Jessica Donohue, Jonathan Frank, Kate Wagner, Jason Lambert, Acacia Baldner

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of mechanical mastication followed by prescribed fire on mycorrhizal fungi and hypogeous sporocarps. A dense fire-prone mixed hardwood-conifer chaparral comprises a significant component of vegetation at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. Prescribed burns, as fuel reduction treatments, are limited by air quality restrictions and narrow climatic conditions appropriate for burnings. Brush mastication is a fast and inexpensive tool commonly used by land managers to reduce ladder fuels. However, a dense layer of chipped debris remains, which, when burned, heats the soil more than ladder fuels. The upper layers of mineral soil …

Synthesis Of Knowledge On The Effects Of Fire And Thinning Treatments On Understory Vegetation In U.S. Dry Forests, Anne M. Bartuszevige, Patricia L. Kennedy

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

A century of fire exclusion in dry forests across the United States has resulted in high fuel loads and increasing dominance by fire-intolerant vegetation. Federal, state, and private agencies have adopted a goal of managing forests to reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire. Forest managers use a variety of tools to create desired conditions within forests; the most common are prescribed fire and mechanical thinning. These two treatments may be used separately or in combination, depending on restoration goals for the forest stand. Before these treatments can be applied, managers must justify their choice by documenting the effects of the …

Synthesis Of Knowledge On The Effects Of Fire And Fire Surrogates On Wildlife In U.S. Dry Forests, Patricia L. Kennedy, Joseph B. Fontaine

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Dry forests throughout the United States are fire-dependent ecosystems, and much attention has been given to restoring their ecological function. As such, land managers often are tasked with reintroducing fire via prescribed fire, wildland fire use, and fire-surrogate treatments such as thinning and mastication. During planning, managers frequently are expected to anticipate effects of management actions on wildlife species. This document represents a synthesis of existing knowledge on wildlife responses to fire and fire-surrogate treatments, presented in a useful, management-relevant format. Based on scoping meetings and dialogue with public lands managers from throughout the United States, we provide detailed, species-level, …

Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Biological Soil Crusts And Their Subsequent Recovery In A Great Basin Juniper Woodland, Steven D. Warren, Larry L. St.Clair, Jeffrey R. Johansen, Paul Kugrens

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

A prescribed burn was conducted in a juniper woodland approximately 40 km south of Tooele, Utah on 05 October 2006. Conditions were sub-optimal, and the fire did not encroach into mid- or late-successional areas; only the early-successional area burned successfully. This study evaluated the effects of the prescribed burn on biological soil crusts that occupy the soil surface and are important for soil stability, soil nutrient cycling, and the germination and survival of vascular plants. Biological soil crusts are composed primarily of cyanobacteria, green algae, lichens and mosses. Mosses were rare under juniper trees, so the effects of the fire …

Effects Of Fuels/Fire Risk Reduction Treatments Using Hydro-Mow Or Thinning On Pinyon-Juniper Ecosystem Components Within The Wildland-Urbaninterface., Gerard J. Gottfried, Steven T. Overby, Philip A. Kemp, Cara Macmillan

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Pinyon-juniper woodlands are a dominant vegetation type throughout the Interior West on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the USDI Bureau of Land Management. The woodlands have traditionally been viewed as having a low risk of wildfires because of the lack of a continuous and dense ground cover and low tree stand densities. However, stand densities are often high and are increasing in many areas and wildfires, often resulting in loss of lives and property, will occur under conditions of low humidity, high temperatures and wind speeds, and an ignition source. Woodlands commonly surround or are adjacent to …

Ecological Effects Of Prescribed Fire Season: A Literature Review And Synthesis For Managers, Eric Knapp, Becky Estes, Carl N. Skinner

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Prescribed burning may be conducted at times of the year when fires were infrequent historically, leading to concerns about potential adverse effects on vegetation and wildlife. Historical and prescribed fire regimes for different regions in the continental United States were compared and literature on season of prescribed burning synthesized. In regions and vegetation types where considerable differences in fuel consumption exist among burning seasons, the effects of prescribed fire season appears, for many ecological variables, to be driven more by fire-intensity differences among seasons than by phenology or growth stage of organisms at the time of fire. Where fuel consumption …

Epidemic Southern Pine Beetle Attacks: A Problem Of Fuel-Loading Or An Opportunity For Management?, Thomas A. Waldrop, G. Geoffrey Wang, Knight Cox

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The Piedmont Region of South Carolina experienced one of the heaviest attacks of southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm.) in history during the early part of this decade. Managers with both commercial objectives and restoration objectives needed information on how prescribed burning or mechanical treatments can be used to reduce the heavy fuels resulting from these attacks, without neglecting their primary management objectives. Prescribed burning is of concern because intensities are expected to be high and fires may damage soils, neighboring trees, or target vegetation. Methods of predicting fire behavior and fuel consumption are unavailable. Mechanical treatments will reduce fuels …

Estimating Canopy Fuels And Their Impact On Potential Fire Behavior For Ponderosa Pine In The Black Hills, South Dakota., Frederick W. Smith, Tara Keyser, Wayne Shepperd

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

We evaluate whether current procedures used in fire behavior prediction models such as FVS-FFE provide predictions of CBD and CBH suitable for evaluating fire behavior in response to fuel treatments. Currently, FFE-FVS uses a geographic non-specific set of tree allometries and assumes a uniform distribution of crown mass when estimating CBH and CBD. We develop allometric equations to predict crown mass specific to ponderosa pine in the Black Hills (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) from a sample of 80 felled trees in 16 forest stands spanning a wide range in tree size and stand. We develop a non-uniform description of …

Estimating The Biomass Of Hand-Piled Fuels For Smoke Management Planning, Clinton S. Wright, Robert E. Vilnanek, James Russell, Mark Middy, Jim Bailey, Steve Davis, Robert Sanders, Cameron Balog, Paige Eagle

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Dimensions, volume, and biomass were measured for 121 hand-constructed piles composed primarily of coniferous (n=61) and shrub/hardwood (n=60) material at sites in Washington and California. Equations using pile dimensions, shape, and type allow users to accurately estimate the biomass of hand piles. Equations for estimating true pile volume from simple geometric shapes and measurements of pile dimensions were also developed to allow users who require estimates of pile volume for regulatory reporting. Biomass and volume estimation equations are being programmed into a web-based calculator to allow users to estimate either value from pile dimensions.

Reducing Fine Fuel Loads, Controlling Invasive Annual Grasses, And Manipulating Vegetation Composition In Zion Canyon, Utah, J. R. Matchett, Aviva O'Neill, Matt Brooks, Cheryl Decker, Jennifer Vollmer, Curt Deuser

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Fine fuels created by non-native annual grasses are a land management problem throughout the United States and beyond. These fuels facilitate the ignition of wildfires and promote their spread, creating hazardous fuel conditions in wildland urban interface areas. For example, fine fuel accumulations from non-native annual grasses in the riparian corridor at Zion National Park threaten the few egress routes from Zion Canyon, creating a threat to human life should a large wildfire occur there. In addition, when these non-native plants create novel fuel characteristics and fire behavior, they can lead to altered fire regimes that can significantly degrade natural …

Conversion Of The Bluesky Framework Into Collaborative Web Service Architecture And Creation Of A Smoke Modeling Application, Narasimhan K. Larkin, Sean Raffuse, Daniel Pryden, Alan Healy, Kevin Unger, Tara Strand, Robert Solomon

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project addresses the need for a collaborative architecture for scientific modeling that allows various scientific models to easily interact. The need for such a system has been documented by recent studies such as the JFSP Smoke Roundtables and the JFSP review of tools done by the Software Engineering Institute. This project addresses these needs by modifying the BlueSky Modeling Framework so that it can better serve as a collaborative architecture, and then utilizing this architecture to create an advanced application that could not otherwise be created. The BlueSky framework was modified for this purpose, and all changes integrated into …