Connecting long term species changes and their water competitions in temperate forest Mt. Baegun, Rep. of Korea using hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Jeon, J.; Lee, H.; Lee, M.; Song, W.; Byeon, S.; Lee, B.; Cho, S.; Park, J.; Kim, H. S.

2017-12-01

Many dynamic vegetation model simulations have predicted dramatic changes in species composition of temperate forests due to climate changes and successional reasons. Especially, conifer species are expected to lose their habitats and to be replaced by broadleaf species. Similarly, our more than 15-years-long 880 permenant plots tree survey data in Mt. Baegun, Rep. of Korea, showed substantial decrease of conifer species and their productivities and increase of broadleaved species. One of main reasons for these changes in species could be attributed to the water competition among tree species in the same stand. Therefore, we investigated the differences in water uptake scheme between conifer and broadleaf species from the temperate forests of Korea using stable isotopes. Six study plots showing high competition (conifers vs. broadleaf species) based on previous vegetation survey were chosen and the species-specific water uptake depth was estimated by measuring hydrogen(δ2H) and oxygen(δ18O) ratio from the xylem sap and leaves of individual species and by comparing them with those of soil water from 5 depths, (10, 30, 50, 100 and 120 cm), which extracted by lysimeter. The collection was conducted from April 2016 to Nov 2017. The conifer species included Pinus densiflora and Chamaecyparis obtusa vs. broadleaved species included Carpinus laxiflora, Prunus sargentii, Styrax obassia, Lindera erythrocarpa and Quercus species such as Q. mongolica, Q. serrata, Q. accuticima. Preliminary results showed the stable isotope signatures of soil water was increased from 10 cm to 30 cm, and then decreased gradually until 120 cm. In addition, current dominant canopy species, Chamaecyparis obtusa absorbed majority of their water from 10 to 30 cm depth. In comparison, current mid canopy but one of upcoming dominant species, Styrax obassia's major water source was 30 cm and deeper of soil. Our results could be essential for the prediction of species composition under climate change

Crown-To-Rhizosphere Carbon Transfer In A Temperate Mixed Forest

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Siegwolf, R. T.; Steinmann, K.; Saurer, M.; Koerner, C.

2005-12-01

Flux measurements across a range of (managed) European forests showed that ecosystem respiration amounts up to 80 percent of gross primary production (Janssens et al. 2001), the rest is in large sequestered into biomass. According to Malhi et al. (1999) soil respiration accounts for 60-70 percent of total forest ecosystem respiration. A considerable part is released as CO2 via belowground plant component (autotrophic) and soil micro-organism (heterotrophic) respiration. Recent studies on the autotrophic and heterotrophic respiratory fluxes indicate that the proportion of the autotrophic respiration was most likely underestimated (Hoegberg et al, 2001). Furthermore, highly diverging lengths of time have been estimated between the synthesis of carbohydrates and their availability in the rhizosphere. The goal of the presented study was to i) estimate the transport time for new photosynthates from the leaves to the rhizosphere, ii) determine the spatial distribution of these products, and iii) detect a seasonal course in the autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration of freshly formed assimilates. This study was carried out in a temperate mixed forest (The Swiss Canopy Crane Project in Hofstetten near Basel, Switzerland, cf. Pepin and Koerner 2002, Koerner et al, 2005), exposed to an elevated mean CO2 concentration of 530 ppm. The added CO2 originated from fossil fuel combustion and was depleted in 13C, thus serving as an ideal tracer. Based on the isotopic signature of the soil CO2 it was shown that freshly assimilated carbohydrates were transferred to the rhizosphere within ca. 5 days. The spatial variability was considerable and could mostly be explained with the varying tree population, whereas, the broad-leafed area revealed a more negative d13C value than the conifers. A distinct seasonal course in soil ?13C of the CO2 concentration indicated a seasonal variation in the crown-to-rhizosphere carbon transfer Steinmann et al (2004). Hoegberg P, et al. (2001) Large

The lack of adequate quality assurance/quality control data hinders the assessment of potential forest degradation in a national forest inventory

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas Brandeis; Stanley Zarnoch; Christopher Oswalt; Jeffery Stringer

2017-01-01

Hardwood lumber harvested from the temperate broadleaf and mixed broadleaf/conifer forests of the east-central United States is an important economic resource. Forest industry stakeholders in this region have a growing need for accurate, reliable estimates of high-quality wood volume. While lower-graded timber has an increasingly wide array of uses, the forest products...

Upland log volumes and conifer establishment patterns in two northern, upland old-growth redwood forests, a brief synopsis

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Daniel J. Porter; John O. Sawyer

2007-01-01

We characterized the volume, weight and top surface area of naturally fallen logs in an old-growth redwood forest, and quantified conifer recruit densities on these logs and on the surrounding forest floor. We report significantly greater conifer recruit densities on log substrates as compared to the forest floor. Log substrate availability was calculated on a per...

Long-term demographic trends in a fire-suppressed mixed-conifer forest

Science.gov (United States)

Carrie R. Levine; Flora Krivak-Tetley; Natalie S. van Doorn; Jolie-Anne S. Ansley; John J. Battles

2016-01-01

In the western United States, forests are experiencing novel environmental conditions related to a changing climate and a suppression of the historical fire regime. Mixed-conifer forests, considered resilient to disturbance due to their heterogeneity in structure and composition, appear to be shifting to a more homogeneous state, but the timescale of these shifts is...

Influence of elevation and site productivity on conifer distributions across Alaskan temperate rainforests

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John P. Caouette; Ashley E. Steel; Paul E. Hennon; Pat G. Cunningham; Cathy A. Pohl; Barbara A. Schrader

2016-01-01

We investigated the influence of landscape factors on the distribution and life stage stability of coastal tree species near the northern limit of their ranges. Using data from 1465 forest inventory plots, we estimated probability of occurrence and basal area of six common conifer species across three broad latitudinal regions of coastal Alaska. By also comparing...

Quantum Yields in Mixed-Conifer Forests and Ponderosa Pine Plantations

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, L.; Marshall, J. D.; Zhang, J.

2008-12-01

Most process-based physiological models require canopy quantum yield of photosynthesis as a starting point to simulate carbon sequestration and subsequently gross primary production (GPP). The quantum yield is a measure of photosynthetic efficiency expressed in moles of CO2 assimilated per mole of photons absorbed; the process is influenced by environmental factors. In the summer 2008, we measured quantum yields on both sun and shade leaves for four conifer species at five sites within Mica Creek Experimental Watershed (MCEW) in northern Idaho and one conifer species at three sites in northern California. The MCEW forest is typical of mixed conifer stands dominated by grand fir (Abies grandis (Douglas ex D. Don) Lindl.). In northern California, the three sites with contrasting site qualities are ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa C. Lawson var. ponderosa) plantations that were experimentally treated with vegetation control, fertilization, and a combination of both. We found that quantum yields in MCEW ranged from ~0.045 to ~0.075 mol CO2 per mol incident photon. However, there were no significant differences between canopy positions, or among sites or tree species. In northern California, the mean value of quantum yield of three sites was 0.051 mol CO2/mol incident photon. No significant difference in quantum yield was found between canopy positions, or among treatments or sites. The results suggest that these conifer species maintain relatively consistent quantum yield in both MCEW and northern California. This consistency simplifies the use of a process-based model to accurately predict forest productivity in these areas.

Tipping point of a conifer forest ecosystem under severe drought

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Huang, Kaicheng; Yi, Chuixiang; Wu, Donghai; Zhou, Tao; Zhao, Xiang; Blanford, William J.; Wei, Suhua; Wu, Hao; Ling, Du; Li, Zheng

2015-02-01

Drought-induced tree mortality has recently received considerable attention. Questions have arisen over the necessary intensity and duration thresholds of droughts that are sufficient to trigger rapid forest declines. The values of such tipping points leading to forest declines due to drought are presently unknown. In this study, we have evaluated the potential relationship between the level of tree growth and concurrent drought conditions with data of the tree growth-related ring width index (RWI) of the two dominant conifer species (Pinus edulis and Pinus ponderosa) in the Southwestern United States (SWUS) and the meteorological drought-related standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI). In this effort, we determined the binned averages of RWI and the 11 month SPEI within the month of July within each bin of 30 of RWI in the range of 0-3000. We found a significant correlation between the binned averages of RWI and SPEI at the regional-scale under dryer conditions. The tipping point of forest declines to drought is predicted by the regression model as SPEItp = -1.64 and RWItp = 0, that is, persistence of the water deficit (11 month) with intensity of -1.64 leading to negligible growth for the conifer species. When climate conditions are wetter, the correlation between the binned averages of RWI and SPEI is weaker which we believe is most likely due to soil water and atmospheric moisture levels no longer being the dominant factor limiting tree growth. We also illustrate a potential application of the derived tipping point (SPEItp = -1.64) through an examination of the 2002 extreme drought event in the SWUS conifer forest regions. Distinguished differences in remote-sensing based NDVI anomalies were found between the two regions partitioned by the derived tipping point.

Tipping point of a conifer forest ecosystem under severe drought

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Kaicheng; Zhou, Tao; Wu, Hao; Ling, Du; Li, Zheng; Yi, Chuixiang; Blanford, William J; Wei, Suhua; Wu, Donghai; Zhao, Xiang

2015-01-01

Drought-induced tree mortality has recently received considerable attention. Questions have arisen over the necessary intensity and duration thresholds of droughts that are sufficient to trigger rapid forest declines. The values of such tipping points leading to forest declines due to drought are presently unknown. In this study, we have evaluated the potential relationship between the level of tree growth and concurrent drought conditions with data of the tree growth-related ring width index (RWI) of the two dominant conifer species (Pinus edulis and Pinus ponderosa) in the Southwestern United States (SWUS) and the meteorological drought-related standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI). In this effort, we determined the binned averages of RWI and the 11 month SPEI within the month of July within each bin of 30 of RWI in the range of 0–3000. We found a significant correlation between the binned averages of RWI and SPEI at the regional-scale under dryer conditions. The tipping point of forest declines to drought is predicted by the regression model as SPEI tp  = −1.64 and RWI tp  = 0, that is, persistence of the water deficit (11 month) with intensity of −1.64 leading to negligible growth for the conifer species. When climate conditions are wetter, the correlation between the binned averages of RWI and SPEI is weaker which we believe is most likely due to soil water and atmospheric moisture levels no longer being the dominant factor limiting tree growth. We also illustrate a potential application of the derived tipping point (SPEI tp  = −1.64) through an examination of the 2002 extreme drought event in the SWUS conifer forest regions. Distinguished differences in remote-sensing based NDVI anomalies were found between the two regions partitioned by the derived tipping point. (letter)

A dendrochronology based fire history of Jeffry pine-mixed conifer forests in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Scott L. Stephens; Carl N. Skinner; Samantha J. Gill

2003-01-01

Conifer forests in northwestern Mexico have not experienced systematic fire suppression or logging, making them unique in western North America. Fire regimes of Pinus jeffreyi Grev. & Balf. mixed conifer forests in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, Baja California, Mexico, were determined by identifying 105 fire dates from 1034 fire scars in 105 specimens. Fires were...

Restoring southern Ontario forests by managing succession in conifer plantations

Science.gov (United States)

William C. Parker; Ken A. Elliott; Daniel C. Dey; Eric Boysen

2008-01-01

Thinning and underplanting of conifer plantations to promote natural succession in southern Ontario's forests for restoration purposes was examined in a young red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) plantation. Eleven years after application of five thinning treatments, seedling diameter, height, and stem volume of planted white ash (Fraxinus...

Monitoring phenology of photosynthesis in temperate evergreen and mixed deciduous forests using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the photochemical reflectance index (PRI) at leaf and canopy scales

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, C. Y.; Arain, M. A.; Ensminger, I.

2016-12-01

Evergreen conifers in boreal and temperate regions undergo strong seasonal changes in photoperiod and temperatures, which determines their phenology of high photosynthetic activity in the growing season and downregulation during the winter. Monitoring the timing of the transition between summer activity and winter downregulation in evergreens is difficult since this is a largely invisible process, unlike in deciduous trees that have a visible budding and a sequence of leaf unfolding in the spring and leaf abscission in the fall. The light-use efficiency (LUE) model estimates gross primary productivity (GPP) and may be parameterized using remotely sensed vegetation indices. Using spectral reflectance data, we derived the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), a measure of leaf "greenness", and the photochemical reflectance index (PRI), a proxy for chlorophyll:carotenoid ratios which is related to photosynthetic activity. To better understand the relationship between these vegetation indices and photosynthetic activity and to contrast this relationship between plant functional types, the phenology of NDVI, PRI and photosynthesis was monitored in an evergreen forest and a mixed deciduous forest at the leaf and canopy scale. Our data indicates that the LUE model can be parameterized by NDVI and PRI to track forest phenology. Differences in the sensitivity of PRI and NDVI will be discussed. These findings have implications to address the phenology of evergreen conifers by using PRI to complement NDVI in the LUE model, potentially improving model productivity estimates in northern hemisphere forests, that are dominated by conifers.

Trends in Snag Populations in Drought-Stressed Mixed-Conifer and Ponderosa Pine Forests (1997–2007

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph L. Ganey

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Snags provide important biological legacies, resources for numerous species of native wildlife, and contribute to decay dynamics and ecological processes in forested ecosystems. We monitored trends in snag populations from 1997 to 2007 in drought-stressed mixed-conifer and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws forests, northern Arizona. Median snag density increased by 75 and 90% in mixed-conifer and ponderosa pine forests, respectively, over this time period. Increased snag density was driven primarily by a large pulse in drought-mediated tree mortality from 2002 to 2007, following a smaller pulse from 1997 to 2002. Decay-class composition and size-class composition of snag populations changed in both forest types, and species composition changed in mixed-conifer forest. Increases in snag abundance may benefit some species of native wildlife in the short-term by providing increased foraging and nesting resources, but these increases may be unsustainable in the long term. Observed changes in snag recruitment and fall rates during the study illustrate the difficulty involved in modeling dynamics of those populations in an era of climate change and changing land management practices.

Xylem traits, leaf longevity and growth phenology predict growth and mortality response to defoliation in northern temperate forests.

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Foster, Jane R

2017-09-01

Defoliation outbreaks are biological disturbances that alter tree growth and mortality in temperate forests. Trees respond to defoliation in many ways; some recover rapidly, while others decline gradually or die. Functional traits such as xylem anatomy, growth phenology or non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) storage could explain these responses, but idiosyncratic measures used by defoliation studies have frustrated efforts to generalize among species. Here, I test for functional differences with published growth and mortality data from 37 studies, including 24 tree species and 11 defoliators from North America and Eurasia. I synthesized data into standardized variables suitable for numerical models and used linear mixed-effects models to test the hypotheses that responses to defoliation vary among species and functional groups. Standardized data show that defoliation responses vary in shape and degree. Growth decreased linearly or curvilinearly, least in ring-porous Quercus and deciduous conifers (by 10-40% per 100% defoliation), whereas growth of diffuse-porous hardwoods and evergreen conifers declined by 40-100%. Mortality increased exponentially with defoliation, most rapidly for evergreen conifers, then diffuse-porous, then ring-porous species and deciduous conifers (Larix). Goodness-of-fit for functional-group models was strong (R2c = 0.61-0.88), if lower than species-specific mixed-models (R2c = 0.77-0.93), providing useful alternatives when species data are lacking. These responses are consistent with functional differences in leaf longevity, wood growth phenology and NSC storage. When defoliator activity lags behind wood-growth, either because xylem-growth precedes budburst (Quercus) or defoliator activity peaks later (sawflies on Larix), impacts on annual wood-growth will always be lower. Wood-growth phenology of diffuse-porous species and evergreen conifers coincides with defoliation and responds more drastically, and lower axial NSC storage makes them

Comparative Structural Dynamics of the Janj Mixed Old-Growth Mountain Forest in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Are Conifers in a Long-Term Decline?

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Srdjan Keren

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Regression of conifers in European mixed old-growth mountain forests has been observed for a long period and studied from different aspects. Old-growth (OG forests in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH have not experienced heavy air pollution and chronic overbrowsing that have affected many other European OG forests, while climatic and anthropogenic disturbances have been well documented. We analysed stand structure in the Janj OG forest, compared it with inventories of Lom and Perucica OG forests (BiH and with earlier inventories of the same reserves. At present, OG forest Janj is characterized by a high growing stock (1215 m3∙ha−1. This is due to good site quality, prevalence of conifers (84% and dominant endogenous processes in recent decades. In all three OG forests, indicators of structural change exhibited progression of European beech over time. Historical evidence revealed the occurrence of warm summers and droughts followed by bark beetle outbreaks in the 1920s, 1940s and early 1950s, which in turn influenced a marked conifer decline. It seems likely that repeated canopy opening released waves of European beech regeneration. These stand structural changes have delayed the rejuvenation of conifers and can help explain the early observations of conifer decline.

Root-Associated Fungi Shared Between Arbuscular Mycorrhizal and Ectomycorrhizal Conifers in a Temperate Forest.

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Toju, Hirokazu; Sato, Hirotoshi

2018-01-01

Arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal symbioses are among the most important drivers of terrestrial ecosystem dynamics. Historically, the two types of symbioses have been investigated separately because arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal plant species are considered to host discrete sets of fungal symbionts (i.e., arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi, respectively). Nonetheless, recent studies based on high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies have suggested that diverse non-mycorrhizal fungi (e.g., endophytic fungi) with broad host ranges play roles in relationships between arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal plant species in forest ecosystems. By analyzing an Illumina sequencing dataset of root-associated fungi in a temperate forest in Japan, we statistically examined whether co-occurring arbuscular mycorrhizal ( Chamaecyparis obtusa ) and ectomycorrhizal ( Pinus densiflora ) plant species could share non-mycorrhizal fungal communities. Among the 919 fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) detected, OTUs in various taxonomic lineages were statistically designated as "generalists," which associated commonly with both coniferous species. The list of the generalists included fungi in the genera Meliniomyces, Oidiodendron, Cladophialophora, Rhizodermea, Penicillium , and Mortierella . Meanwhile, our statistical analysis also detected fungi preferentially associated with Chamaecyparis (e.g., Pezicula ) or Pinus (e.g., Neolecta ). Overall, this study provides a basis for future studies on how arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal plant species interactively drive community- or ecosystem-scale processes. The physiological functions of the fungi highlighted in our host-preference analysis deserve intensive investigations for understanding their roles in plant endosphere and rhizosphere.

Coarse woody debris assay in northern Arizona mixed-conifer and ponderosa pine forests

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph L. Ganey; Scott C. Vojta

2010-01-01

Coarse woody debris (CWD) provides important ecosystem services in forests and affects fire behavior, yet information on amounts and types of CWD typically is limited. To provide such information, we sampled logs and stumps in mixed-conifer and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in north-central Arizona. Spatial variability was prominent for all CWD parameters....

Examining historical and current mixed-severity fire regimes in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis C Odion

Full Text Available There is widespread concern that fire exclusion has led to an unprecedented threat of uncharacteristically severe fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws and mixed-conifer forests of western North America. These extensive montane forests are considered to be adapted to a low/moderate-severity fire regime that maintained stands of relatively old trees. However, there is increasing recognition from landscape-scale assessments that, prior to any significant effects of fire exclusion, fires and forest structure were more variable in these forests. Biota in these forests are also dependent on the resources made available by higher-severity fire. A better understanding of historical fire regimes in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America is therefore needed to define reference conditions and help maintain characteristic ecological diversity of these systems. We compiled landscape-scale evidence of historical fire severity patterns in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests from published literature sources and stand ages available from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program in the USA. The consensus from this evidence is that the traditional reference conditions of low-severity fire regimes are inaccurate for most forests of western North America. Instead, most forests appear to have been characterized by mixed-severity fire that included ecologically significant amounts of weather-driven, high-severity fire. Diverse forests in different stages of succession, with a high proportion in relatively young stages, occurred prior to fire exclusion. Over the past century, successional diversity created by fire decreased. Our findings suggest that ecological management goals that incorporate successional diversity created by fire may support characteristic biodiversity, whereas current attempts to "restore" forests to open, low-severity fire conditions may not align with historical reference conditions in

Examining historical and current mixed-severity fire regimes in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America.

Science.gov (United States)

Odion, Dennis C; Hanson, Chad T; Arsenault, André; Baker, William L; Dellasala, Dominick A; Hutto, Richard L; Klenner, Walt; Moritz, Max A; Sherriff, Rosemary L; Veblen, Thomas T; Williams, Mark A

2014-01-01

There is widespread concern that fire exclusion has led to an unprecedented threat of uncharacteristically severe fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws) and mixed-conifer forests of western North America. These extensive montane forests are considered to be adapted to a low/moderate-severity fire regime that maintained stands of relatively old trees. However, there is increasing recognition from landscape-scale assessments that, prior to any significant effects of fire exclusion, fires and forest structure were more variable in these forests. Biota in these forests are also dependent on the resources made available by higher-severity fire. A better understanding of historical fire regimes in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America is therefore needed to define reference conditions and help maintain characteristic ecological diversity of these systems. We compiled landscape-scale evidence of historical fire severity patterns in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests from published literature sources and stand ages available from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program in the USA. The consensus from this evidence is that the traditional reference conditions of low-severity fire regimes are inaccurate for most forests of western North America. Instead, most forests appear to have been characterized by mixed-severity fire that included ecologically significant amounts of weather-driven, high-severity fire. Diverse forests in different stages of succession, with a high proportion in relatively young stages, occurred prior to fire exclusion. Over the past century, successional diversity created by fire decreased. Our findings suggest that ecological management goals that incorporate successional diversity created by fire may support characteristic biodiversity, whereas current attempts to "restore" forests to open, low-severity fire conditions may not align with historical reference conditions in most ponderosa

Long-term impacts of prescribed fire on stand structure, growth, mortality, and individual tree vigor in Pinus resinosa forests

Science.gov (United States)

Sawyer S. Scherer; Anthony W. D' Amato; Christel C. Kern; Brian J. Palik; Matthew B. Russell

2016-01-01

Prescribed fire is increasingly being viewed as a valuable tool for mitigating the ecological consequences of long-term fire suppression within fire-adapted forest ecosystems. While the use of burning treatments in northern temperate conifer forests has at times received considerable attention, the long-term (>10 years) effects on forest structure and...

Influence of spring phenology on seasonal and annual carbon balance in two contrasting New England forests

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Andrew D. Richardson; David Y. Hollinger; D. Bryan Dail; John T. Lee; J. William Munger; John O' Keefe

2009-01-01

Spring phenology is thought to exert a major influence on the carbon (C) balance of temperate and boreal ecosystems. We investigated this hypothesis using four spring onset phenological indicators in conjunction with surface-atmosphere CO2 exchange data from the conifer-dominated Howland Forest and deciduous-dominated Harvard Forest AmeriFlux...

Variation of biomass and carbon pools with forest type in temperate forests of Kashmir Himalaya, India.

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Dar, Javid Ahmad; Sundarapandian, Somaiah

2015-02-01

An accurate characterization of tree, understory, deadwood, floor litter, and soil organic carbon (SOC) pools in temperate forest ecosystems is important to estimate their contribution to global carbon (C) stocks. However, this information on temperate forests of the Himalayas is lacking and fragmented. In this study, we measured C stocks of tree (aboveground and belowground biomass), understory (shrubs and herbaceous), deadwood (standing and fallen trees and stumps), floor litter, and soil from 111 plots of 50 m × 50 m each, in seven forest types: Populus deltoides (PD), Juglans regia (JR), Cedrus deodara (CD), Pinus wallichiana (PW), mixed coniferous (MC), Abies pindrow (AP), and Betula utilis (BU) in temperate forests of Kashmir Himalaya, India. The main objective of the present study is to quantify the ecosystem C pool in these seven forest types. The results showed that the tree biomass ranged from 100.8 Mg ha(-1) in BU forest to 294.8 Mg ha(-1) for the AP forest. The understory biomass ranged from 0.16 Mg ha(-1) in PD forest to 2.36 Mg ha(-1) in PW forest. Deadwood biomass ranged from 1.5 Mg ha(-1) in PD forest to 14.9 Mg ha(-1) for the AP forest, whereas forest floor litter ranged from 2.5 Mg ha(-1) in BU and JR forests to 3.1 Mg ha(-1) in MC forest. The total ecosystem carbon stocks varied from 112.5 to 205.7 Mg C ha(-1) across all the forest types. The C stocks of tree, understory, deadwood, litter, and soil ranged from 45.4 to 135.6, 0.08 to 1.18, 0.7 to 6.8, 1.1 to 1.4, and 39.1-91.4 Mg ha(-1), respectively, which accounted for 61.3, 0.2, 1.4, 0.8, and 36.3 % of the total carbon stock. BU forest accounted 65 % from soil C and 35 % from biomass, whereas PD forest contributed only 26 % from soil C and 74 % from biomass. Of the total C stock in the 0-30-cm soil, about 55 % was stored in the upper 0-10 cm. Soil C stocks in BU forest were significantly higher than those in other forests. The variability of C pools of different ecosystem components is

Soil respiration response to prescribed burning and thinning in mixed-conifer and hardwood forests

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Amy Concilio; Siyan Ma; Qinglin Li; James LeMoine; Jiquan Chen; Malcolm North; Daryl Moorhead; Randy Jensen

2005-01-01

The effects of management on soil carbon efflux in different ecosystems are still largely unknown yet crucial to both our understanding and management of global carbon flux. To compare the effects of common forest management practices on soil carbon cycling, we measured soil respiration rate (SRR) in a mixed-conifer and hardwood forest that had undergone various...

Historical dominance of low-severity fire in dry and wet mixed-conifer forest habitats of the endangered terrestrial Jemez Mountains salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus)

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Margolis, Ellis; Malevich, Steven B.

2016-01-01

Anthropogenic alteration of ecosystem processes confounds forest management and conservation of rare, declining species. Restoration of forest structure and fire hazard reduction are central goals of forest management policy in the western United States, but restoration priorities and treatments have become increasingly contentious. Numerous studies have documented changes in fire regimes, forest stand structure and species composition following a century of fire exclusion in dry, frequent-fire forests of the western U.S. (e.g., ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer). In contrast, wet mixed-conifer forests are thought to have historically burned infrequently with mixed- or high-severity fire—resulting in reduced impacts from fire exclusion and low restoration need—but data are limited. In this study we quantified the current forest habitat of the federally endangered, terrestrial Jemez Mountains salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus) and compared it to dendroecological reconstructions of historical habitat (e.g., stand structure and composition), and fire regime parameters along a gradient from upper ponderosa pine to wet mixed-conifer forests. We found that current fire-free intervals in Jemez Mountains salamander habitat (116–165 years) are significantly longer than historical intervals, even in wet mixed-conifer forests. Historical mean fire intervals ranged from 10 to 42 years along the forest gradient. Low-severity fires were historically dominant across all forest types (92 of 102 fires). Although some mixed- or highseverity fire historically occurred at 67% of the plots over the last four centuries, complete mortality within 1.0 ha plots was rare, and asynchronous within and among sites. Climate was an important driver of temporal variability in fire severity, such that mixed- and high-severity fires were associated with more extreme drought than low-severity fires. Tree density in dry conifer forests historically ranged from open (90 trees/ha) to

Variation in carbon storage and its distribution by stand age and forest type in boreal and temperate forests in northeastern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Yawei; Li, Maihe; Chen, Hua; Lewis, Bernard J; Yu, Dapao; Zhou, Li; Zhou, Wangming; Fang, Xiangmin; Zhao, Wei; Dai, Limin

2013-01-01

The northeastern forest region of China is an important component of total temperate and boreal forests in the northern hemisphere. But how carbon (C) pool size and distribution varies among tree, understory, forest floor and soil components, and across stand ages remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we selected three major temperate and two major boreal forest types in northeastern (NE) China. Within both forest zones, we focused on four stand age classes (young, mid-aged, mature and over-mature). Results showed that total C storage was greater in temperate than in boreal forests, and greater in older than in younger stands. Tree biomass C was the main C component, and its contribution to the total forest C storage increased with increasing stand age. It ranged from 27.7% in young to 62.8% in over-mature stands in boreal forests and from 26.5% in young to 72.8% in over-mature stands in temperate forests. Results from both forest zones thus confirm the large biomass C storage capacity of old-growth forests. Tree biomass C was influenced by forest zone, stand age, and forest type. Soil C contribution to total forest C storage ranged from 62.5% in young to 30.1% in over-mature stands in boreal and from 70.1% in young to 26.0% in over-mature in temperate forests. Thus soil C storage is a major C pool in forests of NE China. On the other hand, understory and forest floor C jointly contained less than 13% and forests respectively, and thus play a minor role in total forest C storage in NE China.

Phase and amplitude of ecosystem carbon release and uptake potentials as derived from FLUXNET measurements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Falge, E.; Tenhunen, J.; Baldocchi, D.

2002-01-01

, as well as for global inversion studies, and can help improve phenological modules in SVAT or biogeochemical models. The results of this study have important validation potential for global carbon cycle modeling. The phasing of respiratory and assimilatory capacity differed within forest types...... in four classes: (1) boreal and high altitude conifers and grasslands: (2) temperate deciduous and temperate conifers; (3) tundra and crops; (4) evergreen Mediterranean and tropical forest,,, Similar results are found for maximum daytime uptake (F-min) and the integral net carbon flux, but temperate......-min are largest for managed grasslands and crops. Largest observed values of F-min varied between -48 and -2 mumol m(-2) s(-1), decreasing in the order C-4-crops > C-3-crops > temperate deciduous forests > temperate conifers > boreal conifers > tundra ecosystems. Due to data restrictions, our analysis centered...

Leaching of nitrate from temperate forests - effects of air pollution and forest management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gundersen, Per; Schmidt, Inger Kappel; Raulund-Rasmussen, Karsten

2006-01-01

deposition (> 8-10 kg ha(-1) a(-1)). We synthesized the current understanding of factors controlling N leaching in relation to three primary causes of N cycle disruption: (i) Increased N input (air pollution, fertilization, N-2 fixing plants). In European forests, elevated N deposition explains approximately...... half of the variability in N leaching, some of the remaining variability could be explained by differences in N availability or "N status". For coniferous forests, needle N content above 1.4% and (or) forest floor C:N ratio lower than 25 were thresholds for elevated nitrate leaching. At adjacent sites...... conifer forests receive higher N deposition and exhibit higher nitrate loss than deciduous forests; an exception is alder that shows substantial nitrate leaching through N fixation input. Fertilization with N poses limited risk to water quality, when applied to N-limited forests. (ii) Reduced plant uptake...

Terrain and vegetation structural influences on local avian species richness in two mixed-conifer forests

Science.gov (United States)

Jody C. Vogeler; Andrew T. Hudak; Lee A. Vierling; Jeffrey Evans; Patricia Green; Kerri T. Vierling

2014-01-01

Using remotely-sensed metrics to identify regions containing high animal diversity and/or specific animal species or guilds can help prioritize forest management and conservation objectives across actively managed landscapes. We predicted avian species richness in two mixed conifer forests, Moscow Mountain and Slate Creek, containing different management contexts and...

Modeling climate and fuel reduction impacts on mixed-conifer forest carbon stocks in the Sierra Nevada, California

Science.gov (United States)

Matthew D. Hurteau; Timothy A. Robards; Donald Stevens; David Saah; Malcolm North; George W. Koch

2014-01-01

Quantifying the impacts of changing climatic conditions on forest growth is integral to estimating future forest carbon balance. We used a growth-and-yield model, modified for climate sensitivity, to quantify the effects of altered climate on mixed-conifer forest growth in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California. Estimates of forest growth and live tree carbon stocks were...

Combustion efficiency and emission factors for wildfire-season fires in mixed conifer forests of the northern Rocky Mountains, US

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S. P. Urbanski

2013-07-01

Full Text Available In the US, wildfires and prescribed burning present significant challenges to air regulatory agencies attempting to achieve and maintain compliance with air quality regulations. Fire emission factors (EF are essential input for the emission models used to develop wildland fire emission inventories. Most previous studies quantifying wildland fire EF of temperate ecosystems have focused on emissions from prescribed burning conducted outside of the wildfire season. Little information is available on EF for wildfires in temperate forests of the conterminous US. The goal of this work is to provide information on emissions from wildfire-season forest fires in the northern Rocky Mountains, US. In August 2011, we deployed airborne chemistry instruments and sampled emissions over eight days from three wildfires and a prescribed fire that occurred in mixed conifer forests of the northern Rocky Mountains. We measured the combustion efficiency, quantified as the modified combustion efficiency (MCE, and EF for CO2, CO, and CH4. Our study average values for MCE, EFCO2, EFCO, and EFCH4 were 0.883, 1596 g kg−1, 135 g kg−1, 7.30 g kg−1, respectively. Compared with previous field studies of prescribed fires in temperate forests, the fires sampled in our study had significantly lower MCE and EFCO2 and significantly higher EFCO and EFCH4. The fires sampled in this study burned in areas reported to have moderate to heavy components of standing dead trees and down dead wood due to insect activity and previous fire, but fuel consumption data was not available. However, an analysis of MCE and fuel consumption data from 18 prescribed fires reported in the literature indicates that the availability of coarse fuels and conditions favorable for the combustion of these fuels favors low MCE fires. This analysis suggests that fuel composition was an important factor contributing to the low MCE of the fires measured in this study. This study only measured EF for CO2, CO

Contrasting Spatial Patterns in Active-Fire and Fire-Suppressed Mediterranean Climate Old-Growth Mixed Conifer Forests

OpenAIRE

Fry, Danny L.; Stephens, Scott L.; Collins, Brandon M.; North, Malcolm P.; Franco-Vizcaíno, Ernesto; Gill, Samantha J.

2014-01-01

In Mediterranean environments in western North America, historic fire regimes in frequent-fire conifer forests are highly variable both temporally and spatially. This complexity influenced forest structure and spatial patterns, but some of this diversity has been lost due to anthropogenic disruption of ecosystem processes, including fire. Information from reference forest sites can help management efforts to restore forests conditions that may be more resilient to future changes in disturbanc...

Tree Species Classification in Temperate Forests Using Formosat-2 Satellite Image Time Series

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David Sheeren

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Mapping forest composition is a major concern for forest management, biodiversity assessment and for understanding the potential impacts of climate change on tree species distribution. In this study, the suitability of a dense high spatial resolution multispectral Formosat-2 satellite image time-series (SITS to discriminate tree species in temperate forests is investigated. Based on a 17-date SITS acquired across one year, thirteen major tree species (8 broadleaves and 5 conifers are classified in a study area of southwest France. The performance of parametric (GMM and nonparametric (k-NN, RF, SVM methods are compared at three class hierarchy levels for different versions of the SITS: (i a smoothed noise-free version based on the Whittaker smoother; (ii a non-smoothed cloudy version including all the dates; (iii a non-smoothed noise-free version including only 14 dates. Noise refers to pixels contaminated by clouds and cloud shadows. The results of the 108 distinct classifications show a very high suitability of the SITS to identify the forest tree species based on phenological differences (average κ = 0 . 93 estimated by cross-validation based on 1235 field-collected plots. SVM is found to be the best classifier with very close results from the other classifiers. No clear benefit of removing noise by smoothing can be observed. Classification accuracy is even improved using the non-smoothed cloudy version of the SITS compared to the 14 cloud-free image time series. However conclusions of the results need to be considered with caution because of possible overfitting. Disagreements also appear between the maps produced by the classifiers for complex mixed forests, suggesting a higher classification uncertainty in these contexts. Our findings suggest that time-series data can be a good alternative to hyperspectral data for mapping forest types. It also demonstrates the potential contribution of the recently launched Sentinel-2 satellite for

Effect of 40 and 80 Years of Conifer Regrowth on Soil Microbial Activities and Community Structure in Subtropical Low Mountain Forests

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Ed-Haun Chang

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The effects of long-term reforestation on soil microbial communities and biomass are poorly understood. This study was conducted on two coniferous plantations: Cunninghamia konishii Hayata, planted 40 years ago (CONIF-40, and Calocedrus formosana (Florin Florin, planted 80 years ago (CONIF-80. An adjacent natural broadleaf forest (BROAD-Nat was used as a control. We determined microbial biomass C and N contents, enzyme activities, and community composition (via phospholipid fatty acid [PLFA] assessment. Both microbial biomass and PLFA content were higher in the summer than in the winter and differed among the forests in summer only. Total PLFA, total bacterial, gram-positive bacterial, gram-negative bacterial, and vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal contents followed the same pattern. Total fungal content and the ratios of fungi to bacteria and of gram-positive to gram-negative bacteria were highest in CONIF-40, with no difference between the other forests. Principal component analysis of PLFA contents revealed that CONIF-40 communities were distinct from those of CONIF-80 and BROAD-Nat. Our results suggest that vegetation replacement during reforestation exerts a prolonged impact on the soil microbial community. The understory broadleaf shrubs and trees established after coniferous plantation reforestation may balance out the effects of coniferous litter, contributing to bacterial recovery.

Contrasting spatial patterns in active-fire and fire-suppressed Mediterranean climate old-growth mixed conifer forests

Science.gov (United States)

Danny L. Fry; Scott L. Stephens; Brandon M. Collins; Malcolm North; Ernesto Franco-Vizcaino; Samantha J. Gill

2014-01-01

In Mediterranean environments in western North America, historic fire regimes in frequent-fire conifer forests are highly variable both temporally and spatially. This complexity influenced forest structure and spatial patterns, but some of this diversity has been lost due to anthropogenic disruption of ecosystem processes, including fire. Information from reference...

Post-fire management regimes affect carbon sequestration and storage in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest

Science.gov (United States)

Elizabeth M. Powers; John D. Marshall; Jianwei Zhang; Liang Wei

2013-01-01

Forests mitigate climate change by sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere and accumulating it in biomass storage pools. However, in dry conifer forests, fire occasionally returns large quantities of CO2 to the atmosphere. Both the total amount of carbon stored and its susceptibility to loss may be altered by post-fire land...

Carbon sequestration in managed temperate coniferous forests under climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Dymond, Caren C.; Beukema, Sarah; Nitschke, Craig R.; Coates, K. David; Scheller, Robert M.

2016-03-01

Management of temperate forests has the potential to increase carbon sinks and mitigate climate change. However, those opportunities may be confounded by negative climate change impacts. We therefore need a better understanding of climate change alterations to temperate forest carbon dynamics before developing mitigation strategies. The purpose of this project was to investigate the interactions of species composition, fire, management, and climate change in the Copper-Pine Creek valley, a temperate coniferous forest with a wide range of growing conditions. To do so, we used the LANDIS-II modelling framework including the new Forest Carbon Succession extension to simulate forest ecosystems under four different productivity scenarios, with and without climate change effects, until 2050. Significantly, the new extension allowed us to calculate the net sector productivity, a carbon accounting metric that integrates aboveground and belowground carbon dynamics, disturbances, and the eventual fate of forest products. The model output was validated against literature values. The results implied that the species optimum growing conditions relative to current and future conditions strongly influenced future carbon dynamics. Warmer growing conditions led to increased carbon sinks and storage in the colder and wetter ecoregions but not necessarily in the others. Climate change impacts varied among species and site conditions, and this indicates that both of these components need to be taken into account when considering climate change mitigation activities and adaptive management. The introduction of a new carbon indicator, net sector productivity, promises to be useful in assessing management effectiveness and mitigation activities.

Forest structure and downed woody debris in boreal, temperate, and tropical forest fragments.

Science.gov (United States)

Gould, William A; González, Grizelle; Hudak, Andrew T; Hollingsworth, Teresa Nettleton; Hollingsworth, Jamie

2008-12-01

Forest fragmentation affects the heterogeneity of accumulated fuels by increasing the diversity of forest types and by increasing forest edges. This heterogeneity has implications in how we manage fuels, fire, and forests. Understanding the relative importance of fragmentation on woody biomass within a single climatic regime, and along climatic gradients, will improve our ability to manage forest fuels and predict fire behavior. In this study we assessed forest fuel characteristics in stands of differing moisture, i.e., dry and moist forests, structure, i.e., open canopy (typically younger) vs. closed canopy (typically older) stands, and size, i.e., small (10-14 ha), medium (33 to 60 ha), and large (100-240 ha) along a climatic gradient of boreal, temperate, and tropical forests. We measured duff, litter, fine and coarse woody debris, standing dead, and live biomass in a series of plots along a transect from outside the forest edge to the fragment interior. The goal was to determine how forest structure and fuel characteristics varied along this transect and whether this variation differed with temperature, moisture, structure, and fragment size. We found nonlinear relationships of coarse woody debris, fine woody debris, standing dead and live tree biomass with mean annual median temperature. Biomass for these variables was greatest in temperate sites. Forest floor fuels (duff and litter) had a linear relationship with temperature and biomass was greatest in boreal sites. In a five-way multivariate analysis of variance we found that temperature, moisture, and age/structure had significant effects on forest floor fuels, downed woody debris, and live tree biomass. Fragment size had an effect on forest floor fuels and live tree biomass. Distance from forest edge had significant effects for only a few subgroups sampled. With some exceptions edges were not distinguishable from interiors in terms of fuels.

Assessment of Soil Organic Carbon Stock of Temperate Coniferous Forests in Northern Kashmir

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Davood A. Dar

2015-02-01

Full Text Available  Soil organic carbon (SOC estimation in temperate forests of the Himalaya is important to estimate their contribution to regional, national and global carbon stocks. Physico chemical properties of soil were quantified to assess soil organic carbon density (SOC and SOC CO2 mitigation density at two soil depths (0-10 and 10-20 cms under temperate forest in the Northern region of Kashmir Himalayas India. The results indicate that conductance, moisture content, organic carbon and organic matter were significantly higher while as pH and bulk density were lower at Gulmarg forest site. SOC % was ranging from 2.31± 0.96 at Gulmarg meadow site to 2.31 ± 0.26 in Gulmarg forest site. SOC stocks in these temperate forests were from 36.39 ±15.40 to 50.09 ± 15.51 Mg C ha-1. The present study reveals that natural vegetation is the main contributor of soil quality as it maintained the soil organic carbon stock. In addition, organic matter is an important indicator of soil quality and environmental parameters such as soil moisture and soil biological activity change soil carbon sequestration potential in temperate forest ecosystems.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v4i1.12186International Journal of Environment Volume-4, Issue-1, Dec-Feb 2014/15; page: 161-178

Animal damage to conifers on national forests in the Pacific Northwest region.

Science.gov (United States)

Glenn L. Crouch

1969-01-01

Animal damage to conifers is a timely topic in the Pacific Northwest. Foresters in this Region are increasingly concerned and perplexed by damage caused by animals to natural and planted seedlings and larger growing stock. Nearly every animal inhabiting for st land is believed to injure seedlings and small trees to some degree. Mice girdle small trees, and bears girdle...

Hurricane Impacts to Tropical and Temperate Forest Landscapes

OpenAIRE

Boose, Emery Robert; Foster, David Russell; Fluet, Marcheterre

1994-01-01

Hurricanes represent an important natural disturbance process to tropical and temperate forests in many coastal areas of the world. The complex patterns of damage created in forests by hurricane winds result from the interaction of meteorological, physiographic, and biotic factors on a range of spatial scales. To improve our understanding of these factors and of the role of catastrophic hurricane wind as a disturbance process, we take an integrative approach. A simple meteorological model (HU...

Habitats and landscapes associated with bird species in a lowland conifer-dominated ecosystem

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Edmund J. Zlonis

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Human-induced effects on lowland conifer forests in hemiboreal regions are increasing because of expanded use of these northern ecosystems for raw materials, energy, and minerals as well as the potential effects of climatic changes. These forests support many breeding bird species across the Holarctic and allow the persistence of several boreal bird species in hemiboreal and even temperate regions. These bird species are of particular conservation concern as shifting patterns northward in forest composition caused by climate change will likely affect their populations. However, effective management and conservation options are limited because the specifics of these species' breeding habitats are not well understood. We modeled and mapped habitat suitability for 11 species of boreal birds that breed in the lowland conifer forests of the Agassiz Lowlands Ecological Subsection in northern Minnesota and are likely to have reduced breeding habitat in the future: Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis, Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus, Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris, Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus, Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa, Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula, Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus, Connecticut Warbler (Oporornis agilis, Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum, and Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis. Sets of 7 to 16 potential environmental covariates, including both stand-level and landscape attributes, were used to develop individual species models. Within this lowland conifer-dominated ecosystem, we found significant selection for specific forest and landscape characteristics by all but one of these species, with the best models including between one and nine variables. Habitat suitability maps were developed from these models and predictions tested with an independent dataset. Model performance depended on species, correctly predicting 56-96% of

Local-scale drivers of tree survival in a temperate forest.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xugao; Comita, Liza S; Hao, Zhanqing; Davies, Stuart J; Ye, Ji; Lin, Fei; Yuan, Zuoqiang

2012-01-01

Tree survival plays a central role in forest ecosystems. Although many factors such as tree size, abiotic and biotic neighborhoods have been proposed as being important in explaining patterns of tree survival, their contributions are still subject to debate. We used generalized linear mixed models to examine the relative importance of tree size, local abiotic conditions and the density and identity of neighbors on tree survival in an old-growth temperate forest in northeastern China at three levels (community, guild and species). Tree size and both abiotic and biotic neighborhood variables influenced tree survival under current forest conditions, but their relative importance varied dramatically within and among the community, guild and species levels. Of the variables tested, tree size was typically the most important predictor of tree survival, followed by biotic and then abiotic variables. The effect of tree size on survival varied from strongly positive for small trees (1-20 cm dbh) and medium trees (20-40 cm dbh), to slightly negative for large trees (>40 cm dbh). Among the biotic factors, we found strong evidence for negative density and frequency dependence in this temperate forest, as indicated by negative effects of both total basal area of neighbors and the frequency of conspecific neighbors. Among the abiotic factors tested, soil nutrients tended to be more important in affecting tree survival than topographic variables. Abiotic factors generally influenced survival for species with relatively high abundance, for individuals in smaller size classes and for shade-tolerant species. Our study demonstrates that the relative importance of variables driving patterns of tree survival differs greatly among size classes, species guilds and abundance classes in temperate forest, which can further understanding of forest dynamics and offer important insights into forest management.

Role of temperate zone forests in the world carbon cycle: problem definition and research needs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Armentano, T.V.; Hett, J. (eds.)

1979-01-01

The proceedings of a workshop on carbon uptake and losses from temperate zone forests are presented. The goals of the workshop were to analyze existing data on growth and utilization of the temperate zone forest carbon pool and to identify further research needs in relation to the role of temperate forests in the global carbon cycle. Total standing stock and growth recovery transients were examined for most of the temperate region over a period from pre-settlement times to the present, with emphasis on the last three decades. Because of data availability, certain regions and topics were covered more in detail than others. Forest inventory data from most of the commercial timberlands of the north temperate zone suggest these forests have functioned over the past several decades as an annual sink for about 10/sup 9/ metric tons of carbon. Thus, net growth of these forests has withdrawn carbon from the atmosphere at a rate equivalent, approximately, to 50% of the annual rise in atmospheric carbon. Various data inadequacies make this estimate probably no more precise than plus or minus half of the value. Analysis of growth and vegetation changes in New England and the southeastern United States shows that forest biomass has partly recovered since extensive clearing took place in the 18th and 19th centuries. This regrowth represents a net withdrawal of carbon (carbon sink) from the atmosphere in recent decades, although the difference in pool size between present and original forests means that, in the longer term, the two regions have functioned as carbon sources.

Influence of disturbance on temperate forest productivity

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, Emily B.; Wythers, Kirk R.; Bradford, John B.; Reich, Peter B.

2013-01-01

Climate, tree species traits, and soil fertility are key controls on forest productivity. However, in most forest ecosystems, natural and human disturbances, such as wind throw, fire, and harvest, can also exert important and lasting direct and indirect influence over productivity. We used an ecosystem model, PnET-CN, to examine how disturbance type, intensity, and frequency influence net primary production (NPP) across a range of forest types from Minnesota and Wisconsin, USA. We assessed the importance of past disturbances on NPP, net N mineralization, foliar N, and leaf area index at 107 forest stands of differing types (aspen, jack pine, northern hardwood, black spruce) and disturbance history (fire, harvest) by comparing model simulations with observations. The model reasonably predicted differences among forest types in productivity, foliar N, leaf area index, and net N mineralization. Model simulations that included past disturbances minimally improved predictions compared to simulations without disturbance, suggesting the legacy of past disturbances played a minor role in influencing current forest productivity rates. Modeled NPP was more sensitive to the intensity of soil removal during a disturbance than the fraction of stand mortality or wood removal. Increasing crown fire frequency resulted in lower NPP, particularly for conifer forest types with longer leaf life spans and longer recovery times. These findings suggest that, over long time periods, moderate frequency disturbances are a relatively less important control on productivity than climate, soil, and species traits.

Fire performance in traditional silvicultural and fire and fire surrogate treatments in Sierran mixed-conifer forests: a brief summary

Science.gov (United States)

Jason J. Moghaddas; Scott L. Stephens

2007-01-01

Mixed conifer forests cover 7.9 million acres of California’s total land base. Forest structure in these forests has been influenced by harvest practices and silvicultural systems implemented since the beginning of the California Gold Rush in 1849. Today, the role of fire in coniferous forests, both in shaping past stand structure and its ability to shape future...

Fire suppression has led to greater drought-sensitivity in dry conifer forests: tree-ring carbon isotope evidence from Central Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

Voelker, S.; Merschel, A. G.; Meinzer, F. C.; Spies, T. A.; Still, C. J.

2016-12-01

Mortality events of economically and ecologically important conifers have been widespread across Western North America over recent decades. Many of these events have been linked to "global change-type droughts" characterized by greater temperatures and evaporative demand. In parallel, since the early to mid- 20th century, increasing atmospheric [CO2] has been shown to increase the water use efficiency (WUE) of trees worldwide while conifer forests in western North America have become denser after the advent of modern fire suppression efforts. Therefore, competing hypotheses include that conifer forests have experienced 1) less drought stress due to water savings from increased WUE, 2) more drought stress due to increased demand for water in dense forests with greater leaf area index, or 3) unchanging stress because these two factors have cancelled each other out. To provide a test of these hypotheses we used inter-annual latewood carbon isotope discrimination, Δ13C, across a dry mixed-conifer forest landscape of central Oregon in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains. The forests are dominated by old-growth ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) and younger and fire-intolerant grand firs (Abies grandis). Dendrochronological dating of tree establishment and fires scars established sharp declines in fire frequency and associated increases in the densities of grand fir since the early 1900s. Δ13C data for ponderosa pine and grand fir spanned 1830-2013 and 1900-2013, respectively. For our analyses these years were split into periods of high fire frequency (1830-1900), moderate fire frequency (1901-1956) and fire-exclusion (1957-2013). Comparisons of Δ13C to reconstructed Palmer Drought Severity Index values for the same years revealed that leaf gas exchange of both species has been more sensitive to drought during the recent fire-exclusion period compared to previous periods when surface fires kept tree densities much lower. Similar research is needed elsewhere to

Diagnosis of Annosus Root Disease in Mixed Conifer Forests in the Northwestern United States

Science.gov (United States)

Craig L. Schmitt

1989-01-01

Recognizing annosus root disease affecting conifers in northwestern United States forests is discussed. Field diagnosis can bemade by observing characteristic stand patterns, wood stain and decay, ectotrophic mycelium, and sporophores. Most seriously affected trees include hemlocks, grand fir, white fir and Pacific silver fir. Ponderosa pine and other true firs may...

Survival rates of birds of tropical and temperate forests: will the dogma survive?

Science.gov (United States)

Karr, J.R.; Nichols, J.D.; Klimkiewicz, M.K.; Brawn, J.D.

1990-01-01

Survival rates of tropical forest birds are widely assumed to be high relative to the survival rates of temperate forest birds. Much life-history theory is based on this assumption despite the lack of empirical data to support it. We provide the first detailed comparison of survival rates of tropical and temperate forest birds based on extensive data bases and modern capture-recapture models. We find no support for the conventional wisdom. Because clutch size is only one component of reproductive rate, the frequently assumed, simple association between clutch size and adult survival rates should not necessarily be expected. Our results emphasize the need to consider components of fecundity in addition to clutch size when comparing the life histories of tropical and temperate birds and suggest similar considerations in the development of vertebrate life-history theory.

Arthropod vertical stratification in temperate deciduous forests: Implications for conservation oriented management

Science.gov (United States)

Ulyshen Michael

2011-01-01

Studies on the vertical distribution patterns of arthropods in temperate deciduous forests reveal highly stratified (i.e., unevenly vertically distributed) communities. These patterns are determined by multiple factors acting simultaneously, including: (1) time (forest age, season, time of day); (2) forest structure (height, vertical foliage complexity, plant surface...

Contrasting spatial patterns in active-fire and fire-suppressed Mediterranean climate old-growth mixed conifer forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Fry, Danny L; Stephens, Scott L; Collins, Brandon M; North, Malcolm P; Franco-Vizcaíno, Ernesto; Gill, Samantha J

2014-01-01

In Mediterranean environments in western North America, historic fire regimes in frequent-fire conifer forests are highly variable both temporally and spatially. This complexity influenced forest structure and spatial patterns, but some of this diversity has been lost due to anthropogenic disruption of ecosystem processes, including fire. Information from reference forest sites can help management efforts to restore forests conditions that may be more resilient to future changes in disturbance regimes and climate. In this study, we characterize tree spatial patterns using four-ha stem maps from four old-growth, Jeffrey pine-mixed conifer forests, two with active-fire regimes in northwestern Mexico and two that experienced fire exclusion in the southern Sierra Nevada. Most of the trees were in patches, averaging six to 11 trees per patch at 0.007 to 0.014 ha(-1), and occupied 27-46% of the study areas. Average canopy gap sizes (0.04 ha) covering 11-20% of the area were not significantly different among sites. The putative main effects of fire exclusion were higher densities of single trees in smaller size classes, larger proportion of trees (≥ 56%) in large patches (≥ 10 trees), and decreases in spatial complexity. While a homogenization of forest structure has been a typical result from fire exclusion, some similarities in patch, single tree, and gap attributes were maintained at these sites. These within-stand descriptions provide spatially relevant benchmarks from which to manage for structural heterogeneity in frequent-fire forest types.

A review of the role of temperate forests in the global CO2 balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Musselman, R.C.; Fox, D.G.

1991-01-01

The role of temperate forests in the global carbon balance is difficult to determine because many uncertainties exist in the data, and many assumptions must be made in these determinations. Still, there is little doubt that increases in atmospheric CO 2 and global warming would have major effects on temperate forest ecosystems. Increases in atmospheric CO 2 may result in increases in photosynthesis, changes in water and nitrogen use efficiency, and changes in carbon allocation. Indirect effects of changes in global carbon balance on regional climate and on microenvironmental conditions, particularly temperature and moisture, may be more important then direct effects of increased CO 2 on vegetation. Increased incidence of forest perturbations might also be expected. The evidence suggests that conditions favorable to forest growth and development may exist in the northern latitudes, while southern latitude forests may undergo drought stress. Current harvest of temperate and world forests contributes substantial amounts of carbon to the atmosphere, possibly as much as 3 gigatons (Gt) per year. Return of this carbon to forest storage may require decades. Forest managers should be aware of the global as well as local impact their management decisions will have on the atmospheric carbon balance of the ecosystems they oversee

Simulating phenological shifts in French temperate forests under two climatic change scenarios and four driving global circulation models

Science.gov (United States)

Lebourgeois, François; Pierrat, Jean-Claude; Perez, Vincent; Piedallu, Christian; Cecchini, Sébastien; Ulrich, Erwin

2010-09-01

After modeling the large-scale climate response patterns of leaf unfolding, leaf coloring and growing season length of evergreen and deciduous French temperate trees, we predicted the effects of eight future climate scenarios on phenological events. We used the ground observations from 103 temperate forests (10 species and 3,708 trees) from the French Renecofor Network and for the period 1997-2006. We applied RandomForest algorithms to predict phenological events from climatic and ecological variables. With the resulting models, we drew maps of phenological events throughout France under present climate and under two climatic change scenarios (A2, B2) and four global circulation models (HadCM3, CGCM2, CSIRO2 and PCM). We compared current observations and predicted values for the periods 2041-2070 and 2071-2100. On average, spring development of oaks precedes that of beech, which precedes that of conifers. Annual cycles in budburst and leaf coloring are highly correlated with January, March-April and October-November weather conditions through temperature, global solar radiation or potential evapotranspiration depending on species. At the end of the twenty-first century, each model predicts earlier budburst (mean: 7 days) and later leaf coloring (mean: 13 days) leading to an average increase in the growing season of about 20 days (for oaks and beech stands). The A2-HadCM3 hypothesis leads to an increase of up to 30 days in many areas. As a consequence of higher predicted warming during autumn than during winter or spring, shifts in leaf coloring dates appear greater than trends in leaf unfolding. At a regional scale, highly differing climatic response patterns were observed.

Edge effects resulting from forest fragmentation enhance carbon uptake and its vulnerability to climate change in temperate broadleaf forests

Science.gov (United States)

Reinmann, A.; Hutyra, L.

2016-12-01

Forest fragmentation resulting from land use and land cover change is a ubiquitous, ongoing global phenomenon with profound impacts on the growing conditions of the world's remaining forest. However, our understanding of forest carbon dynamics and their response to climate largely comes from unfragmented forest systems, which presents an important mismatch between the landscapes we study and those we aim to characterize. The temperate broadleaf forest makes a large contribution to the global terrestrial carbon sink, but is also the most heavily fragmented forest biome in the world. We use field measurements and geospatial analyses to characterize carbon dynamics in temperate broadleaf forest fragments. We show that forest growth and biomass increase by 89 ± 17% and 64 ± 12%, respectively, from the forest interior to edge. These ecosystem edge enhancements are not currently captured by models or approaches to quantifying regional C balance, but across southern New England, USA it increases carbon uptake and storage by 12.5 ± 2.9% and 9.6 ± 1.4%, respectively. However, we also find that forest growth near the edge declines three times faster than in the interior in response to heat stress during the growing season. Using climate projections, we show that future heat stress could reduce the forest edge growth enhancement by one-third by the end of the century. These findings contrast studies of edge effects in the world's other major forest biomes and indicate that the strength of the temperate broadleaf forest carbon sink and its capacity to mitigate anthropogenic carbon emissions may be stronger, but also more sensitive to climate change than previous estimates suggest.

Predicting surface fuel models and fuel metrics using lidar and CIR imagery in a dense mixed conifer forest

Science.gov (United States)

Marek K. Jakubowksi; Qinghua Guo; Brandon Collins; Scott Stephens; Maggi. Kelly

2013-01-01

We compared the ability of several classification and regression algorithms to predict forest stand structure metrics and standard surface fuel models. Our study area spans a dense, topographically complex Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest. We used clustering, regression trees, and support vector machine algorithms to analyze high density (average 9 pulses/m

Mixed-conifer forests of central Oregon: effects of logging and fire exclusion vary with environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Merschel, Andrew G; Spies, Thomas A; Heyerdahl, Emily K

Twentieth-century land management has altered the structure and composition of mixed-conifer forests and decreased their resilience to fire, drought, and insects in many parts of the Interior West. These forests occur across a wide range of environmental settings and historical disturbance regimes, so their response to land management is likely to vary across landscapes and among ecoregions. However, this variation has not been well characterized and hampers the development of appropriate management and restoration plans. We identified mixed-conifer types in central Oregon based on historical structure and composition, and successional trajectories following recent changes in land use, and evaluated how these types were distributed across environmental gradients. We used field data from 171 sites sampled across a range of environmental settings in two subregions: the eastern Cascades and the Ochoco Mountains. We identified four forest types in the eastern Cascades and four analogous types with lower densities in the Ochoco Mountains. All types historically contained ponderosa pine, but differed in the historical and modern proportions of shade-tolerant vs. shade-intolerant tree species. The Persistent Ponderosa Pine and Recent Douglas-fir types occupied relatively hot–dry environments compared to Recent Grand Fir and Persistent Shade Tolerant sites, which occupied warm–moist and cold–wet environments, respectively. Twentieth-century selective harvesting halved the density of large trees, with some variation among forest types. In contrast, the density of small trees doubled or tripled early in the 20th century, probably due to land-use change and a relatively cool, wet climate. Contrary to the common perception that dry ponderosa pine forests are the most highly departed from historical conditions, we found a greater departure in the modern composition of small trees in warm–moist environments than in either hot–dry or cold–wet environments. Furthermore

Influence of different tree-harvesting intensities on forest soil carbon stocks in boreal and northern temperate forest ecosystems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clarke, Nicholas; Gundersen, Per; Jönsson-Belyazid, Ulrika

2015-01-01

) stocks. This paper reviews the findings in the scientific literature concerning the effects of harvesting of different intensities on SOC stocks and fluxes in boreal and northern temperate forest ecosystems to evaluate the evidence for significant SOC losses following biomass removal. An overview...... on SOC stocks in boreal and northern temperate forest ecosystems, which is in any case species-, site- and practice-specific. Properly conducted long-term experiments are therefore necessary to enable us to clarify the relative importance of different harvesting practices on the SOC stores, the key...

Oceanic temperate forest versus warm temperate rainforest: a reply to Grubb et al. (2017)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McGlone, Matt S.; Buitenwerf, Robert; Richardson, Sarah J.

2017-01-01

Grubb et al. (2017) point out that we (McGlone et al. 2016) erroneously stated that the definition of warm temperate rain forest (WTRF; Grubb et al. 2013) was based in part on climatic criteria. We apologise: their text made clear that this was not the case. However, they go on to say that they ‘...

Structure and Composition of a Dry Mixed-Conifer Forest in Absence of Contemporary Treatments, Southwest, USA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Douglas Cram

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Dry mixed-conifer forests in the Southwest occupy an important ecological and hydrological role in upper watersheds. In the absence of reoccurring fire and silvicultural treatments over the last 50 years, we quantified forest structure and composition on prevailing north and south aspects of a dry mixed-conifer forest in southcentral New Mexico using mixed models and ordination analysis in preparation for an experiment in ecological restoration. Results indicated overstory and midstory were dominated by Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii and shade tolerant/fire intolerant white fir (Abies concolor with interspersed mature aspen on north aspects, and Douglas-fir and Southwestern white pine (Pinus strobiformis on south aspects. Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa, which was historically co-dominant with Douglas-fir on north and south aspects, was subdominant on south aspects and almost entirely absent on north aspects. Regeneration was dominated by white fir saplings and seedlings on north aspects while ponderosa pine was completely absent. South aspect saplings and seedlings were characterized by Douglas-fir and Southwestern white pine, but almost no ponderosa pine. Ordination analysis characterized the effect of aspect on species composition. Understanding contemporary forest structure and composition is important when planning for desired future conditions that are to be achieved through ecological restoration using silvicultural techniques designed to foster resilience.

The conversion of evenaged into unevenaged mixed conifer forests in southern British Columbia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eichel, G.H.

1995-12-31

A detailed description of the conditions and history leading to the establishment and continuity of all-aged mixed coniferous forests in the montane south central region of British Columbia, Canada. Also described are the attempts by one forest products company to perpetuate and proportionally increase this type of forest cover through the selective removal necessitated by bark beetle depredation of the component, Pinus contorta. The report concludes with a description of and recommendations for the post-harvest management employing treatments which imitate natural conditions leading to a gradual and lasting conversion of natural multi-species stands into unevenaged or all-aged stands of mixed conifers which are conducive to single tree or group selection harvests at more or less regular intervals. 10 figs, 1 tab

The conversion of evenaged into unevenaged mixed conifer forests in southern British Columbia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eichel, G H

1996-12-31

A detailed description of the conditions and history leading to the establishment and continuity of all-aged mixed coniferous forests in the montane south central region of British Columbia, Canada. Also described are the attempts by one forest products company to perpetuate and proportionally increase this type of forest cover through the selective removal necessitated by bark beetle depredation of the component, Pinus contorta. The report concludes with a description of and recommendations for the post-harvest management employing treatments which imitate natural conditions leading to a gradual and lasting conversion of natural multi-species stands into unevenaged or all-aged stands of mixed conifers which are conducive to single tree or group selection harvests at more or less regular intervals. 10 figs, 1 tab

The ecology and management of moist mixed-conifer forests in eastern Oregon and Washington: a synthesis of the relevant biophysical science and implications for future land management

Science.gov (United States)

Peter Stine; Paul Hessburg; Thomas Spies; Marc Kramer; Christopher J. Fettig; Andrew Hansen; John Lehmkuhl; Kevin O' Hara; Karl Polivka; Peter Singleton; Susan Charnley; Andrew Merschel; Rachel. White

2014-01-01

Land managers in the Pacific Northwest have reported a need for updated scientific information on the ecology and management of mixed-conifer forests east of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington. Of particular concern are the moist mixed-conifer forests, which have become drought-stressed and vulnerable to high-severity fire after decades of human disturbances...

Contrasting spatial patterns in active-fire and fire-suppressed Mediterranean climate old-growth mixed conifer forests.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danny L Fry

Full Text Available In Mediterranean environments in western North America, historic fire regimes in frequent-fire conifer forests are highly variable both temporally and spatially. This complexity influenced forest structure and spatial patterns, but some of this diversity has been lost due to anthropogenic disruption of ecosystem processes, including fire. Information from reference forest sites can help management efforts to restore forests conditions that may be more resilient to future changes in disturbance regimes and climate. In this study, we characterize tree spatial patterns using four-ha stem maps from four old-growth, Jeffrey pine-mixed conifer forests, two with active-fire regimes in northwestern Mexico and two that experienced fire exclusion in the southern Sierra Nevada. Most of the trees were in patches, averaging six to 11 trees per patch at 0.007 to 0.014 ha(-1, and occupied 27-46% of the study areas. Average canopy gap sizes (0.04 ha covering 11-20% of the area were not significantly different among sites. The putative main effects of fire exclusion were higher densities of single trees in smaller size classes, larger proportion of trees (≥ 56% in large patches (≥ 10 trees, and decreases in spatial complexity. While a homogenization of forest structure has been a typical result from fire exclusion, some similarities in patch, single tree, and gap attributes were maintained at these sites. These within-stand descriptions provide spatially relevant benchmarks from which to manage for structural heterogeneity in frequent-fire forest types.

Mechanisms of nitrogen deposition effects on temperate forest lichens and trees

Science.gov (United States)

Therese S. Carter; Christopher M. Clark; Mark E. Fenn; Sarah Jovan; Steven S. Perakis; Jennifer Riddell; Paul G. Schaberg; Tara L. Greaver; Meredith G. Hastings

2017-01-01

We review the mechanisms of deleterious nitrogen (N) deposition impacts on temperate forests, with a particular focus on trees and lichens. Elevated anthropogenic N deposition to forests has varied effects on individual organisms depending on characteristics both of the N inputs (form, timing, amount) and of the organisms (ecology, physiology) involved. Improved...

Aboveground and belowground mammalian herbivores regulate the demography of deciduous woody species in conifer forests

Science.gov (United States)

Bryan A. Endress; Bridgett J. Naylor; Burak K. Pekin; Michael J. Wisdom

2016-01-01

Mammalian herbivory can have profound impacts on plant population and community dynamics. However, our understanding of specific herbivore effects remains limited, even in regions with high densities of domestic and wild herbivores, such as the semiarid conifer forests of western North America. We conducted a seven-year manipulative experiment to evaluate the effects...

Fluxes of trichloroacetic acid through a conifer forest canopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stidson, R.T.; Heal, K.V.; Dickey, C.A.; Cape, J.N.; Heal, M.R.

2004-01-01

Controlled-dosing experiments with conifer seedlings have demonstrated an above-ground route of uptake for trichloroacetic acid (TCA) from aqueous solution into the canopy, in addition to uptake from the soil. The aim of this work was to investigate the loss of TCA to the canopy in a mature conifer forest exposed only to environmental concentrations of TCA by analysing above- and below-canopy fluxes of TCA and within-canopy instantaneous reservoir of TCA. Concentrations and fluxes of TCA were quantified for one year in dry deposition, rainwater, cloudwater, throughfall, stemflow and litterfall in a 37-year-old Sitka spruce and larch plantation in SW Scotland. Above-canopy TCA deposition was dominated by rainfall (86%), compared with cloudwater (13%) and dry deposition (1%). On average only 66% of the TCA deposition passed through the canopy in throughfall and stemflow (95% and 5%, respectively), compared with 47% of the wet precipitation depth. Consequently, throughfall concentration of TCA was, on average, ∼1.4 x rainwater concentration. There was no significant difference in below-canopy fluxes between Sitka spruce and larch, or at a forest-edge site. Annual TCA deposited from the canopy in litterfall was only ∼1-2% of above-canopy deposition. On average, ∼800 μg m -2 of deposited TCA was lost to the canopy per year, compared with estimates of above-ground TCA storage of ∼400 and ∼300 μg m -2 for Sitka spruce and larch, respectively. Taking into account likely uncertainties in these values (∼±50%), these data yield an estimate for the half-life of within-canopy elimination of TCA in the range 50-200 days, assuming steady-state conditions and that all TCA lost to the canopy is transferred into the canopy material, rather than degraded externally. The observations provide strong indication that an above-ground route is important for uptake of TCA specifically of atmospheric origin into mature forest canopies, as has been shown for seedlings (in

[Odocoileus virginianus diet (Artiodactyla: Cervidae) in a temperate forest of Northern Oaxaca, Mexico].

Science.gov (United States)

González, Graciela; Briones-Salas, Miguel

2012-03-01

The Sierra Madre de Oaxaca region, located in the Northern state of Oaxaca, Mexico, is an area of forest ecosystems subject to high exploitation rates, although in some areas its temperate forests are conserved by indigenous community initiatives that live there. We analyzed the diet of white tailed-deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the localities of Santa Catarina Lachatao and San Miguel Amatlán from June 1998 to August 1999. Sampling was done during both the wet and dry seasons, and included the observation of browsing traces (238 observations), microhistological analysis of deer feces (28 deer pellet-groups), and two stomach content analysis. The annual diet of white-tailed deer was composed of 42 species from 23 botanical families. The most represented families in the diet of this deer were Fagaceae, Asteraceae, Ericaceae and Fabaceae. There were significant differences in the alpha diversity of the diet during the wet and dry seasons (H'=2.957 and H'=1.832, respectively). The similarity percentage between seasons was 56%. Differences in plant species frequency were significantly higher during the wet season. Herbaceous plants made up the greatest percentage of all the species consumed. The preferred species throughout the year were Senecio sp. (shrub), Sedum dendroideum (herbaceous), Arctostaphylos pungens (shrub) and Satureja macrostema (shrub). Diet species richness was found to be lower than that observed in a tropical forest (Venezuela), tropical dry forest (Mexico) and temperate deciduous and mixed forest (Mexico), but similar to the diet species richness observed in a tropical dry forest (Costa Rica) and temperate coniferous and deciduous forests (USA).

Carbon density and distribution of six Chinese temperate forests

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2010-01-01

Quantifying forest carbon(C) storage and distribution is important for forest C cycling studies and terrestrial ecosystem modeling.Forest inventory and allometric approaches were used to measure C density and allocation in six representative temperate forests of similar stand age(42-59 years old) and growing under the same climate in northeastern China.The forests were an aspen-birch forest,a hardwood forest,a Korean pine plantation,a Dahurian larch plantation,a mixed deciduous forest,and a Mongolian oak forest.There were no significant differences in the C densities of ecosystem components(except for detritus) although the six forests had varying vegetation compositions and site conditions.However,the differences were significant when the C pools were normalized against stand basal area.The total ecosystem C density varied from 186.9 tC hm-2 to 349.2 tC hm-2 across the forests.The C densities of vegetation,detritus,and soil ranged from 86.3-122.7 tC hm-2,6.5-10.5 tC hm-2,and 93.7-220.1 tC hm-2,respectively,which accounted for 39.7% ± 7.1%(mean ± SD),3.3% ± 1.1%,and 57.0% ± 7.9% of the total C densities,respectively.The overstory C pool accounted for > 99% of the total vegetation C pool.The foliage biomass,small root(diameter < 5mm) biomass,root-shoot ratio,and small root to foliage biomass ratio varied from 2.08-4.72 tC hm-2,0.95-3.24 tC hm-2,22.0%-28.3%,and 34.5%-122.2%,respectively.The Korean pine plantation had the lowest foliage production efficiency(total biomass/foliage biomass:22.6 g g-1) among the six forests,while the Dahurian larch plantation had the highest small root production efficiency(total biomass/small root biomass:124.7 g g-1).The small root C density decreased with soil depth for all forests except for the Mongolian oak forest,in which the small roots tended to be vertically distributed downwards.The C density of coarse woody debris was significantly less in the two plantations than in the four naturally regenerated forests.The variability

Edge effects enhance carbon uptake and its vulnerability to climate change in temperate broadleaf forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Reinmann, Andrew B; Hutyra, Lucy R

2017-01-03

Forest fragmentation is a ubiquitous, ongoing global phenomenon with profound impacts on the growing conditions of the world's remaining forest. The temperate broadleaf forest makes a large contribution to the global terrestrial carbon sink but is also the most heavily fragmented forest biome in the world. We use field measurements and geospatial analyses to characterize carbon dynamics in temperate broadleaf forest fragments. We show that forest growth and biomass increase by 89 ± 17% and 64 ± 12%, respectively, from the forest interior to edge, but ecosystem edge enhancements are not currently captured by models or approaches to quantifying regional C balance. To the extent that the findings from our research represent the forest of southern New England in the United States, we provide a preliminary estimate that edge growth enhancement could increase estimates of the region's carbon uptake and storage by 13 ± 3% and 10 ± 1%, respectively. However, we also find that forest growth near the edge declines three times faster than that in the interior in response to heat stress during the growing season. Using climate projections, we show that future heat stress could reduce the forest edge growth enhancement by one-third by the end of the century. These findings contrast studies of edge effects in the world's other major forest biomes and indicate that the strength of the temperate broadleaf forest carbon sink and its capacity to mitigate anthropogenic carbon emissions may be stronger, but also more sensitive to climate change than previous estimates suggest.

Ectomycorrhizal sporophore distributions in a southeastern Appalachian mixed hardwood/conifer forest with thickets of Rhododendron maximum

Science.gov (United States)

John F. Walker; Orson R. Jr. Miller

2002-01-01

Sporophore abundance of putatively ectomycorrhizal fungi was compared in a mature mixed hardwood/conifer forest inside of (1) versus outside of (2) Rhododendron maximum thickets (RmT). Experimental blocks (1/4 ha) were established inside of (3) and outside of (3) RmT at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in Macon County, North Carolina, USA. Litter...

Short Communication. Comparing flammability traits among fire-stricken (low elevation) and non fire-stricken (high elevation) conifer forest species of Europe: A test of the Mutch hypothesis

OpenAIRE

A. P. Dimitrakopoulos; I. D. Mitsopoulos; A. Kaliva

2013-01-01

Aim of study. The flammability of the main coniferous forest species of Europe, divided into two groups according to their fire regime and altitudinal distribution, was tested in an effort to detect species-specific differences that may have an influence on community-wide fire regimes.Area of study. Conifer species comprising low- and high-elevation forests in Europe.Materials and Methods. The following conifer species were tested: low elevation; Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine), Pinus brutia (...

Detrimental Influence of Invasive Earthworms on North American Cold-Temperate Forest Soils

Science.gov (United States)

Enerson, Isabel

2012-01-01

The topic of invasive earthworms is a timely concern that goes against many preconceived notions regarding the positive benefits of all worms. In the cold-temperate forests of North America invasive worms are threatening forest ecosystems, due to the changes they create in the soil, including decreases in C:N ratios and leaf litter, disruption of…

Long-Term Fire Regime Estimated from Soil Charcoal in Coastal Temperate Rainforests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ken Lertzman

2002-12-01

Full Text Available Coastal temperate rainforests from southeast Alaska through to southern Oregon are ecologically distinct from forests of neighboring regions, which have a drier, or more continental, climate and disturbance regimes dominated by fires. The long-term role of fire remains one of the key outstanding sources of uncertainty in the historical dynamics of the wetter and less seasonal forests that dominate the northerly two thirds of the rainforest region in British Columbia and Alaska. Here, we describe the long-term fire regime in two forests on the south coast of British Columbia by means of 244 AMS radiocarbon dates of charcoal buried in forest soils. In both forests, some sites have experienced no fire over the last 6000 years and many other sites have experienced only one or two fires during that time. Intervals between fires vary from a few centuries to several thousand years. In contrast to other conifer forests, this supports a model of forest dynamics where fires are of minor ecological importance. Instead, forest history is dominated by fine-scale processes of disturbance and recovery that maintain an ubiquitous late-successional character over the forest landscape. This has significant implications for ecosystem-based forest management and our understanding of carbon storage in forest soils.

Leaf hydraulic capacity in ferns, conifers and angiosperms: impacts on photosynthetic maxima.

Science.gov (United States)

Brodribb, Tim J; Holbrook, N Michele; Zwieniecki, Maciej A; Palma, Beatriz

2005-03-01

* The hydraulic plumbing of vascular plant leaves varies considerably between major plant groups both in the spatial organization of veins, as well as their anatomical structure. * Five conifers, three ferns and 12 angiosperm trees were selected from tropical and temperate forests to investigate whether the profound differences in foliar morphology of these groups lead to correspondingly profound differences in leaf hydraulic efficiency. * We found that angiosperm leaves spanned a range of leaf hydraulic conductance from 3.9 to 36 mmol m2 s-1 MPa-1, whereas ferns (5.9-11.4 mmol m-2 s-1 MPa-1) and conifers (1.6-9.0 mmol m-2 s-1 MPa-1) were uniformly less conductive to liquid water. Leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) correlated strongly with stomatal conductance indicating an internal leaf-level regulation of liquid and vapour conductances. Photosynthetic capacity also increased with Kleaf, however, it became saturated at values of Kleaf over 20 mmol m-2 s-1 MPa-1. * The data suggest that vessels in the leaves of the angiosperms studied provide them with the flexibility to produce highly conductive leaves with correspondingly high photosynthetic capacities relative to tracheid-bearing species.

Biophysical controls on soil respiration in the dominant patch types of an old-growth, mixed-conifer forest

Science.gov (United States)

Siyan Ma; Jiquan Chen; John R. Butnor; Malcolm North; Eugénie S. Euskirchen; Brian Oakley

2005-01-01

Little is known about biophysical controls on soil respiration in California's Sierra Nevada old-growth, mixed-conifer forests. Using portable and automated soil respiration sampling units, we measured soil respiration rate (SRR) in three dominant patch types: closed canopy (CC), ceanothus-dominated patches (CECO), and open canopy (OC). SRR varied significantly...

Impacts of Mastication: Soil Seed Bank Responses to a Forest Thinning Treatment in Three Colorado (USA Conifer Forest Types

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akasha M. Faist

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Mastication is a forest fuel thinning treatment that involves chipping or shredding small trees and shrubs and depositing the material across the forest floor. By decreasing forest density mastication has been shown to lessen crown fire hazard, yet other impacts have only recently started to be studied. Our study evaluates how mastication treatments alter the density and composition of soil seed banks in three Colorado conifer forest types. The three forest types were (1 lodgepole pine, (2 ponderosa pine and (3 pinyon pine-juniper. Results showed that masticated sites contained higher seed bank densities than untreated sites: a pattern primarily driven by treatment effects in ponderosa pine forests. The seed bank was dominated by forbs regardless of forest type or treatment. This pattern of forb dominance was not observed in the aboveground vegetation cover as it demonstrated more even proportions of the functional groups. Graminoids showed a higher seed density in treated sites than untreated and, similarly, the identified non-native species only occurred in the treated ponderosa pine sites suggesting a potential belowground invasion for this forest type. These results suggest that presence of masticated material might not be creating a physical barrier hindering the transfer of seeds as predicted.

Measuring and modeling carbon balance in mountainous Northern Rocky mixed conifer forests

Science.gov (United States)

Hudiburg, T. W.; Berardi, D.; Stenzel, J.

2016-12-01

Drought and wildfire caused by changing precipitation patterns, increased temperatures, increased fuel loads, and decades of fire suppression are reducing forest carbon uptake from local to continental scales. This trend is especially widespread in Idaho and the intermountain west and has important implications for climate change and forest management options. Given the key role of forests in climate regulation, understanding forest response to drought and the feedbacks to the atmosphere is a key research and policy-relevant priority globally. As temperature, fire, and precipitation regimes continue to change and there is increased risk of forest mortality, measurements and modeling at temporal and spatial scales that are conducive to understanding the impacts and underlying mechanisms of carbon and nutrient cycling become critically important. Until recently, sub-daily measurements of ecosystem carbon balance have been limited in remote, mountainous terrain (e.g Northern Rocky mountain forests). Here, we combine new measurement technology and state-of-the-art ecosystem modeling to determine the impact of drought on the total carbon balance of a mature, mixed-conifer forest in Northern Idaho. Our findings indicate that drought had no impact on aboveground NPP, despite early growing season reductions in soil moisture and fine root biomass compared to non-drought years in the past. Modeled estimates of net ecosystem production (NEP) suggest that a simultaneous reduction in heterotrophic respiration increased the carbon sink for this forest. This has important implications for forest management, such as thinning where the objectives are to increase forest resilience to fire and drought, but may decrease NEP.

Can Carbon Fluxes Explain Differences in Soil Organic Carbon Storage under Aspen and Conifer Forest Overstories?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antra Boča

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Climate- and management-induced changes in tree species distributions are raising questions regarding tree species-specific effects on soil organic carbon (SOC storage and stability. Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx. is the most widespread tree species in North America, but fire exclusion often promotes the succession to conifer dominated forests. Aspen in the Western US have been found to store more SOC in the mineral soil than nearby conifers, but we do not yet fully understand the source of this differential SOC accumulation. We measured total SOC storage (0–50 cm, characterized stable and labile SOC pools, and quantified above- and belowground litter inputs and dissolved organic carbon (DOC fluxes during snowmelt in plots located in N and S Utah, to elucidate the role of foliage vs. root detritus in SOC storage and stabilization in both ecosystems. While leaf litterfall was twice as high under aspen as under conifers, input of litter-derived DOC with snowmelt water was consistently higher under conifers. Fine root (<2 mm biomass, estimated root detritus input, and root-derived DOC fluxes were also higher under conifers. A strong positive relationship between root and light fraction C content suggests that root detritus mostly fueled the labile fraction of SOC. Overall, neither differences in above- and belowground detritus C inputs nor in detritus-derived DOC fluxes could explain the higher and more stable SOC pools under aspen. We hypothesize that root–microbe–soil interactions in the rhizosphere are more likely to drive these SOC pool differences.

Temperate and boreal old-growth forests: how do their growth dynamics and biodiversity differ from young stands and managed forests?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schulze, E.D.; Hessenmoeller, D; Knohl, A.; Luyssaert, S; Boerner, A; Grace, J.

2009-01-01

This chapter investigates biomass, net primary productivity (NPP), and net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of boreal and temperate forest ecosystems in relation to stand density and age. Forests may accumulate woody biomass at constant rate for centuries and there is little evidence of an age-related

RECONSTRUCTING THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF THE FOREST FUNGAL PATHOGEN, ARMILLARIA MELLEA, IN A TEMPERATE WORLDWIDE POPULATIONS

Science.gov (United States)

The forest pathogen Armillaria mellea s.s. (Basidiomycota, Physalacriaceae) is among the most significant forest pathogens causing root rot in northern temperate forest trees worldwide. Phylogenetic reconstructions for A. mellea show distinct European, Asian and North American lineages. The North Am...

Impact of Land Use Change on the Temperate Forest of South Central Chile

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, A.; Fuentes, R.; Jaque, E.; Fernandez, S.

2017-12-01

Chilean temperate forests is a biological hotspot because its high diversity and endemism. Nevertheless, in the last few decades the spatial extent of this forest has been decimated, portraying potentially harmful impacts on the regional biodiversity. In this work, we present our ongoing study on the rate of temperate forest shrinkage and their causes in a section of the BioBío region (37°S), South Central Chile. We derived land cover maps from satellite imagery acquired over 20 years (1990 and 2010) and assessed the effects of changes in land use on native forest. Between 1990 and 2010, there was a 59% reduction in native forest area, which is equivalent to an annual forest loss rate of 4.4% per year. Forest fragmentation was associated with a decrease in forest patch size and proximity, and an increase in the number of forest patches. During this study period native forest loss was correlated with an expansion of plantations of exotic species, which in turn was associated with substantial changes in the spatial configuration of the landscape. We will also present an update of this pattern including the period 2010-2017. The assessment of deforestation and fragmentation provides a basis for future research on the impacts of forest fragmentation on the different components of biodiversity. We suggest that conservation strategies and land use planning are necessary in the study area; this should consider the spatial pattern of native forest patches and the change of these over time at a landscape level.

Fluctuations in the East Asian monsoon recorded by pollen assemblages in sediments from the Japan Sea off the southwestern coast of Hokkaido, Japan, from 4.3 Ma to the present

Science.gov (United States)

Igarashi, Yaeko; Irino, Tomohisa; Sawada, Ken; Song, Lu; Furota, Satoshi

2018-04-01

We reconstructed fluctuations in the East Asian monsoon and vegetation in the Japan Sea region since the middle Pliocene based on pollen data obtained from sediments collected by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program off the southwestern coast of northern Japan. Taxodiaceae conifers Metasequoia and Cryptomeria and Sciadopityacere conifer Sciadopitys are excellent indicators of a humid climate during the monsoon. The pollen temperature index (Tp) can be used as a proxy for relative air temperature. Based on changes in vegetation and reconstructed climate over a period of 4.3 Ma, we classified the sediment sequence into six pollen zones. From 4.3 to 3.8 Ma (Zone 1), the climate fluctuated between cool/moist and warm/moist climatic conditions. Vegetation changed between warm temperate mixed forest and cool temperate conifer forest. The Neogene type tree Carya recovered under a warm/moist climate. The period from 3.8 to 2.5 Ma (Zone 2) was characterized by increased Metasequoia pollen concentration. Warm temperate mixed forest vegetation developed under a cool/moist climate. The period from 2.5 to 2.2 Ma (Zone 3) was characterized by an abrupt increase in Metasequoia and/or Cryptomeria pollen and a decrease in warm broadleaf tree pollen, indicating a cool/humid climate. The Zone 4 period (2.2-1.7 Ma) was characterized by a decrease in Metasequoia and/or Cryptomeria pollen and an increase in cool temperate conifer Picea and Tsuga pollen, indicating a cool/moist climate. The period from 1.7 to 0.3 Ma (Zone 5) was characterized by orbital-scale climate fluctuations. Cycles of abrupt increases and decreases in Cryptomeria and Picea pollen and in Tp values indicated changes between warm/humid and cold/dry climates. The alpine fern Selaginella selaginoides appeared as of 1.6 Ma. Vegetation alternated among warm mixed, cool mixed, and cool temperate conifer forests. Zone 6 (0.3 Ma to present) was characterized by a decrease in Cryptomeria pollen. The warm temperate broadleaf

Litter input controls on soil carbon in a temperate deciduous forest

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bowden, Richard D.; Deem, Lauren; Plante, Alain F.

2014-01-01

Above- and belowground litter inputs in a temperate deciduous forest were altered for 20 yr to determine the importance of leaves and roots on soil C and soil organic matter (SOM) quantity and quality. Carbon and SOM quantity and quality were measured in the O horizon and mineral soil to 50 cm...... soil C, but decreases in litter inputs resulted in rapid soil C declines. Root litter may ultimately provide more stable sources of soil C. Management activities or environmental alterations that decrease litter inputs in mature forests can lower soil C content; however, increases in forest...

Dominant effect of increasing forest biomass on evapotranspiration: interpretations of movement in Budyko space

Science.gov (United States)

Jaramillo, Fernando; Cory, Neil; Arheimer, Berit; Laudon, Hjalmar; van der Velde, Ype; Hasper, Thomas B.; Teutschbein, Claudia; Uddling, Johan

2018-01-01

During the last 6 decades, forest biomass has increased in Sweden mainly due to forest management, with a possible increasing effect on evapotranspiration. However, increasing global CO2 concentrations may also trigger physiological water-saving responses in broadleaf tree species, and to a lesser degree in some needleleaf conifer species, inducing an opposite effect. Additionally, changes in other forest attributes may also affect evapotranspiration. In this study, we aimed to detect the dominating effect(s) of forest change on evapotranspiration by studying changes in the ratio of actual evapotranspiration to precipitation, known as the evaporative ratio, during the period 1961-2012. We first used the Budyko framework of water and energy availability at the basin scale to study the hydroclimatic movements in Budyko space of 65 temperate and boreal basins during this period. We found that movements in Budyko space could not be explained by climatic changes in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration in 60 % of these basins, suggesting the existence of other dominant drivers of hydroclimatic change. In both the temperate and boreal basin groups studied, a negative climatic effect on the evaporative ratio was counteracted by a positive residual effect. The positive residual effect occurred along with increasing standing forest biomass in the temperate and boreal basin groups, increasing forest cover in the temperate basin group and no apparent changes in forest species composition in any group. From the three forest attributes, standing forest biomass was the one that could explain most of the variance of the residual effect in both basin groups. These results further suggest that the water-saving response to increasing CO2 in these forests is either negligible or overridden by the opposite effect of the increasing forest biomass. Thus, we conclude that increasing standing forest biomass is the dominant driver of long-term and large-scale evapotranspiration

Trace Gas Emissions in Temperate Forests and Impact of Forest Conversion

Science.gov (United States)

Butterbach-Bahl, K.; Papen, H.

2003-12-01

Temperate forest ecosystems play a significant role as sources and sinks for primarily and secondarily active trace gases such as N2O, NO and CH4. In recent decades the magnitude of the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of these trace gases has been substantially altered due to direct and indirect anthropogenic activities. E.g. measurements at different forest sites across Europe exposed to different loads of atmospheric N-deposition clearly show, that N-oxides emissions are positively correlated to N-deposition, whereas CH4 uptake rates are negatively affected. Furthermore, stand properties such as tree species composition as well as stand age have also been demonstrated to strongly affect the exchange of these trace gases. Results of continuous measurements of N-oxide emissions at the Hoglwald Forest site, Germany, show that e.g. NO-emissions from a spruce site are approx. 6 fold higher (5-7 kg NO-N ha-1 yr-1) than N2O emissions (0.5-1 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1), whereas at an adjacent beech site -stocking on a comparable soil- N2O-emissions are 3-5 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1 and NO emissions are 2-2.5 kg NO-N ha-1 yr-1. These results are further supported by microbiological process studies, which show that the forest type can alter the magnitude of the key microbial processes mineralization and nitrification by its effect on soil moisture conditions and substrate quality. However, estimates of trace gas exchange between temperate forest soils and the atmosphere remain fragmentary if the effect of direct anthropogenic management activities such as clear cutting and reforestation are neglected. Therefore, in 1999 we started a multi-year experiment at the H”glwald Forest, Bavaria, in which we investigated the effect of the conversion of a spruce forest into a beech forest either by clear cutting or selected cutting on N2O, NO and CH4 emission/ deposition. The results of this study show, that clear cutting strongly enhanced N2O emissions from approx. 0.5 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1 to >5 kg

Seasonality of temperate forest photosynthesis and daytime respiration.

Science.gov (United States)

Wehr, R; Munger, J W; McManus, J B; Nelson, D D; Zahniser, M S; Davidson, E A; Wofsy, S C; Saleska, S R

2016-06-30

Terrestrial ecosystems currently offset one-quarter of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions because of a slight imbalance between global terrestrial photosynthesis and respiration. Understanding what controls these two biological fluxes is therefore crucial to predicting climate change. Yet there is no way of directly measuring the photosynthesis or daytime respiration of a whole ecosystem of interacting organisms; instead, these fluxes are generally inferred from measurements of net ecosystem-atmosphere CO2 exchange (NEE), in a way that is based on assumed ecosystem-scale responses to the environment. The consequent view of temperate deciduous forests (an important CO2 sink) is that, first, ecosystem respiration is greater during the day than at night; and second, ecosystem photosynthetic light-use efficiency peaks after leaf expansion in spring and then declines, presumably because of leaf ageing or water stress. This view has underlain the development of terrestrial biosphere models used in climate prediction and of remote sensing indices of global biosphere productivity. Here, we use new isotopic instrumentation to determine ecosystem photosynthesis and daytime respiration in a temperate deciduous forest over a three-year period. We find that ecosystem respiration is lower during the day than at night-the first robust evidence of the inhibition of leaf respiration by light at the ecosystem scale. Because they do not capture this effect, standard approaches overestimate ecosystem photosynthesis and daytime respiration in the first half of the growing season at our site, and inaccurately portray ecosystem photosynthetic light-use efficiency. These findings revise our understanding of forest-atmosphere carbon exchange, and provide a basis for investigating how leaf-level physiological dynamics manifest at the canopy scale in other ecosystems.

Fire impact on carbon storage in light conifer forests of the Lower Angara region, Siberia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanova, G A; Kukavskaya, E A; Conard, S G; McRae, D J

2011-01-01

This study focused on structural analysis of ground carbon storage following fires in light conifer stands of the Lower Angara region (Siberia, Russia). Experimental fires of varying frontal intensity were conducted at Scots pine and mixed larch forests of southern taiga. Considerable amounts of surface and ground forest fuels (21–38 tC ha −1 ) enhanced low- to high-intensity fires. Post-fire carbon storage decreased by 16–49% depending on fire intensity and rate of spread, with depth of burn being 0.9–6.6 cm. Carbon emissions varied from 4.48 to 15.89 t ha −1 depending on fire intensity and forest type. Depth of burn and carbon emissions for four major site types were correlated with a weather-based fire hazard index.

Mega-fire Recovery in Dry Conifer Forests of the Interior West

Science.gov (United States)

Malone, S. L.; Fornwalt, P.; Chambers, M. E.; Battaglia, M.

2015-12-01

Wildfire is a complex landscape process with great uncertainty in whether trends in size and severity are shifting trajectories for ecosystem recovery that are outside of the historical range of variability. Considering that wildfire size and severity is likely to increase into the future with a drier climate, it is important that we understand wildfire effects and ecosystem recovery. To evaluate how ecosystems recover from wildfire we measured spatial patterns in regeneration and mapped tree refugia within mega-fire perimeters (Hayman, Jasper, Bobcat, and Grizzly Gulch) in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) dominated forest. On average, high severity fire effects accounted for > 15% of burned area and increased with fire size. Areas with high severity fire effects contained 1 - 15% tree refugia cover, compared to 37 - 70% observed in low severity areas . Large high severity patches with low coverage of tree refugia, were more frequent in larger fires and regeneration distances required to initiate forest recovery far exceeded 1.5 canopy height or 200 m, distances where the vast majority of regeneration is likely to arise. Using a recovery model driven by distance, we estimate recovery times between 300 to > 1000 years for these mega-fires. In Western dry conifer forests, large patches of stand replacing fire are likely to lead to uneven aged forest and very long recovery times.

Suitability of close-to-nature silviculture for adapting temperate European forests to climate change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brang, P.; Spathelf, P.; Larsen, J.B.; Bauhus, J.; Boncina, A.; Mohren, G.M.J.

2014-01-01

In many parts of Europe, close-to-nature silviculture (CNS) has been widely advocated as being the best approach for managing forests to cope with future climate change. In this review, we identify and evaluate six principles for enhancing the adaptive capacity of European temperate forests in a

Fire-scar formation in Jeffrey pine - mixed conifer forests in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Scott L. Stephens; Danny L. Fry; Brandon M. Collins; Carl N. Skinner; Ernesto Franco-Vizcaino; Travis J. Freed

2010-01-01

Little is known about the probability of fire-scar formation. In this study, we examined all mixed conifer trees for fire-scar formation in a 16 ha watershed that burned as part of a 2003 wildfire in Sierra San Pedro Ma´rtir National Park (SSPM), Mexico. In addition, we examine the probability of fire-scar formation in relation to the previous fire interval in forests...

Carbon and Water Exchanges in a Chronosequence of Temperate White Pine Forest

Science.gov (United States)

Arain, M.; Restrepo, N.; Pejam, M.; Khomik, M.

2003-12-01

Quantification of carbon sink or source strengths of temperate forest ecosystems, growing in northern mid-latitudes, is essential to resolve uncertainties in carbon balance of the world's terrestrial ecosystems. Long-term flux measurements are needed to quantify seasonal and annual variability of carbon and water exchanges from these ecosystems and to relate the variability to environmental and physiological factors. Such long-term measurements are of particular interest for different stand developmental stages. An understanding of environmental control factors is necessary to improve predictive capabilities of terrestrial carbon and water cycles. A long-term year-round measurement program has been initiated to observe energy, water vapour, and carbon dioxide fluxes in a chronosequence of white pine (Pinus Strobus) forests in southeastern Canada. White pine is an important species in the North American landscape because of its ability to adapt to dry environments. White pine efficiently grows on coarse and sandy soils, where other deciduous and conifer species cannot survive. Generally, it is the first woody species to flourish after disturbances such as fire and clearing. The climate at the study site is temperate, with a mean annual temperature of 8 degree C and a mean annual precipitation of about 800 mm. The growing season is one of the longest in Canada, with at least 150 frost-free days. Measurements at the site began in June 2002 and are continuing at present. Flux measurements at the 60 year old stand are being made using a close-path eddy covariance (EC) system, while fluxes at the three younger stands (30, 15 and 1 year old) are being measured over 10 to 20 day periods using a roving open-path EC system Soil respiration is being measured every 2-weeks across 50-m transects at all four sites using a mobile chamber system (LI-COR 6400). The mature stand was a sink of carbon with annual NEP value of 140 g C m-2 from June 2002 to May 2003. Gross ecosystem

Land use strategies to mitigate climate change in carbon dense temperate forests

Science.gov (United States)

Hudiburg, Tara W.; Berner, Logan T.; Kent, Jeffrey J.; Buotte, Polly C.; Harmon, Mark E.

2018-01-01

Strategies to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions through forestry activities have been proposed, but ecosystem process-based integration of climate change, enhanced CO2, disturbance from fire, and management actions at regional scales are extremely limited. Here, we examine the relative merits of afforestation, reforestation, management changes, and harvest residue bioenergy use in the Pacific Northwest. This region represents some of the highest carbon density forests in the world, which can store carbon in trees for 800 y or more. Oregon’s net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) was equivalent to 72% of total emissions in 2011–2015. By 2100, simulations show increased net carbon uptake with little change in wildfires. Reforestation, afforestation, lengthened harvest cycles on private lands, and restricting harvest on public lands increase NECB 56% by 2100, with the latter two actions contributing the most. Resultant cobenefits included water availability and biodiversity, primarily from increased forest area, age, and species diversity. Converting 127,000 ha of irrigated grass crops to native forests could decrease irrigation demand by 233 billion m3⋅y−1. Utilizing harvest residues for bioenergy production instead of leaving them in forests to decompose increased emissions in the short-term (50 y), reducing mitigation effectiveness. Increasing forest carbon on public lands reduced emissions compared with storage in wood products because the residence time is more than twice that of wood products. Hence, temperate forests with high carbon densities and lower vulnerability to mortality have substantial potential for reducing forest sector emissions. Our analysis framework provides a template for assessments in other temperate regions. PMID:29555758

Adaptive root foraging strategies along a boreal-temperate forest gradient.

Science.gov (United States)

Ostonen, Ivika; Truu, Marika; Helmisaari, Heljä-Sisko; Lukac, Martin; Borken, Werner; Vanguelova, Elena; Godbold, Douglas L; Lõhmus, Krista; Zang, Ulrich; Tedersoo, Leho; Preem, Jens-Konrad; Rosenvald, Katrin; Aosaar, Jürgen; Armolaitis, Kęstutis; Frey, Jane; Kabral, Naima; Kukumägi, Mai; Leppälammi-Kujansuu, Jaana; Lindroos, Antti-Jussi; Merilä, Päivi; Napa, Ülle; Nöjd, Pekka; Parts, Kaarin; Uri, Veiko; Varik, Mats; Truu, Jaak

2017-08-01

The tree root-mycorhizosphere plays a key role in resource uptake, but also in the adaptation of forests to changing environments. The adaptive foraging mechanisms of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) and fine roots of Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris and Betula pendula were evaluated along a gradient from temperate to subarctic boreal forest (38 sites between latitudes 48°N and 69°N) in Europe. Variables describing tree resource uptake structures and processes (absorptive fine root biomass and morphology, nitrogen (N) concentration in absorptive roots, extramatrical mycelium (EMM) biomass, community structure of root-associated EcM fungi, soil and rhizosphere bacteria) were used to analyse relationships between root system functional traits and climate, soil and stand characteristics. Absorptive fine root biomass per stand basal area increased significantly from temperate to boreal forests, coinciding with longer and thinner root tips with higher tissue density, smaller EMM biomass per root length and a shift in soil microbial community structure. The soil carbon (C) : N ratio was found to explain most of the variability in absorptive fine root and EMM biomass, root tissue density, N concentration and rhizosphere bacterial community structure. We suggest a concept of absorptive fine root foraging strategies involving both qualitative and quantitative changes in the root-mycorrhiza-bacteria continuum along climate and soil C : N gradients. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

Modeling complex effects of multiple environmental stresses on carbon dynamics of Mid-Atlantic temperate forests

Science.gov (United States)

Yude Pan; Richard Birdsey; John Hom; Kevin McCullough

2007-01-01

We used our GIS variant of the PnET-CN model to investigate changes of forest carbon stocks and fluxes in Mid-Atlantic temperate forests over the last century (1900-2000). Forests in this region are affected by multiple environmental changes including climate, atmospheric CO2 concentration, N deposition and tropospheric ozone, and extensive land disturbances. Our...

Phylogenetic constraints do not explain the rarity of nitrogen-fixing trees in late-successional temperate forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Menge, Duncan N L; DeNoyer, Jeanne L; Lichstein, Jeremy W

2010-08-06

Symbiotic nitrogen (N)-fixing trees are rare in late-successional temperate forests, even though these forests are often N limited. Two hypotheses could explain this paradox. The 'phylogenetic constraints hypothesis' states that no late-successional tree taxa in temperate forests belong to clades that are predisposed to N fixation. Conversely, the 'selective constraints hypothesis' states that such taxa are present, but N-fixing symbioses would lower their fitness. Here we test the phylogenetic constraints hypothesis. Using U.S. forest inventory data, we derived successional indices related to shade tolerance and stand age for N-fixing trees, non-fixing trees in the 'potentially N-fixing clade' (smallest angiosperm clade that includes all N fixers), and non-fixing trees outside this clade. We then used phylogenetically independent contrasts (PICs) to test for associations between these successional indices and N fixation. Four results stand out from our analysis of U.S. trees. First, N fixers are less shade-tolerant than non-fixers both inside and outside of the potentially N-fixing clade. Second, N fixers tend to occur in younger stands in a given geographical region than non-fixers both inside and outside of the potentially N-fixing clade. Third, the potentially N-fixing clade contains numerous late-successional non-fixers. Fourth, although the N fixation trait is evolutionarily conserved, the successional traits are relatively labile. These results suggest that selective constraints, not phylogenetic constraints, explain the rarity of late-successional N-fixing trees in temperate forests. Because N-fixing trees could overcome N limitation to net primary production if they were abundant, this study helps to understand the maintenance of N limitation in temperate forests, and therefore the capacity of this biome to sequester carbon.

Red Alder-Conifer Stands in Alaska: An Example of Mixed Species Management to Enhance Structural and Biological Complexity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert L. Deal

2017-04-01

Full Text Available There is worldwide interest in managing forests to improve biodiversity, enhance ecosystem services and assure long-term sustainability of forest resources. An increasingly important goal of forest management is to increase stand diversity and improve wildlife and aquatic habitat. Well-planned silvicultural systems containing a mixture of broadleaf-conifer species have potential to enhance stand diversity and provide other ecosystem services earlier than typical even-aged conifer plantations. Here, we use the example of mixed Sitka spruce/western hemlock and red alder in young, managed stands in southeast Alaska to achieve these goals. We briefly describe the silvics of Sitka spruce, western hemlock and red alder plantations as pure conifer stands or pure broadleaf stands. Then, we synthesize studies of mixed red alder-Sitka spruce/western hemlock stands in southeast Alaska and present their potential for improving stand structural complexity, biodiversity and other ecosystem services over pure conifer forests. Finally, we discuss some of the opportunities and potential tradeoffs for managing mixed broadleaf-conifer stands for providing a number of natural resources and the influence of these broadleaf-conifer forests on ecosystem linkages and processes.

Areas of Agreement and Disagreement Regarding Ponderosa Pine and Mixed Conifer Forest Fire Regimes: A Dialogue with Stevens et al.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis C Odion

Full Text Available In a recent PLOS ONE paper, we conducted an evidence-based analysis of current versus historical fire regimes and concluded that traditionally defined reference conditions of low-severity fire regimes for ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa and mixed-conifer forests were incomplete, missing considerable variability in forest structure and fire regimes. Stevens et al. (this issue agree that high-severity fire was a component of these forests, but disagree that one of the several sources of evidence, stand age from a large number of forest inventory and analysis (FIA plots across the western USA, support our findings that severe fire played more than a minor role ecologically in these forests. Here we highlight areas of agreement and disagreement about past fire, and analyze the methods Stevens et al. used to assess the FIA stand-age data. We found a major problem with a calculation they used to conclude that the FIA data were not useful for evaluating fire regimes. Their calculation, as well as a narrowing of the definition of high-severity fire from the one we used, leads to a large underestimate of conditions consistent with historical high-severity fire. The FIA stand age data do have limitations but they are consistent with other landscape-inference data sources in supporting a broader paradigm about historical variability of fire in ponderosa and mixed-conifer forests than had been traditionally recognized, as described in our previous PLOS paper.

Areas of Agreement and Disagreement Regarding Ponderosa Pine and Mixed Conifer Forest Fire Regimes: A Dialogue with Stevens et al.

Science.gov (United States)

Odion, Dennis C; Hanson, Chad T; Baker, William L; DellaSala, Dominick A; Williams, Mark A

2016-01-01

In a recent PLOS ONE paper, we conducted an evidence-based analysis of current versus historical fire regimes and concluded that traditionally defined reference conditions of low-severity fire regimes for ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and mixed-conifer forests were incomplete, missing considerable variability in forest structure and fire regimes. Stevens et al. (this issue) agree that high-severity fire was a component of these forests, but disagree that one of the several sources of evidence, stand age from a large number of forest inventory and analysis (FIA) plots across the western USA, support our findings that severe fire played more than a minor role ecologically in these forests. Here we highlight areas of agreement and disagreement about past fire, and analyze the methods Stevens et al. used to assess the FIA stand-age data. We found a major problem with a calculation they used to conclude that the FIA data were not useful for evaluating fire regimes. Their calculation, as well as a narrowing of the definition of high-severity fire from the one we used, leads to a large underestimate of conditions consistent with historical high-severity fire. The FIA stand age data do have limitations but they are consistent with other landscape-inference data sources in supporting a broader paradigm about historical variability of fire in ponderosa and mixed-conifer forests than had been traditionally recognized, as described in our previous PLOS paper.

Gap-based silviculture in a sierran mixed-conifer forest: effects of gap size on early survival and 7-year seedling growth

Science.gov (United States)

Robert A. York; John J. Battles; Robert C. Heald

2007-01-01

Experimental canopy gaps ranging in size from 0.1 to 1.0 ha (0.25 to 2.5 acres) were created in a mature mixed conifer forest at Blodgett Forest Research Station, California. Following gap creation, six species were planted in a wagon-wheel design and assessed for survival after two growing seasons. Study trees were measured after seven years to describe the effect of...

Effects of thinning, residue mastication, and prescribed fire on soil and nutrient budgets in a Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest

Science.gov (United States)

The effects of thinning followed by residue mastication (THIN), prescribed fire (BURN), and thinning plus residue mastication plus burning (T+B) on nutrient budgets and resin-based (plant root simulator [PRS] probe) measurements of soil nutrient availability in a mixed-conifer forest were measured. ...

Effects of thinning, residue mastication, and prescribed fire on soil and nutrient budgets in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest

Science.gov (United States)

The effects of thinning followed by residue mastication (THIN), prescribed fire (BURN), and thinning plus residue mastication plus burning (T+B) on nutrient budgets and resin-based (plant root simulator [PRS] probe) measurements of soil nutrient availability in a mixed-conifer forest were measured. ...

Canopy arthropod responses to thinning and burning treatments in old-growth mixed-conifer forest in the Sierra Nevada, California

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas Rambo; Timothy Schowalter; Malcolm North

2014-01-01

We compared canopy arthropod responses to common fuels reduction treatments at Teakettle Experimental Forest in the south-central Sierra Nevada of California. We sampled arthropod communities among four dominant overstory conifer species and three dominant understory angiosperm species before and after overstory or understory thinning or no thinning treatments followed...

Land use strategies to mitigate climate change in carbon dense temperate forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Beverly E; Hudiburg, Tara W; Berner, Logan T; Kent, Jeffrey J; Buotte, Polly C; Harmon, Mark E

2018-04-03

Strategies to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions through forestry activities have been proposed, but ecosystem process-based integration of climate change, enhanced CO 2 , disturbance from fire, and management actions at regional scales are extremely limited. Here, we examine the relative merits of afforestation, reforestation, management changes, and harvest residue bioenergy use in the Pacific Northwest. This region represents some of the highest carbon density forests in the world, which can store carbon in trees for 800 y or more. Oregon's net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) was equivalent to 72% of total emissions in 2011-2015. By 2100, simulations show increased net carbon uptake with little change in wildfires. Reforestation, afforestation, lengthened harvest cycles on private lands, and restricting harvest on public lands increase NECB 56% by 2100, with the latter two actions contributing the most. Resultant cobenefits included water availability and biodiversity, primarily from increased forest area, age, and species diversity. Converting 127,000 ha of irrigated grass crops to native forests could decrease irrigation demand by 233 billion m 3 ⋅y -1 Utilizing harvest residues for bioenergy production instead of leaving them in forests to decompose increased emissions in the short-term (50 y), reducing mitigation effectiveness. Increasing forest carbon on public lands reduced emissions compared with storage in wood products because the residence time is more than twice that of wood products. Hence, temperate forests with high carbon densities and lower vulnerability to mortality have substantial potential for reducing forest sector emissions. Our analysis framework provides a template for assessments in other temperate regions. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Estimation and forecasting of the state of conifer forests in the area of the ChNPP accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kozubov, G.M.; Taskaev, A.I.; Abaturov, Yu.D.

1989-01-01

Radiation monitoring of conifer forests was performed over the area of 15-20 hectare for all directions from the ChNPP. Biometric growth indices of pinetrees and sprucetrees during the period 1986-1988 were studied. The specific features of vegetative morphological changes in the mentioned trees were estimated for different absorbed dose rates. The quality factors of seeds were shown to be bioindicators of the absorbed doses in the case of highly chronic radiation injuries. In conclusion it was recommended to arrange a permanent radiation monitoring of radiation environment and to provide radiation protection of forests. figs. 2; tabs. 7

Nitrogen Deposition Effects on Soil Carbon Dynamics in Temperate Forests

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ginzburg Ozeri, Shimon

Soils contain the largest fraction of terrestrial carbon (C). Understanding the factors regulating the decomposition and storage of soil organic matter (SOM) is essential for predictions of the C sink strength of the terrestrial environment in the light of global change. Elevated long-term nitrog...... implications for modelling the carbon sink-strength of temperate forests under global change.......Soils contain the largest fraction of terrestrial carbon (C). Understanding the factors regulating the decomposition and storage of soil organic matter (SOM) is essential for predictions of the C sink strength of the terrestrial environment in the light of global change. Elevated long-term nitrogen...... (N) deposition into forest ecosystems has been increasing globally and was hypothesized to raise soil organic C (SOC) stocks by increasing forest productivity and by reducing SOM decomposition. Yet, these effects of N deposition on forest SOC stocks are uncertain and largely based on observations...

Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Stability in the Aspen-Conifer Ecotone in Montane Forests in Utah, USA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mercedes Román Dobarco

2014-04-01

Full Text Available To assess the potential impact of conifer encroachment on soil organic carbon (SOC dynamics and storage in montane aspen-conifer forests from the interior western US, we sampled mineral soils (0–15 cm across the aspen-conifer ecotones in southern and northern Utah and quantified total SOC stocks, stable SOC (i.e., mineral-associated SOC (MoM, labile SOC (i.e., light fraction (LF, decomposable (CO2 release during long-term aerobic incubations and soluble SOC (hot water extractable organic carbon (HWEOC. Total SOC storage (47.0 ± 16.5 Mg C ha−1 and labile SOC as LF (14.0 ± 7.10 Mg C ha−1, SOC decomposability (cumulative released CO2-C of 5.6 ± 3.8 g C g−1 soil or HWEOC (0.6 ± 0.6 mg C g−1 soil did not differ substantially with vegetation type, although a slight increase in HWEOC was observed with increasing conifer in the overstory. There were statistically significant differences (p = 0.035 in stable MoM storage, which was higher under aspen (31.2 ± 15.1 Mg C ha−1 than under conifer (22.8 ± 9.0 Mg C ha−1, with intermediate values under mixed (25.7 ± 8.8 Mg C ha−1. Texture had the greatest impact on SOC distribution among labile and stable fractions, with increasing stabilization in MoM and decreasing bio-availability of SOC with increasing silt + clay content. Only at lower silt + clay contents (40%–70% could we discern the influence of vegetation on MoM content. This highlights the importance of chemical protection mechanisms for long-term C sequestration.

Effect of land use change on methane oxidation in temperate forest and grassland soils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ojima, D.S.; Valentine, D.W.; Mosier, A.R.; Parton, W.J.; Schimel, D.S. (Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (USA). Natural Resources Ecology Lab.)

Evidence is accumulating that land use changes and other human activity during the past 100 to 200 years have contributed to decreased CH[sub 4] oxidation in the soil. Increased N additions to temperate forest soils in the northeastern United States decreased CH[sub 4] uptake by 30 to 60%, and increased N fertilization and conversion to cropland in temperate grasslands decreased CH[sub 4] uptake by 30 to 75%. Using these data, a series of calculations were made to estimate the impact of land use and management changes which have altered soil, the CH[sub 4] sink in temperate forest and grassland ecosystems. As the atmospheric mixing ratio of CH[sub 4] has increased during the past 150 y, the temperate CH[sub 4] sink has risen from approximately 8 Tg y[sup -1] to 27 Tg y[sup -1], assuming no loss of land cover to cropland conversion. The net effect of intensive land cover changes and extensive chronic disturbance (i.e., increased atmospheric N deposition) to these ecosystems have resulted in about 30% reduction in the CH[sub 4] budget even more as atmospheric CH[sub 4] concentrations increase and as a result of further disturbance to other biomes. Without accounting for this approximately 20 Tg y[sup -1] temperate soil sink, the atmospheric CH[sub 4] concentration would be increasing about 1.5 times the current rate. 39 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

Photo series for quantifying forest fuels in Mexico: montane subtropical forests of the Sierra Madre del Sur and temperate forests and montane shrubland of the northern Sierra Madre Oriental

Science.gov (United States)

Jorge E. Morfin-Rios; Ernesto Alvarado-Celestino; Enrique J. Jardel-Pelaez; Robert E. Vihnanek; David K. Wright; Jose M. Michel-Fuentes; Clinton S. Wright; Roger D. Ottmar; David V. Sandberg; Andres Najera-Diaz

2008-01-01

Single wide-angle and stereo photographs display a range of forest ecosystems conditions and fuel loadings in montane subtropical forests of the Sierra Madre del Sur and temperate forests and montane shrubland of the northern Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. Each group of photographs includes inventory information summarizing overstory vegetation composition and...

Insights into Conifer Giga-Genomes1

Science.gov (United States)

De La Torre, Amanda R.; Birol, Inanc; Bousquet, Jean; Ingvarsson, Pär K.; Jansson, Stefan; Jones, Steven J.M.; Keeling, Christopher I.; MacKay, John; Nilsson, Ove; Ritland, Kermit; Street, Nathaniel; Yanchuk, Alvin; Zerbe, Philipp; Bohlmann, Jörg

2014-01-01

Insights from sequenced genomes of major land plant lineages have advanced research in almost every aspect of plant biology. Until recently, however, assembled genome sequences of gymnosperms have been missing from this picture. Conifers of the pine family (Pinaceae) are a group of gymnosperms that dominate large parts of the world’s forests. Despite their ecological and economic importance, conifers seemed long out of reach for complete genome sequencing, due in part to their enormous genome size (20–30 Gb) and the highly repetitive nature of their genomes. Technological advances in genome sequencing and assembly enabled the recent publication of three conifer genomes: white spruce (Picea glauca), Norway spruce (Picea abies), and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). These genome sequences revealed distinctive features compared with other plant genomes and may represent a window into the past of seed plant genomes. This Update highlights recent advances, remaining challenges, and opportunities in light of the publication of the first conifer and gymnosperm genomes. PMID:25349325

Factors affecting distribution of wood, detritus, and sediment in headwater streams draining managed young-growth red alder - Conifer forests in southeast Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Gomi, T.; Johnson, A.C.; Deal, R.L.; Hennon, P.E.; Orlikowska, E.H.; Wipfli, M.S.

2006-01-01

Factors (riparian stand condition, management regimes, and channel properties) affecting distributions of wood, detritus (leaves and branches), and sediment were examined in headwater streams draining young-growth red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) - conifer riparian forests (40 years old) remained in channels and provided sites for sediment and organic matter storage. Despite various alder-conifer mixtures and past harvesting effects, the abundance of large wood, fine wood, and detritus accumulations significantly decreased with increasing channel bank-full width (0.5-3.5 m) along relatively short channel distances (up to 700 m). Changes in wood, detritus, and sediment accumulations together with changes in riparian stand characteristics create spatial and temporal variability of in-channel conditions in headwater systems. A component of alder within young-growth riparian forests may benefit both wood production and biological recovery in disturbed headwater stream channels. ?? 2006 NRC.

The longevity of broadleaf deciduous trees in Northern Hemisphere temperate forests: insights from tree-ring series

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Alfredo eDi Filippo

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Understanding the factors controlling the expression of longevity in trees is still an outstanding challenge for tree biologists and forest ecologists. We gathered tree-ring data and literature for broadleaf deciduous (BD temperate trees growing in closed-canopy old-growth forests in the Northern Hemisphere to explore the role of geographic patterns, climate variability, and growth rates on longevity. Our pan-continental analysis, covering 32 species from 12 genera, showed that 300-400 years can be considered a baseline threshold for maximum tree lifespan in many temperate deciduous forests. Maximum age varies greatly in relation to environmental features, even within the same species. Tree longevity is generally promoted by reduced growth rates across large genetic differences and environmental gradients. We argue that slower growth rates, and the associated smaller size, provide trees with an advantage against biotic and abiotic disturbance agents, supporting the idea that size, not age, is the main constraint to tree longevity. The oldest trees were living most of their life in subordinate canopy conditions and/or within primary forests in cool temperate environments and outside major storm tracks. Very old trees are thus characterized by slow growth and often live in forests with harsh site conditions and infrequent disturbance events that kill much of the trees. Temperature inversely controls the expression of longevity in mesophilous species (Fagus spp., but its role in Quercus spp. is more complex and warrants further research in disturbance ecology. Biological, ecological and historical drivers must be considered to understand the constraints imposed to longevity within different forest landscapes.

Divergence of dominant factors in soil microbial communities and functions in forest ecosystems along a climatic gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Zhiwei; Yu, Guirui; Zhang, Xinyu; He, Nianpeng; Wang, Qiufeng; Wang, Shengzhong; Xu, Xiaofeng; Wang, Ruili; Zhao, Ning

2018-03-01

Soil microorganisms play an important role in regulating nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Most of the studies conducted thus far have been confined to a single forest biome or have focused on one or two controlling factors, and few have dealt with the integrated effects of climate, vegetation, and soil substrate availability on soil microbial communities and functions among different forests. In this study, we used phospholipid-derived fatty acid (PLFA) analysis to investigate soil microbial community structure and extracellular enzymatic activities to evaluate the functional potential of soil microbes of different types of forests in three different climatic zones along the north-south transect in eastern China (NSTEC). Both climate and forest type had significant effects on soil enzyme activities and microbial communities with considerable interactive effects. Except for soil acid phosphatase (AP), the other three enzyme activities were much higher in the warm temperate zone than in the temperate and the subtropical climate zones. The soil total PLFAs and bacteria were much higher in the temperate zone than in the warm temperate and the subtropical zones. The soil β-glucosidase (BG) and N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) activities were highest in the coniferous forest. Except for the soil fungi and fungi-bacteria (F/B), the different groups of microbial PLFAs were much higher in the conifer broad-leaved mixed forests than in the coniferous forests and the broad-leaved forests. In general, soil enzyme activities and microbial PLFAs were higher in primary forests than in secondary forests in temperate and warm temperate regions. In the subtropical region, soil enzyme activities were lower in the primary forests than in the secondary forests and microbial PLFAs did not differ significantly between primary and secondary forests. Different compositions of the tree species may cause variations in soil microbial communities and enzyme activities. Our results

Can Detectability Analysis Improve the Utility of Point Counts for Temperate Forest Raptors?

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Temperate forest breeding raptors are poorly represented in typical point count surveys because these birds are cryptic and typically breed at low densities. In recent years, many new methods for estimating detectability during point counts have been developed, including distanc...

Northeastern conifer research: Multiple species and multiple values

Science.gov (United States)

Laura S. Kenefic; John C. Brissette; Richard W. Judd

2014-01-01

The northern conifer, or spruce-fir, forest of the northeastern USA and adjacent Canada has had a defining influence on the economy and culture of the region. The same can be said of the USDA Forest Service’s research in this forest, which began more than 100 years ago. Forest Service research has evolved since that time in response to changes in the needs and...

Effects of land use and fine-scale environmental heterogeneity on net ecosystem production over a temperate coniferous forest landscape

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turner, David P.; Guzy, Michael; Lefsky, Michael A.; Tuyl, Steve van; Sun, Osbert; Law, Beverly E. [Oregon State Univ. Corvallis, OR (United States). Dept. of Forest Science; Daly, Chris [Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). Dept. of Geosciences

2003-04-01

In temperate coniferous forests, spatial variation in net ecosystem production (NEP) is often associated with variation in stand age and heterogeneity in environmental factors such as soil depth. However, coarse spatial resolution analyses used to evaluate the terrestrial contribution to global NEP do not generally incorporate these effects. In this study, a fine-scale (25 m grid) analysis of NEP over a 164-km{sup 2} area of productive coniferous forests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States was made to evaluate the effects of including fine scale information in landscape-scale NEP assessments. The Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) sensor resolved five cover classes in the study area and further differentiated between young, mature and old-growth conifer stands. ETM+ was also used to map current leaf area index (LAI) based on an empirical relationship of observed LAI to spectral vegetation indices. A daily time step climatology, based on 18 years of meteorological observations, was distributed (1 km resolution) over the mountainous terrain of the study area using the DAYMET model. Estimates of carbon pools and flux associated with soil, litter, coarse woody debris and live trees were then generated by running a carbon cycle model (Biome-BGC) to a state that reflected the current successional status and LAI of each grid cell, as indicated by the remote sensing observations. Estimated annual NEP for 1997 over the complete study area averaged 230 g C m{sup 2}, with most of the area acting as a carbon sink. The area-wide NEP is strongly positive because of reduced harvesting in the last decade and the recovery of areas harvested between 1940 and 1990. The average value was greater than would be indicated if the entire area was assumed to be a mature conifer stand, as in a coarse-scale analysis. The mean NEP varied interannually by over a factor of two. This variation was 38% less than the interannual variation for a single point. The integration of process

Effects of land use and fine-scale environmental heterogeneity on net ecosystem production over a temperate coniferous forest landscape

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turner, David P.; Guzy, Michael; Lefsky, Michael A.; Tuyl, Steve van; Sun, Osbert; Law, Beverly E.; Daly, Chris

2003-01-01

In temperate coniferous forests, spatial variation in net ecosystem production (NEP) is often associated with variation in stand age and heterogeneity in environmental factors such as soil depth. However, coarse spatial resolution analyses used to evaluate the terrestrial contribution to global NEP do not generally incorporate these effects. In this study, a fine-scale (25 m grid) analysis of NEP over a 164-km 2 area of productive coniferous forests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States was made to evaluate the effects of including fine scale information in landscape-scale NEP assessments. The Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) sensor resolved five cover classes in the study area and further differentiated between young, mature and old-growth conifer stands. ETM+ was also used to map current leaf area index (LAI) based on an empirical relationship of observed LAI to spectral vegetation indices. A daily time step climatology, based on 18 years of meteorological observations, was distributed (1 km resolution) over the mountainous terrain of the study area using the DAYMET model. Estimates of carbon pools and flux associated with soil, litter, coarse woody debris and live trees were then generated by running a carbon cycle model (Biome-BGC) to a state that reflected the current successional status and LAI of each grid cell, as indicated by the remote sensing observations. Estimated annual NEP for 1997 over the complete study area averaged 230 g C m 2 , with most of the area acting as a carbon sink. The area-wide NEP is strongly positive because of reduced harvesting in the last decade and the recovery of areas harvested between 1940 and 1990. The average value was greater than would be indicated if the entire area was assumed to be a mature conifer stand, as in a coarse-scale analysis. The mean NEP varied interannually by over a factor of two. This variation was 38% less than the interannual variation for a single point. The integration of process models

Fire History of Appalachian Forests of the Lower St-Lawrence Region (Southern Quebec

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Serge Payette

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Sugar maple (Acer saccharum forests are among the main forest types of eastern North America. Sugar maple stands growing on Appalachian soils of the Lower St-Lawrence region are located at the northeastern limit of the northern hardwood forest zone. Given the biogeographical position of these forests at the edge of the boreal biome, we aimed to reconstruct the fire history and document the occurrence of temperate and boreal trees in sugar maple sites during the Holocene based on soil macrocharcoal analysis. Despite having experienced a different number of fire events, the fire history of the maple sites was broadly similar, with two main periods of fire activity, i.e., early- to mid-Holocene and late-Holocene. A long fire-free interval of at least 3500 years separated the two periods from the mid-Holocene to 2000 years ago. The maple sites differ with respect to fire frequency and synchronicity of the last millennia. According to the botanical composition of charcoal, forest vegetation remained relatively homogenous during the Holocene, except recently. Conifer and broadleaf species coexisted in mixed forests during the Holocene, in phase with fire events promoting the regeneration of boreal and temperate tree assemblages including balsam fir (Abies balsamea and sugar maple.

Complementary models of tree species-soil relationships in old-growth temperate forests

Science.gov (United States)

Cross, Alison; Perakis, Steven S.

2011-01-01

context-dependent tree species-soil relationships occur simultaneouslyinold-grow the temperate forests, with context-dependent relationships strongest for organically cycled elements, and site-independent relationships strongest for weather able elements with in organic cycling phases. These models provide complementary explanations for patterns of nutrient accumulation and cycling in mixed species old-growth temperate forests.

Dominant effect of increasing forest biomass on evapotranspiration: interpretations of movement in Budyko space

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F. Jaramillo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available During the last 6 decades, forest biomass has increased in Sweden mainly due to forest management, with a possible increasing effect on evapotranspiration. However, increasing global CO2 concentrations may also trigger physiological water-saving responses in broadleaf tree species, and to a lesser degree in some needleleaf conifer species, inducing an opposite effect. Additionally, changes in other forest attributes may also affect evapotranspiration. In this study, we aimed to detect the dominating effect(s of forest change on evapotranspiration by studying changes in the ratio of actual evapotranspiration to precipitation, known as the evaporative ratio, during the period 1961–2012. We first used the Budyko framework of water and energy availability at the basin scale to study the hydroclimatic movements in Budyko space of 65 temperate and boreal basins during this period. We found that movements in Budyko space could not be explained by climatic changes in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration in 60 % of these basins, suggesting the existence of other dominant drivers of hydroclimatic change. In both the temperate and boreal basin groups studied, a negative climatic effect on the evaporative ratio was counteracted by a positive residual effect. The positive residual effect occurred along with increasing standing forest biomass in the temperate and boreal basin groups, increasing forest cover in the temperate basin group and no apparent changes in forest species composition in any group. From the three forest attributes, standing forest biomass was the one that could explain most of the variance of the residual effect in both basin groups. These results further suggest that the water-saving response to increasing CO2 in these forests is either negligible or overridden by the opposite effect of the increasing forest biomass. Thus, we conclude that increasing standing forest biomass is the dominant driver of long-term and large

Enhancement of understory productivity by asynchronous phenology with overstory competitors in a temperate deciduous forest.

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Jolly, William M; Nemani, Ramakrishna; Running, Steven W

2004-09-01

Some saplings and shrubs growing in the understory of temperate deciduous forests extend their periods of leaf display beyond that of the overstory, resulting in periods when understory radiation, and hence productivity, are not limited by the overstory canopy. To assess the importance of the duration of leaf display on the productivity of understory and overstory trees of deciduous forests in the north eastern United States, we applied the simulation model, BIOME-BGC with climate data for Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, USA and mean ecophysiological data for species of deciduous, temperate forests. Extension of the overstory leaf display period increased overstory leaf area index (LAI) by only 3 to 4% and productivity by only 2 to 4%. In contrast, extending the growing season of the understory relative to the overstory by one week in both spring and fall, increased understory LAI by 35% and productivity by 32%. A 2-week extension of the growing period in both spring and fall increased understory LAI by 53% and productivity by 55%.

Synthesis on the carbon budget and cycling in a Danish, temperate deciduous forest

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Jian; Larsen, Klaus Steenberg; van der Linden, Leon

2013-01-01

A synthesis of five years (2006–2010) of data on carbon cycling in a temperate deciduous forest, Sorø (Zealand, Denmark) was performed by combining all available data from eddy covariance, chamber, suction cups, and biometric measurements. The net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE), soil respiration...... within the ecosystem. The results showed that this temperate deciduous forest was a moderate carbon sink (258±41gCm−2 yr−1) with both high rates of gross primary production (GPP, 1881±95gCm−2 yr−1) and ecosystem respiration (Re, 1624±197gCm−2 yr−1). Approximately 62% of the gross assimilated carbon......, tree growth, litter production and leaching of dissolved inorganic and organic carbon were independently estimated and used to calculate other unmeasured ecosystem carbon budget (ECB) components, based on mass balance equations. This provided a complete assessment of the carbon storage and allocation...

A comprehensive guide to fuel management practices for dry mixed conifer forests in the northwestern United States: Mechanical, chemical, and biological fuel treatment methods

Science.gov (United States)

Theresa B. Jain; Mike A. Battaglia; Han-Sup Han; Russell T. Graham; Christopher R. Keyes; Jeremy S. Fried; Jonathan E. Sandquist

2014-01-01

Several mechanical approaches to managing vegetation fuels hold promise when applied to the dry mixed conifer forests in the western United States. These are most useful to treat surface, ladder, and crown fuels. There are a variety of techniques to remove or alter all kinds of plant biomass (live, dead, or decomposed) that affect forest resilience. It is important for...

Regeneration complexities of Pinus gerardiana in dry temperate forests of Indian Himalaya.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Raj; Shamet, G S; Mehta, Harsh; Alam, N M; Kaushal, Rajesh; Chaturvedi, O P; Sharma, Navneet; Khaki, B A; Gupta, Dinesh

2016-04-01

Pinus gerardiana is considered an important species in dry temperate forests of North-Western Indian Himalaya because of its influence on ecological processes and economic dependence of local people in the region. But, large numbers of biotic and abiotic factors have affected P. gerardiana in these forests; hence, there is a crucial need to understand the regeneration dynamics of this tree species. The present investigation was conducted in P. gerardiana forests to understand vegetation pattern and regeneration processes on different sites in the region. Statistical analysis was performed to know variability in growing stock and regeneration on sample plots, while correlation coefficients and regression models were developed to find the relationship between regeneration and site factors. The vegetation study showed dominance of P. gerardiana, which is followed by Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana and Quercus ilex in the region. The growing stock of P. gerardiana showed steep increasing and then steadily declining trend from lower to higher diameter class. The distribution of seedling, sapling, pole and trees was not uniform at different sites and less number of plots in each site were observed to have effective conditions for continuous regeneration, but mostly showed extremely limited regeneration. Regeneration success ranging from 8.44 to 15.93 % was recorded in different sites of the region, which suggests that in different sites regeneration success is influenced by collection of cone for extracting seed, grazing/browsing and physico-chemical properties of soil. Regeneration success showed significant correlation and relationship with most of abiotic and biotic factors. The regeneration success is lower than the requirement of sustainable forest, but varies widely among sites in dry temperate forests of Himalaya. More forest surveys are required to understand the conditions necessary for greater success of P. gerardiana in the region.

Upper canopy pollinators of Eucryphia cordifolia Cav., a tree of South American temperate rain forest

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Cecilia Smith-Ramírez

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Ecological processes in the upper canopy of temperate forests have been seldom studied because of the limited accessibility. Here, we present the results of the first survey of the pollinator assemblage and the frequency of insect visits to flowers in the upper branches of ulmo, Eucryphia cordifolia Cav., an emergent 30-40 m-tall tree in rainforests of Chiloé Island, Chile. We compared these findings with a survey of flower visitors restricted to lower branches of E. cordifolia 1- in the forest understory, 2- in lower branches in an agroforestry area. We found 10 species of pollinators in canopy, and eight, 12 and 15 species in understory, depending of tree locations. The main pollinators of E. cordifolia in the upper canopy differed significantly from the pollinator assemblage recorded in lower tree branches. We conclude that the pollinator assemblages of the temperate forest canopy and interior are still unknown.

Plant Traits Demonstrate That Temperate and Tropical Giant Eucalypt Forests Are Ecologically Convergent with Rainforest Not Savanna

Science.gov (United States)

Tng, David Y. P.; Jordan, Greg J.; Bowman, David M. J. S.

2013-01-01

Ecological theory differentiates rainforest and open vegetation in many regions as functionally divergent alternative stable states with transitional (ecotonal) vegetation between the two forming transient unstable states. This transitional vegetation is of considerable significance, not only as a test case for theories of vegetation dynamics, but also because this type of vegetation is of major economic importance, and is home to a suite of species of conservation significance, including the world’s tallest flowering plants. We therefore created predictions of patterns in plant functional traits that would test the alternative stable states model of these systems. We measured functional traits of 128 trees and shrubs across tropical and temperate rainforest – open vegetation transitions in Australia, with giant eucalypt forests situated between these vegetation types. We analysed a set of functional traits: leaf carbon isotopes, leaf area, leaf mass per area, leaf slenderness, wood density, maximum height and bark thickness, using univariate and multivariate methods. For most traits, giant eucalypt forest was similar to rainforest, while rainforest, particularly tropical rainforest, was significantly different from the open vegetation. In multivariate analyses, tropical and temperate rainforest diverged functionally, and both segregated from open vegetation. Furthermore, the giant eucalypt forests overlapped in function with their respective rainforests. The two types of giant eucalypt forests also exhibited greater overall functional similarity to each other than to any of the open vegetation types. We conclude that tropical and temperate giant eucalypt forests are ecologically and functionally convergent. The lack of clear functional differentiation from rainforest suggests that giant eucalypt forests are unstable states within the basin of attraction of rainforest. Our results have important implications for giant eucalypt forest management. PMID:24358359

Thinning, tree-growth, and resistance to multi-year drought in a mixed-conifer forest of northern California

Science.gov (United States)

Vernon, Michael J.; Sherriff, Rosemary L.; van Mantgem, Phillip; Kane, Jeffrey M.

2018-01-01

Drought is an important stressor in forest ecosystems that can influence tree vigor and survival. In the U.S., forest managers use two primary management techniques to promote resistance and resilience to drought: prescribed fire and mechanical thinning. Generally applied to reduce fuels and fire hazard, treatments may also reduce competition for resources that may improve tree-growth and reduce mortality during drought. A recent severe and prolonged drought in California provided a natural experiment to investigate tree-growth responses to fuel treatments and climatic stress. We assessed tree-growth from 299 ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in treated and untreated stands during severe drought from 2012 to 2015 in the mixed-conifer forests of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area (WNRA) in northern California. The treatment implemented at WNRA removed 34% of live basal area through mechanical thinning with a subsequent pile burning of residual fuels. Tree-growth was positively associated with crown ratio and negatively associated with competition and a 1-year lag of climate water deficit, an index of drought. Douglas-fir generally had higher annual growth than ponderosa pine, although factors affecting growth were the same for both species. Drought resistance, expressed as the ratio between mean growth during drought and mean growth pre-drought, was higher in treated stands compared to untreated stands during both years of severe drought (2014 and 2015) for ponderosa pine but only one year (2014) for Douglas-fir. Thinning improved drought resistance, but tree size, competition and species influenced this response. On-going thinning treatments focused on fuels and fire hazard reduction are likely to be effective at promoting growth and greater drought resistance in dry mixed-conifer forests. Given the likelihood of future droughts, land managers may choose to implement similar treatments to reduce potential impacts.

Increased drought impacts on temperate rainforests from southern South America: results of a process-based, dynamic forest model.

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Alvaro G Gutiérrez

Full Text Available Increased droughts due to regional shifts in temperature and rainfall regimes are likely to affect forests in temperate regions in the coming decades. To assess their consequences for forest dynamics, we need predictive tools that couple hydrologic processes, soil moisture dynamics and plant productivity. Here, we developed and tested a dynamic forest model that predicts the hydrologic balance of North Patagonian rainforests on Chiloé Island, in temperate South America (42°S. The model incorporates the dynamic linkages between changing rainfall regimes, soil moisture and individual tree growth. Declining rainfall, as predicted for the study area, should mean up to 50% less summer rain by year 2100. We analysed forest responses to increased drought using the model proposed focusing on changes in evapotranspiration, soil moisture and forest structure (above-ground biomass and basal area. We compared the responses of a young stand (YS, ca. 60 years-old and an old-growth forest (OG, >500 years-old in the same area. Based on detailed field measurements of water fluxes, the model provides a reliable account of the hydrologic balance of these evergreen, broad-leaved rainforests. We found higher evapotranspiration in OG than YS under current climate. Increasing drought predicted for this century can reduce evapotranspiration by 15% in the OG compared to current values. Drier climate will alter forest structure, leading to decreases in above ground biomass by 27% of the current value in OG. The model presented here can be used to assess the potential impacts of climate change on forest hydrology and other threats of global change on future forests such as fragmentation, introduction of exotic tree species, and changes in fire regimes. Our study expands the applicability of forest dynamics models in remote and hitherto overlooked regions of the world, such as southern temperate rainforests.

Increased drought impacts on temperate rainforests from southern South America: results of a process-based, dynamic forest model.

Science.gov (United States)

Gutiérrez, Alvaro G; Armesto, Juan J; Díaz, M Francisca; Huth, Andreas

2014-01-01

Increased droughts due to regional shifts in temperature and rainfall regimes are likely to affect forests in temperate regions in the coming decades. To assess their consequences for forest dynamics, we need predictive tools that couple hydrologic processes, soil moisture dynamics and plant productivity. Here, we developed and tested a dynamic forest model that predicts the hydrologic balance of North Patagonian rainforests on Chiloé Island, in temperate South America (42°S). The model incorporates the dynamic linkages between changing rainfall regimes, soil moisture and individual tree growth. Declining rainfall, as predicted for the study area, should mean up to 50% less summer rain by year 2100. We analysed forest responses to increased drought using the model proposed focusing on changes in evapotranspiration, soil moisture and forest structure (above-ground biomass and basal area). We compared the responses of a young stand (YS, ca. 60 years-old) and an old-growth forest (OG, >500 years-old) in the same area. Based on detailed field measurements of water fluxes, the model provides a reliable account of the hydrologic balance of these evergreen, broad-leaved rainforests. We found higher evapotranspiration in OG than YS under current climate. Increasing drought predicted for this century can reduce evapotranspiration by 15% in the OG compared to current values. Drier climate will alter forest structure, leading to decreases in above ground biomass by 27% of the current value in OG. The model presented here can be used to assess the potential impacts of climate change on forest hydrology and other threats of global change on future forests such as fragmentation, introduction of exotic tree species, and changes in fire regimes. Our study expands the applicability of forest dynamics models in remote and hitherto overlooked regions of the world, such as southern temperate rainforests.

Adaptive root foraging strategies along a boreal–temperate forest gradient

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Ostonen, I.; Truu, M.; Helmisaari, H.-S.; Lukač, M.; Borken, W.; Vanguelova, H.; Godbold, Douglas; Löhmus, K.; Zang, U.; Tedersoo, L.; Preem, J.-K.; Rosenvald, K.; Aosaar, J.; Armolaitis, K.; Frey, J.; Kabral, N.; Kukumägi, M.; Leppälammi-Kujansuu, J.; Lindroos, A.-J.; Merila, P.; Napa, Ü.; Nöjd, P.; Parts, K.; Uri, V.; Varik, M.; Truu, J.

2017-01-01

Roč. 215, č. 3 (2017), s. 977-991 ISSN 0028-646X EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 315982; European Commission(XE) 315982; European Commission(XE) 90/E38 Institutional support: RVO:67179843 Keywords : boreal and temperate forests * climate gradient * ectomycorrhizal (EcM) mycelium * fine and ectomycorrhizal root biomass * root foraging * root morphology * soil and rhizosphere bacteria * soil C * N ratio Subject RIV: EF - Botanics OBOR OECD: Plant sciences, botany Impact factor: 7.330, year: 2016

Relating P-band AIRSAR backscatter to forest stand parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yong; Melack, John M.; Davis, Frank W.; Kasischke, Eric S.; Christensen, Norman L., Jr.

1993-01-01

As part of research on forest ecosystems, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and collaborating research teams have conducted multi-season airborne synthetic aperture radar (AIRSAR) experiments in three forest ecosystems including temperate pine forest (Duke, Forest, North Carolina), boreal forest (Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, Alaska), and northern mixed hardwood-conifer forest (Michigan Biological Station, Michigan). The major research goals were to improve understanding of the relationships between radar backscatter and phenological variables (e.g. stand density, tree size, etc.), to improve radar backscatter models of tree canopy properties, and to develop a radar-based scheme for monitoring forest phenological changes. In September 1989, AIRSAR backscatter data were acquired over the Duke Forest. As the aboveground biomass of the loblolly pine forest stands at Duke Forest increased, the SAR backscatter at C-, L-, and P-bands increased and saturated at different biomass levels for the C-band, L-band, and P-band data. We only use the P-band backscatter data and ground measurements here to study the relationships between the backscatter and stand density, the backscatter and mean trunk dbh (diameter at breast height) of trees in the stands, and the backscatter and stand basal area.

Short Communication. Comparing flammability traits among fire-stricken (low elevation and non fire-stricken (high elevation conifer forest species of Europe: A test of the Mutch hypothesis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. P. Dimitrakopoulos

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Aim of study. The flammability of the main coniferous forest species of Europe, divided into two groups according to their fire regime and altitudinal distribution, was tested in an effort to detect species-specific differences that may have an influence on community-wide fire regimes.Area of study. Conifer species comprising low- and high-elevation forests in Europe.Materials and Methods. The following conifer species were tested: low elevation; Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine, Pinus brutia (Turkish pine, Pinus pinaster (maritime pine, Pinus pinea (stone pine and Cupressus sempervirens (cypress, high elevation (i.e., above 600 m a.s.l.; Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine, Abies alba (white fir, Picea excelsa (Norway spruce, Abies borissii regis (Macedonian fir and Pinus nigra (black pine. Flammability assessment (time-to-ignition and ignition temperature was conducted by an innovative ignition apparatus, heat content was measured with an IKA Adiabatic Bomb Calorimeter and ash content by heating 5 g of plant material in a muffle furnace at 650ºC for 1 h. Differences among species was statistically analysed by Duncan’s multiple comparison test.Main results. The results did not distinguish separate groups among traits between fire- and non-fire-stricken communities at the individual species level.Research highlights. Differences in fire regimes among low and high elevation conifer forests could be attributed either to differences in flammability of the plant communities as a whole (i.e., fuelbed or canopy properties vs. individual fuel properties or to other factors (climatic or anthropogenic.Key words: flammability; ignitability; heat content; ash content; conifer species; Mutch hypothesis.

Uncertainty of Forest Biomass Estimates in North Temperate Forests Due to Allometry: Implications for Remote Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Razi Ahmed

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Estimates of above ground biomass density in forests are crucial for refining global climate models and understanding climate change. Although data from field studies can be aggregated to estimate carbon stocks on global scales, the sparsity of such field data, temporal heterogeneity and methodological variations introduce large errors. Remote sensing measurements from spaceborne sensors are a realistic alternative for global carbon accounting; however, the uncertainty of such measurements is not well known and remains an active area of research. This article describes an effort to collect field data at the Harvard and Howland Forest sites, set in the temperate forests of the Northeastern United States in an attempt to establish ground truth forest biomass for calibration of remote sensing measurements. We present an assessment of the quality of ground truth biomass estimates derived from three different sets of diameter-based allometric equations over the Harvard and Howland Forests to establish the contribution of errors in ground truth data to the error in biomass estimates from remote sensing measurements.

Drought enhances symbiotic dinitrogen fixation and competitive ability of a temperate forest tree

Science.gov (United States)

Nina Wurzburger; Chelcy Ford Miniat

2013-01-01

General circulation models project more intense and frequent droughts over the next century, but many questions remain about how terrestrial ecosystems will respond. Of particular importance, is to understand how drought will alter the species composition of regenerating temperate forests wherein symbiotic dinitrogen (N2)- fixing plants play a...

Back to the Future: Building resilience in Colorado Front Range forests using research findings and a new guide for restoration of ponderosa and dry-mixed conifer landscapes

Science.gov (United States)

Sue Miller; Rob Addington; Greg Aplet; Mike Battaglia; Tony Cheng; Jonas Feinstein; Jeff Underhill

2018-01-01

Historically, the ponderosa and dry mixed-conifer forests of the Colorado Front Range were more open and grassy, and trees of all size classes were found in a grouped arrangement with sizable openings between the clumps. As a legacy of fire suppression, today’s forests are denser, with smaller trees. Proactive restoration of this forest type will help to reduce fuel...

Soil phosphorus fractionation as a tool for monitoring dust phosphorus signature underneath a Blue Pine (Pinus wallichiana canopy in a Temperate Forest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mustafa-Nawaz Shafqat

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Aims of the study: This study aims (i to monitor the amount of dust deposition during dry season in the moist temperate forest; (ii to study nature of P fractions in the dust samples falling on the trees in the region; (iii to study soil P fractions as influenced by the processes of throughfall and stemflow of a Blue Pine (Pinus wallichiana canopy and to finger print the contribution of dust towards P input in the temperate forest ecosystem. Area of study: The site used for the collection of soil samples was situated at an elevation of 6900 feet above sea levels (temperate forest in Himalaya region in the Thandani area national forest located in the north west of Pakistan. Material and methods:  For soil sampling and processing, three forest sites with three old tree plants per site were selected at approximately leveled plain for surface soil sampling. Two dust samples were collected and analyzed for different physicochemical properties along with different P fractions. First dust sample was collected from a site situated at an elevation of 4000 feet and second one was collected from an elevation of 6500 feet above sea levels. Modified Hedley procedure for the fractionation of P in the dust and soil samples were used. Main results: The input of dust was 43 and 20 kg ha-1 during drier months of the year (September-June at lower and higher elevation sites respectively, and the dust from lower elevation site had relative more all P fractions than the other dust sample. However, HCl-Pi fraction was dominant in both samples. Both labile (water plus NaHCO3 and non-labile (NaOH plus HCl inorganic P (Pi fractions were significantly increased in the surface soil by both stemflow and throughfall compared to the open field soil. The buildup of NaOH and HCl-Pi pools in soils underneath the canopy might prove useful in fingerprinting the contribution of atmospheric dust towards P cycling in this temperate forest. Research highlights: The role of dust in

Concentrations and content of mercury in bark, wood, and leaves in hardwoods and conifers in four forested sites in the northeastern USA

Science.gov (United States)

Yanai, Ruth D.; Driscoll, Charles T.; Montesdeoca, Mario; Smith, Kevin T.

2018-01-01

Mercury (Hg) is deposited from the atmosphere to remote areas such as forests, but the amount of Hg in trees is not well known. To determine the importance of Hg in trees, we analyzed foliage, bark and bole wood of eight tree species at four sites in the northeastern USA (Huntington Forest, NY; Sleepers River, VT; Hubbard Brook, NH; Bear Brook, ME). Foliar concentrations of Hg averaged 16.3 ng g-1 among the hardwood species, which was significantly lower than values in conifers, which averaged 28.6 ng g-1 (p < 0.001). Similarly, bark concentrations of Hg were lower (p < 0.001) in hardwoods (7.7 ng g-1) than conifers (22.5 ng g-1). For wood, concentrations of Hg were higher in yellow birch (2.1–2.8 ng g-1) and white pine (2.3 ng g-1) than in the other species, which averaged 1.4 ng g-1 (p < 0.0001). Sites differed significantly in Hg concentrations of foliage and bark (p = 0.02), which are directly exposed to the atmosphere, but the concentration of Hg in wood depended more on species (p < 0.001) than site (p = 0.60). The Hg contents of tree tissues in hardwood stands, estimated from modeled biomass and measured concentrations at each site, were higher in bark (mean of 0.10 g ha-1) and wood (0.16 g ha-1) than in foliage (0.06 g ha-1). In conifer stands, because foliar concentrations were higher, the foliar pool tended to be more important. Quantifying Hg in tree tissues is essential to understanding the pools and fluxes of Hg in forest ecosystems. PMID:29684081

Concentrations and content of mercury in bark, wood, and leaves in hardwoods and conifers in four forested sites in the northeastern USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yang; Yanai, Ruth D; Driscoll, Charles T; Montesdeoca, Mario; Smith, Kevin T

2018-01-01

Mercury (Hg) is deposited from the atmosphere to remote areas such as forests, but the amount of Hg in trees is not well known. To determine the importance of Hg in trees, we analyzed foliage, bark and bole wood of eight tree species at four sites in the northeastern USA (Huntington Forest, NY; Sleepers River, VT; Hubbard Brook, NH; Bear Brook, ME). Foliar concentrations of Hg averaged 16.3 ng g-1 among the hardwood species, which was significantly lower than values in conifers, which averaged 28.6 ng g-1 (p < 0.001). Similarly, bark concentrations of Hg were lower (p < 0.001) in hardwoods (7.7 ng g-1) than conifers (22.5 ng g-1). For wood, concentrations of Hg were higher in yellow birch (2.1-2.8 ng g-1) and white pine (2.3 ng g-1) than in the other species, which averaged 1.4 ng g-1 (p < 0.0001). Sites differed significantly in Hg concentrations of foliage and bark (p = 0.02), which are directly exposed to the atmosphere, but the concentration of Hg in wood depended more on species (p < 0.001) than site (p = 0.60). The Hg contents of tree tissues in hardwood stands, estimated from modeled biomass and measured concentrations at each site, were higher in bark (mean of 0.10 g ha-1) and wood (0.16 g ha-1) than in foliage (0.06 g ha-1). In conifer stands, because foliar concentrations were higher, the foliar pool tended to be more important. Quantifying Hg in tree tissues is essential to understanding the pools and fluxes of Hg in forest ecosystems.

Long-term variability in the water budget and its controls in an oak-dominated temperate forest

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Jing Xie; Ge Sun; Hou-Sen Chu; Junguo Liu; Steven G. McNulty; Asko Noormets; Ranjeet John; Zutao Ouyang; Tianshan Zha; Haitao Li; Wenbin Guan; Jiquan Chen

2014-01-01

Water availability is one of the key environmental factors that control ecosystem functions in temperate forests. Changing climate is likely to alter the ecohydrology and other ecosystem processes, which affect forest structures and functions. We constructed a multi-year water budget (2004–2010) and quantified environmental controls on an evapotranspiration (ET) in a...

Altitudinal variation of soil organic carbon stocks in temperate forests of Kashmir Himalayas, India.

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Ahmad Dar, Javid; Somaiah, Sundarapandian

2015-02-01

Soil organic carbon stocks were measured at three depths (0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm) in seven altitudes dominated by different forest types viz. Populus deltoides, 1550-1800 m; Juglans regia, 1800-2000 m; Cedrus deodara, 2050-2300 m; Pinus wallichiana, 2000-2300 m; mixed type, 2200-2400 m; Abies pindrow, 2300-2800 m; and Betula utilis, 2800-3200 m in temperate mountains of Kashmir Himalayas. The mean range of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks varied from 39.07 to 91.39 Mg C ha(-1) in J. regia and B. utilis forests at 0-30 cm depth, respectively. Among the forest types, the lowest mean range of SOC at three depths (0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm) was observed in J. regia (18.55, 11.31, and 8.91 Mg C ha(-1), respectively) forest type, and the highest was observed in B. utilis (54.10, 21.68, and 15.60 Mg C ha(-1), respectively) forest type. SOC stocks showed significantly (R (2) = 0.67, P = 0.001) an increasing trend with increase in altitude. On average, the percentages of SOC at 0-10-, 10-20-, and 20-30-cm depths were 53.2, 26.5, and 20.3 %, respectively. Bulk density increased significantly with increase in soil depth and decreased with increase in altitude. Our results suggest that SOC stocks in temperate forests of Kashmir Himalaya vary greatly with forest type and altitude. The present study reveals that SOC stocks increased with increase in altitude at high mountainous regions. Climate change in these high mountainous regions will alter the carbon sequestration potential, which would affect the global carbon cycle.

Exploring the determinants of phylogenetic diversity and assemblage structure in conifers across temporal, spatial, and taxonomic scales

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eiserhardt, Wolf L.; Borchsenius, Finn; Sandel, Brody Steven

-environmental models are important elements in this framework. Here, we integrate both types of data in order to explore the determinants of forest tree diversity using the conifers as a model group. Conifers are an old, diverse (ca. 650 spp. in 6 families) and widespread group of woody plants of high ecological...... and economic importance. They are better studied than most other globally distributed groups of forest trees, allowing integrative studies with high phylogenetic and spatial resolution. We analyse phylogenetic diversity, assemblage structure, and diversification rates for regional conifer assemblages...

Global-Scale Patterns of Forest Fragmentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kurt Riitters

2000-12-01

Full Text Available We report an analysis of forest fragmentation based on 1-km resolution land-cover maps for the globe. Measurements in analysis windows from 81 km 2 (9 x 9 pixels, "small" scale to 59,049 km 2 (243 x 243 pixels, "large" scale were used to characterize the fragmentation around each forested pixel. We identified six categories of fragmentation (interior, perforated, edge, transitional, patch, and undetermined from the amount of forest and its occurrence as adjacent forest pixels. Interior forest exists only at relatively small scales; at larger scales, forests are dominated by edge and patch conditions. At the smallest scale, there were significant differences in fragmentation among continents; within continents, there were significant differences among individual forest types. Tropical rain forest fragmentation was most severe in North America and least severe in Europe-Asia. Forest types with a high percentage of perforated conditions were mainly in North America (five types and Europe-Asia (four types, in both temperate and subtropical regions. Transitional and patch conditions were most common in 11 forest types, of which only a few would be considered as "naturally patchy" (e.g., dry woodland. The five forest types with the highest percentage of interior conditions were in North America; in decreasing order, they were cool rain forest, coniferous, conifer boreal, cool mixed, and cool broadleaf.

Global-scale patterns of forest fragmentation

Science.gov (United States)

Riitters, K.; Wickham, J.; O'Neill, R.; Jones, B.; Smith, E.

2000-01-01

We report an analysis of forest fragmentation based on 1-km resolution land-cover maps for the globe. Measurements in analysis windows from 81 km 2 (9 ?? 9 pixels, "small" scale) to 59,049 km 2 (243 ?? 243 pixels, "large" scale) were used to characterize the fragmentation around each forested pixel. We identified six categories of fragmentation (interior, perforated, edge, transitional, patch, and undetermined) from the amount of forest and its occurrence as adjacent forest pixels. Interior forest exists only at relatively small scales; at larger scales, forests are dominated by edge and patch conditions. At the smallest scale, there were significant differences in fragmentation among continents; within continents, there were significant differences among individual forest types. Tropical rain forest fragmentation was most severe in North America and least severe in Europe - Asia. Forest types with a high percentage of perforated conditions were mainly in North America (five types) and Europe - Asia (four types), in both temperate and subtropical regions. Transitional and patch conditions were most common in 11 forest types, of which only a few would be considered as "naturally patchy" (e.g., dry woodland). The five forest types with the highest percentage of interior conditions were in North America; in decreasing order, they were cool rain forest, coniferous, conifer boreal, cool mixed, and cool broadleaf. Copyright ?? 2000 by The Resilience Alliance.

Detrital carbon pools in temperate forests: magnitude and potential for landscape-scale assessment

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John Bradford; Peter Weishampel; Marie-Louise Smith; Randall Kolka; Richard A. Birdsey; Scott V. Ollinger; Michael G. Ryan

2009-01-01

Reliably estimating carbon storage and cycling in detrital biomass is an obstacle to carbon accounting. We examined carbon pools and fluxes in three small temperate forest landscapes to assess the magnitude of carbon stored in detrital biomass and determine whether detrital carbon storage is related to stand structural properties (leaf area, aboveground biomass,...

Drivers of temporal changes in temperate forest plant diversity vary across spatial scales

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bernhardt-Römermann, M.; Baeten, L.; Craven, D.; De Frenne, P.; Hédl, Radim; Lenoir, J.; Bert, D.; Brunet, J.; Chudomelová, Markéta; Decocq, G.; Dierschke, H.; Dirnböck, T.; Dörfler, I.; Heinken, T.; Hermy, M.; Hommel, P.; Jaroszewicz, B.; Keczynski, A.; Kelly, D. L.; Kirkby, K.J.; Kopecký, Martin; Macek, Martin; Máliš, F.; Mirtl, M.; Mitchell, F. J. G.; Naaf, T.; Newman, M.; Peterken, G.; Petřík, Petr; Schmidt, W.; Standovár, T.; Tóth, Z.; Van Calster, H.; Verstraeten, G.; Vladovič, J.; Vild, Ondřej; Wulf, M.; Verheyen, K.

2015-01-01

Roč. 21, č. 10 (2015), s. 3726-3737 ISSN 1354-1013 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) EE2.3.20.0267 EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 278065 - LONGWOOD Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : temperate forest * long-term change * herbaceous layer Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 8.444, year: 2015

Disturbance, complexity, and succession of net ecosystem production in North America’s temperate deciduous forests

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gough, Christopher; Curtis, Peter; Hardiman, Brady; Scheuermann, Cynthia; Bond-Lamberty, Benjamin

2016-06-29

Century-old forests in the U.S. upper Midwest and Northeast power much of North Amer- ica’s terrestrial carbon (C) sink, but these forests’ production and C sequestration capacity are expected to soon decline as fast-growing early successional species die and are replaced by slower growing late successional species. But will this really happen? Here we marshal empirical data and ecological theory to argue that substantial declines in net ecosystem production (NEP) owing to reduced forest growth, or net primary production (NPP), are not imminent in regrown temperate deciduous forests over the next several decades. Forest age and production data for temperate deciduous forests, synthesized from published literature, suggest slight declines in NEP and increasing or stable NPP during middle successional stages. We revisit long-held hypotheses by EP Odum and others that suggest low-severity, high-frequency disturbances occurring in the region’s aging forests will, against intuition, maintain NEP at higher-than- expected rates by increasing ecosystem complexity, sustaining or enhancing NPP to a level that largely o sets rising C losses as heterotrophic respiration increases. This theoretical model is also supported by biological evidence and observations from the Forest Accelerated Succession Experiment in Michigan, USA. Ecosystems that experience high-severity disturbances that simplify ecosystem complexity can exhibit substantial declines in production during middle stages of succession. However, observations from these ecosystems have exerted a disproportionate in uence on assumptions regarding the trajectory and magnitude of age-related declines in forest production. We conclude that there is a wide ecological space for forests to maintain NPP and, in doing so, lessens the declines in NEP, with signi cant implications for the future of the North American carbon sink. Our intellectual frameworks for understanding forest C cycle dynamics and resilience need to

Changes to the N cycle following bark beetle outbreaks in two contrasting conifer forest types.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin, Jacob M; Turner, Monica G

2012-10-01

Outbreaks of Dendroctonus beetles are causing extensive mortality in conifer forests throughout North America. However, nitrogen (N) cycling impacts among forest types are not well known. We quantified beetle-induced changes in forest structure, soil temperature, and N cycling in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests of Greater Yellowstone (WY, USA), and compared them to published lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) data. Five undisturbed stands were compared to five beetle-killed stands (4-5 years post-outbreak). We hypothesized greater N cycling responses in Douglas-fir due to higher overall N stocks. Undisturbed Douglas-fir stands had greater litter N pools, soil N, and net N mineralization than lodgepole pine. Several responses to disturbance were similar between forest types, including a pulse of N-enriched litter, doubling of soil N availability, 30-50 % increase in understory cover, and 20 % increase in foliar N concentration of unattacked trees. However, the response of some ecosystem properties notably varied by host forest type. Soil temperature was unaffected in Douglas-fir, but lowered in lodgepole pine. Fresh foliar %N was uncorrelated with net N mineralization in Douglas-fir, but positively correlated in lodgepole pine. Though soil ammonium and nitrate, net N mineralization, and net nitrification all doubled, they remained low in both forest types (mineralization; litter and soil N cycling similarly in each forest type, despite substantial differences in pre-disturbance biogeochemistry. In contrast, soil temperature and soil N-foliar N linkages differed between host forest types. This result suggests that disturbance type may be a better predictor of litter and soil N responses than forest type due to similar disturbance mechanisms and disturbance legacies across both host-beetle systems.

Modelling Vulnerability and Range Shifts in Ant Communities Responding to Future Global Warming in Temperate Forests.

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Kwon, Tae-Sung; Li, Fengqing; Kim, Sung-Soo; Chun, Jung Hwa; Park, Young-Seuk

2016-01-01

Global warming is likely leading to species' distributional shifts, resulting in changes in local community compositions and diversity patterns. In this study, we applied species distribution models to evaluate the potential impacts of temperature increase on ant communities in Korean temperate forests, by testing hypotheses that 1) the risk of extinction of forest ant species would increase over time, and 2) the changes in species distribution ranges could drive upward movements of ant communities and further alter patterns of species richness. We sampled ant communities at 335 evenly distributed sites across South Korea and modelled the future distribution range for each species using generalized additive models. To account for spatial autocorrelation, autocovariate regressions were conducted prior to generalized additive models. Among 29 common ant species, 12 species were estimated to shrink their suitable geographic areas, whereas five species would benefit from future global warming. Species richness was highest at low altitudes in the current period, and it was projected to be highest at the mid-altitudes in the 2080s, resulting in an upward movement of 4.9 m yr-1. This altered the altitudinal pattern of species richness from a monotonic-decrease curve (common in temperate regions) to a bell-shaped curve (common in tropical regions). Overall, ant communities in temperate forests are vulnerable to the on-going global warming and their altitudinal movements are similar to other faunal communities.

Species composition and forest structure explain the temperature sensitivity patterns of productivity in temperate forests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. J. Bohn

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Rising temperatures due to climate change influence the wood production of forests. Observations show that some temperate forests increase their productivity, whereas others reduce their productivity. This study focuses on how species composition and forest structure properties influence the temperature sensitivity of aboveground wood production (AWP. It further investigates which forests will increase their productivity the most with rising temperatures. We described forest structure by leaf area index, forest height and tree height heterogeneity. Species composition was described by a functional diversity index (Rao's Q and a species distribution index (ΩAWP. ΩAWP quantified how well species are distributed over the different forest layers with regard to AWP. We analysed 370 170 forest stands generated with a forest gap model. These forest stands covered a wide range of possible forest types. For each stand, we estimated annual aboveground wood production and performed a climate sensitivity analysis based on 320 different climate time series (of 1-year length. The scenarios differed in mean annual temperature and annual temperature amplitude. Temperature sensitivity of wood production was quantified as the relative change in productivity resulting from a 1 °C rise in mean annual temperature or annual temperature amplitude. Increasing ΩAWP positively influenced both temperature sensitivity indices of forest, whereas forest height showed a bell-shaped relationship with both indices. Further, we found forests in each successional stage that are positively affected by temperature rise. For such forests, large ΩAWP values were important. In the case of young forests, low functional diversity and small tree height heterogeneity were associated with a positive effect of temperature on wood production. During later successional stages, higher species diversity and larger tree height heterogeneity were an advantage. To achieve such a

Species composition and forest structure explain the temperature sensitivity patterns of productivity in temperate forests

Science.gov (United States)

Bohn, Friedrich J.; May, Felix; Huth, Andreas

2018-03-01

Rising temperatures due to climate change influence the wood production of forests. Observations show that some temperate forests increase their productivity, whereas others reduce their productivity. This study focuses on how species composition and forest structure properties influence the temperature sensitivity of aboveground wood production (AWP). It further investigates which forests will increase their productivity the most with rising temperatures. We described forest structure by leaf area index, forest height and tree height heterogeneity. Species composition was described by a functional diversity index (Rao's Q) and a species distribution index (ΩAWP). ΩAWP quantified how well species are distributed over the different forest layers with regard to AWP. We analysed 370 170 forest stands generated with a forest gap model. These forest stands covered a wide range of possible forest types. For each stand, we estimated annual aboveground wood production and performed a climate sensitivity analysis based on 320 different climate time series (of 1-year length). The scenarios differed in mean annual temperature and annual temperature amplitude. Temperature sensitivity of wood production was quantified as the relative change in productivity resulting from a 1 °C rise in mean annual temperature or annual temperature amplitude. Increasing ΩAWP positively influenced both temperature sensitivity indices of forest, whereas forest height showed a bell-shaped relationship with both indices. Further, we found forests in each successional stage that are positively affected by temperature rise. For such forests, large ΩAWP values were important. In the case of young forests, low functional diversity and small tree height heterogeneity were associated with a positive effect of temperature on wood production. During later successional stages, higher species diversity and larger tree height heterogeneity were an advantage. To achieve such a development, one could plant

Diversity patterns of ground beetles and understory vegetation in mature, secondary, and plantation forest regions of temperate northern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Yi; Sang, Weiguo; Wang, Shunzhong; Warren-Thomas, Eleanor; Liu, Yunhui; Yu, Zhenrong; Wang, Changliu; Axmacher, Jan Christoph

2015-02-01

Plantation and secondary forests form increasingly important components of the global forest cover, but our current knowledge about their potential contribution to biodiversity conservation is limited. We surveyed understory plant and carabid species assemblages at three distinct regions in temperate northeastern China, dominated by mature forest (Changbaishan Nature Reserve, sampled in 2011 and 2012), secondary forest (Dongling Mountain, sampled in 2011 and 2012), and forest plantation habitats (Bashang Plateau, sampled in 2006 and 2007), respectively. The α-diversity of both taxonomic groups was highest in plantation forests of the Bashang Plateau. Beetle α-diversity was lowest, but plant and beetle species turnover peaked in the secondary forests of Dongling Mountain, while habitats in the Changbaishan Nature Reserve showed the lowest turnover rates for both taxa. Changbaishan Nature Reserve harbored the highest proportion of forest specialists. Our results suggest that in temperate regions of northern China, the protected larch plantation forest established over extensive areas might play a considerable role in maintaining a high biodiversity in relation to understory herbaceous plant species and carabid assemblages, which can be seen as indicators of forest disturbance. The high proportion of phytophagous carabids and the rarity of forest specialists reflect the relatively homogenous, immature status of the forest ecosystems on the Bashang Plateau. China's last remaining large old-growth forests like the ones on Changbaishan represent stable, mature ecosystems which require particular conservation attention.

Fire intensity impacts on post-fire temperate coniferous forest net primary productivity

Science.gov (United States)

Sparks, Aaron M.; Kolden, Crystal A.; Smith, Alistair M. S.; Boschetti, Luigi; Johnson, Daniel M.; Cochrane, Mark A.

2018-02-01

Fire is a dynamic ecological process in forests and impacts the carbon (C) cycle through direct combustion emissions, tree mortality, and by impairing the ability of surviving trees to sequester carbon. While studies on young trees have demonstrated that fire intensity is a determinant of post-fire net primary productivity, wildland fires on landscape to regional scales have largely been assumed to either cause tree mortality, or conversely, cause no physiological impact, ignoring the impacted but surviving trees. Our objective was to understand how fire intensity affects post-fire net primary productivity in conifer-dominated forested ecosystems on the spatial scale of large wildland fires. We examined the relationships between fire radiative power (FRP), its temporal integral (fire radiative energy - FRE), and net primary productivity (NPP) using 16 years of data from the MOderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) for 15 large fires in western United States coniferous forests. The greatest NPP post-fire loss occurred 1 year post-fire and ranged from -67 to -312 g C m-2 yr-1 (-13 to -54 %) across all fires. Forests dominated by fire-resistant species (species that typically survive low-intensity fires) experienced the lowest relative NPP reductions compared to forests with less resistant species. Post-fire NPP in forests that were dominated by fire-susceptible species were not as sensitive to FRP or FRE, indicating that NPP in these forests may be reduced to similar levels regardless of fire intensity. Conversely, post-fire NPP in forests dominated by fire-resistant and mixed species decreased with increasing FRP or FRE. In some cases, this dose-response relationship persisted for more than a decade post-fire, highlighting a legacy effect of fire intensity on post-fire C dynamics in these forests.

Demography of Symbiotic Nitrogen-Fixing Trees Explains Their Rarity and Successional Decline in Temperate Forests in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Wenying; Menge, Duncan N L

2016-01-01

Symbiotic nitrogen (N) fixation is the major N input to many ecosystems. Although temperate forests are commonly N limited, symbiotic N-fixing trees ("N fixers") are rare and decline in abundance as succession proceeds-a challenging paradox that remains unexplained. Understanding demographic processes that underlie N fixers' rarity and successional decline would provide a proximate answer to the paradox. Do N fixers grow slower, die more frequently, or recruit less in temperate forests? We quantified demographic rates of N-fixing and non-fixing trees across succession using U.S. forest inventory data. We used an individual-based model to evaluate the relative contribution of each demographic process to community dynamics. Compared to non-fixers, N fixers had lower growth rates, higher mortality rates, and lower recruitment rates throughout succession. The mortality effect contributed more than the growth effect to N fixers' successional decline. Canopy and understory N fixers experienced these demographic disadvantages, indicating that factors in addition to light limitation likely contribute to N fixers' successional decline. We show that the rarity and successional decline of N-fixing trees in temperate forests is due more to their survival disadvantage than their growth disadvantage, and a recruitment disadvantage might also play a large role.

The formation and fate of chlorinated organic substances in temperate and boreal forest soils.

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, Nicholas; Fuksová, Kvetoslava; Gryndler, Milan; Lachmanová, Zora; Liste, Hans-Holger; Rohlenová, Jana; Schroll, Reiner; Schröder, Peter; Matucha, Miroslav

2009-03-01

Chlorine is an abundant element, commonly occurring in nature either as chloride ions or as chlorinated organic compounds (OCls). Chlorinated organic substances were long considered purely anthropogenic products; however, they are, in addition, a commonly occurring and important part of natural ecosystems. Formation of OCls may affect the degradation of soil organic matter (SOM) and thus the carbon cycle with implications for the ability of forest soils to sequester carbon, whilst the occurrence of potentially toxic OCls in groundwater aquifers is of concern with regard to water quality. It is thus important to understand the biogeochemical cycle of chlorine, both inorganic and organic, to get information about the relevant processes in the forest ecosystem and the effects on these from human activities, including forestry practices. A survey is given of processes in the soil of temperate and boreal forests, predominantly in Europe, including the participation of chlorine, and gaps in knowledge and the need for further work are discussed. Chlorine is present as chloride ion and/or OCls in all compartments of temperate and boreal forest ecosystems. It contributes to the degradation of SOM, thus also affecting carbon sequestration in the forest soil. The most important source of chloride to coastal forest ecosystems is sea salt deposition, and volcanoes and coal burning can also be important sources. Locally, de-icing salt can be an important chloride input near major roads. In addition, anthropogenic sources of OCls are manifold. However, results also indicate the formation of chlorinated organics by microorganisms as an important source, together with natural abiotic formation. In fact, the soil pool of OCls seems to be a result of the balance between chlorination and degradation processes. Ecologically, organochlorines may function as antibiotics, signal substances and energy equivalents, in descending order of significance. Forest management practices can affect

A significant carbon sink in temperate forests in Beijing: based on 20-year field measurements in three stands.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, JianXiao; Hu, XueYang; Yao, Hui; Liu, GuoHua; Ji, ChenJun; Fang, JingYun

2015-11-01

Numerous efforts have been made to characterize forest carbon (C) cycles and stocks in various ecosystems. However, long-term observation on each component of the forest C cycle is still lacking. We measured C stocks and fluxes in three permanent temperate forest plots (birch, oak and pine forest) during 2011–2014, and calculated the changes of the components of the C cycle related to the measurements during 1992–1994 at Mt. Dongling, Beijing, China. Forest net primary production in birch, oak, and pine plots was 5.32, 4.53, and 6.73 Mg C ha-1 a-1, respectively. Corresponding net ecosystem production was 0.12, 0.43, and 3.53 Mg C ha-1 a-1. The C stocks and fluxes in 2011–2014 were significantly larger than those in 1992–1994 in which the biomass C densities in birch, oak, and pine plots increased from 50.0, 37.7, and 54.0 Mg C ha-1 in 1994 to 101.5, 77.3, and 110.9 Mg C ha-1 in 2014; soil organic C densities increased from 207.0, 239.1, and 231.7 Mg C ha-1 to 214.8, 241.7, and 238.4 Mg C ha-1; and soil heterotrophic respiration increased from 2.78, 3.49, and 1.81 Mg C ha-1 a-1 to 5.20, 4.10, and 3.20 Mg C ha-1 a-1. These results suggest that the mountainous temperate forest ecosystems in Beijing have served as a carbon sink in the last two decades. These observations of C stocks and fluxes provided field-based data for a long-term study of C cycling in temperate forest ecosystems.

Long-term variability and environmental control of the carbon cycle in an oak-dominated temperate forest

Science.gov (United States)

Jing Xie; Jiquan Chen; Ge Sun; Housen Chu; Asko Noormets; Zutao Ouyang; Ranjeet John; Shiqiang Wan; Wenbin Guan

2014-01-01

Our understanding of the long-term carbon (C) cycle of temperate deciduous forests and its sensitivity to climate variability is limited due to the large temporal dynamics of C fluxes. The goal of the study was to quantify the effects of environmental variables on the C balance in a 70-year-old mixed-oak woodland forest over a 7-year period in northwest Ohio, USA. The...

Phylobetadiversity among forest types in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest complex.

Science.gov (United States)

Duarte, Leandro Da Silva; Bergamin, Rodrigo Scarton; Marcilio-Silva, Vinícius; Seger, Guilherme Dubal Dos Santos; Marques, Márcia Cristina Mendes

2014-01-01

Phylobetadiversity is defined as the phylogenetic resemblance between communities or biomes. Analyzing phylobetadiversity patterns among different vegetation physiognomies within a single biome is crucial to understand the historical affinities between them. Based on the widely accepted idea that different forest physiognomies within the Southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest constitute different facies of a single biome, we hypothesize that more recent phylogenetic nodes should drive phylobetadiversity gradients between the different forest types within the Atlantic Forest, as the phylogenetic divergence among those forest types is biogeographically recent. We compiled information from 206 checklists describing the occurrence of shrub/tree species across three different forest physiognomies within the Southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Dense, Mixed and Seasonal forests). We analyzed intra-site phylogenetic structure (phylogenetic diversity, net relatedness index and nearest taxon index) and phylobetadiversity between plots located at different forest types, using five different methods differing in sensitivity to either basal or terminal nodes (phylogenetic fuzzy weighting, COMDIST, COMDISTNT, UniFrac and Rao's H). Mixed forests showed higher phylogenetic diversity and overdispersion than the other forest types. Furthermore, all forest types differed from each other in relation phylobetadiversity patterns, particularly when phylobetadiversity methods more sensitive to terminal nodes were employed. Mixed forests tended to show higher phylogenetic differentiation to Dense and Seasonal forests than these latter from each other. The higher phylogenetic diversity and phylobetadiversity levels found in Mixed forests when compared to the others likely result from the biogeographical origin of several taxa occurring in these forests. On one hand, Mixed forests shelter several temperate taxa, like the conifers Araucaria and Podocarpus. On the other hand, tropical groups, like

Charcoal and Total Carbon in Soils from Foothills Shrublands to Subalpine Forests in the Colorado Front Range

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Sanford

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Temperate conifer forests in the Colorado Front Range are fire-adapted ecosystems where wildland fires leave a legacy in the form of char and charcoal. Long-term soil charcoal C (CC pools result from the combined effects of wildland fires, aboveground biomass characteristics and soil transfer mechanisms. We measured CC pools in surface soils (0–10 cm at mid-slope positions on east facing aspects in five continuous foothills shrubland and conifer forest types. We found a significant statistical effect of vegetation type on CC pools along this ecological gradient, but not a linear pattern increasing with elevation gain. There is a weak bimodal pattern of CC gain with elevation between foothills shrublands (1.2 mg CC ha−1 and the lower montane, ponderosa pine (1.5 mg CC ha−1 and Douglas-fir (1.5 mg CC ha−1 forest types prior to a mid-elevation decline in upper montane lodgepole pine forests (1.2 mg CC ha−1 before increasing again in the spruce/subalpine fir forests (1.5 mg CC ha−1. We propose that CC forms and accumulates via unique ecological conditions such as fire regime. The range of soil CC amounts and ratios of CC to total SOC are comparable to but lower than other regional estimates.

Forests tend to cool the land surface in the temperate zone: An analysis of the mechanisms controlling radiometric surface temperature change in managed temperate ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Stoy, P. C.; Katul, G. G.; Juang, J.; Siqueira, M. B.; Novick, K. A.; Essery, R.; Dore, S.; Kolb, T. E.; Montes-Helu, M. C.; Scott, R. L.

2010-12-01

Vegetation is an important control on the surface energy balance and thereby surface temperature. Boreal forests and arctic shrubs are thought to warm the land surface by absorbing more radiation than the vegetation they replace. The surface temperatures of tropical forests tend to be cooler than deforested landscapes due to enhanced evapotranspiration. The effects of reforestation on surface temperature change in the temperate zone is less-certain, but recent modeling efforts suggest forests have a global warming effect. We quantified the mechanisms driving radiometric surface changes following landcover changes using paired ecosystem case studies from the Ameriflux database with energy balance models of varying complexity. Results confirm previous findings that deciduous and coniferous forests in the southeastern U.S. are ca. 1 °C cooler than an adjacent field on an annual basis because aerodynamic/ecophysiological cooling of 2-3 °C outweighs an albedo-related warming of stand-replacing ponderosa pine fire was ca. 1 °C warmer than unburned stands because a 1.5 °C aerodynamic warming offset a slight surface cooling due to greater albedo and soil heat flux. An ecosystem dominated by mesquite shrub encroachment was nearly 2 °C warmer than a native grassland ecosystem as aerodynamic and albedo-related warming outweighed a small cooling effect due to changes in soil heat flux. The forested ecosystems in these case studies are documented to have higher carbon uptake than the non-forested systems. Results suggest that temperate forests tend to cool the land surface and suggest that previous model-based findings that forests warm the Earth’s surface globally should be reconsidered.Changes to radiometric surface temperature (K) following changes in vegetation using paired ecosystem case studies C4 grassland and shrub ecosystem surface temperatures were adjusted for differences in air temperature across sites.

Bat and bird diversity along independent gradients of latitude and tree composition in European forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Charbonnier, Yohan M; Barbaro, Luc; Barnagaud, Jean-Yves; Ampoorter, Evy; Nezan, Julien; Verheyen, Kris; Jactel, Hervé

2016-10-01

Species assemblages are shaped by local and continental-scale processes that are seldom investigated together, due to the lack of surveys along independent gradients of latitude and habitat types. Our study investigated changes in the effects of forest composition and structure on bat and bird diversity across Europe. We compared the taxonomic and functional diversity of bat and bird assemblages in 209 mature forest plots spread along gradients of forest composition and vertical structure, replicated in 6 regions spanning from the Mediterranean to the boreal biomes. Species richness and functional evenness of both bat and bird communities were affected by the interactions between latitude and forest composition and structure. Bat and bird species richness increased with broadleaved tree cover in temperate and especially in boreal regions but not in the Mediterranean where they increased with conifer abundance. Bat species richness was lower in forests with smaller trees and denser understorey only in northern regions. Bird species richness was not affected by forest structure. Bird functional evenness increased in younger and denser forests. Bat functional evenness was also influenced by interactions between latitude and understorey structure, increasing in temperate forests but decreasing in the Mediterranean. Covariation between bat and bird abundances also shifted across Europe, from negative in southern forests to positive in northern forests. Our results suggest that community assembly processes in bats and birds of European forests are predominantly driven by abundance and accessibility of feeding resources, i.e., insect prey, and their changes across both forest types and latitudes.

Seasonal variation of CO{sub 2} flux between air and temperate forest

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamamoto, Susumo; Murayama, Shohei; Kondo, Hiroaki [National Inst. for Resources and Environment, Ibaraki (Japan)

1995-12-31

Carbon dioxide, which is a very important greenhouse gas, contributes approximately 55 % to the problem of global warming. The knowledge to the sources and sinks of carbon on a global basis is very poor. IPCC (1994) suggested that unknown 1.5-2.0 GtC/year may be sunk in terrestrial ecosystem, in particular, in the Northern Hemisphere. As can be seen from a recent estimation of the carbon fluxes in the terrestrial biosphere, there is a high degree of uncertainty in the magnitude. The clear evidence for it has not been shown yet by IPCC (1994). However, based on the gradient of CO{sub 2}, as a function of latitude, main CO{sub 2} sink can be thought to be in the terrestrial biosphere, in the middle to high latitude of the Northern Hemisphere. As can be seen from a recent estimation of the carbon fluxes in the terrestrial biosphere, there is a high degree of uncertainty in the magnitude. From this view, more investigation of the role of the temperate forest on the CO{sub 2} balance is inevitable. In this presentation, the seasonal variation of CO{sub 2} flux between air and biosphere in temperate deciduous forest in Japan is intended to be elucidated. (author)

Seasonal variation of CO{sub 2} flux between air and temperate forest

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamamoto, Susumo; Murayama, Shohei; Kondo, Hiroaki [National Inst. for Resources and Environment, Ibaraki (Japan)

1996-12-31

Carbon dioxide, which is a very important greenhouse gas, contributes approximately 55 % to the problem of global warming. The knowledge to the sources and sinks of carbon on a global basis is very poor. IPCC (1994) suggested that unknown 1.5-2.0 GtC/year may be sunk in terrestrial ecosystem, in particular, in the Northern Hemisphere. As can be seen from a recent estimation of the carbon fluxes in the terrestrial biosphere, there is a high degree of uncertainty in the magnitude. The clear evidence for it has not been shown yet by IPCC (1994). However, based on the gradient of CO{sub 2}, as a function of latitude, main CO{sub 2} sink can be thought to be in the terrestrial biosphere, in the middle to high latitude of the Northern Hemisphere. As can be seen from a recent estimation of the carbon fluxes in the terrestrial biosphere, there is a high degree of uncertainty in the magnitude. From this view, more investigation of the role of the temperate forest on the CO{sub 2} balance is inevitable. In this presentation, the seasonal variation of CO{sub 2} flux between air and biosphere in temperate deciduous forest in Japan is intended to be elucidated. (author)

Seasonal pattern of anthropogenic salinization in temperate forested headwater streams.

Science.gov (United States)

Timpano, Anthony J; Zipper, Carl E; Soucek, David J; Schoenholtz, Stephen H

2018-04-15

Salinization of freshwaters by human activities is of growing concern globally. Consequences of salt pollution include adverse effects to aquatic biodiversity, ecosystem function, human health, and ecosystem services. In headwater streams of the temperate forests of eastern USA, elevated specific conductance (SC), a surrogate measurement for the major dissolved ions composing salinity, has been linked to decreased diversity of aquatic insects. However, such linkages have typically been based on limited numbers of SC measurements that do not quantify intra-annual variation. Effective management of salinization requires tools to accurately monitor and predict salinity while accounting for temporal variability. Toward that end, high-frequency SC data were collected within the central Appalachian coalfield over 4 years at 25 forested headwater streams spanning a gradient of salinity. A sinusoidal periodic function was used to model the annual cycle of SC, averaged across years and streams. The resultant model revealed that, on average, salinity deviated approximately ±20% from annual mean levels across all years and streams, with minimum SC occurring in late winter and peak SC occurring in late summer. The pattern was evident in headwater streams influenced by surface coal mining, unmined headwater reference streams with low salinity, and larger-order salinized rivers draining the study area. The pattern was strongly responsive to varying seasonal dilution as driven by catchment evapotranspiration, an effect that was amplified slightly in unmined catchments with greater relative forest cover. Evaluation of alternative sampling intervals indicated that discrete sampling can approximate the model performance afforded by high-frequency data but model error increases rapidly as discrete sampling intervals exceed 30 days. This study demonstrates that intra-annual variation of salinity in temperate forested headwater streams of Appalachia USA follows a natural seasonal

Differential controls on soil carbon density and mineralization among contrasting forest types in a temperate forest ecosystem

Science.gov (United States)

You, Ye-Ming; Wang, Juan; Sun, Xiao-Lu; Tang, Zuo-Xin; Zhou, Zhi-Yong; Sun, Osbert Jianxin

2016-01-01

Understanding the controls on soil carbon dynamics is crucial for modeling responses of ecosystem carbon balance to global change, yet few studies provide explicit knowledge on the direct and indirect effects of forest stands on soil carbon via microbial processes. We investigated tree species, soil, and site factors in relation to soil carbon density and mineralization in a temperate forest of central China. We found that soil microbial biomass and community structure, extracellular enzyme activities, and most of the site factors studied varied significantly across contrasting forest types, and that the associations between activities of soil extracellular enzymes and microbial community structure appeared to be weak and inconsistent across forest types, implicating complex mechanisms in the microbial regulation of soil carbon metabolism in relation to tree species. Overall, variations in soil carbon density and mineralization are predominantly accounted for by shared effects of tree species, soil, microclimate, and microbial traits rather than the individual effects of the four categories of factors. Our findings point to differential controls on soil carbon density and mineralization among contrasting forest types and highlight the challenge to incorporate microbial processes for constraining soil carbon dynamics in global carbon cycle models. PMID:26925871

Substrate and nutrient limitation of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in temperate forest soil

Science.gov (United States)

J.S. Norman; J.E. Barrett

2014-01-01

Ammonia-oxidizing microbes control the rate-limiting step of nitrification, a critical ecosystem process, which affects retention and mobility of nitrogen in soil ecosystems. This study investigated substrate (NH4þ) and nutrient (K and P) limitation of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in temperate forest soils at Coweeta Hydrologic...

Moist temperate forest butterflies of western Bhutan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arun P. Singh

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Random surveys were carried out in moist temperate forests (1,860–3,116 m around Bunakha Village and Dochula Pass, near Thimphu in western Bhutan, recording 65 species of butterflies.  Of these, 11 species, viz., Straightwing Blue Orthomiella pontis pontis Elwes, Slate Royal Maneca bhotea bhotea Moore, Dull Green Hairstreak Esakiozephyrus icana Moore, Yellow Woodbrown Lethe nicetas Hewitson, Small Silverfork Zophoessa jalaurida elwesi Moore, Scarce Labyrinth, Neope pulahina (Evans, Chumbi Wall Chonala masoni Elwes, Pale Hockeystick Sailer Neptis manasa manasa Moore and White Commodore Parasarpa dudu dudu Westwood, are restricted to the eastern Himalaya, northeastern India and Myanmar.  Two other species, Tawny Mime Chiasa agestor agestor (Gray and Himalayan Spotted Flat Celaenorrhinus munda Moore have been only rarely recorded from Bhutan and a few individuals of the rare Bhutan Glory Bhutanitis lidderdalei Atkinson were also recorded near Bunakha.  

Physiological responses of three deciduous conifers (Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Taxodium distichum and Larix laricina) to continuous light: adaptive implications for the early Tertiary polar summer.

Science.gov (United States)

Equiza, M Alejandra; Day, Michael E; Jagels, Richard

2006-03-01

Polar regions were covered with extensive forests during the Cretaceous and early Tertiary, and supported trees comparable in size and productivity to those of present-day temperate forests. With a winter of total or near darkness and a summer of continuous, low-angle illumination, these temperate, high-latitude forests were characterized by a light regime without a contemporary counterpart. Although maximum irradiances were much lower than at mid-latitudes, the 24-h photoperiod provided similar integrated light flux. Taxodium, Larix and Metasequoia, three genera of deciduous conifers that occurred in paleoarctic wet forests, have extant, closely related descendents. However, the contemporary relative abundance of these genera differs greatly from that in the paleoarctic. To provide insight into attributes that favor competitive success in a continuous-light environment, we subjected saplings of these genera to a natural photoperiod or a 24-h photoperiod and measured gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, non-structural carbohydrate concentrations, biomass production and carbon allocation. Exposure to continuous light significantly decreased photosynthetic capacity and quantum efficiency of photosystem II in Taxodium and Larix, but had minimal influence in Metasequoia. In midsummer, foliar starch concentration substantially increased in both Taxodium and Larix saplings grown in continuous light, which may have contributed to end-product down-regulation of photosynthetic capacity. In contrast, Metasequoia allocated photosynthate to continuous production of new foliar biomass. This difference in carbon allocation may have provided Metasequoia with a two fold advantage in the paleoarctic by minimizing depression of photosynthetic capacity and increasing photosynthetic surface.

Influence of light and soil moisture on Sierran mixed-conifer understory communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Malcolm North; Brian Oakley; Rob Fiegener; Andrew Gray; Michael. Barbour

2005-01-01

Sierra Nevada forests have high understory species richness yet we do not know which site factors influence herb and shrub distribution or abundance. We examined the understory of an old-growth mixed-conifer Sierran forest and its distribution in relation to microsite conditions. The forest has high species richness (98 species sampled), most of which are herbs with...

Exotic ecosystems: where root disease is not a beneficial component of temperate conifer forests

Science.gov (United States)

William J. Otrosina

2003-01-01

Forest tree species and ecosystems ahve evolved under climatic, geological, and biological forces over eons of time. The present flora represents the sum of these selective forces that have acted upon ancestral and modern species. Adaptations to climatic factors, soils, insects, diseases, and a host of disturbance events, operating at a variety of scales, ahve forged...

Drought responses of conifers in ecotone forests of northern Arizona: tree ring growth and leaf delta13C.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Henry D; Kolb, Thomas E

2004-07-01

We sought to understand differences in tree response to meteorological drought among species and soil types at two ecotone forests in northern Arizona, the pinyon-juniper woodland/ponderosa pine ecotone, and the higher elevation, wetter, ponderosa pine/mixed conifer ecotone. We used two approaches that provide different information about drought response: the ratio of standardized radial growth in wet years to dry years (W:D) for the period between years 1950 and 2000 as a measure of growth response to drought, and delta13C in leaves formed in non-drought (2001) and drought (2002) years as a measure of change in water use efficiency (WUE) in response to drought. W:D and leaf delta13C response to drought for Pinus edulis and P. ponderosa did not differ for trees growing on coarse-texture soils derived from cinders compared with finer textured soils derived from flow basalts or sedimentary rocks. P. ponderosa growing near its low elevation range limit at the pinyon-juniper woodland/ponderosa pine ecotone had a greater growth response to drought (higher W:D) and a larger increase in WUE in response to drought than co-occurring P. edulis growing near its high elevation range limit. P. flexilis and Pseudotsuga menziesii growing near their low elevation range limit at the ponderosa pine/mixed conifer ecotone had a larger growth response to drought than co-occurring P. ponderosa growing near its high elevation range limit. Increases in WUE in response to drought were similar for all species at the ponderosa pine/mixed conifer ecotone. Low elevation populations of P. ponderosa had greater growth response to drought than high-elevation populations, whereas populations had a similar increase in WUE in response to drought. Our findings of different responses to drought among co-occurring tree species and between low- and high-elevation populations are interpreted in the context of drought impacts on montane coniferous forests of the southwestern USA.

Centennial-scale reductions in nitrogen availability in temperate forests of the United States

Science.gov (United States)

McLauchlan, Kendra K.; Gerhart, Laci M.; Battles, John J.; Craine, Joseph M.; Elmore, Andrew J.; Higuera, Phil E.; Mack, Michelle M; McNeil, Brendan E.; Nelson, David M.; Pederson, Neil; Perakis, Steven

2017-01-01

Forests cover 30% of the terrestrial Earth surface and are a major component of the global carbon (C) cycle. Humans have doubled the amount of global reactive nitrogen (N), increasing deposition of N onto forests worldwide. However, other global changes—especially climate change and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations—are increasing demand for N, the element limiting primary productivity in temperate forests, which could be reducing N availability. To determine the long-term, integrated effects of global changes on forest N cycling, we measured stable N isotopes in wood, a proxy for N supply relative to demand, on large spatial and temporal scales across the continental U.S.A. Here, we show that forest N availability has generally declined across much of the U.S. since at least 1850 C.E. with cool, wet forests demonstrating the greatest declines. Across sites, recent trajectories of N availability were independent of recent atmospheric N deposition rates, implying a minor role for modern N deposition on the trajectory of N status of North American forests. Our results demonstrate that current trends of global changes are likely to be consistent with forest oligotrophication into the foreseeable future, further constraining forest C fixation and potentially storage.

Soil phosphorus fractionation as a tool for monitoring dust phosphorus signature underneath a Blue Pine (Pinus wallichiana) canopy in a Temperate Forest

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shafqat, M.N.; Shahid, S.; Eqani, S.A.M.A.S.; Shah, S.H.; Waseem, A.

2016-07-01

Aim of the study: This study aims (i) to monitor the amount of dust deposition during dry season in the moist temperate forest; (ii) to study nature of P fractions in the dust samples falling on the trees in the region; (iii) to study soil P fractions as influenced by the processes of throughfall and stemflow of a Blue Pine (Pinus wallichiana) canopy and to finger print the contribution of dust towards P input in the temperate forest ecosystem. Area of study: The site used for the collection of soil samples was situated at an elevation of 6900 feet above sea levels (temperate forest in Himalaya region) in the Thandani area national forest located in the north west of Pakistan. Material and methods: For soil sampling and processing, three forest sites with three old tree plants per site were selected at approximately leveled plain for surface soil sampling. Two dust samples were collected and analyzed for different physicochemical properties along with different P fractions. First dust sample was collected from a site situated at an elevation of 4000 feet and second one was collected from an elevation of 6500 feet above sea levels. Modified Hedley procedure for the fractionation of P in the dust and soil samples were used. Main results: The input of dust was 43 and 20 kg ha-1 during drier months of the year (September-June) at lower and higher elevation sites respectively, and the dust from lower elevation site had relative more all P fractions than the other dust sample. However, HCl-Pi fraction was dominant in both samples. Both labile (water plus NaHCO3) and non-labile (NaOH plus HCl) inorganic P (Pi) fractions were significantly increased in the surface soil by both stemflow and throughfall compared to the open field soil. The buildup of NaOH and HCl-Pi pools in soils underneath the canopy might prove useful in fingerprinting the contribution of atmospheric dust towards P cycling in this temperate forest. Research highlights: The role of dust in the cycling of P

Transfer parameter values in temperate forest ecosystems: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calmon, Philippe; Thiry, Yves; Zibold, Gregor; Rantavaara, Aino; Fesenko, Sergei

2009-01-01

activity reduction, quantified as an ecological half-life, reflect the soil and pasture conditions at individual locations. Forests in temperate and boreal regions differ with respect to soil type and vegetation, and a faster decline of muscle activity concentrations in deer occurs in the temperate zone. However, in wild boar the caesium activity concentration shows no decline because of its special feeding habits. In the late phase, i.e. at least a few months since the external radionuclide contamination on feed plants has been removed, a T ag value of 0.01 m 2 kg -1 (fresh weight) is common for 137 Cs in the muscles of adult moose and terrestrial birds living in boreal forests, and 0.03 m 2 kg -1 (fresh weight) for arctic hare. Radiocaesium concentrations in reindeer muscle in winter may exceed the summer content by a factor of more than two, the mean T ag values for winter ranging from 0.02 to 0.8 m 2 kg -1 (fresh weight), and in summer from 0.04 to 0.4 m 2 kg -1 . The highest values are found in the year of initial contamination, followed by a gradual reduction. In waterfowl a relatively fast decline in uptake of 137 Cs has been found, with T ag values changing from 0.01 to 0.002 m 2 kg -1 (fresh weight) in the three years after the contaminating event, the rate being determined by the dynamics of 137 Cs in aquatic ecosystems.

Transfer parameter values in temperate forest ecosystems: a review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Calmon, Philippe [Department of Radioecology, Institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety, CE Cadarache, BP 3, 13115 Saint Paul-les-Durance Cedex (France)], E-mail: philippe.calmon@irsn.fr; Thiry, Yves [Biosphere Impact Studies, Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK.CEN, Foundation of Public Utility), 2400 Mol (Belgium); Zibold, Gregor [Hochschule Ravensburg-Weingarten, University of Applied Sciences, 88250 Weingarten (Germany); Rantavaara, Aino [Research and Environmental Surveillance, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), BP 14, FIN-00881 Helsinki (Finland); Fesenko, Sergei [International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 1400 Vienna (Austria)

2009-09-15

of radioactive caesium to game animals and reindeer and the rate of activity reduction, quantified as an ecological half-life, reflect the soil and pasture conditions at individual locations. Forests in temperate and boreal regions differ with respect to soil type and vegetation, and a faster decline of muscle activity concentrations in deer occurs in the temperate zone. However, in wild boar the caesium activity concentration shows no decline because of its special feeding habits. In the late phase, i.e. at least a few months since the external radionuclide contamination on feed plants has been removed, a T{sub ag} value of 0.01 m{sup 2} kg{sup -1} (fresh weight) is common for {sup 137}Cs in the muscles of adult moose and terrestrial birds living in boreal forests, and 0.03 m{sup 2} kg{sup -1} (fresh weight) for arctic hare. Radiocaesium concentrations in reindeer muscle in winter may exceed the summer content by a factor of more than two, the mean T{sub ag} values for winter ranging from 0.02 to 0.8 m{sup 2} kg{sup -1} (fresh weight), and in summer from 0.04 to 0.4 m{sup 2} kg{sup -1}. The highest values are found in the year of initial contamination, followed by a gradual reduction. In waterfowl a relatively fast decline in uptake of {sup 137}Cs has been found, with T{sub ag} values changing from 0.01 to 0.002 m{sup 2} kg{sup -1} (fresh weight) in the three years after the contaminating event, the rate being determined by the dynamics of {sup 137}Cs in aquatic ecosystems.

The impact of forest roads on understory plant diversity in temperate hornbeam-beech forests of Northern Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Deljouei, Azade; Abdi, Ehsan; Marcantonio, Matteo; Majnounian, Baris; Amici, Valerio; Sohrabi, Hormoz

2017-08-01

Forest roads alter the biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems, modifying temperature, humidity, wind speed, and light availability that, in turn, cause changes in plant community composition and diversity. We aim at investigating and comparing the diversity of herbaceous species along main and secondary forest roads in a temperate-managed hornbeam-beech forest, north of Iran. Sixteen transects along main and secondary forest roads were established (eight transects along main roads and eight along secondary roads). To eliminate the effect of forest type, all transects were located in Carpinetum-Fagetum forests, the dominant forest type in the study area. The total length of each transect was 200 m (100 m toward up slope and 100 m toward down slope), and plots were established along it at different distances from road edge. The diversity of herbaceous plant species was calculated in each plot using Shannon-Wiener index, species richness, and Pielou's index. The results showed that diversity index decreased when distance from road edge increases. This decreasing trend continued up to 60 m from forest road margin, and after this threshold, the index slightly increased. Depending on the type of road (main or secondary) as well as cut or fill slopes, the area showing a statistical different plant composition and diversity measured through Shannon-Wiener, species richness, and Pielou's index is up to 10 m. The length depth of the road edge effect found in main and secondary forest roads was small, but it could have cumulative effects on forest microclimate and forest-associated biota at the island scale. Forest managers should account for the effect of road buildings on plant communities.

Airborne S-Band SAR for Forest Biophysical Retrieval in Temperate Mixed Forests of the UK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramesh K. Ningthoujam

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Radar backscatter from forest canopies is related to forest cover, canopy structure and aboveground biomass (AGB. The S-band frequency (3.1–3.3 GHz lies between the longer L-band (1–2 GHz and the shorter C-band (5–6 GHz and has been insufficiently studied for forest applications due to limited data availability. In anticipation of the British built NovaSAR-S satellite mission, this study evaluates the benefits of polarimetric S-band SAR for forest biophysical properties. To understand the scattering mechanisms in forest canopies at S-band the Michigan Microwave Canopy Scattering (MIMICS-I radiative transfer model was used. S-band backscatter was found to have high sensitivity to the forest canopy characteristics across all polarisations and incidence angles. This sensitivity originates from ground/trunk interaction as the dominant scattering mechanism related to broadleaved species for co-polarised mode and specific incidence angles. The study was carried out in the temperate mixed forest at Savernake Forest and Wytham Woods in southern England, where airborne S-band SAR imagery and field data are available from the recent AirSAR campaign. Field data from the test sites revealed wide ranges of forest parameters, including average canopy height (6–23 m, diameter at breast-height (7–42 cm, basal area (0.2–56 m2/ha, stem density (20–350 trees/ha and woody biomass density (31–520 t/ha. S-band backscatter-biomass relationships suggest increasing backscatter sensitivity to forest AGB with least error between 90.63 and 99.39 t/ha and coefficient of determination (r2 between 0.42 and 0.47 for the co-polarised channel at 0.25 ha resolution. The conclusion is that S-band SAR data such as from NovaSAR-S is suitable for monitoring forest aboveground biomass less than 100 t/ha at 25 m resolution in low to medium incidence angle range.

Elevated carbon dioxide and ozone alter productivity and ecosystem carbon content in northern temperate forests

Science.gov (United States)

Alan F. Talhelm; Kurt S. Pregitzer; Mark E. Kubiske; Donald R. Zak; Courtney E. Campany; Andrew J. Burton; Richard E. Dickson; George R. Hendrey; J. G. Isebrands; Keith F. Lewin; John Nagy; David F. Karnosky

2014-01-01

Three young northern temperate forest communities in the north-central United States were exposed to factorial combinations of elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) and tropospheric ozone (O3) for 11 years. Here, we report results from an extensive sampling of plant biomass and soil conducted at the conclusion of the experiment...

Regeneration patterns of a long-lived dominant conifer and the effects of logging in southern South America

Science.gov (United States)

Souza, Alexandre F.; Forgiarini, Cristiane; Longhi, Solon Jonas; Brena, Doádi Antônio

2008-09-01

The regeneration ecology of the long-lived conifer Araucaria angustifolia was studied in São Francisco de Paula, southern Brazil. We evaluated the expectations that: (i) size distribution of populations of Araucaria angustifolia, a large conifer that dominates southern Brazil's mixed forests, is left-skewed in old-growth forests but right-skewed in logged forests, indicating chronic recruitment failure in the first kind of habitat as well as a recruitment pulse in the second; (ii) seedlings and juveniles are found under more open-canopy microsites than would be expected by chance; and (iii) reproductive females would be aggregated at the coarse spatial scales in which past massive recruitment events are expected to have occurred, and young plants would be spatially associated with females due to the prevalence of vertebrate and large-bird seed dispersers. Data were collected in the threatened mixed conifer-hardwood forests in southern Brazil in ten 1-ha plots and one 0.25-ha plot that was hit by a small tornado in 2003. Five of these plots corresponded to unlogged old-growth forests, three to forests where A. angustifolia was selectively logged ca. 60 years ago and two to forests selectively logged ca. 20 years ago. For the first time, ontogenetic life stages of this important conifer are identified and described. The first and second expectations were fulfilled, and the third was partially fulfilled, since seedlings and juveniles were hardly ever associated with reproductive females. These results confirm the generalization of the current conceptual model of emergent long-lived pioneer regeneration to Araucaria angustifolia and associate its regeneration niche to the occupation of large-scale disturbances with long return times.

Bushy-tailed woodrat abundance in dry forests of eastern Washington.

Science.gov (United States)

John F. Lehmkuhl; Keith D. Kistler; James S. Begley

2006-01-01

We studied bushy-tailed woodrats (Neotonza cinerea occidentalis) in the eastern Washington Cascade Range to estimate their density and survival in 3 typical dry forest cover types. We predicted woodrat density to be high, moderate, and low in mature mixed-conifer forests, young mixed-conifer forests, and open ponderosa pine forests, respectively....

δ15N constraints on long-term nitrogen balances in temperate forests

Science.gov (United States)

Perakis, S.S.; Sinkhorn, E.R.; Compton, J.E.

2011-01-01

Biogeochemical theory emphasizes nitrogen (N) limitation and the many factors that can restrict N accumulation in temperate forests, yet lacks a working model of conditions that can promote naturally high N accumulation. We used a dynamic simulation model of ecosystem N and δ15N to evaluate which combination of N input and loss pathways could produce a range of high ecosystem N contents characteristic of forests in the Oregon Coast Range. Total ecosystem N at nine study sites ranged from 8,788 to 22,667 kg ha−1 and carbon (C) ranged from 188 to 460 Mg ha−1, with highest values near the coast. Ecosystem δ15N displayed a curvilinear relationship with ecosystem N content, and largely reflected mineral soil, which accounted for 96–98% of total ecosystem N. Model simulations of ecosystem N balances parameterized with field rates of N leaching required long-term average N inputs that exceed atmospheric deposition and asymbiotic and epiphytic N2-fixation, and that were consistent with cycles of post-fire N2-fixation by early-successional red alder. Soil water δ15NO3 − patterns suggested a shift in relative N losses from denitrification to nitrate leaching as N accumulated, and simulations identified nitrate leaching as the primary N loss pathway that constrains maximum N accumulation. Whereas current theory emphasizes constraints on biological N2-fixation and disturbance-mediated N losses as factors that limit N accumulation in temperate forests, our results suggest that wildfire can foster substantial long-term N accumulation in ecosystems that are colonized by symbiotic N2-fixing vegetation.

Airborne Laser Scanning to support forest resource management under alpine, temperate and Mediterranean environments in Italy

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Piermaria Corona

2012-03-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to provide general considerations, in the form of a scientific review, with reference to selected experiences of ALS applications under alpine, temperate and Mediterranean environments in Italy as case studies. In Italy, the use of ALS data have been mainly focused on the stratification of forest stands and the estimation of their timber volume and biomass at local scale. Potential for ALS data exploitation concerns their integration in forest inventories on large territories, their usage for silvicultural systems detection and their use for the estimation of fuel load in forest and pre-forest stands. Multitemporal ALS may even be suitable to support the assessment of current annual volume increment and the harvesting rates.

Soils characterisation along ecological forest zones in the Eastern Himalayas

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Simon, Alois; Dhendup, Kuenzang; Bahadur Rai, Prem; Gratzer, Georg

2017-04-01

Elevational gradients are commonly used to characterise vegetation patterns and, to a lesser extent, also to describe soil development. Furthermore, interactions between vegetation cover and soil characteristics are repeatedly observed. Combining information on soil development and easily to distinguish forest zones along elevational gradients, creates an added value for forest management decisions especially in less studied mountain regions. For this purpose, soil profiles along elevational gradients in the temperate conifer forests of Western and Central Bhutan, ranging from 2600-4000m asl were investigated. Thereby, 82 soil profiles were recorded and classified according to the World Reference Base for Soil Resources. Based on 19 representative profiles, genetic horizons were sampled and analysed. We aim to provide fundamental information on forest soil characteristics along these elevational transects. The results are presented with regard to ecological forest zones. The elevational distribution of the reference soil groups showed distinct distribution ranges for most of the soils. Cambisols were the most frequently recorded reference soil group with 58% of the sampled profiles, followed by Podzols in higher elevations, and Stagnosols, at intermediate elevations. Fluvisols occurred only at the lower end of the elevational transects and Phaeozems only at drier site conditions in the cool conifer dry forest zone. The humus layer thickness differs between forest zones and show a shift towards increased organic layer (O-layer) with increasing elevation. The reduced biomass productivity with increasing elevation and subsequently lower litter input compensates for the slow decomposition rates. The increasing O-layer thickness is an indicator of restrained intermixing of organic and mineral components by soil organisms at higher elevation. Overall, the soil types and soil characteristics along the elevational gradient showed a continuous and consistent change, instead

Forest dynamics in the temperate rainforests of Alaska: from individual tree to regional scales

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Tara M. Barrett

2015-01-01

Analysis of remeasurement data from 1079 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots revealed multi-scale change occurring in the temperate rainforests of southeast Alaska. In the western half of the region, including Prince William Sound, aboveground live tree biomass and carbon are increasing at a rate of 8 ( ± 2 ) percent per decade, driven by an increase in Sitka...

Soil nitrogen dynamics within profiles of a managed moist temperate forest chronosequence consistent with long-term harvesting-induced losses

Science.gov (United States)

Kellman, Lisa; Kumar, Sanjeev; Diochon, Amanda

2014-07-01

This study investigates whether clear-cut forest harvesting leads to alterations in the decadal-scale biogeochemical nitrogen (N) cycles of moist temperate forest ecosystems. Using a harvested temperate red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) forest chronosequence in Nova Scotia, Canada, representing 80 year old postharvest conditions, alongside a reference old-growth (125+ year old) site with no documented history of disturbance, we examine harvesting-related changes in soil N pools and fluxes. Specifically, we quantify soil N storage with depth and age across the forest chronosequence, examine changes in physical fractions and δ15N of soil N through depth and time, and quantify gross soil N transformation rates through depth and time using a 15N isotope dilution technique. Our findings point to a large loss of total N in the soil pool, particularly within the deep soil (>20 cm) and organomineral fractions. A pulse of available mineralized N (as ammonium) was observed following harvesting (mean residence time (MRT) > 6 days), but its MRT dropped to estimates that suggest soil N may not reaccrue for almost a century following this disturbance.

Processes governing yearly variations in carbon sequestration at a temperate deciduous forest

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, J. G.; Fuentes, J. D.; Staebler, R.; Lee, X.

2001-12-01

Since 1995, processes governing the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide have been continuously investigated at the CFB Borden temperate mixed deciduous forest in Ontario, Canada. On a yearly basis, the rates of NEE for this forest range from 0.3 to 2.5 t C ha-1. For the 1996 to 1999 period, the forest sequestered the most carbon and had the greatest seasonal carbon dioxide flux in 1997. This seasonal flux is defined as the average daily rate of NEE over the course of the growing period and is the single most important factor governing yearly NEE. Such factors as soil temperature, timing of soil thawing, and respiratory processes exert only minor influences on the yearly variability in NEE. In this presentation, we will provide evidence to support the hypothesis that maximum Rubisco capacity per unit foliage element is one key control on the NEE variability. Additionally, changes in diffuse photosysnthetically active irradiance contribute to the variability observed in NEE. We will present results from both data analyses and outputs from a biospheric modeling system which was employed to investigate seasonal rates of NEE for the Borden forest.

Forest management type influences diversity and community composition of soil fungi across temperate forest ecosystems

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Kezia eGoldmann

2015-11-01

on the impact of forest management type on general and ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity and community structure in temperate forests. High plasticity across management types but also study site specific spatial distribution revealed new insights in the ECM fungal distribution patterns.

Forest Management Type Influences Diversity and Community Composition of Soil Fungi across Temperate Forest Ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldmann, Kezia; Schöning, Ingo; Buscot, François; Wubet, Tesfaye

2015-01-01

knowledge on the impact of forest management type on general and ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity and community structure in temperate forests. High plasticity across management types but also study site specific spatial distribution revealed new insights in the ECM fungal distribution patterns.

Decoupling of unpolluted temperate forests from rock nutrient sources revealed by natural 87Sr/86Sr and 84Sr tracer addition

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Martin J.; Hedin, Lars O.; Derry, Louis A.

2002-01-01

An experimental tracer addition of 84Sr to an unpolluted temperate forest site in southern Chile, as well as the natural variation of 87Sr/86Sr within plants and soils, indicates that mechanisms in shallow soil organic horizons are of key importance for retaining and recycling atmospheric cation inputs at scales of decades or less. The dominant tree species Nothofagus nitida feeds nearly exclusively (>90%) on cations of atmospheric origin, despite strong variations in tree size and location in the forest landscape. Our results illustrate that (i) unpolluted temperate forests can become nutritionally decoupled from deeper weathering processes, virtually functioning as atmospherically fed ecosystems, and (ii) base cation turnover times are considerably more rapid than previously recognized in the plant available pool of soil. These results challenge the prevalent paradigm that plants largely feed on rock-derived cations and have important implications for understanding sensitivity of forests to air pollution. PMID:12119394

Analysis of ecological thresholds in a temperate forest undergoing dieback.

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Philip Martin

Full Text Available Positive feedbacks in drivers of degradation can cause threshold responses in natural ecosystems. Though threshold responses have received much attention in studies of aquatic ecosystems, they have been neglected in terrestrial systems, such as forests, where the long time-scales required for monitoring have impeded research. In this study we explored the role of positive feedbacks in a temperate forest that has been monitored for 50 years and is undergoing dieback, largely as a result of death of the canopy dominant species (Fagus sylvatica, beech. Statistical analyses showed strong non-linear losses in basal area for some plots, while others showed relatively gradual change. Beech seedling density was positively related to canopy openness, but a similar relationship was not observed for saplings, suggesting a feedback whereby mortality in areas with high canopy openness was elevated. We combined this observation with empirical data on size- and growth-mediated mortality of trees to produce an individual-based model of forest dynamics. We used this model to simulate changes in the structure of the forest over 100 years under scenarios with different juvenile and mature mortality probabilities, as well as a positive feedback between seedling and mature tree mortality. This model produced declines in forest basal area when critical juvenile and mature mortality probabilities were exceeded. Feedbacks in juvenile mortality caused a greater reduction in basal area relative to scenarios with no feedback. Non-linear, concave declines of basal area occurred only when mature tree mortality was 3-5 times higher than rates observed in the field. Our results indicate that the longevity of trees may help to buffer forests against environmental change and that the maintenance of old, large trees may aid the resilience of forest stands. In addition, our work suggests that dieback of forests may be avoidable providing pressures on mature and juvenile trees do

Maintaining ecosystem resilience: functional responses of tree cavity nesters to logging in temperate forests of the Americas

OpenAIRE

Ibarra, Jose Tomas; Martin, Michaela; Cockle, Kristina L; Martin, Kathy

2017-01-01

Logging often reduces taxonomic diversity in forest communities, but little is known about how this biodiversity loss affects the resilience of ecosystem functions. We examined how partial logging and clearcutting of temperate forests influenced functional diversity of birds that nest in tree cavities. We used point-counts in a before-after-control-impact design to examine the effects of logging on the value, range, and density of functional traits in bird communities in Canada (21 species) a...

Changes in carbon allocation to aboveground versus belowground forest components is driven by a trade-off involving mycorrhizal fungi, not fine roots

Science.gov (United States)

Ouimette, A.; Ollinger, S. V.; Hobbie, E. A.; Lepine, L. C.; Stephens, R.; Rowe, R.; Vadeboncoeur, M. A.; Tumber-Davila, S. J.

2017-12-01

Species composition and resource availability exert a strong influence on the dynamics of carbon allocation among different forest ecosystem components. Recent work in temperate forests has highlighted a tradeoff between carbon allocation to aboveground woody tissues (access to light), and belowground to fine roots (access to soil nutrients). Although root-associated mycorrhizal fungi are crucial for N acquisition and can receive 20% or more of annual net primary production, most studies fail to explicitly include carbon allocation to mycorrhizal fungi. In part, this is due to the inherent difficulties in accurately quantifying fungal production. We took several approaches to quantify production of mycorrhizal fungi, including a carbon budget approach and isotopic techniques. Here we present data on patterns of carbon allocation to aboveground (wood and foliar production), and belowground components (production of fine roots and mycorrhizal fungi), across temperate forest stands spanning a range of nitrogen availability and species composition. We found that as the proportion of conifer species decreased, and stand nitrogen availability increased, both the absolute amount and the fraction of net primary production increased for foliage, aboveground wood, and fine roots ("a rising tide lifts all boats"). While allocation to plant pools increased, allocation to mycorrhizal fungi significantly decreased with decreasing conifer dominance and increasing soil nitrogen availability. We did not find a strong trade-off between carbon allocation to fine roots and aboveground wood or foliage. Instead, a negative relationship is seen between allocation to mycorrhizal fungi and other plant pools. Effort to estimate carbon allocation to mycorrhizal fungi is important for gaining a more complete understanding of how ecosystems respond to changes in growth-limiting resources.

Silvics of North America: Volume 1. Conifers

Science.gov (United States)

Russell M Burns; Barbara H. Honkala; [Technical coordinators

1990-01-01

The silvical characteristics of about 200 forest tree species and varieties are described. Most are native to the 50 United States and Puerto Rico, but a few are introduced and naturalized. Information on habitat, life history, and genetics is given for 15 genera, 63 species, and 20 varieties of conifers and for 58 genera, 128 species, and 6 varieties of hardwoods....

The northern flying squirrel as an indicator species of temperate rain forest: test of an hypothesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Winston P. Smith; Scott M. Gende; Jeffrey V. Nichols

2005-01-01

Management indicator species (MIS) often are selected because their life history and demographics are thought to reflect a suite of ecosystem conditions that are too difficult or costly to measure directly. The northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) has been proposed as an MIS of temperate rain forest of southeastern Alaska based on previous...

Aspen increase soil moisture, nutrients, organic matter and respiration in Rocky Mountain forest communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Buck, Joshua R; St Clair, Samuel B

2012-01-01

Development and change in forest communities are strongly influenced by plant-soil interactions. The primary objective of this paper was to identify how forest soil characteristics vary along gradients of forest community composition in aspen-conifer forests to better understand the relationship between forest vegetation characteristics and soil processes. The study was conducted on the Fishlake National Forest, Utah, USA. Soil measurements were collected in adjacent forest stands that were characterized as aspen dominated, mixed, conifer dominated or open meadow, which includes the range of vegetation conditions that exist in seral aspen forests. Soil chemistry, moisture content, respiration, and temperature were measured. There was a consistent trend in which aspen stands demonstrated higher mean soil nutrient concentrations than mixed and conifer dominated stands and meadows. Specifically, total N, NO(3) and NH(4) were nearly two-fold higher in soil underneath aspen dominated stands. Soil moisture was significantly higher in aspen stands and meadows in early summer but converged to similar levels as those found in mixed and conifer dominated stands in late summer. Soil respiration was significantly higher in aspen stands than conifer stands or meadows throughout the summer. These results suggest that changes in disturbance regimes or climate scenarios that favor conifer expansion or loss of aspen will decrease soil resource availability, which is likely to have important feedbacks on plant community development.

Potential for Extensive Forest Loss in the Klamath Mountains due to Increased Fire Activity and Altered Post-Fire Forest Recovery Dynamics in a Warming Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Tepley, A. J.; Thompson, J. R.; Epstein, H. E.; Anderson-Teixeira, K. J.

2016-12-01

In the context of ongoing climatic warming, certain landscapes could be near a tipping point where relatively small changes to their fire regimes or post-fire forest recovery dynamics could bring about extensive conversion of forests to shorter-statured, more fire-prone vegetation, with associated changes in biodiversity, carbon dynamics, and climate feedbacks. Such concerns are particularly valid in the Klamath Region of northern California and southwestern Oregon, where montane landscapes support conifer forests, but severe fire converts them to systems dominated by broadleaf trees and shrubs that rapidly resprout or germinate from a dormant seedbank. Conifers eventually overtop the competing vegetation, but until they do, these systems are highly fire prone and susceptible to perpetuation through a cycle of reburning. To assess the vulnerability to fire-driven loss of conifer forests in a warming climate, we characterized the trajectories of post-fire forest recovery in 57 sites that burned severely within the last three decades and span the aridity gradient of montane conifer forests. Post-fire conifer regeneration was limited to a surprisingly narrow window, with 89% of all seedlings established in the first four years after fire. Early establishment conferred a competitive growth advantage such that the longer the lag between the fire year and the year of seedling establishment, the slower its height growth. A substantial portion of variation in post-fire conifer seedling density was driven by an interaction between propagule pressure and site moisture status (climatic water deficit). Mesic sites had abundant regeneration except where seed sources were nearly absent across large (ca. 50 ha) high-severity patches. Toward the dry end of the moisture gradient, much higher propagule pressure was required to support even moderate levels of conifer regeneration. The present distribution of conifer forests falls largely within the portion of the moisture gradient

Forest structure, stand composition, and climate-growth response in montane forests of Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve, China.

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Mark W Schwartz

Full Text Available Montane forests of western China provide an opportunity to establish baseline studies for climate change. The region is being impacted by climate change, air pollution, and significant human impacts from tourism. We analyzed forest stand structure and climate-growth relationships from Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve in northwestern Sichuan province, along the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. We conducted a survey to characterize forest stand diversity and structure in plots occurring between 2050 and 3350 m in elevation. We also evaluated seedling and sapling recruitment and tree-ring data from four conifer species to assess: 1 whether the forest appears in transition toward increased hardwood composition; 2 if conifers appear stressed by recent climate change relative to hardwoods; and 3 how growth of four dominant species responds to recent climate. Our study is complicated by clear evidence of 20(th century timber extraction. Focusing on regions lacking evidence of logging, we found a diverse suite of conifers (Pinus, Abies, Juniperus, Picea, and Larix strongly dominate the forest overstory. We found population size structures for most conifer tree species to be consistent with self-replacement and not providing evidence of shifting composition toward hardwoods. Climate-growth analyses indicate increased growth with cool temperatures in summer and fall. Warmer temperatures during the growing season could negatively impact conifer growth, indicating possible seasonal climate water deficit as a constraint on growth. In contrast, however, we found little relationship to seasonal precipitation. Projected warming does not yet have a discernible signal on trends in tree growth rates, but slower growth with warmer growing season climates suggests reduced potential future forest growth.

Analysis of conifer forest regeneration using Landsat Thematic Mapper data

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorella, Maria; Ripple, William J.

1995-01-01

Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data were used to evaluate young conifer stands in the western Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Regression and correlation analyses were used to describe the relationships between TM band values and age of young Douglas-fir stands (2 to 35 years old). Spectral data from well regenerated Douglas-fir stands were compared to those of poorly regenerated conifer stands. TM bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 were inversely correlated with the age (r greater than or equal to -0.80) of well regenerated Douglas-fir stands. Overall, the 'structural index' (TM 4/5 ratio) had the highest correlation to age of Douglas-fir stands (r = 0.96). Poorly regenerated stands were spectrally distinct from well regenerated Douglas-fir stands after the stands reached an age of approximately 15 years.

Edge effects on moisture reduce wood decomposition rate in a temperate forest.

Science.gov (United States)

Crockatt, Martha E; Bebber, Daniel P

2015-02-01

Forests around the world are increasingly fragmented, and edge effects on forest microclimates have the potential to affect ecosystem functions such as carbon and nutrient cycling. Edges tend to be drier and warmer due to the effects of insolation, wind, and evapotranspiration and these gradients can penetrate hundreds of metres into the forest. Litter decomposition is a key component of the carbon cycle, which is largely controlled by saprotrophic fungi that respond to variation in temperature and moisture. However, the impact of forest fragmentation on litter decay is poorly understood. Here, we investigate edge effects on the decay of wood in a temperate forest using an experimental approach, whereby mass loss in wood blocks placed along 100 m transects from the forest edge to core was monitored over 2 years. Decomposition rate increased with distance from the edge, and was correlated with increasing humidity and moisture content of the decaying wood, such that the decay constant at 100 m was nearly twice that at the edge. Mean air temperature decreased slightly with distance from the edge. The variation in decay constant due to edge effects was larger than that expected from any reasonable estimates of climatic variation, based on a published regional model. We modelled the influence of edge effects on the decay constant at the landscape scale using functions for forest area within different distances from edge across the UK. We found that taking edge effects into account would decrease the decay rate by nearly one quarter, compared with estimates that assumed no edge effect. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of seasonal variation of photosynthetic capacity on the carbon fluxes of a temperate deciduous forest

Science.gov (United States)

David Medvigy; Su-Jong Jeong; Kenneth L. Clark; Nicholas S. Skowronski; Karina V. R. Schäfer

2013-01-01

Seasonal variation in photosynthetic capacity is an important part of the overall seasonal variability of temperate deciduous forests. However, it has only recently been introduced in a few terrestrial biosphere models, and many models still do not include it. The biases that result from this omission are not well understood. In this study, we use the Ecosystem...

Deposition pattern and throughfall fluxes in secondary cool temperate forest, South Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar Gautam, Mukesh; Lee, Kwang-Sik; Song, Byeong-Yeol

2017-07-01

Chemistry and deposition fluxes in the rainfall and throughfall of red pine (Pinus densiflora), black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), and chestnut (Castanea crenata) monocultures, and mixed red pine-black locust-chestnut stands were examined in a nutrient-limited cool temperate forest of central South Korea. Throughfall was enriched in both basic and acidic constituents relative to rainfall, suggesting that both dry deposition and canopy leaching are important sources of throughfall constituents. Net throughfall fluxes (NTFs) of cations and anions significantly differed among four different stands as well as seasonally. Red pine exhibited highest fluxes (TF and NTF) for Ca2+, black locust for K+, mixed stands for Mg2+, and chestnut for Na+. In contrast, NTF of SO42-, NO3-, and NH4+was highest in the red pine, intermediate in the chestnut and mixed stands, and lowest in the black locust. In general, canopy uptake of H+ and NH4+ for all stands was higher in summer than in winter. Dry deposition appears to play a major role in atmospheric deposition to this cool temperate forest, especially in summer. Dry deposition for both cations and anions displayed high spatial variability, even though stands were adjacent to one another and experienced identical atmospheric deposition loads. Canopy leaching of K+ (95-78% of NTF), Mg2+ (92-23% of NTF), and Ca2+ (91-12% of NTF) was highest for the black locust, lowest for chestnut, and intermediate for the red pine and mixed stands. The present study documented significant changes in throughfall chemistry and NTF among different forest stands, which presumably be related with the differences in the canopy characteristics and differences in their scavenging capacity for dry deposition and canopy exchange. Difference in the canopy retention of H+ and base cation leaching suggests that canopy exchange was mainly driven by weak acid excretion and lesser by H+ exchange reaction. Our results indicate that despite a high base cation

Specific and sensitive detection of the conifer pathogen Gremmeniella abietina by nested PCR

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Hansson Per

2005-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Gremmeniella abietina (Lagerb. Morelet is an ascomycete fungus that causes stem canker and shoot dieback in many conifer species. The fungus is widespread and causes severe damage to forest plantations in Europe, North America and Asia. To facilitate early diagnosis and improve measures to control the spread of the disease, rapid, specific and sensitive detection methods for G. abietina in conifer hosts are needed. Results We designed two pairs of specific primers for G. abietina based on the 18S rDNA sequence variation pattern. These primers were validated against a wide range of fungi and 14 potential conifer hosts. Based on these specific primers, two nested PCR systems were developed. The first system employed universal fungal primers to enrich the fungal DNA targets in the first round, followed by a second round selective amplification of the pathogen. The other system employed G. abietina-specific primers in both PCR steps. Both approaches can detect the presence of G. abietina in composite samples with high sensitivity, as little as 7.5 fg G. abietina DNA in the host genomic background. Conclusion The methods described here are rapid and can be applied directly to a wide range of conifer species, without the need for fungal isolation and cultivation. Therefore, it represents a promising alternative to disease inspection in forest nurseries, plantations and quarantine control facilities.

Tree Death Not Resulting in Gap Creation: An Investigation of Canopy Dynamics of Northern Temperate Deciduous Forests

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Jean-Francois Senécal

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Several decades of research have shown that canopy gaps drive tree renewal processes in the temperate deciduous forest biome. In the literature, canopy gaps are usually defined as canopy openings that are created by partial or total tree death of one or more canopy trees. In this study, we investigate linkages between tree damage mechanisms and the formation or not of new canopy gaps in northern temperate deciduous forests. We studied height loss processes in unmanaged and managed forests recovering from partial cutting with multi-temporal airborne Lidar data. The Lidar dataset was used to detect areas where canopy height reduction occurred, which were then field-studied to identify the tree damage mechanisms implicated. We also sampled the density of leaf material along transects to characterize canopy structure. We used the dataset of the canopy height reduction areas in a multi-model inference analysis to determine whether canopy structures or tree damage mechanisms most influenced the creation of new canopy gaps within canopy height reduction areas. According to our model, new canopy gaps are created mainly when canopy damage enlarges existing gaps or when height is reduced over areas without an already established dense sub-canopy tree layer.

Forest diversity and disturbance: changing influences and the future of Virginia's Forests

Science.gov (United States)

Christine J. Small; James L. Chamberlain

2015-01-01

The Virginia landscape supports a remarkable diversity of forests, from maritime dunes, swamp forests, and pine savannas of the Atlantic coastal plain, to post-agricultural pine-hardwood forests of the piedmont, to mixed oak, mixed-mesophytic, northern hardwood, and high elevation conifer forests in Appalachian mountain provinces. Virginia’s forests also have been...

The use of radiocarbon to constrain current and future soil organic matter turnover and transport in a temperate forest

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Braakhekke, M.C.; Beer, C.; Schrumpf, M.; Ahrens, B.; Hoosbeek, M.R.; Kruijt, B.; Kabat, P.; Reichstein, M.; Ekici, A.

2014-01-01

We investigated the merits of radiocarbon measurements for estimating soil organic matter (SOM) turnover and vertical transport for a temperate deciduous forest in Germany. Eleven parameters, defining decomposition and transport in the soil carbon model SOMPROF, were estimated using a Bayesian

Substrate availability drives spatial patterns in richness of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in temperate forest soils

Science.gov (United States)

J.S. Norman; J.E. Barrett

2016-01-01

We sought to investigate the drivers of richness of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) in temperate forest soils. We sampled soils across four experimental watersheds in the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, North Carolina USA. These watersheds are geographically close, but vary in soil chemistry due to differences in land use history. While we...

Realizing Mitigation Efficiency of European Commercial Forests by Climate Smart Forestry.

Science.gov (United States)

Yousefpour, Rasoul; Augustynczik, Andrey Lessa Derci; Reyer, Christopher P O; Lasch-Born, Petra; Suckow, Felicitas; Hanewinkel, Marc

2018-01-10

European temperate and boreal forests sequester up to 12% of Europe's annual carbon emissions. Forest carbon density can be manipulated through management to maximize its climate mitigation potential, and fast-growing tree species may contribute the most to Climate Smart Forestry (CSF) compared to slow-growing hardwoods. This type of CSF takes into account not only forest resource potentials in sequestering carbon, but also the economic impact of regional forest products and discounts both variables over time. We used the process-based forest model 4 C to simulate European commercial forests' growth conditions and coupled it with an optimization algorithm to simulate the implementation of CSF for 18 European countries encompassing 68.3 million ha of forest (42.4% of total EU-28 forest area). We found a European CSF policy that could sequester 7.3-11.1 billion tons of carbon, projected to be worth 103 to 141 billion euros in the 21st century. An efficient CSF policy would allocate carbon sequestration to European countries with a lower wood price, lower labor costs, high harvest costs, or a mixture thereof to increase its economic efficiency. This policy prioritized the allocation of mitigation efforts to northern, eastern and central European countries and favored fast growing conifers Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris to broadleaves Fagus sylvatica and Quercus species.

State factor relationships of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen losses from unpolluted temperate forest watersheds

Science.gov (United States)

Perakis, S.S.; Hedin, L.O.

2007-01-01

We sampled 100 unpolluted, old-growth forested watersheds, divided among 13 separate study areas over 5 years in temperate southern Chile and Argentina, to evaluate relationships among dominant soil-forming state factors and dissolved carbon and nitrogen concentrations in watershed streams. These watersheds provide a unique opportunity to examine broad-scale controls over carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) biogeochemistry in the absence of significant human disturbance from chronic N deposition and land use change. Variations in the ratio dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to nitrogen (DON) in watershed streams differed by underlying soil parent material, with average C:N = 29 for watersheds underlain by volcanic ash and basalt versus C:N = 73 for sedimentary and metamorphic parent materials, consistent with stronger adsorption of low C:N hydrophobic materials by amorphous clays commonly associated with volcanic ash and basalt weathering. Mean annual precipitation was related positively to variations in both DOC (range: 0.2-9.7 mg C/L) and DON (range: 0.008-0.135 mg N/L) across study areas, suggesting that variations in water volume and concentration may act synergistically to influence C and N losses across dry to wet gradients in these forest ecosystems. Dominance of vegetation by broadleaf versus coniferous trees had negligible effects on organic C and N concentrations in comparison to abiotic factors. We conclude that precipitation volume and soil parent material are important controls over chemical losses of dissolved organic C and N from unpolluted temperate forest watersheds. Our results raise the possibility that biotic imprints on watershed C and N losses may be less pronounced in naturally N-poor forests than in areas impacted by land use change and chronic N deposition. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

Whole-system carbon balance for a regional temperate forest in Northern Wisconsin, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Peckham, S. D.; Gower, S. T.

2010-12-01

The whole-system (biological + industrial) carbon (C) balance was estimated for the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF), a temperate forest covering 600,000 ha in Northern Wisconsin, USA. The biological system was modeled using a spatially-explicit version of the ecosystem process model Biome-BGC. The industrial system was modeled using life cycle inventory (LCI) models for wood and paper products. Biome-BGC was used to estimate net primary production, net ecosystem production (NEP), and timber harvest (H) over the entire CNNF. The industrial carbon budget (Ci) was estimated by applying LCI models of CO2 emissions resulting from timber harvest and production of specific wood and paper products in the CNNF region. In 2009, simulated NEP of the CNNF averaged 3.0 tC/ha and H averaged 0.1 tC/ha. Despite model uncertainty, the CNNF region is likely a carbon sink (NEP - Ci > 0), even when CO2 emissions from timber harvest and production of wood and paper products are included in the calculation of the entire forest system C budget.

Mixed-effects height–diameter models for ten conifers in the inland ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

To demonstrate the utility of mixed-effects height–diameter models when conducting forest inventories, mixedeffects height–diameter models are presented for several commercially and ecologically important conifers in the inland Northwest of the USA. After obtaining height–diameter measurements from a plot/stand of ...

Effects of drainage-basin geomorphology on insectivorous bird abundance in temperate forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Iwata, Tomoya; Urabe, Jotaro; Mitsuhashi, Hiromune

2010-10-01

Interfaces between terrestrial and stream ecosystems often enhance species diversity and population abundance of ecological communities beyond levels that would be expected separately from both the ecosystems. Nevertheless, no study has examined how stream configuration within a watershed influences the population of terrestrial predators at the drainage-basin scale. We examined the habitat and abundance relationships of forest insectivorous birds in eight drainage basins in a cool temperate forest of Japan during spring and summer. Each basin has different drainage-basin geomorphology, such as the density and frequency of stream channels. In spring, when terrestrial arthropod prey biomass is limited, insectivorous birds aggregated in habitats closer to streams, where emerging aquatic prey was abundant. Nevertheless, birds ceased to aggregate around streams in summer because terrestrial prey became plentiful. Watershed-scale analyses showed that drainage basins with longer stream channels per unit area sustained higher densities of insectivorous birds. Moreover, such effects of streams on birds continued from spring through summer, even though birds dispersed out of riparian areas in the summer. Although our data are from only a single year, our findings imply that physical modifications of stream channels may reduce populations of forest birds; thus, they emphasize the importance of landscape-based management approaches that consider both stream and forest ecosystems for watershed biodiversity conservation. © 2010 Society for Conservation Biology.

Combined Use of Airborne Lidar and DBInSAR Data to Estimate LAI in Temperate Mixed Forests

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Ross F. Nelson

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to determine whether leaf area index (LAI in temperate mixed forests is best estimated using multiple-return airborne laser scanning (lidar data or dual-band, single-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar data (from GeoSAR alone, or both in combination. In situ measurements of LAI were made using the LiCor LAI-2000 Plant Canopy Analyzer on 61 plots (21 hardwood, 36 pine, 4 mixed pine hardwood; stand age ranging from 12-164 years; mean height ranging from 0.4 to 41.2 m in the Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest, Virginia, USA. Lidar distributional metrics were calculated for all returns and for ten one meter deep crown density slices (a new metric, five above and five below the mode of the vegetation returns for each plot. GeoSAR metrics were calculated from the X-band backscatter coefficients (four looks as well as both X- and P-band interferometric heights and magnitudes for each plot. Lidar metrics alone explained 69% of the variability in LAI, while GeoSAR metrics alone explained 52%. However, combining the lidar and GeoSAR metrics increased the R² to 0.77 with a CV-RMSE of 0.42. This study indicates the clear potential for X-band backscatter and interferometric height (both now available from spaceborne sensors, when combined with small-footprint lidar data, to improve LAI estimation in temperate mixed forests.

Epiphytic lichen diversity on dead and dying conifers under different levels of atmospheric pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hauck, Markus

2005-01-01

Based on literature data, epiphytic lichen abundance was comparably studied in montane woodlands on healthy versus dead or dying conifers of Europe and North America in areas with different levels of atmospheric pollution. Study sites comprised Picea abies forests in the Harz Mountains and in the northern Alps, Germany, Picea rubens-Abies balsamea forests on Whiteface Mountain, Adirondacks, New York, U.S.A. and Picea engelmannii-Abies lasiocarpa forests in the Salish Mountains, Montana, U.S.A. Detrended correspondence analysis showed that epiphytic lichen vegetation differed more between healthy and dead or dying trees at high- versus low-polluted sites. This is attributed to greater differences in chemical habitat conditions between trees of different vitality in highly polluted areas. Based on these results, a hypothetical model of relative importance of site factors for small-scale variation of epiphytic lichen abundance versus atmospheric pollutant load is discussed. - Epiphytic lichen diversity differs increasingly between healthy and dead or dying conifers with increasing atmospheric pollutant load

Estimating canopy bulk density and canopy base height for conifer stands in the interior Western United States using the Forest Vegetation Simulator Fire and Fuels Extension.

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Seth Ex; Frederick Smith; Tara Keyser; Stephanie Rebain

2017-01-01

The Forest Vegetation Simulator Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE-FVS) is often used to estimate canopy bulk density (CBD) and canopy base height (CBH), which are key indicators of crown fire hazard for conifer stands in the Western United States. Estimated CBD from FFE-FVS is calculated as the maximum 4 m running mean bulk density of predefined 0.3 m thick canopy layers (...

Emissions of trace gases from Australian temperate forest fires: emission factors and dependence on modified combustion efficiency

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Guérette, Elise-Andrée; Paton-Walsh, Clare; Desservettaz, Maximilien; Smith, Thomas E. L.; Volkova, Liubov; Weston, Christopher J.; Meyer, Carl P.

2018-03-01

We characterised trace gas emissions from Australian temperate forest fires through a mixture of open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) measurements and selective ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) and White cell FTIR analysis of grab samples. We report emission factors for a total of 25 trace gas species measured in smoke from nine prescribed fires. We find significant dependence on modified combustion efficiency (MCE) for some species, although regional differences indicate that the use of MCE as a proxy may be limited. We also find that the fire-integrated MCE values derived from our in situ on-the-ground open-path measurements are not significantly different from those reported for airborne measurements of smoke from fires in the same ecosystem. We then compare our average emission factors to those measured for temperate forest fires elsewhere (North America) and for fires in another dominant Australian ecosystem (savanna) and find significant differences in both cases. Indeed, we find that although the emission factors of some species agree within 20 %, including those of hydrogen cyanide, ethene, methanol, formaldehyde and 1,3-butadiene, others, such as acetic acid, ethanol, monoterpenes, ammonia, acetonitrile and pyrrole, differ by a factor of 2 or more. This indicates that the use of ecosystem-specific emission factors is warranted for applications involving emissions from Australian forest fires.

Classification of Snowfall Events and Their Effect on Canopy Interception Efficiency in a Temperate Montane Forest.

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Roth, T. R.; Nolin, A. W.

2015-12-01

Forest canopies intercept as much as 60% of snowfall in maritime environments, while processes of sublimation and melt can reduce the amount of snow transferred from the canopy to the ground. This research examines canopy interception efficiency (CIE) as a function of forest and event-scale snowfall characteristics. We use a 4-year dataset of continuous meteorological measurements and monthly snow surveys from the Forest Elevation Snow Transect (ForEST) network that has forested and open sites at three elevations spanning the rain-snow transition zone to the upper seasonal snow zone. Over 150 individual storms were classified by forest and storm type characteristics (e.g. forest density, vegetation type, air temperature, snowfall amount, storm duration, wind speed, and storm direction). The between-site comparisons showed that, as expected, CIE was highest for the lower elevation (warmer) sites with higher forest density compared with the higher elevation sites where storm temperatures were colder, trees were smaller and forests were less dense. Within-site comparisons based on storm type show that this classification system can be used to predict CIE.Our results suggest that the coupling of forest type and storm type information can improve estimates of canopy interception. Understanding the effects of temperature and storm type in temperate montane forests is also valuable for future estimates of canopy interception under a warming climate.

Bacteria associated with decomposing dead wood in a natural temperate forest.

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Tláskal, Vojtech; Zrustová, Petra; Vrška, Tomáš; Baldrian, Petr

2017-12-01

Dead wood represents an important pool of organic matter in forests and is one of the sources of soil formation. It has been shown to harbour diverse communities of bacteria, but their roles in this habitat are still poorly understood. Here, we describe the bacterial communities in the dead wood of Abies alba, Picea abies and Fagus sylvatica in a temperate natural forest in Central Europe. An analysis of environmental factors showed that decomposing time along with pH and water content was the strongest drivers of community composition. Bacterial biomass positively correlated with N content and increased with decomposition along with the concurrent decrease in the fungal/bacterial biomass ratio. Rhizobiales and Acidobacteriales were abundant bacterial orders throughout the whole decay process, but many bacterial taxa were specific either for young (<15 years) or old dead wood. During early decomposition, bacterial genera able to fix N2 and to use simple C1 compounds (e.g. Yersinia and Methylomonas) were frequent, while wood in advanced decay was rich in taxa typical of forest soils (e.g. Bradyrhizobium and Rhodoplanes). Although the bacterial contribution to dead wood turnover remains unclear, the community composition appears to reflect the changing conditions of the substrate and suggests broad metabolic capacities of its members. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Managing Sierra Nevada forests

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Malcolm North

2012-01-01

There has been widespread interest in applying new forest practices based on concepts presented in U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report PSW-GTR-220, "An Ecosystem Management Strategy for Sierran Mixed-Conifer Forests." This collection of papers (PSW-GTR-237) summarizes the state of the science in some topics relevant to this forest management approach...

Species associations structured by environment and land-use history promote beta-diversity in a temperate forest.

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Murphy, Stephen J; Audino, Livia D; Whitacre, James; Eck, Jenalle L; Wenzel, John W; Queenborough, Simon A; Comita, Liza S

2015-03-01

Patterns of diversity and community composition in forests are controlled by a combination of environmental factors, historical events, and stochastic or neutral mechanisms. Each of these processes has been linked to forest community assembly, but their combined contributions to alpha and beta-diversity in forests has not been well explored. Here we use variance partitioning to analyze approximately 40,000 individual trees of 49 species, collected within 137 ha of sampling area spread across a 900-ha temperate deciduous forest reserve in Pennsylvania to ask (1) To what extent is site-to-site variation in species richness and community composition of a temperate forest explained by measured environmental gradients and by spatial descriptors (used here to estimate dispersal-assembly or unmeasured, spatially structured processes)? (2) How does the incorporation of land-use history information increase the importance attributed to deterministic community assembly? and (3) How do the distributions and abundances of individual species within the community correlate with these factors? Environmental variables (i.e., topography, soils, and distance to stream), spatial descriptors (i.e., spatial eigenvectors derived from Cartesian coordinates), and land-use history variables (i.e., land-use type and intensity, forest age, and distance to road), explained about half of the variation in both species richness and community composition. Spatial descriptors explained the most variation, followed by measured environmental variables and then by land- use history. Individual species revealed variable responses to each of these sets of predictor variables. Several species were associated with stream habitats, and others were strictly delimited across opposing north- and south-facing slopes. Several species were also associated with areas that experienced recent (i.e., indicate that deterministic factors, including environmental and land-use history variables, are important drivers

Joint inversion of 3-PG using eddy-covariance and inventory plot measurements in temperate-maritime conifer forests: Uncertainty in transient carbon-balance responses to climate change

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Hember, R. A.; Kurz, W. A.; Coops, N. C.; Black, T. A.

2010-12-01

Temperate-maritime forests of coastal British Columbia store large amounts of carbon (C) in soil, detritus, and trees. To better understand the sensitivity of these C stocks to climate variability, simulations were conducted using a hybrid version of the model, Physiological Principles Predicting Growth (3-PG), combined with algorithms from the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector - version 3 (CBM-CFS3) to account for full ecosystem C dynamics. The model was optimized based on a combination of monthly CO2 and H2O flux measurements derived from three eddy-covariance systems and multi-annual stemwood growth (Gsw) and mortality (Msw) derived from 1300 permanent sample plots by means of Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. The calibrated model serves as an unbiased estimator of stemwood C with enhanced precision over that of strictly-empirical models, minimized reliance on local prescriptions, and the flexibility to study impacts of environmental change on regional C stocks. We report the contribution of each dataset in identifying key physiological parameters and the posterior uncertainty in predictions of net ecosystem production (NEP). The calibrated model was used to spin up pre-industrial C pools and estimate the sensitivity of regional net carbon balance to a gradient of temperature changes, λ=ΔC/ΔT, during three 62-year harvest rotations, spanning 1949-2135. Simulations suggest that regional net primary production, tree mortality, and heterotrophic respiration all began increasing, while NEP began decreasing in response to warming following the 1976 shift in northeast-Pacific climate. We quantified the uncertainty of λ and how it was mediated by initial dead C, tree mortality, precipitation change, and the time horizon in which it was calculated.

Radiation budget changes with dry forest clearing in temperate Argentina.

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Houspanossian, Javier; Nosetto, Marcelo; Jobbágy, Esteban G

2013-04-01

Land cover changes may affect climate and the energy balance of the Earth through their influence on the greenhouse gas composition of the atmosphere (biogeochemical effects) but also through shifts in the physical properties of the land surface (biophysical effects). We explored how the radiation budget changes following the replacement of temperate dry forests by crops in central semiarid Argentina and quantified the biophysical radiative forcing of this transformation. For this purpose, we computed the albedo and surface temperature for a 7-year period (2003-2009) from MODIS imagery at 70 paired sites occupied by native forests and crops and calculated the radiation budget at the tropopause and surface levels using a columnar radiation model parameterized with satellite data. Mean annual black-sky albedo and diurnal surface temperature were 50% and 2.5 °C higher in croplands than in dry forests. These contrasts increased the outgoing shortwave energy flux at the top of the atmosphere in croplands by a quarter (58.4 vs. 45.9 W m(-2) ) which, together with a slight increase in the outgoing longwave flux, yielded a net cooling of -14 W m(-2) . This biophysical cooling effect would be equivalent to a reduction in atmospheric CO2 of 22 Mg C ha(-1) , which involves approximately a quarter to a half of the typical carbon emissions that accompany deforestation in these ecosystems. We showed that the replacement of dry forests by crops in central Argentina has strong biophysical effects on the energy budget which could counterbalance the biogeochemical effects of deforestation. Underestimating or ignoring these biophysical consequences of land-use changes on climate will certainly curtail the effectiveness of many warming mitigation actions, particularly in semiarid regions where high radiation load and smaller active carbon pools would increase the relative importance of biophysical forcing. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Maximum temperature accounts for annual soil CO2 efflux in temperate forests of Northern China

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Zhou, Zhiyong; Xu, Meili; Kang, Fengfeng; Jianxin Sun, Osbert

2015-01-01

It will help understand the representation legality of soil temperature to explore the correlations of soil respiration with variant properties of soil temperature. Soil temperature at 10 cm depth was hourly logged through twelve months. Basing on the measured soil temperature, soil respiration at different temporal scales were calculated using empirical functions for temperate forests. On monthly scale, soil respiration significantly correlated with maximum, minimum, mean and accumulated effective soil temperatures. Annual soil respiration varied from 409 g C m−2 in coniferous forest to 570 g C m−2 in mixed forest and to 692 g C m−2 in broadleaved forest, and was markedly explained by mean soil temperatures of the warmest day, July and summer, separately. These three soil temperatures reflected the maximum values on diurnal, monthly and annual scales. In accordance with their higher temperatures, summer soil respiration accounted for 51% of annual soil respiration across forest types, and broadleaved forest also had higher soil organic carbon content (SOC) and soil microbial biomass carbon content (SMBC), but a lower contribution of SMBC to SOC. This added proof to the findings that maximum soil temperature may accelerate the transformation of SOC to CO2-C via stimulating activities of soil microorganisms. PMID:26179467

Phenology and abundance of Enoicyla pusilla in conifer stands

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M. J. Lombardero

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Aim of Study. We study the abundance of Enoicyla pusilla (Burmeister in pine plantations and the effects of silvicultural thinning on insect population. This species is considered a rare member of the order Trichoptera, reported as absent or occasional in conifer forests. It has been suggested that the proliferation of conifer plantations may be a threat for this species by favoring population isolation. Area of study. Plantations of native and non-native pines in Galicia (NW of Spain.Material and Methods. We used different traps systems, including 28 pitfall traps, to compared populations of insects in 14 thinned and unthinned plots of Pinus pinaster and P. radiata distributed across 3 forest stands. Traps were checked every 15 days during one year.Main results.  We caught 1.219 larvae of E. pusilla. It was the third most abundant species captured in pitfall traps. Larval activity extended from January to late July. They were more abundant in the stands of P. radiata, probably because the denser foliage produced limits sunlight and helped to maintain litter moisture. Additionally needles of P. radiata had lower toughness and higher nitrogen content, which probably makes it a higher quality resource for the detritivorous larvae. Thinning did not affect larvae population.Research highlights: Although managed forests cannot match the biodiversity value of native mixed species stands, if managed appropriately, they may provide habitat for native fauna while also allowing for forest productionKey words: caddisfly; Pinus pinaster; Pinus radiate; plantations; thinning.

Mechanisms Driving Galling Success in a Fragmented Landscape: Synergy of Habitat and Top-Down Factors along Temperate Forest Edges.

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Nina-S Kelch

Full Text Available Edge effects play key roles in the anthropogenic transformation of forested ecosystems and their biota, and are therefore a prime field of contemporary fragmentation research. We present the first empirical study to address edge effects on the population level of a widespread galling herbivore in a temperate deciduous forest. By analyzing edge effects on abundance and trophic interactions of beech gall midge (Mikiola fagi Htg., we found 30% higher gall abundance in the edge habitat as well as lower mortality rates due to decreased top-down control, especially by parasitoids. Two GLM models with similar explanatory power (58% identified habitat specific traits (such as canopy closure and altitude and parasitism as the best predictors of gall abundance. Further analyses revealed a crucial influence of light exposure (46% on top-down control by the parasitoid complex. Guided by a conceptual framework synthesizing the key factors driving gall density, we conclude that forest edge proliferation of M. fagi is due to a complex interplay of abiotic changes and trophic control mechanisms. Most prominently, it is caused by the microclimatic regime in forest edges, acting alone or in synergistic concert with top-down pressure by parasitoids. Contrary to the prevailing notion that specialists are edge-sensitive, this turns M. fagi into a winner species in fragmented temperate beech forests. In view of the increasing proportion of edge habitats and the documented benefits from edge microclimate, we call for investigations exploring the pest status of this galling insect and the modulators of its biological control.

Seasonal Pattern of Decomposition and N, P, and C Dynamics in Leaf litter in a Mongolian Oak Forest and a Korean Pine Plantation

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Jaeeun Sohng

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Distinct seasons and diverse tree species characterize temperate deciduous forests in NE Asia, but large areas of deciduous forests have been converted to conifer plantations. This study was conducted to understand the effects of seasons and tree species on leaf litter decomposition in a temperate forest. Using the litterbag method, the decomposition rate and nitrogen, phosphorous, and carbon dynamics of Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica, Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis, and their mixed leaf litter were compared for 24 months in a Mongolian oak stand, an adjacent Korean pine plantation, and a Mongolian oak—Korean pine mixed stand. The decomposition rates of all the leaf litter types followed a pattern of distinct seasonal changes: most leaf litter decomposition occurred during the summer. Tree species was less influential on the leaf litter decomposition. The decomposition rates among different leaf litter types within the same stand were not significantly different, indicating no mixed litter effect. The immobilization of leaf litter N and P lasted for 14 months. Mongolian oak leaf litter and Korean pine leaf litter showed different N and P contents and dynamics during the decomposition, and soil P2O5 was highest in the Korean pine plantation, suggesting effects of plantation on soil nutrient budget.

Community composition of root-associated fungi in a Quercus-dominated temperate forest: “codominance” of mycorrhizal and root-endophytic fungi

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Toju, Hirokazu; Yamamoto, Satoshi; Sato, Hirotoshi; Tanabe, Akifumi S; Gilbert, Gregory S; Kadowaki, Kohmei

2013-01-01

In terrestrial ecosystems, plant roots are colonized by various clades of mycorrhizal and endophytic fungi. Focused on the root systems of an oak-dominated temperate forest in Japan, we used 454 pyrosequencing to explore how phylogenetically diverse fungi constitute an ecological community of multiple ecotypes. In total, 345 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of fungi were found from 159 terminal-root samples from 12 plant species occurring in the forest. Due to the dominance of an oak species (Quercus serrata), diverse ectomycorrhizal clades such as Russula, Lactarius, Cortinarius, Tomentella, Amanita, Boletus, and Cenococcum were observed. Unexpectedly, the root-associated fungal community was dominated by root-endophytic ascomycetes in Helotiales, Chaetothyriales, and Rhytismatales. Overall, 55.3% of root samples were colonized by both the commonly observed ascomycetes and ectomycorrhizal fungi; 75.0% of the root samples of the dominant Q. serrata were so cocolonized. Overall, this study revealed that root-associated fungal communities of oak-dominated temperate forests were dominated not only by ectomycorrhizal fungi but also by diverse root endophytes and that potential ecological interactions between the two ecotypes may be important to understand the complex assembly processes of belowground fungal communities. PMID:23762515

Continuous measurements of methane flux in two Japanese temperate forests based on the micrometeorological and chamber methods

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Yoshikawa, K.; Ueyama, M.; Takagi, K.; Kominami, Y.

2015-12-01

Methane (CH4) budget in forest ecosystems have not been accurately quantified due to limited measurements and considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity. In order to quantify CH4 fluxes at temperate forest at various spatiotemporal scales, we have continuously measured CH4 fluxes at two upland forests based on the micrometeorological hyperbolic relaxed eddy accumulation (HREA) and automated dynamic closed chamber methods.The measurements have been conducted at Teshio experimental forest (TSE) since September 2013 and Yamashiro forest meteorology research site (YMS) since November 2014. Three automated chambers were installed on each site. Our system can measure CH4 flux by the micrometeorological HREA, vertical concentration profile at four heights, and chamber measurements by a laser-based gas analyzer (FGGA-24r-EP, Los Gatos Research Inc., USA).Seasonal variations of canopy-scale CH4 fluxes were different in each site. CH4 was consumed during the summer, but was emitted during the fall and winter in TSE; consequently, the site acted as a net annual CH4 source. CH4 was steadily consumed during the winter, but CH4 fluxes fluctuated between absorption and emission during the spring and summer in YMS. YMS acted as a net annual CH4 sink. CH4 uptake at the canopy scale generally decreased with rising soil temperature and increased with drying condition for both sites. CH4 flux measured by most of chambers showed the consistent sensitivity examined for the canopy scale to the environmental variables. CH4 fluxes from a few chambers located at a wet condition were independent of variations in soil temperature and moisture at both sites. Magnitude of soil CH4 uptake was higher than the canopy-scale CH4 uptake. Our results showed that the canopy-scale CH4 fluxes were totally different with the plot-scale CH4 fluxes by chambers, suggesting the considerable spatial heterogeneity in CH4 flux at the temperate forests.

Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site

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Castanha, C.; Torn, M.S.; Germino, M.J.; Weibel, Bettina; Kueppers, L.M.

2013-01-01

Background: Seedling germination and survival is a critical control on forest ecosystem boundaries, such as at the alpine–treeline ecotone. In addition, while it is known that species respond individualistically to the same suite of environmental drivers, the potential additional effect of local adaptation on seedling success has not been evaluated. Aims: To determine whether local adaptation may influence the position and movement of forest ecosystem boundaries, we quantified conifer seedling recruitment in common gardens across a subalpine forest to alpine tundra gradient at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA. Methods: We studied Pinus flexilis and Picea engelmannii grown from seed collected locally at High (3400 m a.s.l.) and Low (3060 m a.s.l.) elevations. We monitored emergence and survival of seeds sown directly into plots and survival of seedlings germinated indoors and transplanted after snowmelt. Results: Emergence and survival through the first growing season was greater for P. flexilis than P. engelmannii and for Low compared with High provenances. Yet survival through the second growing season was similar for both species and provenances. Seedling emergence and survival tended to be greatest in the subalpine forest and lowest in the alpine tundra. Survival was greater for transplants than for field-germinated seedlings. Conclusions: These results suggest that survival through the first few weeks is critical to the establishment of natural germinants. In addition, even small distances between seed sources can have a significant effect on early demographic performance – a factor that has rarely been considered in previous studies of tree recruitment and species range shifts.

Broadband, red-edge information from satellites improves early stress detection in a New Mexico conifer woodland

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Jan U.H. Eitel; Lee A. Vierling; Marcy E. Litvak; Dan S. Long; Urs Schulthess; Alan A. Ager; Dan J. Krofcheck; Leo Stoscheck

2011-01-01

Multiple plant stresses can affect the health, esthetic condition, and timber harvest value of conifer forests. To monitor spatial and temporal dynamic forest stress conditions, timely, accurate, and cost-effective information is needed that could be provided by remote sensing. Recently, satellite imagery has become available via the RapidEye satellite constellation to...

Carbon stock and carbon turnover in boreal and temperate forests - Integration of remote sensing data and global vegetation models

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Thurner, Martin; Beer, Christian; Carvalhais, Nuno; Forkel, Matthias; Tito Rademacher, Tim; Santoro, Maurizio; Tum, Markus; Schmullius, Christiane

2016-04-01

Long-term vegetation dynamics are one of the key uncertainties of the carbon cycle. There are large differences in simulated vegetation carbon stocks and fluxes including productivity, respiration and carbon turnover between global vegetation models. Especially the implementation of climate-related mortality processes, for instance drought, fire, frost or insect effects, is often lacking or insufficient in current models and their importance at global scale is highly uncertain. These shortcomings have been due to the lack of spatially extensive information on vegetation carbon stocks, which cannot be provided by inventory data alone. Instead, we recently have been able to estimate northern boreal and temperate forest carbon stocks based on radar remote sensing data. Our spatially explicit product (0.01° resolution) shows strong agreement to inventory-based estimates at a regional scale and allows for a spatial evaluation of carbon stocks and dynamics simulated by global vegetation models. By combining this state-of-the-art biomass product and NPP datasets originating from remote sensing, we are able to study the relation between carbon turnover rate and a set of climate indices in northern boreal and temperate forests along spatial gradients. We observe an increasing turnover rate with colder winter temperatures and longer winters in boreal forests, suggesting frost damage and the trade-off between frost adaptation and growth being important mortality processes in this ecosystem. In contrast, turnover rate increases with climatic conditions favouring drought and insect outbreaks in temperate forests. Investigated global vegetation models from the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP), including HYBRID4, JeDi, JULES, LPJml, ORCHIDEE, SDGVM, and VISIT, are able to reproduce observation-based spatial climate - turnover rate relationships only to a limited extent. While most of the models compare relatively well in terms of NPP, simulated

Genetic structure and breeding system of a rare understory herb, Dysosma versipellis (Berberidaceae), from temperate deciduous forests in China.

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Guan, Bi-Cai; Fu, Cheng-Xing; Qiu, Ying-Xiong; Zhou, Shi-Liang; Comes, Hans Peter

2010-01-01

To evaluate the role of Quaternary refugial isolation in allopatric (incipient) speciation of East Asian temperate forest biotas, we analyzed amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and the breeding system in Dysosma versipellis. The study revealed that D. versipellis is mostly self-incompatible, genetically highly subdivided and depauperate at the population level (e.g., Φ(ST) = 0.572/H(E) = 0.083), and characterized by a low pollen-to-seed migration ratio (r ≈ 4.0). The latter outcome likely reflects limited pollen flow in a low-seed disperser whose hypothesized "sapromyophilous" flowers undergo scarce, inefficient, and likely specialized cross-pollination by small Anoplodera beetles, rather than carrion flies as assumed previously. In consequence, fruit set in D. versipellis was strongly pollen-limited. Our AFLP data support the hypothesis of a long-standing cessation of gene flow between western and central eastern populations, consistent with previous chloroplast DNA data. This phylogeographic pattern supports the role of the Sichuan Basin as a floristic boundary separating the Sino-Himalayan vs. Sino-Japanese Forest subkingdoms. Our genetic data of D. versipellis also imply that temperate deciduous forest elements to the west and the east of this basin responded differently to Quaternary climate change, which may have triggered or is leading to allopatric (incipient) speciation.

Modelling forest canopy height by integrating airborne LiDAR samples with satellite Radar and multispectral imagery

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García, Mariano; Saatchi, Sassan; Ustin, Susan; Balzter, Heiko

2018-04-01

variable, with Landsat Tasselled Cap Transformation components barely contributing to the models for two of the study sites whereas it had a significant contribution at the third one. Over the temperate conifer forests, Landsat Tasselled Cap variables contributed more than the ALOS-PALSAR HV band to predict the landscape height variability. In all cases, incorporation of multispectral data improved the retrieval of forest canopy height and reduced the estimation uncertainty for tall forests. Finally, we concluded that models trained at one study site had higher uncertainty when applied to other sites, but a model developed from multiple sites performed equally to site-specific models to predict forest canopy height. This result suggest that a biome level model developed from several study sites can be used as a reliable estimator of biome-level forest structure from existing satellite imagery.

Tropical and Highland Temperate Forest Plantations in Mexico: Pathways for Climate Change Mitigation and Ecosystem Services Delivery

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Vidal Guerra-De la Cruz

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Forest plantations are a possible way of increasing forest productivity in temperate and tropical forests, and therefore also increasing above- and belowground carbon pools. In the context of climate change, monospecific plantations might become an alternative to mitigate global warming; however, their contribution to the structural complexity, complementarity, and biodiversity of forests has not been addressed. Mixed forest plantations can ensure that objectives of climate change mitigation are met through carbon sequestration, while also delivering anticipated ecosystem services (e.g., nutrient cycling, erosion control, and wildlife habitat. However, mixed forest plantations pose considerable operational challenges and research opportunities. For example, it is essential to know how many species or functional traits are necessary to deliver a set of benefits, or what mixture of species and densities are key to maintaining productive plantations and delivering multiple ecosystem services. At the same time, the establishment of forest plantations in Mexico should not be motivated solely by timber production. Forest plantations should also increase carbon sequestration, maintain biodiversity, and provide other ecosystem services. This article analyzes some matters that affect the development of planted forests in the Mexican national context, and presents alternatives for forest resources management through the recommendation of mixed forest plantations as a means of contributing to climate change mitigation and the delivery of ecosystem services.

Impacts of cloud immersion on microclimate, photosynthesis and water relations of fraser fir in a temperate mountain cloud forest

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Keith Reinhardt; William K. Smith

2010-01-01

The red spruce-Fraser fir ecosystem (Picea rubens Sarg.-Abies fraseri [Pursh] Poir.) of the southern Appalachian mountains is a temperate zone cloud forest immersed in clouds for 30 to 40 percent of a typical summer day, and experiencing immersion on about 65 percent of all days annually. We compared the microclimate,...

Wood ant nests as hot spots of carbon dioxide production and cold spots of methane oxidation in temperate forests

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Jílková, Veronika; Picek, T.; Cajthaml, Tomáš; Frouz, Jan

2016-01-01

Roč. 18, April (2016), EGU2016-4634 ISSN 1607-7962. [European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2016. 17.04.2016-22.04.2016, Vienna] Institutional support: RVO:60077344 ; RVO:61388971 Keywords : wood ant nests * hot spots of carbon dioxide production * cold spots of methane oxidation * temperate forests Subject RIV: DF - Soil Science

Root carbon inputs to the rhizosphere stimulate extracellular enzyme activity and increase nitrogen availability in temperate forest soils

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Brzostek, E. R.; Phillips, R.; Dragoni, D.; Drake, J. E.; Finzi, A. C.

2011-12-01

The mobilization of nitrogen (N) from soil organic matter in temperate forest soils is controlled by the microbial production and activity of extracellular enzymes. The exudation of carbon (C) by tree roots into the rhizosphere may subsidize the microbial production of extracellular enzymes in the rhizosphere and increase the access of roots to N. The objective of this research was to investigate whether rates of root exudation and the resulting stimulation of extracellular enzyme activity in the rhizosphere (i.e., rhizosphere effect) differs between tree species that form associations with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) or arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. This research was conducted at two temperate forest sites, the Harvard Forest (HF) in Central MA and the Morgan Monroe State Forest (MMSF) in Southern IN. At the HF, we measured rates of root exudation and the rhizosphere effects on enzyme activity, N cycling, and C mineralization in AM and ECM soils. At the MMSF, we recently girdled AM and ECM dominated plots to examine the impact of severing belowground C allocation on rhizosphere processes. At both sites, the rhizosphere effect on proteolytic, chitinolytic and ligninolytic enzyme activities was greater in ECM soils than in AM soils. In particular, higher rates of proteolytic enzyme activity increased the availability of amino acid-N in ECM rhizospheres relative to the bulk soils. Further, this stimulation of enzyme activity was directly correlated with higher rates of C mineralization in the rhizosphere than in the bulk soil. Although not significantly different between species, root exudation of C comprised 3-10% of annual gross primary production at the HF. At the MMSF, experimental girdling led to a larger decline in soil respiration and enzyme activity in ECM plots than in AM plots. In both ECM and AM soils, however, girdling resulted in equivalent rates of enzyme activity in rhizosphere and corresponding bulk soils. The results of this study contribute to the

Impact of interspecific interactions on the soil water uptake depth in a young temperate mixed species plantation

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Grossiord, Charlotte; Gessler, Arthur; Granier, André; Berger, Sigrid; Bréchet, Claude; Hentschel, Rainer; Hommel, Robert; Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael; Bonal, Damien

2014-11-01

Interactions between tree species in forests can be beneficial to ecosystem functions and services related to the carbon and water cycles by improving for example transpiration and productivity. However, little is known on below- and above-ground processes leading to these positive effects. We tested whether stratification in soil water uptake depth occurred between four tree species in a 10-year-old temperate mixed species plantation during a dry summer. We selected dominant and co-dominant trees of European beech, Sessile oak, Douglas fir and Norway spruce in areas with varying species diversity, competition intensity, and where different plant functional types (broadleaf vs. conifer) were present. We applied a deuterium labelling approach that consisted of spraying labelled water to the soil surface to create a strong vertical gradient of the deuterium isotope composition in the soil water. The deuterium isotope composition of both the xylem sap and the soil water was measured before labelling, and then again three days after labelling, to estimate the soil water uptake depth using a simple modelling approach. We also sampled leaves and needles from selected trees to measure their carbon isotope composition (a proxy for water use efficiency) and total nitrogen content. At the end of the summer, we found differences in the soil water uptake depth between plant functional types but not within types: on average, coniferous species extracted water from deeper layers than did broadleaved species. Neither species diversity nor competition intensity had a detectable influence on soil water uptake depth, foliar water use efficiency or foliar nitrogen concentration in the species studied. However, when coexisting with an increasing proportion of conifers, beech extracted water from progressively deeper soil layers. We conclude that complementarity for water uptake could occur in this 10-year-old plantation because of inherent differences among functional groups (conifers

Altitudinal variation in soil organic carbon stock in coniferous subtropical and broadleaf temperate forests in Garhwal Himalaya

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Kumar Munesh

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Himalayan zones, with dense forest vegetation, cover a fifth part of India and store a third part of the country reserves of soil organic carbon (SOC. However, the details of altitudinal distribution of these carbon stocks, which are vulnerable to forest management and climate change impacts, are not well known. Results This article reports the results of measuring the stocks of SOC along altitudinal gradients. The study was carried out in the coniferous subtropical and broadleaf temperate forests of Garhwal Himalaya. The stocks of SOC were found to be decreasing with altitude: from 185.6 to 160.8 t C ha-1 and from 141.6 to 124.8 t C ha-1 in temperature (Quercus leucotrichophora and subtropical (Pinus roxburghii forests, respectively. Conclusion The results of this study lead to conclusion that the ability of soil to stabilize soil organic matter depends negatively on altitude and call for comprehensive theoretical explanation

Average Stand Age from Forest Inventory Plots Does Not Describe Historical Fire Regimes in Ponderosa Pine and Mixed-Conifer Forests of Western North America.

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Jens T Stevens

Full Text Available Quantifying historical fire regimes provides important information for managing contemporary forests. Historical fire frequency and severity can be estimated using several methods; each method has strengths and weaknesses and presents challenges for interpretation and verification. Recent efforts to quantify the timing of historical high-severity fire events in forests of western North America have assumed that the "stand age" variable from the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA program reflects the timing of historical high-severity (i.e. stand-replacing fire in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests. To test this assumption, we re-analyze the dataset used in a previous analysis, and compare information from fire history records with information from co-located FIA plots. We demonstrate that 1 the FIA stand age variable does not reflect the large range of individual tree ages in the FIA plots: older trees comprised more than 10% of pre-stand age basal area in 58% of plots analyzed and more than 30% of pre-stand age basal area in 32% of plots, and 2 recruitment events are not necessarily related to high-severity fire occurrence. Because the FIA stand age variable is estimated from a sample of tree ages within the tree size class containing a plurality of canopy trees in the plot, it does not necessarily include the oldest trees, especially in uneven-aged stands. Thus, the FIA stand age variable does not indicate whether the trees in the predominant size class established in response to severe fire, or established during the absence of fire. FIA stand age was not designed to measure the time since a stand-replacing disturbance. Quantification of historical "mixed-severity" fire regimes must be explicit about the spatial scale of high-severity fire effects, which is not possible using FIA stand age data.

Average Stand Age from Forest Inventory Plots Does Not Describe Historical Fire Regimes in Ponderosa Pine and Mixed-Conifer Forests of Western North America.

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Stevens, Jens T; Safford, Hugh D; North, Malcolm P; Fried, Jeremy S; Gray, Andrew N; Brown, Peter M; Dolanc, Christopher R; Dobrowski, Solomon Z; Falk, Donald A; Farris, Calvin A; Franklin, Jerry F; Fulé, Peter Z; Hagmann, R Keala; Knapp, Eric E; Miller, Jay D; Smith, Douglas F; Swetnam, Thomas W; Taylor, Alan H

Quantifying historical fire regimes provides important information for managing contemporary forests. Historical fire frequency and severity can be estimated using several methods; each method has strengths and weaknesses and presents challenges for interpretation and verification. Recent efforts to quantify the timing of historical high-severity fire events in forests of western North America have assumed that the "stand age" variable from the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program reflects the timing of historical high-severity (i.e. stand-replacing) fire in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests. To test this assumption, we re-analyze the dataset used in a previous analysis, and compare information from fire history records with information from co-located FIA plots. We demonstrate that 1) the FIA stand age variable does not reflect the large range of individual tree ages in the FIA plots: older trees comprised more than 10% of pre-stand age basal area in 58% of plots analyzed and more than 30% of pre-stand age basal area in 32% of plots, and 2) recruitment events are not necessarily related to high-severity fire occurrence. Because the FIA stand age variable is estimated from a sample of tree ages within the tree size class containing a plurality of canopy trees in the plot, it does not necessarily include the oldest trees, especially in uneven-aged stands. Thus, the FIA stand age variable does not indicate whether the trees in the predominant size class established in response to severe fire, or established during the absence of fire. FIA stand age was not designed to measure the time since a stand-replacing disturbance. Quantification of historical "mixed-severity" fire regimes must be explicit about the spatial scale of high-severity fire effects, which is not possible using FIA stand age data.

Evaluation of sampling methods to quantify abundance of hardwoods and snags within conifer-dominated riparian zones

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Theresa Marquardt; Hailemariam Temesgen; Paul D. Anderson; Bianca. Eskelson

2012-01-01

Six sampling alternatives were examined for their ability to quantify selected attributes of snags and hardwoods in conifer-dominated riparian areas of managed headwater forests in western Oregon. Each alternative was simulated 500 times at eight headwater forest locations based on a 0.52-ha square stem map. The alternatives were evaluated based on how well they...

The carbon budget of coarse woody debris in a temperate broad-leafed secondary forest in Japan

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Jomura, M.; Dannoura, M.; Kanazawa, Y.; Kominami, Y.; Miyama, T.; Goto, Y.; Tamai, K.

2007-01-01

We evaluated the carbon budget of coarse woody debris (CWD) in a temperate broad-leafed secondary forest. On the basis of a field survey conducted in 2003, the mass of CWD was estimated at 9.30 tC/ha, with snags amounting to 60% of the total mass. Mean annual CWD input mass was estimated to be 0.61 tC/ha/yr by monitoring tree mortality in the forest from 1999 to 2004. We evaluated the CWD decomposition rate as the CO 2 evolution rate from CWD by measuring CO 2 emissions from 91 CWD samples (RCWD) with a closed dynamic chamber and infrared gas analysis system. The relationships between RCWD and temperature in the chamber, water content of the CWD, and other CWD characteristics were determined. By scaling the measured RCWD to the ecosystem, we estimated that the annual RCWD in the forest in 2003 was 0.50 tC/ha/yr or 10%-16% of the total heterotrophic respiration. Therefore, 0.11 tC/ha/yr or 7% of the forest net ecosystem production was sequestered by CWD. In a young forest, in which CWD input and decomposition are not balanced, the CWD carbon budget needs to be quantified for accurate evaluation of the forest carbon cycle and NEP

Seedling growth and biomass allocation in relation to leaf habit and shade tolerance among 10 temperate tree species.

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Modrzyński, Jerzy; Chmura, Daniel J; Tjoelker, Mark G

2015-08-01

Initial growth of germinated seeds is an important life history stage, critical for establishment and succession in forests. Important questions remain regarding the differences among species in early growth potential arising from shade tolerance. In addition, the role of leaf habit in shaping relationships underlying shade tolerance-related differences in seedling growth remains unresolved. In this study we examined variation in morphological and physiological traits among seedlings of 10 forest tree species of the European temperate zone varying in shade tolerance and leaf habit (broadleaved winter-deciduous species vs needle-leaved conifers) during a 10-week period. Seeds were germinated and grown in a controlled environment simulating an intermediate forest understory light environment to resolve species differences in initial growth and biomass allocation. In the high-resource experimental conditions during the study, seedlings increased biomass allocation to roots at the cost of leaf biomass independent of shade tolerance and leaf habit. Strong correlations between relative growth rate (RGR), net assimilation rate (NAR), leaf area ratio (LAR), specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf mass fraction (LMF) indicate that physiology and biomass allocation were equally important determinants of RGR as plant structure and leaf morphology among these species. Our findings highlight the importance of seed mass- and seed size-related root morphology (specific root length-SRL) for shade tolerance during early ontogeny. Leaf and plant morphology (SLA, LAR) were more successful in explaining variation among species due to leaf habit than shade tolerance. In both broadleaves and conifers, shade-tolerant species had lower SRL and greater allocation of biomass to stems (stem mass fraction). Light-seeded shade-intolerant species with greater SRL had greater RGR in both leaf habit groups. However, the greatest plant mass was accumulated in the group of heavy-seeded shade

Past, Present, and Future Old Growth in Frequent-fire Conifer Forests of the Western United States

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Scott R. Abella

2007-12-01

Full Text Available 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 productivity, hydrological alterations, and accelerated mortality of old trees. Although these changes are widespread, the magnitude and causes of changes may vary within and among landscapes. Agents of change, such as fire exclusion or livestock grazing, likely interacted and had multiple effects. For example, historical ranching operations may have altered both fire regimes and understory vegetation, and facilitated institutional fire exclusion through fragmentation and settlement. Evidence exists for large variation in presettlement characteristics and current condition of old growth across this broad forest region, although there are many examples of striking similarities on widely distant landscapes. Exotic species, climate change, unnatural stand-replacing wildfires, and other factors will likely continue to degrade or eradicate old growth in many areas. As a policy of fire exclusion is proving to be unsustainable, mechanical tree thinning, prescribed fire, or wildland fire use will likely be key options for forestalling continued eradication of old growth by severe crown fires. For many practical and societal reasons, the wildland-urban interface may afford some of the most immediate opportunities for re

Vegetation-zonation patterns across a temperate mountain cloud forest ecotone are not explained by variation in hydraulic functioning or water relations.

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Berry, Z Carter; Johnson, Daniel M; Reinhardt, Keith

2015-09-01

Many studies have demonstrated linkages between the occurrence of fog and ecophysiological functioning in cloud forests, but few have investigated hydraulic functioning as a determining factor that explains sharp changes in vegetation. The objective of this study was to compare the plant water status during cloud-immersed and non-immersed conditions and hydraulic vulnerability in branches and roots of species across a temperate, mountain fog ecotone. Because cloud forests are often dark, cool and very moist, we expected cloud forest species to have less drought-tolerant characteristics (i.e., lower Pe and P50-the pressures required to induce a 12 and 50% loss in hydraulic conductivity, respectively) relative to non-cloud forest species in adjacent (lower elevation) forests. Additionally, due to the ability of cloud forest species to absorb cloud-fog water, we predicted greater improvements in hydraulic functioning during fog in cloud forest species relative to non-cloud forest species. Across the cloud forest ecotone, most species measured were very resistant to losses in conductivity with branch P50 values from -4.5 to -6.0 MPa, hydraulic safety margins (Ψmin - P50) >1.5 MPa and low calculated hydraulic conductivity losses. Roots had greater vulnerabilities, with P50 values ranging from -1.4 to -2.5 MPa, leading to greater predicted losses in conductivity (∼20%). Calculated values suggested strong losses of midday leaf hydraulic conductance in three of the four species, supporting the hydraulic segmentation hypothesis. In both cloud forest and hardwood species, Ψs were greater on foggy days than sunny days, demonstrating the importance of fog periods to plant water balance across fog regimes. Thus, frequent fog did not result in systemic changes in hydraulic functioning or vulnerability to embolism across our temperate cloud forest ecotone. Finally, roots functioned with lower hydraulic conductivity than branches, suggesting that they may serve as more

Effects of local biotic neighbors and habitat heterogeneity on tree and shrub seedling survival in an old-growth temperate forest.

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Bai, Xuejiao; Queenborough, Simon A; Wang, Xugao; Zhang, Jian; Li, Buhang; Yuan, Zuoqiang; Xing, Dingliang; Lin, Fei; Ye, Ji; Hao, Zhanqing

2012-11-01

Seedling dynamics play a crucial role in determining species distributions and coexistence. Exploring causes of variation in seedling dynamics can therefore provide key insights into the factors affecting these phenomena. We examined the relative importance of biotic neighborhood processes and habitat heterogeneity using survival data for 5,827 seedlings in 39 tree and shrub species over 2 years from an old-growth temperate forest in northeastern China. We found significant negative density-dependence effects on survival of tree seedlings, and limited effects of habitat heterogeneity (edaphic and topographic variables) on survival of shrub seedlings. The importance of negative density dependence on young tree seedling survival was replaced by habitat in tree seedlings ≥ 4 years old. As expected, negative density dependence was more apparent in gravity-dispersed species compared to wind-dispersed and animal-dispersed species. Moreover, we found that a community compensatory trend existed for trees. Therefore, although negative density dependence was not as pervasive as in other forest communities, it is an important mechanism for the maintenance of community diversity in this temperate forest. We conclude that both negative density dependence and habitat heterogeneity drive seedling survival, but their relative importance varies with seedling age classes and species traits.

Does the amount of trees retained at clearfelling of temperate and boreal forests influence biodiversity response?

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Fedrowitz Katja

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Clear-felling is one of the main methods used in many parts of the world for the production of pulp, timber and bioenergy, leading to a simplified forest structure and species composition. One of the measures to mitigate the impact of logging on biodiversity is the retention of trees at final harvest. Tree retention approaches in forestry are still rather new, although widely distributed across different continents. Several studies have been performed on the effects of retention trees on biodiversity but to date there is no evidence on the relation between the amounts of trees, i.e. the number, volume or area per ha retained, and the response of biodiversity. The overall aim of our review will be to provide forest practitioners and conservationists in temperate and boreal forests with more detailed recommendations regarding the amount of trees that should be retained in order to achieve positive effects for biodiversity compared to traditional clear-cutting.

Genes, enzymes and chemicals of terpenoid diversity in the constitutive and induced defence of conifers against insects and pathogens.

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Keeling, Christopher I; Bohlmann, Jörg

2006-01-01

Insects select their hosts, but trees cannot select which herbivores will feed upon them. Thus, as long-lived stationary organisms, conifers must resist the onslaught of varying and multiple attackers over their lifetime. Arguably, the greatest threats to conifers are herbivorous insects and their associated pathogens. Insects such as bark beetles, stem- and wood-boring insects, shoot-feeding weevils, and foliage-feeding budworms and sawflies are among the most devastating pests of conifer forests. Conifer trees produce a great diversity of compounds, such as an enormous array of terpenoids and phenolics, that may impart resistance to a variety of herbivores and microorganisms. Insects have evolved to specialize in resistance to these chemicals -- choosing, feeding upon, and colonizing hosts they perceive to be best suited to reproduction. This review focuses on the plant-insect interactions mediated by conifer-produced terpenoids. To understand the role of terpenoids in conifer-insect interactions, we must understand how conifers produce the wide diversity of terpenoids, as well as understand how these specific compounds affect insect behaviour and physiology. This review examines what chemicals are produced, the genes and proteins involved in their biosynthesis, how they work, and how they are regulated. It also examines how insects and their associated pathogens interact with, elicit, and are affected by conifer-produced terpenoids.

Comparing algorithms for estimating foliar biomass of conifers in the Pacific Northwest

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Crystal L. Raymond; Donald. McKenzie

2013-01-01

Accurate estimates of foliar biomass (FB) are important for quantifying carbon storage in forest ecosystems, but FB is not always reported in regional or national inventories. Foliar biomass also drives key ecological processes in ecosystem models. Published algorithms for estimating FB in conifer species of the Pacific Northwest can yield signifi cantly different...

Contrasting trait syndromes in angiosperms and conifers are associated with different responses of tree growth to temperature on a large scale.

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Carnicer, Jofre; Barbeta, Adrià; Sperlich, Dominik; Coll, Marta; Peñuelas, Josep

2013-01-01

Recent large-scale studies of tree growth in the Iberian Peninsula reported contrasting positive and negative effects of temperature in Mediterranean angiosperms and conifers. Here we review the different hypotheses that may explain these trends and propose that the observed contrasting responses of tree growth to temperature in this region could be associated with a continuum of trait differences between angiosperms and conifers. Angiosperm and conifer trees differ in the effects of phenology in their productivity, in their growth allometry, and in their sensitivity to competition. Moreover, angiosperms and conifers significantly differ in hydraulic safety margins, sensitivity of stomatal conductance to vapor-pressure deficit (VPD), xylem recovery capacity or the rate of carbon transfer. These differences could be explained by key features of the xylem such as non-structural carbohydrate content (NSC), wood parenchymal fraction or wood capacitance. We suggest that the reviewed trait differences define two contrasting ecophysiological strategies that may determine qualitatively different growth responses to increased temperature and drought. Improved reciprocal common garden experiments along altitudinal or latitudinal gradients would be key to quantify the relative importance of the different hypotheses reviewed. Finally, we show that warming impacts in this area occur in an ecological context characterized by the advance of forest succession and increased dominance of angiosperm trees over extensive areas. In this context, we examined the empirical relationships between the responses of tree growth to temperature and hydraulic safety margins in angiosperm and coniferous trees. Our findings suggest a future scenario in Mediterranean forests characterized by contrasting demographic responses in conifer and angiosperm trees to both temperature and forest succession, with increased dominance of angiosperm trees, and particularly negative impacts in pines.

Contrasting trait syndromes in angiosperms and conifers are associated with different responses of tree growth to temperature on a large scale.

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Jofre eCarnicer

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Recent large-scale studies of tree growth in the Iberian Peninsula reported contrasting positive and negative effects of temperature in Mediterranean angiosperms and conifers. Here we review the different hypotheses that may explain these trends and propose that the observed contrasting responses of tree growth to temperature in this region could be associated with a continuum of trait differences between angiosperms and conifers. Angiosperm and conifer trees differ in the effects of phenology in their productivity, in their growth allometry, and in their sensitivity to competition. Moreover, angiosperms and conifers significantly differ in hydraulic safety margins, sensitivity of stomatal conductance to vapor-pressure deficit, xylem recovery capacity or the rate of carbon transfer. These differences could be explained by key features of the xylem such as non-structural carbohydrate content (NSC, wood parenchymal fraction or wood capacitance. We suggest that the reviewed trait differences define two contrasting ecophysiological strategies that may determine qualitatively different growth responses to increased temperature and drought. Improved reciprocal common garden experiments along altitudinal or latitudinal gradients would be key to quantify the relative importance of the different hypotheses reviewed. Finally, we show that warming impacts in this area occur in an ecological context characterized by the advance of forest succession and increased dominance of angiosperm trees over extensive areas. In this context, we examined the empirical relationships between the responses of tree growth to temperature and hydraulic safety margins in angiosperm and coniferous trees. Our findings suggest a future scenario in Mediterranean forests characterized by contrasting demographic responses in conifer and angiosperm trees to both temperature and forest succession, with increased dominance of angiosperm trees, and particularly negative impacts in pines.

Dry forest resilience varies under simulated climate‐management scenarios in a central Oregon, USA landscape.

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Halofsky, Joshua S; Halofsky, Jessica E; Burcsu, Theresa; Hemstrom, Miles A

Determining appropriate actions to create or maintain landscapes resilient to climate change is challenging because of uncertainty associated with potential effects of climate change and their interactions with land management. We used a set of climate-informed state-and-transition models to explore the effects of management and natural disturbances on vegetation composition and structure under different future climates. Models were run for dry forests of central Oregon under a fire suppression scenario (i.e., no management other than the continued suppression of wildfires) and an active management scenario characterized by light to moderate thinning from below and some prescribed fire, planting, and salvage logging. Without climate change, area in dry province forest types remained constant. With climate change, dry mixed-conifer forests increased in area (by an average of 21–26% by 2100), and moist mixed-conifer forests decreased in area (by an average of 36–60% by 2100), under both management scenarios. Average area in dry mixed-conifer forests varied little by management scenario, but potential decreases in the moist mixed-conifer forest were lower with active management. With changing climate in the dry province of central Oregon, our results suggest the likelihood of sustaining current levels of dense, moist mixed-conifer forests with large-diameter, old trees is low (less than a 10% chance) irrespective of management scenario; an opposite trend was observed under no climate change simulations. However, results also suggest active management within the dry and moist mixed-conifer forests that creates less dense forest conditions can increase the persistence of larger-diameter, older trees across the landscape. Owing to projected increases in wildfire, our results also suggest future distributions of tree structures will differ from the present. Overall, our projections indicate proactive management can increase forest resilience and sustain some societal

Long-Term Impacts of China’s New Commercial Harvest Exclusion Policy on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in the Temperate Forests of Northeast China

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Kai Liu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Temperate forests in Northeast China have been severely exploited by timber harvesting in the last century. To reverse this trend, China implemented the Classified Forest Management policy in the Natural Forest Conservation Program in 1998 to protect forests from excessive harvesting. However, the policy was unable to meet the 2020 commitment of increasing growing stock (set in the Kyoto Protocol because of high-intensity harvesting. Accordingly, China banned all commercial harvesting in Northeast China in 2014. In this study, we investigated the long-term impacts of the no commercial harvest (NCH policy on ecosystem services and biodiversity using a forest landscape model, LANDIS PRO 7.0, in the temperate forests of the Small Khingan Mountains, Northeast China. We designed three management scenarios: The H scenario (the Classified Forest Management policy used in the past, the NCH scenario (the current Commercial Harvest Exclusion policy, and the LT scenario (mitigation management, i.e., light thinning. We compared total aboveground forest biomass, biomass by tree species, abundance of old-growth forests, and diversity of tree species and age class in three scenarios from 2010 to 2100. We found that compared with the H scenario, the NCH scenario increased aboveground forest biomass, abundance of old-growth forests, and biomass of most timber species over time; however, it decreased the biomass of rare and protected tree species and biodiversity. We found that the LT scenario increased the biomass of rare and protected tree species and biodiversity in comparison with the NCH scenario, while it maintained aboveground forest biomass and abundance of old-growth forests at a high level (slightly less than the NCH scenario. We concluded there was trade-off between carbon storage and biodiversity. We also concluded that light thinning treatment was able to regulate the trade-off and alleviate the negative effects associated with the NCH policy. Our

Site- and Species-Specific Influences on Sub-Alpine Conifer Growth in Mt. Rainier National Park, USA

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Myesa Legendre-Fixx

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Identifying the factors that influence the climate sensitivity of treeline species is critical to understanding carbon sequestration, forest dynamics, and conservation in high elevation forest/meadow ecotones. Using tree cores from four sub-alpine conifer species collected from three sides of Mt. Rainier, WA, USA, we investigated the influences of species identity and sites with different local climates on radial growth–climate relationships. We created chronologies for each species at each site, determined influential plant-relevant annual and seasonal climatic variables influencing growth, and investigated how the strength of climate sensitivity varied across species and location. Overall, similar climate variables constrained growth on all three sides of the mountain for each of the four study species. Summer warmth positively influenced radial growth, whereas snow, spring warmth, previous summer warmth, and spring humidity negatively influenced growth. We discovered only a few subtle differences in the climate sensitivity of co-occurring species at the same site and between the same species at different sites in pairwise comparisons. A model including species by climate interactions provided the best balance between parsimony and fit, but did not lead to substantially greater predictive power relative to a model without site or species interactions. Our results imply that at treeline in moist temperate regions like Mt. Rainier, the same climatic variables drive annual variation in growth across species and locations, despite species differences in physiology and site differences in mean climates.

Branch Wood Decomposition of Tree Species in a Deciduous Temperate Forest in Korea

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Sangsub Cha

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Woody debris, which is supplied by branch litter, is an important component of forest ecosystems as it contains large quantities of organic matter and nutrients. We evaluated changes in branch wood dry weight and nutrient content of six common species (Fraxinus rhynchophylla, Pinus densiflora, Prunus sargentii, Quercus mongolica, Acer pseudosieboldianum, and Symplocos chinensis for. pilosa in a deciduous temperate forest in Korea for 40 months. Branch wood disk samples 1.4–1.6 cm thick were cut, and mass loss was measured over time using the litterbag method. No significant differences in mass loss were recorded among the six tree species. Further, mass loss was negatively correlated with initial lignin concentration and positively correlated with both initial cellulose concentration and wood density for each species. Species with high wood cellulose content had high wood density while the lignin content in wood was relatively low. Accordingly, cellulose contributed to wood density, creating a relatively lower lignin content, and the decreased lignin concentration increased the wood decomposition rate.

Composition and Elevation of Spruce Forests Affect Susceptibility to Bark Beetle Attacks: Implications for Forest Management

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Massimo Faccoli

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus (L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae, is one of the most destructive insects infesting spruce forests in Europe. Data concerning infestations of I. typographus occurring over the last 19 years (1994–2012 on the Southern Alps were analyzed in seven spruce forest types: (1 pure spruce plantations; (2 pure spruce reforestations; (3 pure spruce mountain forests; (4 pure spruce alpine forests; (5 spruce-conifer mixed forests; (6 spruce-broadleaf mixed forests; and (7 spruce-conifer-broadleaf mixed forests. The collected data included the amount of I. typographus damage and the location and composition of the infested forests. The results indicate that different forest types are differently susceptible to I. typographus. Plantations, reforestations and mountain spruce forests show mean damage and mean number of infestations higher than other forest types. Within pure spruce forests, alpine forests growing at high elevations (>1300 m suffer low damage. Furthermore, the mean number of infestation spots recorded annually in the different spruce forest types is negatively correlated with a Naturality Index value. The results suggest that forest composition and elevation are the main factors driving the risk of I. typographus damage. A new management strategy for some spruce forest types is needed, with a progressive reduction of pure spruce forests at low altitude and an increase of broadleaf composition.

Semiochemical sabotage: behavioral chemicals for protection of western conifers from bark beetles

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Nancy. E. Gillette; A. Steve Munson

2009-01-01

The discovery and elucidation of volatile behavioral chemicals used by bark beetles to locate hosts and mates has revealed a rich potential for humans to sabotage beetle host-finding and reproduction. Here, we present a description of currently available semiochemical methods for use in monitoring and controlling bark beetle pests in western conifer forests. Delivery...

Strong thermal acclimation of photosynthesis in tropical and temperate wet-forest tree species: the importance of altered Rubisco content.

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Scafaro, Andrew P; Xiang, Shuang; Long, Benedict M; Bahar, Nur H A; Weerasinghe, Lasantha K; Creek, Danielle; Evans, John R; Reich, Peter B; Atkin, Owen K

2017-07-01

Understanding of the extent of acclimation of light-saturated net photosynthesis (A n ) to temperature (T), and associated underlying mechanisms, remains limited. This is a key knowledge gap given the importance of thermal acclimation for plant functioning, both under current and future higher temperatures, limiting the accuracy and realism of Earth system model (ESM) predictions. Given this, we analysed and modelled T-dependent changes in photosynthetic capacity in 10 wet-forest tree species: six from temperate forests and four from tropical forests. Temperate and tropical species were each acclimated to three daytime growth temperatures (T growth ): temperate - 15, 20 and 25 °C; tropical - 25, 30 and 35 °C. CO 2 response curves of A n were used to model maximal rates of RuBP (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate) carboxylation (V cmax ) and electron transport (J max ) at each treatment's respective T growth and at a common measurement T (25 °C). SDS-PAGE gels were used to determine abundance of the CO 2 -fixing enzyme, Rubisco. Leaf chlorophyll, nitrogen (N) and mass per unit leaf area (LMA) were also determined. For all species and T growth , A n at current atmospheric CO 2 partial pressure was Rubisco-limited. Across all species, LMA decreased with increasing T growth . Similarly, area-based rates of V cmax at a measurement T of 25 °C (V cmax 25 ) linearly declined with increasing T growth , linked to a concomitant decline in total leaf protein per unit leaf area and Rubisco as a percentage of leaf N. The decline in Rubisco constrained V cmax and A n for leaves developed at higher T growth and resulted in poor predictions of photosynthesis by currently widely used models that do not account for T growth -mediated changes in Rubisco abundance that underpin the thermal acclimation response of photosynthesis in wet-forest tree species. A new model is proposed that accounts for the effect of T growth -mediated declines in V cmax 25 on A n , complementing current

The Oldest, Slowest Rainforests in the World? Massive Biomass and Slow Carbon Dynamics of Fitzroya cupressoides Temperate Forests in Southern Chile.

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Rocio Urrutia-Jalabert

Full Text Available Old-growth temperate rainforests are, per unit area, the largest and most long-lived stores of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere, but their carbon dynamics have rarely been described. The endangered Fitzroya cupressoides forests of southern South America include stands that are probably the oldest dense forest stands in the world, with long-lived trees and high standing biomass. We assess and compare aboveground biomass, and provide the first estimates of net primary productivity (NPP, carbon allocation and mean wood residence time in medium-age stands in the Alerce Costero National Park (AC in the Coastal Range and in old-growth forests in the Alerce Andino National Park (AA in the Andean Cordillera. Aboveground live biomass was 113-114 Mg C ha(-1 and 448-517 Mg C ha(-1 in AC and AA, respectively. Aboveground productivity was 3.35-3.36 Mg C ha(-1 year(-1 in AC and 2.22-2.54 Mg C ha(-1 year(-1 in AA, values generally lower than others reported for temperate wet forests worldwide, mainly due to the low woody growth of Fitzroya. NPP was 4.21-4.24 and 3.78-4.10 Mg C ha(-1 year(-1 in AC and AA, respectively. Estimated mean wood residence time was a minimum of 539-640 years for the whole forest in the Andes and 1368-1393 years for only Fitzroya in this site. Our biomass estimates for the Andes place these ecosystems among the most massive forests in the world. Differences in biomass production between sites seem mostly apparent as differences in allocation rather than productivity. Residence time estimates for Fitzroya are the highest reported for any species and carbon dynamics in these forests are the slowest reported for wet forests worldwide. Although primary productivity is low in Fitzroya forests, they probably act as ongoing biomass carbon sinks on long-term timescales due to their low mortality rates and exceptionally long residence times that allow biomass to be accumulated for millennia.

The Oldest, Slowest Rainforests in the World? Massive Biomass and Slow Carbon Dynamics of Fitzroya cupressoides Temperate Forests in Southern Chile.

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Urrutia-Jalabert, Rocio; Malhi, Yadvinder; Lara, Antonio

2015-01-01

Old-growth temperate rainforests are, per unit area, the largest and most long-lived stores of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere, but their carbon dynamics have rarely been described. The endangered Fitzroya cupressoides forests of southern South America include stands that are probably the oldest dense forest stands in the world, with long-lived trees and high standing biomass. We assess and compare aboveground biomass, and provide the first estimates of net primary productivity (NPP), carbon allocation and mean wood residence time in medium-age stands in the Alerce Costero National Park (AC) in the Coastal Range and in old-growth forests in the Alerce Andino National Park (AA) in the Andean Cordillera. Aboveground live biomass was 113-114 Mg C ha(-1) and 448-517 Mg C ha(-1) in AC and AA, respectively. Aboveground productivity was 3.35-3.36 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1) in AC and 2.22-2.54 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1) in AA, values generally lower than others reported for temperate wet forests worldwide, mainly due to the low woody growth of Fitzroya. NPP was 4.21-4.24 and 3.78-4.10 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1) in AC and AA, respectively. Estimated mean wood residence time was a minimum of 539-640 years for the whole forest in the Andes and 1368-1393 years for only Fitzroya in this site. Our biomass estimates for the Andes place these ecosystems among the most massive forests in the world. Differences in biomass production between sites seem mostly apparent as differences in allocation rather than productivity. Residence time estimates for Fitzroya are the highest reported for any species and carbon dynamics in these forests are the slowest reported for wet forests worldwide. Although primary productivity is low in Fitzroya forests, they probably act as ongoing biomass carbon sinks on long-term timescales due to their low mortality rates and exceptionally long residence times that allow biomass to be accumulated for millennia.

Temperate forest impacts on maritime snowpacks across an elevation gradient: An assessment of the snow surface energy balance and airborne lidar derived forest structure

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Roth, T. R.; Nolin, A. W.

2016-12-01

Temperate forests modify snow evolution patterns both spatially and temporally relative to open areas. Dense, warm forests both impede snow accumulation through increased canopy snow interception and increase sub-canopy longwave energy inputs onto the snow surface. These process modifications vary in magnitude and duration depending on climatic, topographic and forest characteristics. Here we present results from a four year study of paired forested and open sites at three elevations, Low - 1150 m, Mid - 1325 m and High - 1465 m. Snowpacks are deeper and last up to 3-4 weeks longer at the Low and Mid elevation Open sites relative to the adjacent Forest sites. Conversely, at the High Forest site, snow is retained 2-4 weeks longer than the Open site. This change in snowpack depth and persistence is attributed to deposition patterns at higher elevations and forest structure differences that alter the canopy interception efficiency and the sub-canopy energy balance. Canopy interception efficiency (CIE) in the Low and Mid Forest sites, over the duration of the study were 79% and 76% of the total event snowfall, whereas CIE was 31% at the High Forest site. Longwave radiation in forested environments is the primary energy component across each elevation band due to the warm winter environment and forest presence, accounting for 82%, 88%, and 59% of the energy balance at the Low, Mid, and High Forest sites, respectively. High wind speeds in the High elevation Open site significantly increases the turbulent energy and creates preferential snowfall deposition in the nearby Forest site. These results show the importance of understanding the effects of forest cover on sub-canopy snowpack evolution and highlight the need for improved forest cover model representation to accurately predict water resources in maritime forests.

Bat Response to Differing Fire Severity in Mixed-Conifer Forest California, USA

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Heady, Paul A.; Hayes, John P.; Frick, Winifred F.

2013-01-01

Wildlife response to natural disturbances such as fire is of conservation concern to managers, policy makers, and scientists, yet information is scant beyond a few well-studied groups (e.g., birds, small mammals). We examined the effects of wildfire severity on bats, a taxon of high conservation concern, at both the stand (Bat activity in burned areas was either equivalent or higher than in unburned stands for all six phonic groups measured, with four groups having significantly greater activity in at least one burn severity level. Evidence of differentiation between fire severities was observed with some Myotis species having higher levels of activity in stands of high-severity burn. Larger-bodied bats, typically adapted to more open habitat, showed no response to fire. We found differential use of riparian and upland habitats among the phonic groups, yet no interaction of habitat type by fire severity was found. Extent of high-severity fire damage in the landscape had no effect on activity of bats in unburned sites suggesting no landscape effect of fire on foraging site selection and emphasizing stand-scale conditions driving bat activity. Results from this fire in mixed-conifer forests of California suggest that bats are resilient to landscape-scale fire and that some species are preferentially selecting burned areas for foraging, perhaps facilitated by reduced clutter and increased post-fire availability of prey and roosts. PMID:23483936

[Effect of forest management on the herpetofauna of a temperate forest of western Oaxaca, Mexico].

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Aldape-López, César Tonatiuh; Santos-Moreno, Antonio

2016-09-01

The development of silvicultural techniques has as main objective to maximize the production of timber, whereas at the same time minimize the impact generated during and after forest intervention in the local diversity. However, these activities change local climate, and this, in turn, alter the composition of natural communities. The effect of these changes may be greater in those taxonomic groups with high sensitivity to habitat disturbance, such as amphibians and reptiles, which are the unique terrestrial ectothermic vertebrates. The present study aims to know the differences in diversity of amphibians and reptiles in a temperate forest under two silvicultural treatments, one of low and the other of high intensity, as well as from one, five and ten years of regeneration since the last logging event, Sierra Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico. Records of 21 species of herpetofauna (six amphibians and 15 reptiles) were obtained. The total species richness was similar in both treatments; however, the composition varied between sites with different recovery times. Higher abundance of amphibian was presented on sites with the low-intensity treatment, while reptiles were more abundant at sites with intensive treatment. Compared to a mature forest without management, sites with intensive treatment have more rare species, although the values of true diversity of amphibians were similar between treatments with different intensities, while for reptiles sites under treatment showed less diversity that unmanaged site: 33 % for intensive treatment and 28 % at sites with low intensity with respect to one control site. Complementary Analysis showed a difference of 86 % between the compositions of species in sites with intensive treatment. The treatment intensity was associated with an increase in the number of species, but the way they respond to changes in habitat depends largely on the population characteristics of each species and its ability to adapt to new conditions.

Identifying the tundra-forest border in the stomate record: an analysis of lake surface samples from the Yellowknife area, Northwest Territories, Canada

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Hansen, B.C.S. [Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis, MN (United States). Limnological Research Center; MacDonald, G.M. [California Univ., Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Botanical Sciences; Moser, K.A. [McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON (Canada)

1996-05-01

The relationship between conifer stomata and existing vegetation across tundra, forest-tundra, and closed zones in the Yellowknife area of the Northwest Territories was studied. Conifer stomata were identified in surface samples from lakes in the treeline zone, but were absent in samples from tundra lakes. Stomate analysis was recorded and the results were presented in a concentration diagram plotting stomate concentrations according to vegetation zone. Conifer stomate analysis was not able to resolve differences between forest-tundra and closed forest. Nevertheless, it was suggested that stomate analysis will become an important technique supplementing pollen analysis for reconstructing past tree-line changes since the presence of stomata in lakes make it possible to separate the tundra from forest-tundra and closed forest. The limited dispersal of conifer stomata permitted a better resolution of tree-line boundaries than did pollen. 13 refs., 3 figs.

Does moder development along a pure beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) chronosequence result from changes in litter production or in decomposition rates?

OpenAIRE

Trap , Jean; Bureau , Fabrice; Brêthes , Alain; Jabiol , Bernard; Ponge , Jean-François; Chauvat , Matthieu; Decaëns , Thibaud; Aubert , Michaël

2011-01-01

International audience; The development of temperate deciduous and conifers forests stands usually results in accumulation of forest floor organic matter and a shift from mull to moder humus forms. It has been suggested that an increase in nutrient uptake by trees during their rapid growth phase leads to topsoil acidification, decrease in earthworm density and thereby a decrease in litter turnover. The focus of this paper was to examine if the mull-moder shift with forest ageing results from ...

Habitat selection of endemic birds in temperate forests in a biodiversity "Hotspot"

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Roberto A. Moreno-García

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Aim of study: Our objective was to find habitat associations at a microhabitat level for two endemic birds in a Chilean temperate forest (biodiversity “hotspots”, in order to integrate biodiversity into forest planning.Area of study: Nahuelbuta Range, Chile.Material and methods: The two birds studied were Scelorchilus rubecula (Chucao Tapaculo and Scytalopus magellanicus (Magellanic Tapaculo, both belonging to the Rhinocryptidae family. Presence or absence of the two species was sampled in 57 census spots. Habitat was categorized according to presence/absence results. We assessed the influence of abiotic variables (altitude, exposure, slope and vegetation structure (percentage of understory cover, number of strata using a statistical cluster analysis.Main results: The two bird species selected the habitat. Most frequent presence was detected at a range of 600-1100 masl, but Magellanic Tapaculo was associated to more protected sites in terms of vegetation structure (50-75% for understory cover and 2-3 strata. Slope was the most relevant abiotic variable in habitat selection due to its linkage to vegetation traits in this area.Research highlights: Our results can help managers to integrate biodiversity (endemic fauna species into forest planning by preserving certain traits of the vegetation as part of a habitat (at a microhabitat level selected by the fauna species. That planning should be implemented with both an adequate wood harvesting cuts system and specific silvicultural treatments.Key words: Chile; Nahuelbuta; rhinocryptidae; cluster analysis; rorest planning; vegetation structure.

Evidence of a reduction in cloud condensation nuclei activity of water-soluble aerosols caused by biogenic emissions in a cool-temperate forest.

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Müller, Astrid; Miyazaki, Yuzo; Tachibana, Eri; Kawamura, Kimitaka; Hiura, Tsutom

2017-08-16

Biogenic organic aerosols can affect cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) properties, and subsequently impact climate change. Large uncertainties exist in how the difference in the types of terrestrial biogenic sources and the abundance of organics relative to sulfate affect CCN properties. For the submicron water-soluble aerosols collected for two years in a cool-temperate forest in northern Japan, we show that the hygroscopicity parameter κ CCN (0.44 ± 0.07) exhibited a distinct seasonal trend with a minimum in autumn (κ CCN  = 0.32-0.37); these κ CCN values were generally larger than that of ambient particles, including water-insoluble fractions. The temporal variability of κ CCN was controlled by the water-soluble organic matter (WSOM)-to-sulfate ratio (R 2  > 0.60), where the significant reduction of κ CCN in autumn was linked to the increased WSOM/sulfate ratio. Positive matrix factorization analysis indicates that α-pinene-derived secondary organic aerosol (SOA) substantially contributed to the WSOM mass (~75%) in autumn, the majority of which was attributable to emissions from litter/soil microbial activity near the forest floor. These findings suggest that WSOM, most likely α-pinene SOA, originated from the forest floor can significantly suppress the aerosol CCN activity in cool-temperate forests, which have implications for predicting climate effects by changes in biogenic emissions in future.

Reconstructing European forest management from 1600 to 2010

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McGrath, M. J.; Luyssaert, S.; Meyfroidt, P.; Kaplan, J. O.; Bürgi, M.; Chen, Y.; Erb, K.; Gimmi, U.; McInerney, D.; Naudts, K.; Otto, J.; Pasztor, F.; Ryder, J.; Schelhaas, M.-J.; Valade, A.

2015-07-01

Because of the slow accumulation and long residence time of carbon in biomass and soils, the present state and future dynamics of temperate forests are influenced by management that took place centuries to millennia ago. Humans have exploited the forests of Europe for fuel, construction materials and fodder for the entire Holocene. In recent centuries, economic and demographic trends led to increases in both forest area and management intensity across much of Europe. In order to quantify the effects of these changes in forests and to provide a baseline for studies on future land-cover-climate interactions and biogeochemical cycling, we created a temporally and spatially resolved reconstruction of European forest management from 1600 to 2010. For the period 1600-1828, we took a supply-demand approach, in which supply was estimated on the basis of historical annual wood increment and land cover reconstructions. We made demand estimates by multiplying population with consumption factors for construction materials, household fuelwood, industrial food processing and brewing, metallurgy, and salt production. For the period 1829-2010, we used a supply-driven backcasting method based on national and regional statistics of forest age structure from the second half of the 20th century. Our reconstruction reproduces the most important changes in forest management between 1600 and 2010: (1) an increase of 593 000 km2 in conifers at the expense of deciduous forest (decreasing by 538 000 km2); (2) a 612 000 km2 decrease in unmanaged forest; (3) a 152 000 km2 decrease in coppice management; (4) a 818 000 km2 increase in high-stand management; and (5) the rise and fall of litter raking, which at its peak in 1853 resulted in the removal of 50 Tg dry litter per year.

Ecosystem-level water-use efficiency inferred from eddy covariance data: definitions, patterns and spatial up-scaling

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Reichstein, M.; Beer, C.; Kuglitsch, F.; Papale, D.; Soussana, J. A.; Janssens, I.; Ciais, P.; Baldocchi, D.; Buchmann, N.; Verbeeck, H.; Ceulemans, R.; Moors, E.; Köstner, B.; Schulze, D.; Knohl, A.; Law, B. E.

2007-12-01

In this presentation we discuss ways to infer and to interpret water-use efficiency at ecosystem level (WUEe) from eddy covariance flux data and possibilities for scaling these patterns to regional and continental scale. In particular we convey the following: WUEe may be computed as a ratio of integrated fluxes or as the slope of carbon versus water fluxes offering different chances for interpretation. If computed from net ecosystem exchange and evapotranspiration on has to take of counfounding effects of respiration and soil evaporation. WUEe time-series at diurnal and seasonal scale is a valuable ecosystem physiological diagnostic for example about ecosystem-level responses to drought. Most often WUEe decreases during dry periods. The mean growing season ecosystem water-use efficiency of gross carbon uptake (WUEGPP) is highest in temperate broad-leaved deciduous forests, followed by temperate mixed forests, temperate evergreen conifers, Mediterranean broad-leaved deciduous forests, Mediterranean broad-leaved evergreen forests and Mediterranean evergreen conifers and boreal, grassland and tundra ecosystems. Water-use efficiency exhibits a temporally quite conservative relation with atmospheric water vapor pressure deficit (VPD) that is modified between sites by leaf area index (LAI) and soil quality, such that WUEe increases with LAI and soil water holding capacity which is related to texture. This property and tight coupling between carbon and water cycles is used to estimate catchment-scale water-use efficiency and primary productivity by integration of space-borne earth observation and river discharge data.

Forest management practices and silviculture. Chapter 12.

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Donald A. Perala; Elon S. Verry

2011-01-01

This chapter is an overview of forest management and silviculture practices, and lessons learned, on the Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF). The forests there are a mosaic of natural regeneration and conifer plantations. Verry (1969) described forest-plant communities in detail for the study watersheds (Sl through S6) on the MEF. The remaining area is described in...

Evidence of climatic effects on soil, vegetation and landform in temperate forests of south-eastern Australia

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Inbar, Assaf; Nyman, Petter; Lane, Patrick; Sheridan, Gary

2016-04-01

Water and radiation are unevenly distributed across the landscape due to variations in topography, which in turn causes water availability differences on the terrain according to elevation and aspect orientation. These differences in water availability can cause differential distribution of vegetation types and indirectly influence the development of soil and even landform, as expressed in hillslope asymmetry. While most of the research on the effects of climate on the vegetation and soil development and landscape evolution has been concentrated in drier semi-arid areas, temperate forested areas has been poorly studied, particularly in South Eastern Australia. This study uses soil profile descriptions and data on soil depth and landform across climatic gradients to explore the degrees to which coevolution of vegetation, soils and landform are controlled by radiative forcing and rainfall. Soil depth measurements were made on polar and equatorial facing hillslopes located at 3 sites along a climatic gradient (mean annual rainfall between 700 - 1800 mm yr-1) in the Victorian Highlands, where forest types range from dry open woodland to closed temperate rainforest. Profile descriptions were taken from soil pits dag on planar hillslopes (50 m from ridge), and samples were taken from each horizon for physical and chemical properties analysis. Hillslope asymmetry in different precipitation regimes of the study region was quantified from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). Significant vegetation differences between aspects were noted in lower and intermediate rainfall sites, where polar facing aspects expressed higher overall biomass than the drier equatorial slope. Within the study domain, soil depth was strongly correlated with forest type and above ground biomass. Soil depths and chemical properties varied between topographic aspects and along the precipitation gradient, where wetter conditions facilitate deeper and more weathered soils. Furthermore, soil depths showed

Radiocarbon and stable carbon isotope compositions of chemically fractionated soil organic matter in a temperate-zone forest

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koarashi, Jun; Iida, Takao; Asano, Tomohiro

2005-01-01

To better understand the role of soil organic matter in terrestrial carbon cycle, carbon isotope compositions in soil samples from a temperate-zone forest were measured for bulk, acid-insoluble and base-insoluble organic matter fractions separated by a chemical fractionation method. The measurements also made it possible to estimate indirectly radiocarbon ( 14 C) abundances of acid- and base-soluble organic matter fractions, through a mass balance of carbon among the fractions. The depth profiles of 14 C abundances showed that (1) bomb-derived 14 C has penetrated the first 16 cm mineral soil at least; (2) Δ 14 C values of acid-soluble organic matter fraction are considerably higher than those of other fractions; and (3) a significant amount of the bomb-derived 14 C has been preserved as the base-soluble organic matter around litter-mineral soil boundary. In contrast, no or little bomb-derived 14 C was observed for the base-insoluble fraction in all sampling depths, indicating that this recalcitrant fraction, accounting for approximately 15% of total carbon in this temperate-zone forest soil, plays a role as a long-term sink in the carbon cycle. These results suggest that bulk soil organic matter cannot provide a representative indicator as a source or a sink of carbon in soil, particularly on annual to decadal timescales

Soil fertility affects elemental distribution in needles of the conifer Araucaria angustifolia: A microanalytical study

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Araucaria angustifolia is a conifer species found in South American subtropical forests that comprises less than 3% of the native vegetation. Thus, little is known concerning the accumulation of nutritional elements in its needles. In this study, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energ...

Nematode community shifts in response to experimental warming and canopy conditions are associated with plant community changes in the temperate-boreal forest ecotone.

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Thakur, Madhav Prakash; Reich, Peter B; Fisichelli, Nicholas A; Stefanski, Artur; Cesarz, Simone; Dobies, Tomasz; Rich, Roy L; Hobbie, Sarah E; Eisenhauer, Nico

2014-06-01

Global climate warming is one of the key forces driving plant community shifts, such as range shifts of temperate species into boreal forests. As plant community shifts are slow to observe, ecotones, boundaries between two ecosystems, are target areas for providing early evidence of ecological responses to warming. The role of soil fauna is poorly explored in ecotones, although their positive and negative effects on plant species can influence plant community structure. We studied nematode communities in response to experimental warming (ambient, +1.7, +3.4 °C) in soils of closed and open canopy forest in the temperate-boreal ecotone of Minnesota, USA and calculated various established nematode indices. We estimated species-specific coverage of understory herbaceous and shrub plant species from the same experimental plots and tested if changes in the nematode community are associated with plant cover and composition. Individual nematode trophic groups did not differ among warming treatments, but the ratio between microbial-feeding and plant-feeding nematodes increased significantly and consistently with warming in both closed and open canopy areas and at both experimental field sites. The increase in this ratio was positively correlated with total cover of understory plant species, perhaps due to increased predation pressure on soil microorganisms causing higher nutrient availability for plants. Multivariate analyses revealed that temperature treatment, canopy conditions and nematode density consistently shaped understory plant communities across experimental sites. Our findings suggest that warming-induced changes in nematode community structure are associated with shifts in plant community composition and productivity in the temperate-boreal forest ecotones.

Tree fern trunks facilitate seedling regeneration in a productive lowland temperate rain forest.

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Gaxiola, Aurora; Burrows, Larry E; Coomes, David A

2008-03-01

Seedling regeneration on forest floors is often impaired by competition with established plants. In some lowland temperate rain forests, tree fern trunks provide safe sites on which tree species establish, and grow large enough to take root in the ground and persist. Here we explore the competitive and facilitative effects of two tree fern species, Cyathea smithii and Dicksonia squarrosa, on the epiphytic regeneration of tree species in nutrient-rich alluvial forests in New Zealand. The difficulties that seedlings have in establishing on vertical tree fern trunks were indicated by the following observations. First, seedling abundance was greatest on the oldest sections of tree fern trunks, near the base, suggesting that trunks gradually recruited more and more seedlings over time, but many sections of trunk were devoid of seedlings, indicating the difficulty of establishment on a vertical surface. Second, most seedlings were from small-seeded species, presumably because smaller seeds can easily lodge on tree fern trunks. Deer browsing damage was observed on 73% of epiphytic seedlings growing within 2 m of the ground, whereas few seedlings above that height were browsed. This suggests that tree ferns provide refugia from introduced deer, and may slow the decline in population size of deer-preferred species. We reasoned that tree ferns would compete with epiphytic seedlings for light, because below the tree fern canopy photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was about 1% of above-canopy PAR. Frond removal almost tripled %PAR on the forest floor, leading to a significant increase in the height growth rate (HGR) of seedlings planted on the forest floor, but having no effects on the HGRs of epiphytic seedlings. Our study shows evidence of direct facilitative interactions by tree ferns during seedling establishment in plant communities associated with nutrient-rich soils.

Shelterwood cutting in a young-growth, mixed-conifer stand in north central California

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Philip M. McDonald

1976-01-01

A two-stage shelterwood cutting, at 12 trees per acre, with site preparation, enhanced seedfall, regeneration, and residual growth at the Challenge Experimental Forest, north central California. Shelterwood trees produced 9.2 times more seed than trees in the control. Ponderosa pine regeneration numbered about 3700 seedlings per acre (9139 per ha) and tolerant conifers...

Sixty years of research, 60 years of data: long-term US Forest Service data management on the Penobscot Experimental Forest

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Matthew B. Russell; Spencer R. Meyer; John C. Brissette; Laura Kenefic

2014-01-01

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service silvicultural experiment on the Penobscot Experimental Forest (PEF) in Maine represents 60 years of research in the northern conifer and mixedwood forests of the Acadian Forest Region. The objective of this data management effort, which began in 2008, was to compile, organize, and archive research data collected in the...

Late Holocene geomorphic record of fire in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests, Kendrick Mountain, northern Arizona, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, S.E.; Hull, Sieg C.; Anderson, D.E.; Kaufman, D.S.; Pearthree, P.A.

2011-01-01

Long-term fire history reconstructions enhance our understanding of fire behaviour and associated geomorphic hazards in forested ecosystems. We used 14C ages on charcoal from fire-induced debris-flow deposits to date prehistoric fires on Kendrick Mountain, northern Arizona, USA. Fire-related debris-flow sedimentation dominates Holocene fan deposition in the study area. Radiocarbon ages indicate that stand-replacing fire has been an important phenomenon in late Holocene ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and ponderosa pine-mixed conifer forests on steep slopes. Fires have occurred on centennial scales during this period, although temporal hiatuses between recorded fires vary widely and appear to have decreased during the past 2000 years. Steep slopes and complex terrain may be responsible for localised crown fire behaviour through preheating by vertical fuel arrangement and accumulation of excessive fuels. Holocene wildfire-induced debris flow events occurred without a clear relationship to regional climatic shifts (decadal to millennial), suggesting that interannual moisture variability may determine fire year. Fire-debris flow sequences are recorded when (1) sufficient time has passed (centuries) to accumulate fuels; and (2) stored sediment is available to support debris flows. The frequency of reconstructed debris flows should be considered a minimum for severe events in the study area, as fuel production may outpace sediment storage. ?? IAWF 2011.

Height development of shade-tolerant conifer saplings in multiaged Acadian forest stands

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Andrew R. Moores; Robert S. Seymour; Laura S. Kenefic

2007-01-01

Understory growth dynamics of northern conifer species were studied in four stands managed under multiaged silvicultural systems in eastern Maine. Height growth of Picea rubens Sarg., Abies balsamea (L.) Mill., and Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr. saplings between 0.5 and 6.0 m in height was related to the proportion...

Spatial characteristics of tree diameter distributions in a temperate old-growth forest.

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Zhang, Chunyu; Wei, Yanbo; Zhao, Xiuhai; von Gadow, Klaus

2013-01-01

This contribution identifies spatial characteristics of tree diameter in a temperate forest in north-eastern China, based on a fully censused observational study area covering 500×600 m. Mark correlation analysis with three null hypothesis models was used to determine departure from expectations at different neighborhood distances. Tree positions are clumped at all investigated scales in all 37 studied species, while the diameters of most species are spatially negatively correlated, especially at short distances. Interestingly, all three cases showing short-distance attraction of dbh marks are associated with light-demanding shrub species. The short-distance attraction of dbh marks indicates spatially aggregated cohorts of stems of similar size. The percentage of species showing significant dbh suppression peaked at a 4 m distance under the heterogeneous Poisson model. At scales exceeding the peak distance, the percentage of species showing significant dbh suppression decreases sharply with increasing distances. The evidence from this large observational study shows that some of the variation of the spatial characteristics of tree diameters is related variations of topography and soil chemistry. However, an obvious interpretation of this result is still lacking. Thus, removing competitors surrounding the target trees is an effective way to avoid neighboring competition effects reducing the growth of valuable target trees in forest management practice.

Tree species distribution in temperate forests is more influenced by soil than by climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Walthert, Lorenz; Meier, Eliane Seraina

2017-11-01

Knowledge of the ecological requirements determining tree species distributions is a precondition for sustainable forest management. At present, the abiotic requirements and the relative importance of the different abiotic factors are still unclear for many temperate tree species. We therefore investigated the relative importance of climatic and edaphic factors for the abundance of 12 temperate tree species along environmental gradients. Our investigations are based on data from 1,075 forest stands across Switzerland including the cold-induced tree line of all studied species and the drought-induced range boundaries of several species. Four climatic and four edaphic predictors represented the important growth factors temperature, water supply, nutrient availability, and soil aeration. The climatic predictors were derived from the meteorological network of MeteoSwiss, and the edaphic predictors were available from soil profiles. Species cover abundances were recorded in field surveys. The explanatory power of the predictors was assessed by variation partitioning analyses with generalized linear models. For six of the 12 species, edaphic predictors were more important than climatic predictors in shaping species distribution. Over all species, abundances depended mainly on nutrient availability, followed by temperature, water supply, and soil aeration. The often co-occurring species responded similar to these growth factors. Drought turned out to be a determinant of the lower range boundary for some species. We conclude that over all 12 studied tree species, soil properties were more important than climate variables in shaping tree species distribution. The inclusion of appropriate soil variables in species distribution models allowed to better explain species' ecological niches. Moreover, our study revealed that the ecological requirements of tree species assessed in local field studies and in experiments are valid at larger scales across Switzerland.

DRY DEPOSITION OF POLLUTANTS TO FORESTS

Science.gov (United States)

We report on the results of an extensive field campaign to measure dry deposition of ozone and sulfur dioxide to a sample of forest types in the United States. Measurements were made for full growing seasons over a deciduous forest in Pennsylvania and a mixed deciduous-conifer...

Solid-wood production from temperate eucalypt plantations: a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Since 1988, there has been a major focus in Tasmania on research for the management of temperate eucalypt plantations for solid wood. This coincided with the formal transfer of large areas of native forest that had previously been part of the production forest estate into reserves, a decision that triggered the establishment ...

Regeneration in mixed conifer shelterwood cuttings in the Cascade Range of eastern Oregon.

Science.gov (United States)

K.W. Seidel

1979-01-01

A survey of shelterwood cuttings in mixed conifer forests in the eastern Oregon Cascade Range showed that, on the average, shelterwood units were well stocked with a mixture of advance, natural subsequent, and planted reproduction of a number of species. Because of slow invasion by understory vegetation, frequent heavy seed crops, and adequate density of the overstory...

Vulnerability and Resilience of Temperate Forest Landscapes to Broad-Scale Deforestation in Response to Changing Fire Regimes and Altered Post-Fire Vegetation Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Tepley, A. J.; Veblen, T. T.; Perry, G.; Anderson-Teixeira, K. J.

2015-12-01

In the face of on-going climatic warming and land-use change, there is growing concern that temperate forest landscapes could be near a tipping point where relatively small changes to the fire regime or altered post-fire vegetation dynamics could lead to extensive conversion to shrublands or savannas. To evaluate vulnerability and resilience to such conversion, we develop a simple model based on three factors we hypothesize to be key in predicting temperate forest responses to changing fire regimes: (1) the hazard rate (i.e., the probability of burning in the next year given the time since the last fire) in closed-canopy forests, (2) the hazard rate for recently-burned, open-canopy vegetation, and (3) the time to redevelop canopy closure following fire. We generate a response surface representing the proportions of the landscape potentially supporting closed-canopy forest and non-forest vegetation under nearly all combinations of these three factors. We then place real landscapes on this response surface to assess the type and magnitude of changes to the fire regime that would drive extensive forest loss. We show that the deforestation of much of New Zealand that followed initial human colonization and the introduction of a new ignition source ca. 750 years ago was essentially inevitable due to the slow rate of forest recovery after fire and the high flammability of post-fire vegetation. In North America's Pacific Northwest, by contrast, a predominantly forested landscape persisted despite two periods of widespread burning in the recent past due in large part to faster post-fire forest recovery and less pronounced differences in flammability between forests and the post-fire vegetation. We also assess the factors that could drive extensive deforestation in other regions to identify where management could reduce this potential and to guide field and modeling work to better understand the responses and ecological feedbacks to changing fire regimes.

Vegetation recovery in slash-pile scars following conifer removal in a grassland-restoration experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Charles B. Halpern; Joseph A. Antos; Liam M. Beckman

2014-01-01

A principal challenge to restoring tree-invaded grasslands is the removal of woody biomass. Burning of slash piles to reduce woody residues from forest restoration practices generates intense, prolonged heating, with adverse effects on soils and vegetation. In this study, we examined vegetation responses to pile burning following tree removal from conifer-invaded...

Re-evaluation of forest biomass carbon stocks and lessons from the world's most carbon-dense forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Keith, Heather; Mackey, Brendan G; Lindenmayer, David B

2009-07-14

From analysis of published global site biomass data (n = 136) from primary forests, we discovered (i) the world's highest known total biomass carbon density (living plus dead) of 1,867 tonnes carbon per ha (average value from 13 sites) occurs in Australian temperate moist Eucalyptus regnans forests, and (ii) average values of the global site biomass data were higher for sampled temperate moist forests (n = 44) than for sampled tropical (n = 36) and boreal (n = 52) forests (n is number of sites per forest biome). Spatially averaged Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change biome default values are lower than our average site values for temperate moist forests, because the temperate biome contains a diversity of forest ecosystem types that support a range of mature carbon stocks or have a long land-use history with reduced carbon stocks. We describe a framework for identifying forests important for carbon storage based on the factors that account for high biomass carbon densities, including (i) relatively cool temperatures and moderately high precipitation producing rates of fast growth but slow decomposition, and (ii) older forests that are often multiaged and multilayered and have experienced minimal human disturbance. Our results are relevant to negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change regarding forest conservation, management, and restoration. Conserving forests with large stocks of biomass from deforestation and degradation avoids significant carbon emissions to the atmosphere, irrespective of the source country, and should be among allowable mitigation activities. Similarly, management that allows restoration of a forest's carbon sequestration potential also should be recognized.

Re-evaluation of forest biomass carbon stocks and lessons from the world's most carbon-dense forests

Science.gov (United States)

Keith, Heather; Mackey, Brendan G.; Lindenmayer, David B.

2009-01-01

From analysis of published global site biomass data (n = 136) from primary forests, we discovered (i) the world's highest known total biomass carbon density (living plus dead) of 1,867 tonnes carbon per ha (average value from 13 sites) occurs in Australian temperate moist Eucalyptus regnans forests, and (ii) average values of the global site biomass data were higher for sampled temperate moist forests (n = 44) than for sampled tropical (n = 36) and boreal (n = 52) forests (n is number of sites per forest biome). Spatially averaged Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change biome default values are lower than our average site values for temperate moist forests, because the temperate biome contains a diversity of forest ecosystem types that support a range of mature carbon stocks or have a long land-use history with reduced carbon stocks. We describe a framework for identifying forests important for carbon storage based on the factors that account for high biomass carbon densities, including (i) relatively cool temperatures and moderately high precipitation producing rates of fast growth but slow decomposition, and (ii) older forests that are often multiaged and multilayered and have experienced minimal human disturbance. Our results are relevant to negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change regarding forest conservation, management, and restoration. Conserving forests with large stocks of biomass from deforestation and degradation avoids significant carbon emissions to the atmosphere, irrespective of the source country, and should be among allowable mitigation activities. Similarly, management that allows restoration of a forest's carbon sequestration potential also should be recognized. PMID:19553199

Snowmelt timing, phenology, and growing season length in conifer forests of Crater Lake National Park, USA

Science.gov (United States)

O'Leary, Donal S.; Kellermann, Jherime L.; Wayne, Chris

2018-02-01

Anthropogenic climate change is having significant impacts on montane and high-elevation areas globally. Warmer winter temperatures are driving reduced snowpack in the western USA with broad potential impacts on ecosystem dynamics of particular concern for protected areas. Vegetation phenology is a sensitive indicator of ecological response to climate change and is associated with snowmelt timing. Human monitoring of climate impacts can be resource prohibitive for land management agencies, whereas remotely sensed phenology observations are freely available at a range of spatiotemporal scales. Little work has been done in regions dominated by evergreen conifer cover, which represents many mountain regions at temperate latitudes. We used moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data to assess the influence of snowmelt timing and elevation on five phenology metrics (green up, maximum greenness, senescence, dormancy, and growing season length) within Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, USA from 2001 to 2012. Earlier annual mean snowmelt timing was significantly correlated with earlier onset of green up at the landscape scale. Snowmelt timing and elevation have significant explanatory power for phenology, though with high variability. Elevation has a moderate control on early season indicators such as snowmelt timing and green up and less on late-season variables such as senescence and growing season length. PCA results show that early season indicators and late season indicators vary independently. These results have important implications for ecosystem dynamics, management, and conservation, particularly of species such as whitebark pine ( Pinus albicaulis) in alpine and subalpine areas.

Incorporating microbial dormancy dynamics into soil decomposition models to improve quantification of soil carbon dynamics of northern temperate forests

Science.gov (United States)

He, Yujie; Yang, Jinyan; Zhuang, Qianlai; Harden, Jennifer W.; McGuire, A. David; Liu, Yaling; Wang, Gangsheng; Gu, Lianhong

2015-01-01

Soil carbon dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. Microbial-based decomposition models have seen much growth recently for quantifying this role, yet dormancy as a common strategy used by microorganisms has not usually been represented and tested in these models against field observations. Here we developed an explicit microbial-enzyme decomposition model and examined model performance with and without representation of microbial dormancy at six temperate forest sites of different forest types. We then extrapolated the model to global temperate forest ecosystems to investigate biogeochemical controls on soil heterotrophic respiration and microbial dormancy dynamics at different temporal-spatial scales. The dormancy model consistently produced better match with field-observed heterotrophic soil CO2 efflux (RH) than the no dormancy model. Our regional modeling results further indicated that models with dormancy were able to produce more realistic magnitude of microbial biomass (analysis showed that soil organic carbon content was the dominating factor (correlation coefficient = 0.4–0.6) in the simulated spatial pattern of soil RHwith both models. In contrast to strong temporal and local controls of soil temperature and moisture on microbial dormancy, our modeling results showed that soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N) was a major regulating factor at regional scales (correlation coefficient = −0.43 to −0.58), indicating scale-dependent biogeochemical controls on microbial dynamics. Our findings suggest that incorporating microbial dormancy could improve the realism of microbial-based decomposition models and enhance the integration of soil experiments and mechanistically based modeling.

Climate sensitivity of reproduction in a mast-seeding boreal conifer across its distributional range from lowland to treeline forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Roland, Carl A; Schmidt, Joshua H; Johnstone, Jill F

2014-03-01

Mast-seeding conifers such as Picea glauca exhibit synchronous production of large seed crops over wide areas, suggesting climate factors as possible triggers for episodic high seed production. Rapidly changing climatic conditions may thus alter the tempo and spatial pattern of masting of dominant species with potentially far-reaching ecological consequences. Understanding the future reproductive dynamics of ecosystems including boreal forests, which may be dominated by mast-seeding species, requires identifying the specific cues that drive variation in reproductive output across landscape gradients and among years. Here we used annual data collected at three sites spanning an elevation gradient in interior Alaska, USA between 1986 and 2011 to produce the first quantitative models for climate controls over both seedfall and seed viability in P. glauca, a dominant boreal conifer. We identified positive associations between seedfall and increased summer precipitation and decreased summer warmth in all years except for the year prior to seedfall. Seed viability showed a contrasting response, with positive correlations to summer warmth in all years analyzed except for one, and an especially positive response to warm and wet conditions in the seedfall year. Finally, we found substantial reductions in reproductive potential of P. glauca at high elevation due to significantly reduced seed viability there. Our results indicate that major variation in the reproductive potential of this species may occur in different landscape positions in response to warming, with decreasing reproductive success in areas prone to drought stress contrasted with increasing success in higher elevation areas currently limited by cool summer temperatures.

Breakage or uprooting: How tree death type affects hillslope processes in old-growth temperate forests

Science.gov (United States)

Šamonil, Pavel; Daněk, Pavel; Adam, Dušan; Phillips, Jonathan D.

2017-12-01

Tree breakage and uprooting are two possible scenarios of tree death that have differing effects on hillslope processes. In this study we aimed to (i) reveal the long-term structure of the biomechanical effects of trees (BETs) in relation to their radial growth and tree death types in four old-growth temperate forests in four different elevation settings with an altitudinal gradient of 152-1105 m a.s.l., (ii) quantify affected areas and soil volumes associated with the studied BETs in reserves, and (iii) derive a general model of the role of BETs in hillslope processes in central European temperate forests. We analyzed the individual dynamics of circa 55,000 trees in an area of 161 ha within four old-growth forests over 3-4 decades. Basal tree censuses established in all sites in the 1970s and repeated tree censuses in the 1990s and 2000s provided detailed information about the radial growth of each tree of DBH ≥ 10 cm as well as about types of tree death. We focused on the quantification of: (i) surviving still-living trees, (ii) new recruits, (iii) standing dead trees, (iv) uprooted trees, and (v) broken trees. Frequencies of phenomena were related to affected areas and volumes of soil using individual statistical models. The elevation contrasts were a significant factor in the structure of BETs. Differences between sites increased from frequencies of events through affected areas to volumes of soil associated with BETs. An average 2.7 m3 ha-1 year-1 was associated with all BETs of the living and dying trees in lowlands, while there was an average of 7.8 m3 ha-1 year-1 in the highest mountain site. Differences were caused mainly by the effects of dying trees. BETs associated with dead trees were 7-8 times larger in the mountains. Effects of dying trees and particularly treethrows represented about 70% of all BETs at both mountain sites, while it was 58% at the highland site and only 32% at the lowland site. Our results show a more significant role of BETs in

Two tropical conifers show strong growth and water-use efficiency responses to altered CO2 concentration.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalling, James W; Cernusak, Lucas A; Winter, Klaus; Aranda, Jorge; Garcia, Milton; Virgo, Aurelio; Cheesman, Alexander W; Baresch, Andres; Jaramillo, Carlos; Turner, Benjamin L

2016-11-01

Conifers dominated wet lowland tropical forests 100 million years ago (MYA). With a few exceptions in the Podocarpaceae and Araucariaceae, conifers are now absent from this biome. This shift to angiosperm dominance also coincided with a large decline in atmospheric CO 2 concentration (c a ). We compared growth and physiological performance of two lowland tropical angiosperms and conifers at c a levels representing pre-industrial (280 ppm), ambient (400 ppm) and Eocene (800 ppm) conditions to explore how differences in c a affect the growth and water-use efficiency (WUE) of seedlings from these groups. Two conifers (Araucaria heterophylla and Podocarpus guatemalensis) and two angiosperm trees (Tabebuia rosea and Chrysophyllum cainito) were grown in climate-controlled glasshouses in Panama. Growth, photosynthetic rates, nutrient uptake, and nutrient use and water-use efficiencies were measured. Podocarpus seedlings showed a stronger (66 %) increase in relative growth rate with increasing c a relative to Araucaria (19 %) and the angiosperms (no growth enhancement). The response of Podocarpus is consistent with expectations for species with conservative growth traits and low mesophyll diffusion conductance. While previous work has shown limited stomatal response of conifers to c a , we found that the two conifers had significantly greater increases in leaf and whole-plant WUE than the angiosperms, reflecting increased photosynthetic rate and reduced stomatal conductance. Foliar nitrogen isotope ratios (δ 15 N) and soil nitrate concentrations indicated a preference in Podocarpus for ammonium over nitrate, which may impact nitrogen uptake relative to nitrate assimilators under high c a SIGNIFICANCE: Podocarps colonized tropical forests after angiosperms achieved dominance and are now restricted to infertile soils. Although limited to a single species, our data suggest that higher c a may have been favourable for podocarp colonization of tropical South America 60�

Cold tolerance and photosystem function in a montane red spruce population: physiological relationships with foliar carbohydrates

Science.gov (United States)

P.G. Shaberg; G.R. Strimbeck; G.J. Hawley; D.H. DeHayes; J.B. Shane; P.F. Murakami; T.D. Perkins; J.R. Donnelly; B.L. Wong

2000-01-01

Red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) growing in northern montane forests of eastern North America appears to be distinctive with respect to at least two aspects of winter physiology. First, red spruce attains only a modest level of midwinter cold tolerance compared to other north temperate conifers and appears barely capable of avoiding freezing injury at...

First results from a large, multi-platform study of trace gas and particle emissions from biomass burning

Science.gov (United States)

I. R. Burling; R. J. Yokelson; S. K. Akagi; T. J. Johnson; D. W. Griffith; Shawn Urbanski; J. W. Taylor; J. S. Craven; G. R. McMeeking; J. M. Roberts; C. Warneke; P. R. Veres; J. A. de Gouw; J. B. Gilman; W. C. Kuster; WeiMin Hao; D. Weise; H. Coe; J. Seinfeld

2010-01-01

We report preliminary results from a large, multi-component study focused on North American biomass burning that measured both initial emissions and post-emission processing. Vegetation types burned were from the relatively less-studied temperate region of the US and included chaparral, oak savanna, and mixed conifer forest from the southwestern US, and pine understory...

Four-year measurement of methane flux over a temperate forest with a relaxed eddy accumulation method

Science.gov (United States)

Sakabe, A.; Kosugi, Y.; Ueyama, M.; Hamotani, K.; Takahashi, K.; Iwata, H.; Itoh, M.

2013-12-01

Forests are generally assumed to be an atmospheric methane (CH4) sink (Le Mer and Roger, 2001). However, under Asian monsoon climate, forests are subject to wide spatiotemporal range in soil water status, where forest soils often became water-saturated condition heterogeneously. In such warm and humid conditions, forests may act as a CH4 source and/or sink with considerable spatiotemporal variations. Micrometeorological methods such as eddy covariance (EC) method continuously measure spatially-representative flux at a canopy scale without artificial disturbance. In this study, we measured CH4 fluxes over a temperate forest during four-year period using a CH4 analyzer based on tunable diode laser spectroscopy detection with a relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) method (Hamotani et al., 1996, 2001). We revealed the amplitude and seasonal variations of canopy-scale CH4 fluxes. The REA method is the attractive alternative to the EC method to measure trace-gas flux because it allows the use of analyzers with an optimal integration time. We also conducted continuous chamber measurements on forest floor to reveal spatial variations in soil CH4 fluxes and its controlling processes. The observations were made in an evergreen coniferous forest in central Japan. The site has a warm temperate monsoon climate with wet summer. Some wetlands were located in riparian zones along streams within the flux footprint area. For the REA method, the sonic anemometer (SAT-550, Kaijo) was mounted on top of the 29-m-tall tower and air was sampled from just below the sonic anemometer to reservoirs according to the direction of vertical wind velocity (w). After accumulating air for 30 minutes, the air in the reservoirs was pulled into a CO2/H2O gas analyzer (LI-840, Li-Cor) and a CH4 analyzer (FMA-200, Los Gatos Research). Before entering the analyzers, the sampled air was dried using a gas dryer (PD-50 T-48; Perma Pure Inc.). The REA flux is obtained from the difference in the mean concentrations

Regeneration in mixed conifer and Douglas-fir shelterwood cuttings in the Cascade Range of Washington.

Science.gov (United States)

K.W. Seidel

1983-01-01

A survey of shelterwood cuttings in mixed conifer and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) forests in the Cascade Range in Washington showed that, on the average, shelterwood units were adequately-stocked with a mixture of advance, natural postharvest, and planted reproduction of a number of species. Shelterwood cuttings in the...

Influences of climate on fire regimes in montane forests of north-western Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Carl N. Skinner; Jack H. Burk; Michael G. Barbour; Ernesto Franco-Vizcaino; Scott L. Stephens

2008-01-01

Aim To identify the influence of interannual and interdecadal climate variation on the occurrence and extent of fires in montane conifer forests of north-western Mexico. Location This study was conducted in Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi Grev. & Balf.)- dominated mixed-conifer...

Effects of simulated acid rain on soil respiration and its components in a subtropical mixed conifer and broadleaf forest in southern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Guohua; Hui, Dafeng; Wu, Xiaoying; Wu, Jianping; Liu, Juxiu; Zhou, Guoyi; Zhang, Deqiang

2016-02-01

Soil respiration is a major pathway in the global carbon cycle and its response to environmental changes is an increasing concern. Here we explored how total soil respiration (RT) and its components respond to elevated acid rain in a mixed conifer and broadleaf forest, one of the major forest types in southern China. RT was measured twice a month in the first year under four treatment levels of simulated acid rain (SAR: CK, the local lake water, pH 4.7; T1, water pH 4.0; T2, water pH 3.25; and T3, water pH 2.5), and in the second year, RT, litter-free soil respiration (RS), and litter respiration (RL) were measured simultaneously. The results indicated that the mean rate of RT was 2.84 ± 0.20 μmol CO2 m(-2) s(-1) in the CK plots, and RS and RL contributed 60.7% and 39.3% to RT, respectively. SAR marginally reduced (P = 0.08) RT in the first year, but significantly reduced RT and its two components in the second year (P rain, the decline trend of RT in the forests in southern China appears to be attributable to the decline of soil respiration in the litter layer.

An assessment of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities in Tasmanian temperate high-altitude Eucalyptus delegatensis forest reveals a dominance of the Cortinariaceae.

Science.gov (United States)

Horton, Bryony M; Glen, Morag; Davidson, Neil J; Ratkowsky, David A; Close, Dugald C; Wardlaw, Tim J; Mohammed, Caroline

2017-01-01

Fungal diversity of Australian eucalypt forests remains underexplored. We investigated the ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal community characteristics of declining temperate eucalypt forests in Tasmania. Within this context, we explored the diversity of EcM fungi of two forest types in the northern highlands in the east and west of the island. We hypothesised that EcM fungal community richness and composition would differ between forest type but that the Cortinariaceae would be the dominant family irrespective of forest type. We proposed that EcM richness would be greater in the wet sclerophyll forest than the dry sclerophyll forest type. Using both sporocarps and EcM fungi from root tips amplified by PCR and sequenced in the rDNA ITS region, 175 EcM operational taxonomic units were identified of which 97 belonged to the Cortinariaceae. The Cortinariaceae were the most diverse family, in both the above and below ground communities. Three distinct fungal assemblages occurred within the wet and dry sclerophyll forest types and two geographic regions that were studied, although this pattern did not remain when only the root tip data were analysed. EcM sporocarp richness was unusually higher than root tip richness and EcM richness did not significantly differ among forest types. The results are discussed in relation to the importance of the Cortinariaceae and the drivers of EcM fungal community composition within these forests.

Facilitation between woody and herbaceous plants that associate with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in temperate European forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Veresoglou, Stavros D; Wulf, Monika; Rillig, Matthias C

2017-02-01

In late-successional environments, low in available nutrient such as the forest understory, herbaceous plant individuals depend strongly on their mycorrhizal associates for survival. We tested whether in temperate European forests arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) woody plants might facilitate the establishment of AM herbaceous plants in agreement with the mycorrhizal mediation hypothesis. We used a dataset spanning over 400 vegetation plots in the Weser-Elbe region (northwest Germany). Mycorrhizal status information was obtained from published resources, and Ellenberg indicator values were used to infer environmental data. We carried out tests for both relative richness and relative abundance of herbaceous plants. We found that the subset of herbaceous individuals that associated with AM profited when there was a high cover of AM woody plants. These relationships were retained when we accounted for environmental filtering effects using path analysis. Our findings build on the existing literature highlighting the prominent role of mycorrhiza as a coexistence mechanism in plant communities. From a nature conservation point of view, it may be possible to promote functional diversity in the forest understory through introducing AM woody trees in stands when absent.

Forest resilience to drought varies across biomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Gazol, Antonio; Camarero, Jesus Julio; Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M; Sánchez-Salguero, Raúl; Gutiérrez, Emilia; de Luis, Martin; Sangüesa-Barreda, Gabriel; Novak, Klemen; Rozas, Vicente; Tíscar, Pedro A; Linares, Juan C; Martín-Hernández, Natalia; Martínez Del Castillo, Edurne; Ribas, Montse; García-González, Ignacio; Silla, Fernando; Camisón, Alvaro; Génova, Mar; Olano, José M; Longares, Luis A; Hevia, Andrea; Tomás-Burguera, Miquel; Galván, J Diego

2018-05-01

Forecasted increase drought frequency and severity may drive worldwide declines in forest productivity. Species-level responses to a drier world are likely to be influenced by their functional traits. Here, we analyse forest resilience to drought using an extensive network of tree-ring width data and satellite imagery. We compiled proxies of forest growth and productivity (TRWi, absolutely dated ring-width indices; NDVI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) for 11 tree species and 502 forests in Spain corresponding to Mediterranean, temperate, and continental biomes. Four different components of forest resilience to drought were calculated based on TRWi and NDVI data before, during, and after four major droughts (1986, 1994-1995, 1999, and 2005), and pointed out that TRWi data were more sensitive metrics of forest resilience to drought than NDVI data. Resilience was related to both drought severity and forest composition. Evergreen gymnosperms dominating semi-arid Mediterranean forests showed the lowest resistance to drought, but higher recovery than deciduous angiosperms dominating humid temperate forests. Moreover, semi-arid gymnosperm forests presented a negative temporal trend in the resistance to drought, but this pattern was absent in continental and temperate forests. Although gymnosperms in dry Mediterranean forests showed a faster recovery after drought, their recovery potential could be constrained if droughts become more frequent. Conversely, angiosperms and gymnosperms inhabiting temperate and continental sites might have problems to recover after more intense droughts since they resist drought but are less able to recover afterwards. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Mixed-Effects Heterogeneous Negative Binomial Model for Postfire Conifer Regeneration in Northeastern California, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Justin S. Crotteau; Martin W. Ritchie; J. Morgan. Varner

2014-01-01

Many western USA fire regimes are typified by mixed-severity fire, which compounds the variability inherent to natural regeneration densities in associated forests. Tree regeneration data are often discrete and nonnegative; accordingly, we fit a series of Poisson and negative binomial variation models to conifer seedling counts across four distinct burn severities and...

Canopy uptake of atmospheric N deposition at a conifer forest: part I -canopy N budget, photosynthetic efficiency and net ecosystem exchange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sievering, H.; Tomaszewski, T.; Torizzo, J.

2007-01-01

Global carbon cycle assessments of anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition influences on carbon sequestration often assume enhanced sequestration results. This assumption was evaluated at a Rocky Mountains spruce-fir forest. Forest canopy N uptake (CNU) of atmospheric N deposition was estimated by combining event wet and throughfall N fluxes with gradient measured HNO 3 and NH 3 as well as inferred (NO x and particulate N) dry fluxes. Approximately 80% of the growing-season 3 kg N/ha total deposition is retained in canopy foliage and branches. This CNU constitutes ∼1/3 of canopy growing season new N supply at this conifer forest site. Daytime net ecosystem exchange (NEE) significantly (P = 0.006) and negatively (CO 2 uptake) correlated with CNU. Multiple regression indicates ∼20% of daytime NEE may be attributed to CNU (P < 0.02); more than soil water content. A wet deposition N-amendment study (Tomaszewski and Sievering), at canopy spruce branches, increased their growing-season CNU by 40-50% above ambient. Fluorometry and gas exchange results show N-amended spruce branches had greater photosynthetic efficiency and higher carboxylation rates than control and untreated branches. N-amended branches had 25% less photoinhibition, with a 5-9% greater proportion of foliar-N-in-Rubisco. The combined results provide, partly, a mechanistic explanation for the NEE dependence on CNU

Physiological Effects of Smoke Exposure on Deciduous and Conifer Tree Species

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calder, W.J.; Lifferth, G.; Clair, S.B.S.; Moritz, M.A.

2010-01-01

Smoke from forest fires can persist in the environment for weeks and while there is a substantial amount of literature examining the effects of smoke exposure on seed germination, the effects of smoke on leaf function are nearly un investigated. The objective of this study was to compare growth and primary and secondary metabolic responses of deciduous angiosperm and evergreen conifer tree species to short smoke exposure. Twenty minutes of smoke exposure resulted in a greater than 50% reduction in photosynthetic capacity in five of the six species we examined. Impairment of photosynthesis in response to smoke was a function of reductions in stomatal conductance and biochemical limitations. In general, deciduous angiosperm species showed a greater sensitivity than evergreen conifers. While there were significant decreases in photosynthesis and stomatal conductance, smoke had no significant effect on growth or secondary defense compound production in any of the tree species examined.

Physiological Effects of Smoke Exposure on Deciduous and Conifer Tree Species

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. John Calder

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Smoke from forest fires can persist in the environment for weeks and while there is a substantial amount of literature examining the effects of smoke exposure on seed germination, the effects of smoke on leaf function are nearly uninvestigated. The objective of this study was to compare growth and primary and secondary metabolic responses of deciduous angiosperm and evergreen conifer tree species to short smoke exposure. Twenty minutes of smoke exposure resulted in a greater than 50% reduction in photosynthetic capacity in five of the six species we examined. Impairment of photosynthesis in response to smoke was a function of reductions in stomatal conductance and biochemical limitations. In general, deciduous angiosperm species showed a greater sensitivity than evergreen conifers. While there were significant decreases in photosynthesis and stomatal conductance, smoke had no significant effect on growth or secondary defense compound production in any of the tree species examined.

Data from camera surveys identifying co-occurrence and occupancy linkages between fishers (Pekania pennanti, rodent prey, mesocarnivores, and larger predators in mixed-conifer forests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rick A. Sweitzer

2016-03-01

Full Text Available These data provide additional information relevant to the frequency of fisher detections by camera traps, and single-season occupancy and local persistence of fishers in small patches of forest habitats detailed elsewhere, “Landscape Fuel Reduction, Forest Fire, and Biophysical Linkages to Local Habitat Use and Local Persistence of Fishers (Pekania pennanti in Sierra Nevada Mixed-conifer Forests” [10]. The data provides insight on camera trap detections of 3 fisher predators (bobcat [Lynx rufus]. Coyote [Canis latrans], mountain lion [Puma concolor], 5 mesocarnivores in the same foraging guild as fishers (gray fox [Urocyon cinereoargenteus] ringtail [Bassariscus astutus], marten [Martes americana], striped skunk [Mephitis mephitis] spotted skunk [Spilogale gracilis], and 5 Sciuridae rodents that fishers consume as prey (Douglas squirrel [Tamiasciurus douglasii], gray squirrel [Sciurus griseus], northern flying squirrel [Glaucomys sabrinus], long-eared chipmunk [Neotamias quadrimaculatus], California ground squirrel [Spermophilus beecheyi]. We used these data to identify basic patterns of co-occurrence with fishers, and to evaluate the relative importance of presence of competing mesocarnivores, rodent prey, and predators for fisher occupancy of small, 1 km2 grid cells of forest habitat. Keywords: Carnivores, Competition, Distribution, Foraging guild, Predation, Tree squirrels

Mapping the spatial pattern of temperate forest above ground biomass by integrating airborne lidar with Radarsat-2 imagery via geostatistical models

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Wang; Niu, Zheng; Gao, Shuai; Wang, Cheng

2014-11-01

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) are two competitive active remote sensing techniques in forest above ground biomass estimation, which is important for forest management and global climate change study. This study aims to further explore their capabilities in temperate forest above ground biomass (AGB) estimation by emphasizing the spatial auto-correlation of variables obtained from these two remote sensing tools, which is a usually overlooked aspect in remote sensing applications to vegetation studies. Remote sensing variables including airborne LiDAR metrics, backscattering coefficient for different SAR polarizations and their ratio variables for Radarsat-2 imagery were calculated. First, simple linear regression models (SLR) was established between the field-estimated above ground biomass and the remote sensing variables. Pearson's correlation coefficient (R2) was used to find which LiDAR metric showed the most significant correlation with the regression residuals and could be selected as co-variable in regression co-kriging (RCoKrig). Second, regression co-kriging was conducted by choosing the regression residuals as dependent variable and the LiDAR metric (Hmean) with highest R2 as co-variable. Third, above ground biomass over the study area was estimated using SLR model and RCoKrig model, respectively. The results for these two models were validated using the same ground points. Results showed that both of these two methods achieved satisfactory prediction accuracy, while regression co-kriging showed the lower estimation error. It is proved that regression co-kriging model is feasible and effective in mapping the spatial pattern of AGB in the temperate forest using Radarsat-2 data calibrated by airborne LiDAR metrics.

Remotely sensed predictors of conifer tree mortality during severe drought

Science.gov (United States)

Brodrick, P. G.; Asner, G. P.

2017-11-01

Widespread, drought-induced forest mortality has been documented on every forested continent over the last two decades, yet early pre-mortality indicators of tree death remain poorly understood. Remotely sensed physiological-based measures offer a means for large-scale analysis to understand and predict drought-induced mortality. Here, we use laser-guided imaging spectroscopy from multiple years of aerial surveys to assess the impact of sustained canopy water loss on tree mortality. We analyze both gross canopy mortality in 2016 and the change in mortality between 2015 and 2016 in millions of sampled conifer forest locations throughout the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. On average, sustained water loss and gross mortality are strongly related, and year-to-year water loss within the drought indicates subsequent mortality. Both relationships are consistent after controlling for location and tree community composition, suggesting that these metrics may serve as indicators of mortality during a drought.

Bird biodiversity assessments in temperate forest: the value of point count versus acoustic monitoring protocols

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brian T. Klingbeil

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Effective monitoring programs for biodiversity are needed to assess trends in biodiversity and evaluate the consequences of management. This is particularly true for birds and faunas that occupy interior forest and other areas of low human population density, as these are frequently under-sampled compared to other habitats. For birds, Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs have been proposed as a supplement or alternative to point counts made by human observers to enhance monitoring efforts. We employed two strategies (i.e., simultaneous-collection and same-season to compare point count and ARU methods for quantifying species richness and composition of birds in temperate interior forests. The simultaneous-collection strategy compares surveys by ARUs and point counts, with methods matched in time, location, and survey duration such that the person and machine simultaneously collect data. The same-season strategy compares surveys from ARUs and point counts conducted at the same locations throughout the breeding season, but methods differ in the number, duration, and frequency of surveys. This second strategy more closely follows the ways in which monitoring programs are likely to be implemented. Site-specific estimates of richness (but not species composition differed between methods; however, the nature of the relationship was dependent on the assessment strategy. Estimates of richness from point counts were greater than estimates from ARUs in the simultaneous-collection strategy. Woodpeckers in particular, were less frequently identified from ARUs than point counts with this strategy. Conversely, estimates of richness were lower from point counts than ARUs in the same-season strategy. Moreover, in the same-season strategy, ARUs detected the occurrence of passerines at a higher frequency than did point counts. Differences between ARU and point count methods were only detected in site-level comparisons. Importantly, both methods provide similar

Species-specific and seasonal differences in chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthetic light response among three evergreen species in a Madrean sky island mixed conifer forest

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Potts, D. L.; Minor, R. L.; Braun, Z.; Barron-Gafford, G. A.

2012-12-01

Unlike the snowmelt-dominated hydroclimate of more northern mountainous regions, the hydroclimate of the Madrean sky islands is characterized by snowmelt and convective storms associated with the North American Monsoon. These mid-summer storms trigger biological activity and are important drivers of primary productivity. For example, at the highest elevations where mixed conifer forests occur, ecosystem carbon balance is influenced by monsoon rains. Whereas these storms' significance is increasingly recognized at the ecosystem scale, species-specific physiological responses to the monsoon are poorly known. Prior to and following monsoon onset, we measured pre-dawn and light-adapted chlorophyll fluorescence as well as photosynthetic light response in southwestern white pine (Pinus strobiformis), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in a Madrean sky island mixed conifer forest near Tucson, Arizona. Photochemical quenching (qp), an indicator of the proportion of open PSII reaction centers, was greatest in P. strobiformis and least in P. menziesii and increased in response to monsoon rains (repeated-measures ANOVA; species, F2,14 = 6.17, P = 0.012; time, F2,14= 8.17, P = 0.013). In contrast, non-photochemical quenching (qN), an indicator of heat dissipation ability, was greatest in P. ponderosa and least in P. menziesii, but was not influenced by monsoon onset (repeated-measures ANOVA; species, F2,12 = 4.18, P = 0.042). Estimated from leaf area-adjusted photosynthetic light response curves, maximum photosynthetic rate (Amax) was greatest in P. ponderosa and least in P. menziesii (repeated-measures ANOVA; species, F2,8= 40.8, P = 0.001). Surprisingly, while the monsoon positively influenced Amax among P. ponderosa and P. strobiformis, Amax of P. menziesii declined with monsoon onset (repeated-measures ANOVA; species x time, F2,8 = 13.8, P = 0.002). Calculated as the initial slope of the photosynthetic light response curve, light

Geographical variation in soil bacterial community structure in tropical forests in Southeast Asia and temperate forests in Japan based on pyrosequencing analysis of 16S rRNA.

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, Natsumi; Iwanaga, Hiroko; Charles, Suliana; Diway, Bibian; Sabang, John; Chong, Lucy; Nanami, Satoshi; Kamiya, Koichi; Lum, Shawn; Siregar, Ulfah J; Harada, Ko; Miyashita, Naohiko T

2017-09-12

Geographical variation in soil bacterial community structure in 26 tropical forests in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore) and two temperate forests in Japan was investigated to elucidate the environmental factors and mechanisms that influence biogeography of soil bacterial diversity and composition. Despite substantial environmental differences, bacterial phyla were represented in similar proportions, with Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria the dominant phyla in all forests except one mangrove forest in Sarawak, although highly significant heterogeneity in frequency of individual phyla was detected among forests. In contrast, species diversity (α-diversity) differed to a much greater extent, being nearly six-fold higher in the mangrove forest (Chao1 index = 6,862) than in forests in Singapore and Sarawak (~1,250). In addition, natural mixed dipterocarp forests had lower species diversity than acacia and oil palm plantations, indicating that aboveground tree composition does not influence soil bacterial diversity. Shannon and Chao1 indices were correlated positively, implying that skewed operational taxonomic unit (OTU) distribution was associated with the abundance of overall and rare (singleton) OTUs. No OTUs were represented in all 28 forests, and forest-specific OTUs accounted for over 70% of all detected OTUs. Forests that were geographically adjacent and/or of the same forest type had similar bacterial species composition, and a positive correlation was detected between species divergence (β-diversity) and direct distance between forests. Both α- and β-diversities were correlated with soil pH. These results suggest that soil bacterial communities in different forests evolve largely independently of each other and that soil bacterial communities adapt to their local environment, modulated by bacterial dispersal (distance effect) and forest type. Therefore, we conclude that the biogeography of soil bacteria communities described here is non

Net ecosystem productivity of temperate and boreal forests after clearcutting a Fluxnet-Canada measurement and modelling synthesis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grant, R. F. (Dept. of Renewable Resources, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, (Canada)), e-mail: robert.grant@ales.ualberta.ca; Barr, A. G. (Climate Research Branch, Meteorological Service of Canada, Saskatoon (Canada)); Black, T. A. (Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver BC, (Canada)); Margolis, H. A. (Faculte de Foresterie et de Geomatique, Pavillon Abitibi-Price, Universite Laval, Quebec (Canada)); McCaughey, J. H. (Dept. of Geography, Queen' s Univ., Kingston (Canada)); Trofymow, J. A. (Canadian Forest Service, Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria (Canada))

2010-11-15

Clearcutting strongly affects subsequent forest net ecosystem productivity (NEP). Hypotheses for ecological controls on NEP in the ecosystem model ecosys were tested with CO{sub 2} fluxes measured by eddy covariance (EC) in three post clearcut conifer chronosequences in different ecological zones across Canada. In the model, microbial colonization of postharvest fine and woody debris drove heterotrophic respiration (Rh), and hence decomposition, microbial growth, N mineralization and asymbiotic N{sub 2} fixation. These processes controlled root N uptake, and thereby CO{sub 2} fixation in regrowing vegetation. Interactions among soil and plant processes allowed the model to simulate hourly CO{sub 2} fluxes and annual NEP within the uncertainty of EC measurements from 2003 to 2007 over forest stands from 1 to 80 yr of age in all three chronosequences without site- or species-specific parameterization. The model was then used to study the impacts of increasing harvest removals on subsequent C stocks at one of the chronosequence sites. Model results indicated that increasing harvest removals would hasten recovery of NEP during the first 30 yr after clearcutting, but would reduce ecosystem C stocks by about 15% of the increased removals at the end of an 80-yr harvest cycle

Drought timing and local climate determine the sensitivity of eastern temperate forests to drought.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Orangeville, Loïc; Maxwell, Justin; Kneeshaw, Daniel; Pederson, Neil; Duchesne, Louis; Logan, Travis; Houle, Daniel; Arseneault, Dominique; Beier, Colin M; Bishop, Daniel A; Druckenbrod, Daniel; Fraver, Shawn; Girard, François; Halman, Joshua; Hansen, Chris; Hart, Justin L; Hartmann, Henrik; Kaye, Margot; Leblanc, David; Manzoni, Stefano; Ouimet, Rock; Rayback, Shelly; Rollinson, Christine R; Phillips, Richard P

2018-02-20

Projected changes in temperature and drought regime are likely to reduce carbon (C) storage in forests, thereby amplifying rates of climate change. While such reductions are often presumed to be greatest in semi-arid forests that experience widespread tree mortality, the consequences of drought may also be important in temperate mesic forests of Eastern North America (ENA) if tree growth is significantly curtailed by drought. Investigations of the environmental conditions that determine drought sensitivity are critically needed to accurately predict ecosystem feedbacks to climate change. We matched site factors with the growth responses to drought of 10,753 trees across mesic forests of ENA, representing 24 species and 346 stands, to determine the broad-scale drivers of drought sensitivity for the dominant trees in ENA. Here we show that two factors-the timing of drought, and the atmospheric demand for water (i.e., local potential evapotranspiration; PET)-are stronger drivers of drought sensitivity than soil and stand characteristics. Drought-induced reductions in tree growth were greatest when the droughts occurred during early-season peaks in radial growth, especially for trees growing in the warmest, driest regions (i.e., highest PET). Further, mean species trait values (rooting depth and ψ 50 ) were poor predictors of drought sensitivity, as intraspecific variation in sensitivity was equal to or greater than interspecific variation in 17 of 24 species. From a general circulation model ensemble, we find that future increases in early-season PET may exacerbate these effects, and potentially offset gains in C uptake and storage in ENA owing to other global change factors. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of the age class distributions of the temperate and boreal forests on the global CO2 source-sink function

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Kohlmaier, G. H.; Häger, Ch.; Würth, G.; Lüdeke, M. K. B.; Ramge, P.; Badeck, F.-W.; Kindermann, J.; Lang, T.

1995-02-01

The rôle of the temperate and boreal forests as a global CO2 source or sink is examined, both for the present time and for the next hundred years. The results of the Forest Resource Assessment for 1990 of the Economic Comission for Europe and the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (1992) serve as the main database in this study. Out of the estimated total area of approximately 20106 km2 of forests and wooded lands in the temperate and boreal zone only approximately fifty percent is documented within the category of exploitable forests, which are examined in detail here. In this study, a general formalism of the time evolution of an ensemble of forests within an ecological province is developed using the formalism of the Leslie matrix. This matrix can be formulated if the age class dependent mortalities which arise from the disturbances are known. A distinction is made between the natural disturbances by fire, wind throw and insect infestations and disturbances introduced through harvesting of timber. Through the use of Richards growth function each age class of a given biome is related to the corresponding biomass and annual increment. The data reported on the mean net annual increment and on the mean biomass serve to calibrate the model. The difference of the reported net annual increment and annual fellings of approximately 550 106 m3 roundwood correspond to a sink of 210-330 Mt of carbon per year excluding any changes in the soil balance. It could be shown that the present distribution of forest age classes for the United States, Canada, Europe, or the former Soviet Union does not correspond to a quasi-stationary state, in which biomass is accumulated only due to a stimulated growth under enhanced atmospheric CO2 levels. The present CO2 sink function will not persist in the next century, if harvesting rates increase with 0.5% annually or even less. The future state will also be influenced by the effect of the greenhouse climate, the impact

Variation in carbon stocks on different slope aspects in seven major forest types of temperate region of Garhwal Himalaya, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, C M; Gairola, Sumeet; Baduni, N P; Ghildiyal, S K; Suyal, Sarvesh

2011-09-01

The present study was undertaken in seven major forest types of temperate zone (1500 m a.s.l. to 3100 m a.s.l.) of Garhwal Himalaya to understand the effect of slope aspects on carbon (C) density and make recommendations for forest management based on priorities for C conservation/sequestration. We assessed soil organic carbon (SOC) density, tree density, biomass and soil organic carbon (SOC) on four aspects, viz. north/east (NE), north/west (NW), south-east (SE) and south-west (SW), in forest stands dominated by Abies pindrow, Cedrus deodara, Pinus roxburghii, Cupressus torulosa, Quercus floribunda, Quercus semecarpifolia and Quercus leucotrichophora. TCD ranged between 77.3 CMg ha⁻¹ on SE aspect (Quercus leucotrichophora forest) and 291.6 CMg ha⁻¹ on NE aspect (moist Cedrus deodara forest). SOC varied between 40.3 CMg ha⁻¹ on SW aspect (Himalayan Pinus roxburghii forest) and 177.5 CMg ha⁻¹ on NE aspect (moist Cedrus deodara forest). Total C density (SOC+TCD) ranged between 118.1 CMg ha⁻¹ on SW aspect (Himalayan Pinus roxburghii forest) and 469.1 CMg ha⁻¹ on NE aspect (moist Cedrus deodara forest). SOC and TCD were significantly higher on northern aspects as compared with southern aspects. It is recommended that for C sequestration, the plantation silviculture be exercised on northern aspects, and for C conservation purposes, mature forest stands growing on northern aspects be given priority.

Emergy and Eco-exergy Evaluation of Four Forest Restoration Modes

Science.gov (United States)

Four different forest restoration modes (Acacia mangium plantation, mixed-native species plantation, conifer plantation and Eucalyptus plantation) were evaluated using Energy System Theory and the emergy synthesis method. In addition, the eco-exergies of the four forest restorati...

An economic valuation of the recreational benefits associated with nature-based forest management practices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Anders Busse; Olsen, Søren Bøye; Lundhede, Thomas Hedemark

2007-01-01

The presented study aimed at identifying and assessing public preferences for variations in tree species composition, tree height structure, and presence of dead trees left for natural decay – forest characteristics which are likely to be affected when subjecting stands to nature-based forest...... of the mentioned three forest characteristics. The highest WTP (1939 DKK, approx. 262 EUR) was found for a scenario of replacing the baseline case stand of even-aged conifers with no dead trees left for natural decay with a mixture of conifers and broadleaves of varying heights, and leaving a few dead trees...

Responses of small mammals to clear-cutting in temperate and boreal forests of Europe: a meta-analysis and review

OpenAIRE

Bogdziewicz, Michał; Zwolak, Rafał

2013-01-01

We analyzed the responses of small mammals to clear-cutting in temperate and boreal forests in Europe. We conducted a meta-analysis of published research on most often studied small mammal species (the striped field mouse, the yellow-necked mouse, the wood mouse, the field vole, the common vole, the bank vole, the Eurasian harvest mouse, the common shrew and the Eurasian pygmy shrew), comparing their abundance on clear-cuts and in unharvested stands. For four other species (the gray-sided vol...

Modelling the decadal trend of ecosystem carbon fluxes demonstrates the important role of functional changes in a temperate deciduous forest

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Jian; Jansson, P.E.; van der Linden, Leon

2013-01-01

Temperate forests are globally important carbon sinks and stocks. Trends in net ecosystem exchange have been observed in a Danish beech forest and this trend cannot be entirely attributed to changing climatic drivers. This study sought to clarify the mechanisms responsible for the observed trend...... for nitrogen demand during mast years is supported by the inter-annual variability in the estimated parameters. The inter-annual variability of photosynthesis parameters was fundamental to the simulation of the trend in carbon fluxes in the investigated beech forest and this demonstrates the importance......, the latent and sensible heat fluxes and the CO2 fluxes decreased the parameter uncertainty considerably compared to using CO2 fluxes as validation data alone. The fitted model was able to simulate the observed carbon fluxes well (R2=0.8, mean error=0.1gCm−2d−1) but did not reproduce the decadal (1997...

Structure, specificity, and evolution of insect guilds related to cones of conifers in Western Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Alain Roques

1991-01-01

Patchy and ephemeral resources, such as the cones of conifers, can be very useful in the study of plant-insect relationships. Studies of such relationships in forest entomology are typically complicated by the spatial and temporal characteristics of the host plants, which occur over vast areas and have lifespans of decades or even centuries. The reproductive structures...

Narrowband Bio-Indicator Monitoring of Temperate Forest Carbon Fluxes in Northeastern China

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Quanzhou Yu

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Developments in hyperspectral remote sensing techniques during the last decade have enabled the use of narrowband indices to evaluate the role of forest ecosystem variables in estimating carbon (C fluxes. In this study, narrowband bio-indicators derived from EO-1 Hyperion data were investigated to determine whether they could capture the temporal variation and estimate the spatial variability of forest C fluxes derived from eddy covariance tower data. Nineteen indices were divided into four categories of optical indices: broadband, chlorophyll, red edge, and light use efficiency. Correlation tests were performed between the selected vegetation indices, gross primary production (GPP, and ecosystem respiration (Re. Among the 19 indices, five narrowband indices (Chlorophyll Index RedEdge 710, scaled photochemical reflectance index (SPRI*enhanced vegetation index (EVI, SPRI*normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI, MCARI/OSAVI[705, 750] and the Vogelmann Index, and one broad band index (EVI had R-squared values with a good fit for GPP and Re. The SPRI*NDVI has the highest significant coefficients of determination with GPP and Re (R2 = 0.86 and 0.89, p < 0.0001, respectively. SPRI*NDVI was used in atmospheric inverse modeling at regional scales for the estimation of C fluxes. We compared the GPP spatial patterns inversed from our model with corresponding results from the Vegetation Photosynthesis Model (VPM, the Boreal Ecosystems Productivity Simulator model, and MODIS MOD17A2 products. The inversed GPP spatial patterns from our model of SPRI*NDVI had good agreement with the output from the VPM model. The normalized difference nitrogen index was well correlated with measured C net ecosystem exchange. Our findings indicated that narrowband bio-indicators based on EO-1 Hyperion images could be used to predict regional C flux variations for Northeastern China’s temperate broad-leaved Korean pine forest ecosystems.

Variations of Climate-Growth Response of Major Conifers at Upper Distributional Limits in Shika Snow Mountain, Northwestern Yunnan Plateau, China

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Yun Zhang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Improved understanding of climate-growth relationships of multiple species is fundamental to understanding and predicting the response of forest growth to future climate change. Forests are mainly composed of conifers in Northwestern Yunnan Plateau, but variations of growth response to climate conditions among the species are not well understood. To detect the growth response of multiple species to climate change, we developed residual chronologies of four major conifers, i.e., George’s fir (Abies georgei Orr, Likiang spruce (Picea likiangensis (Franch. E.Pritz., Gaoshan pine (Pinus densata Mast. and Chinese larch (Larix potaninii Batalin at the upper distributional limits in Shika Snow Mountain. Using the dendroclimatology method, we analyzed correlations between the residual chronologies and climate variables. The results showed that conifer radial growth was influenced by both temperature and precipitation in Shika Snow Mountain. Previous November temperature, previous July temperature, and current May precipitation were the common climatic factors that had consistent influences on radial growth of the four species. Temperature in the previous post-growing season (September–October and moisture conditions in the current growing season (June–August were the common climatic factors that had divergent impacts on the radial growth of the four species. Based on the predictions of climate models and our understanding of the growth response of four species to climate variables, we may understand the growth response to climate change at the species level. It is difficult to predict future forest growth in the study area, since future climate change might cause both increases and decreases for the four species and indirect effects of climate change on forests should be considered.

Seasonal ozone uptake by a warm-temperate mixed deciduous and evergreen broadleaf forest in western Japan estimated by the Penman–Monteith approach combined with a photosynthesis-dependent stomatal model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kitao, Mitsutoshi; Komatsu, Masabumi; Hoshika, Yasutomo; Yazaki, Kenichi; Yoshimura, Kenichi; Fujii, Saori; Miyama, Takafumi; Kominami, Yuji

2014-01-01

Canopy-level stomatal conductance over a warm-temperate mixed deciduous and evergreen broadleaf forest in Japan was estimated by the Penman–Monteith approach, as compensated by a semi-empirical photosynthesis-dependent stomatal model, where photosynthesis, relative humidity, and CO 2 concentration were assumed to regulate stomatal conductance. This approach, using eddy covariance data and routine meteorological observations at a flux tower site, permits the continuous estimation of canopy-level O 3 uptake, even when the Penman–Monteith approach is unavailable (i.e. in case of direct evaporation from soil or wet leaves). Distortion was observed between the AOT40 exposure index and O 3 uptake through stomata, as AOT40 peaked in April, but with O 3 uptake occurring in July. Thus, leaf pre-maturation in the predominant deciduous broadleaf tree species (Quercus serrata) might suppress O 3 uptake in springtime, even when the highest O 3 concentrations were observed. -- Highlights: • We estimate canopy-level O 3 uptake in a warm-temperate mixed forest in Japan. • The Penman–Monteith approach is compensated by a photosynthesis-dependent model. • Stomatal conductance can be estimated, even in a partly-opened or wet canopy. • The estimated O 3 dose peaks in summer though O 3 exposure peaks in spring. -- Estimation of seasonal O 3 uptake over a mixed-temperate forest compensated by a photosynthesis-dependent stomatal model

Macro-particle charcoal C content following prescribed burning in a mixed-conifer forest, Sierra Nevada, California.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiechmann, Morgan L; Hurteau, Matthew D; Kaye, Jason P; Miesel, Jessica R

2015-01-01

Fire suppression and changing climate have resulted in increased large wildfire frequency and severity in the western United States, causing carbon cycle impacts. Forest thinning and prescribed burning reduce high-severity fire risk, but require removal of biomass and emissions of carbon from burning. During each fire a fraction of the burning vegetation and soil organic matter is converted into charcoal, a relatively stable carbon form. We sought to quantify the effects of pre-fire fuel load and type on charcoal carbon produced by biomass combusted in a prescribed burn under different thinning treatments and to identify more easily measured predictors of charcoal carbon mass in a historically frequent-fire mixed-conifer forest. We hypothesized that charcoal carbon produced from coarse woody debris (CWD) during prescribed burning would be greater than that produced from fine woody debris (FWD). We visually quantified post-treatment charcoal carbon content in the O-horizon and the A-horizon beneath CWD (> 30 cm diameter) and up to 60 cm from CWD that was present prior to treatment. We found no difference in the size of charcoal carbon pools from CWD (treatment means ranged from 0.3-2.0 g m-2 of A-horizon and 0.0-1.7 g m-2 of O-horizon charcoal) and FWD (treatment means ranged from 0.2-1.7 g m-2 of A-horizon and 0.0-1.5 g m-2 of O-horizon charcoal). We also compared treatments and found that the burn-only, understory-thin and burn, and overstory-thin and burn treatments had significantly more charcoal carbon than the control. Charcoal carbon represented 0.29% of total ecosystem carbon. We found that char mass on CWD was an important predictor of charcoal carbon mass, but only explained 18-35% of the variation. Our results help improve our understanding of the effects forest restoration treatments have on ecosystem carbon by providing additional information about charcoal carbon content.

Different types of nitrogen deposition show variable effects on the soil carbon cycle process of temperate forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Yuhan; Guo, Peng; Liu, Jianqiu; Wang, Chunyu; Yang, Ning; Jiao, Zhenxia

2014-10-01

Nitrogen (N) deposition significantly affects the soil carbon (C) cycle process of forests. However, the influence of different types of N on it still remained unclear. In this work, ammonium nitrate was selected as an inorganic N (IN) source, while urea and glycine were chosen as organic N (ON) sources. Different ratios of IN to ON (1 : 4, 2 : 3, 3 : 2, 4 : 1, and 5 : 0) were mixed with equal total amounts and then used to fertilize temperate forest soils for 2 years. Results showed that IN deposition inhibited soil C cycle processes, such as soil respiration, soil organic C decomposition, and enzymatic activities, and induced the accumulation of recalcitrant organic C. By contrast, ON deposition promoted these processes. Addition of ON also resulted in accelerated transformation of recalcitrant compounds into labile compounds and increased CO2 efflux. Meanwhile, greater ON deposition may convert C sequestration in forest soils into C source. These results indicated the importance of the IN to ON ratio in controlling the soil C cycle, which can consequently change the ecological effect of N deposition. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Accounting for biomass carbon stock change due to wildfire in temperate forest landscapes in Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Keith, Heather; Lindenmayer, David B; Mackey, Brendan G; Blair, David; Carter, Lauren; McBurney, Lachlan; Okada, Sachiko; Konishi-Nagano, Tomoko

2014-01-01

Carbon stock change due to forest management and disturbance must be accounted for in UNFCCC national inventory reports and for signatories to the Kyoto Protocol. Impacts of disturbance on greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories are important for many countries with large forest estates prone to wildfires. Our objective was to measure changes in carbon stocks due to short-term combustion and to simulate longer-term carbon stock dynamics resulting from redistribution among biomass components following wildfire. We studied the impacts of a wildfire in 2009 that burnt temperate forest of tall, wet eucalypts in south-eastern Australia. Biomass combusted ranged from 40 to 58 tC ha(-1), which represented 6-7% and 9-14% in low- and high-severity fire, respectively, of the pre-fire total biomass carbon stock. Pre-fire total stock ranged from 400 to 1040 tC ha(-1) depending on forest age and disturbance history. An estimated 3.9 TgC was emitted from the 2009 fire within the forest region, representing 8.5% of total biomass carbon stock across the landscape. Carbon losses from combustion were large over hours to days during the wildfire, but from an ecosystem dynamics perspective, the proportion of total carbon stock combusted was relatively small. Furthermore, more than half the stock losses from combustion were derived from biomass components with short lifetimes. Most biomass remained on-site, although redistributed from living to dead components. Decomposition of these components and new regeneration constituted the greatest changes in carbon stocks over ensuing decades. A critical issue for carbon accounting policy arises because the timeframes of ecological processes of carbon stock change are longer than the periods for reporting GHG inventories for national emissions reductions targets. Carbon accounts should be comprehensive of all stock changes, but reporting against targets should be based on human-induced changes in carbon stocks to incentivise mitigation activities.

Can aspen persist in conifer dominated forests?

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas H. Page; John D. Shaw

2016-01-01

In 1998 we measured a large, old aspen in a mixed spruce-fir-aspen forest on the Utah State University T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest in northern Utah. The tree was 297 years old - about the same age as the oldest spruce in the stand. A search of the forestry literature revealed that the oldest published age for an aspen came from a tree in the Sierra Nevada Range in...

Fire decreases arthropod abundance but increases diversity: Early and late season prescribed fire effects in a Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrenberg, Scott; Schwilk, Dylan W.; Knapp, Eric E.; Groth, Eric; Keeley, Jon E.

2006-01-01

Prior to fire suppression in the 20th century, the mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, U.S.A., historically burned in frequent fires that typically occurred during the late summer and early fall. Fire managers have been attempting to restore natural ecosystem processes through prescription burning, and have often favored burning during the fall in order to mimic historical fire regimes. Increasingly, however, prescription burning is also being done during the late spring and early summer in order to expand the window of opportunity for needed fuel reduction burning. The effect of prescribed fires outside of the historical fire season on forest arthropods is not known. The objective of this study was to compare the short-term effects of prescribed fires ignited in the early and late fire season on forest floor arthropods. Arthropod abundance and diversity were assessed using pitfall trapping in replicated burn units in Sequoia National Park, California. Overall, abundance of arthropods was lower in the burn treatments than in the unburned control. However, diversity tended to be greater in the burn treatments. Fire also altered the relative abundances of arthropod feeding guilds. No significant differences in arthropod community structure were found between early and late season burn treatments. Instead, changes in the arthropod community appeared to be driven largely by changes in fuel loading, vegetation, and habitat heterogeneity, all of which differed more between the burned and unburned treatments than between early and late season burn treatments.

Derivation of a northern-hemispheric biomass map for use in global carbon cycle models

Science.gov (United States)

Thurner, Martin; Beer, Christian; Santoro, Maurizio; Carvalhais, Nuno; Wutzler, Thomas; Schepaschenko, Dmitry; Shvidenko, Anatoly; Kompter, Elisabeth; Levick, Shaun; Schmullius, Christiane

2013-04-01

Quantifying the state and the change of the World's forests is crucial because of their ecological, social and economic value. Concerning their ecological importance, forests provide important feedbacks on the global carbon, energy and water cycles. In addition to their influence on albedo and evapotranspiration, they have the potential to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus to mitigate global warming. The current state and inter-annual variability of forest carbon stocks remain relatively unexplored, but remote sensing can serve to overcome this shortcoming. While for the tropics wall-to-wall estimates of above-ground biomass have been recently published, up to now there was a lack of similar products covering boreal and temperate forests. Recently, estimates of forest growing stock volume (GSV) were derived from ENVISAT ASAR C-band data for latitudes above 30° N. Utilizing a wood density and a biomass compartment database, a forest carbon density map covering North-America, Europe and Asia with 0.01° resolution could be derived out of this dataset. Allometric functions between stem, branches, root and foliage biomass were fitted and applied for different leaf types (broadleaf, needleleaf deciduous, needleleaf evergreen forest). Additionally, this method enabled uncertainty estimation of the resulting carbon density map. Intercomparisons with inventory-based biomass products in Russia, Europe and the USA proved the high accuracy of this approach at a regional scale (r2 = 0.70 - 0.90). Based on the final biomass map, the forest carbon stocks and densities (excluding understorey vegetation) for three biomes were estimated across three continents. While 40.7 ± 15.7 Gt of carbon were found to be stored in boreal forests, temperate broadleaf/mixed forests and temperate conifer forests contain 24.5 ± 9.4 Gt(C) and 14.5 ± 4.8 Gt(C), respectively. In terms of carbon density, most of the carbon per area is stored in temperate conifer (62.1 ± 20.7 Mg(C)/ha(Forest

Dispersal limitation drives successional pathways in Central Siberian forests under current and intensified fire regimes.

Science.gov (United States)

Tautenhahn, Susanne; Lichstein, Jeremy W; Jung, Martin; Kattge, Jens; Bohlman, Stephanie A; Heilmeier, Hermann; Prokushkin, Anatoly; Kahl, Anja; Wirth, Christian

2016-06-01

Fire is a primary driver of boreal forest dynamics. Intensifying fire regimes due to climate change may cause a shift in boreal forest composition toward reduced dominance of conifers and greater abundance of deciduous hardwoods, with potential biogeochemical and biophysical feedbacks to regional and global climate. This shift has already been observed in some North American boreal forests and has been attributed to changes in site conditions. However, it is unknown if the mechanisms controlling fire-induced changes in deciduous hardwood cover are similar among different boreal forests, which differ in the ecological traits of the dominant tree species. To better understand the consequences of intensifying fire regimes in boreal forests, we studied postfire regeneration in five burns in the Central Siberian dark taiga, a vast but poorly studied boreal region. We combined field measurements, dendrochronological analysis, and seed-source maps derived from high-resolution satellite images to quantify the importance of site conditions (e.g., organic layer depth) vs. seed availability in shaping postfire regeneration. We show that dispersal limitation of evergreen conifers was the main factor determining postfire regeneration composition and density. Site conditions had significant but weaker effects. We used information on postfire regeneration to develop a classification scheme for successional pathways, representing the dominance of deciduous hardwoods vs. evergreen conifers at different successional stages. We estimated the spatial distribution of different successional pathways under alternative fire regime scenarios. Under intensified fire regimes, dispersal limitation of evergreen conifers is predicted to become more severe, primarily due to reduced abundance of surviving seed sources within burned areas. Increased dispersal limitation of evergreen conifers, in turn, is predicted to increase the prevalence of successional pathways dominated by deciduous hardwoods

Opposing resonses to ecological gradients structure amphibian and reptile communities across a temperate grassland-savanna-forest landscape

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Grundel, Ralph; Beamer, David; Glowacki, Gary A.; Frohnapple, Krystal; Pavlovic, Noel B.

2014-01-01

Temperate savannas are threatened across the globe. If we prioritize savanna restoration, we should ask how savanna animal communities differ from communities in related open habitats and forests. We documented distribution of amphibian and reptile species across an open-savanna–forest gradient in the Midwest U.S. to determine how fire history and habitat structure affected herpetofaunal community composition. The transition from open habitats to forests was a transition from higher reptile abundance to higher amphibian abundance and the intermediate savanna landscape supported the most species overall. These differences warn against assuming that amphibian and reptile communities will have similar ecological responses to habitat structure. Richness and abundance also often responded in opposite directions to some habitat characteristics, such as cover of bare ground or litter. Herpetofaunal community species composition changed along a fire gradient from infrequent and recent fires to frequent but less recent fires. Nearby (200-m) wetland cover was relatively unimportant in predicting overall herpetofaunal community composition while fire history and fire-related canopy and ground cover were more important predictors of composition, diversity, and abundance. Increased developed cover was negatively related to richness and abundance. This indicates the importance of fire history and fire related landscape characteristics, and the negative effects of development, in shaping the upland herpetofaunal community along the native grassland–forest continuum.

Incorporating microbial dormancy dynamics into soil decomposition models to improve quantification of soil carbon dynamics of northern temperate forests

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He, Yujie [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; Yang, Jinyan [Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States). Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources; Northeast Forestry Univ., Harbin (China). Center for Ecological Research; Zhuang, Qianlai [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Dept. of Agronomy; Harden, Jennifer W. [U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States); McGuire, Anthony D. [Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Geological Survey, Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States). U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit; Liu, Yaling [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; Wang, Gangsheng [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Climate Change Science Inst. and Environmental Sciences Division; Gu, Lianhong [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Division

2015-11-20

Soil carbon dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. Microbial-based decomposition models have seen much growth recently for quantifying this role, yet dormancy as a common strategy used by microorganisms has not usually been represented and tested in these models against field observations. Here in this study we developed an explicit microbial-enzyme decomposition model and examined model performance with and without representation of microbial dormancy at six temperate forest sites of different forest types. We then extrapolated the model to global temperate forest ecosystems to investigate biogeochemical controls on soil heterotrophic respiration and microbial dormancy dynamics at different temporal-spatial scales. The dormancy model consistently produced better match with field-observed heterotrophic soil CO₂ efflux (R_H) than the no dormancy model. Our regional modeling results further indicated that models with dormancy were able to produce more realistic magnitude of microbial biomass (<2% of soil organic carbon) and soil R_H (7.5 ± 2.4 PgCyr^-1). Spatial correlation analysis showed that soil organic carbon content was the dominating factor (correlation coefficient = 0.4-0.6) in the simulated spatial pattern of soil R_H with both models. In contrast to strong temporal and local controls of soil temperature and moisture on microbial dormancy, our modeling results showed that soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N) was a major regulating factor at regional scales (correlation coefficient = -0.43 to -0.58), indicating scale-dependent biogeochemical controls on microbial dynamics. Our findings suggest that incorporating microbial dormancy could improve the realism of microbial-based decomposition models and enhance the integration of soil experiments and mechanistically based modeling.

Silviculture's role in managing boreal forests

Science.gov (United States)

Russell T. Graham; Theresa B. Jain

1998-01-01

Boreal forests, which are often undeveloped, are a major source of raw materials for many countries. They are circumpolar in extent and occupy a belt to a width of 1000 km in certain regions. Various conifer and hardwood species ranging from true firs to poplars grow in boreal forests. These species exhibit a wide range of shade tolerance and growth characteristics,...

Forest production dynamics along a wood density spectrum in eastern US forests

Science.gov (United States)

C.W. Woodall; M.B. Russell; B.F. Walters; A.W. D' Amato; K. Zhu; S.S. Saatchi

2015-01-01

Emerging plant economics spectrum theories were confirmed across temperate forest systems of the eastern US where the use of a forest stand's mean wood density elucidated forest volume and biomass production dynamics integrating aspects of climate, tree mortality/growth, and rates of site occupancy.

Distribution of wild mammal assemblages along an urban-rural-forest landscape gradient in warm-temperate East Asia.

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Saito, Masayuki; Koike, Fumito

2013-01-01

Urbanization may alter mammal assemblages via habitat loss, food subsidies, and other factors related to human activities. The general distribution patterns of wild mammal assemblages along urban-rural-forest landscape gradients have not been studied, although many studies have focused on a single species or taxon, such as rodents. We quantitatively evaluated the effects of the urban-rural-forest gradient and spatial scale on the distributions of large and mid-sized mammals in the world's largest metropolitan area in warm-temperate Asia using nonspecific camera-trapping along two linear transects spanning from the urban zone in the Tokyo metropolitan area to surrounding rural and forest landscapes. Many large and mid-sized species generally decreased from forest landscapes to urban cores, although some species preferred anthropogenic landscapes. Sika deer (Cervus nippon), Reeves' muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi), Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), Japanese squirrel (Sciurus lis), Japanese marten (Martes melampus), Japanese badger (Meles anakuma), and wild boar (Sus scrofa) generally dominated the mammal assemblage of the forest landscape. Raccoon (Procyon lotor), raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), and Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus) dominated the mammal assemblage in the intermediate zone (i.e., rural and suburban landscape). Cats (feral and free-roaming housecats; Felis catus) were common in the urban assemblage. The key spatial scales for forest species were more than 4000-m radius, indicating that conservation and management plans for these mammal assemblages should be considered on large spatial scales. However, small green spaces will also be important for mammal conservation in the urban landscape, because an indigenous omnivore (raccoon dog) had a smaller key spatial scale (500-m radius) than those of forest mammals. Urbanization was generally the most important factor in the distributions of mammals, and it is necessary to consider the spatial scale of

Distribution of Wild Mammal Assemblages along an Urban–Rural–Forest Landscape Gradient in Warm-Temperate East Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Saito, Masayuki; Koike, Fumito

2013-01-01

Urbanization may alter mammal assemblages via habitat loss, food subsidies, and other factors related to human activities. The general distribution patterns of wild mammal assemblages along urban–rural–forest landscape gradients have not been studied, although many studies have focused on a single species or taxon, such as rodents. We quantitatively evaluated the effects of the urban–rural–forest gradient and spatial scale on the distributions of large and mid-sized mammals in the world's largest metropolitan area in warm-temperate Asia using nonspecific camera-trapping along two linear transects spanning from the urban zone in the Tokyo metropolitan area to surrounding rural and forest landscapes. Many large and mid-sized species generally decreased from forest landscapes to urban cores, although some species preferred anthropogenic landscapes. Sika deer (Cervus nippon), Reeves' muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi), Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), Japanese squirrel (Sciurus lis), Japanese marten (Martes melampus), Japanese badger (Meles anakuma), and wild boar (Sus scrofa) generally dominated the mammal assemblage of the forest landscape. Raccoon (Procyon lotor), raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), and Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus) dominated the mammal assemblage in the intermediate zone (i.e., rural and suburban landscape). Cats (feral and free-roaming housecats; Felis catus) were common in the urban assemblage. The key spatial scales for forest species were more than 4000-m radius, indicating that conservation and management plans for these mammal assemblages should be considered on large spatial scales. However, small green spaces will also be important for mammal conservation in the urban landscape, because an indigenous omnivore (raccoon dog) had a smaller key spatial scale (500-m radius) than those of forest mammals. Urbanization was generally the most important factor in the distributions of mammals, and it is necessary to consider the spatial

Distribution of wild mammal assemblages along an urban-rural-forest landscape gradient in warm-temperate East Asia.

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Masayuki Saito

Full Text Available Urbanization may alter mammal assemblages via habitat loss, food subsidies, and other factors related to human activities. The general distribution patterns of wild mammal assemblages along urban-rural-forest landscape gradients have not been studied, although many studies have focused on a single species or taxon, such as rodents. We quantitatively evaluated the effects of the urban-rural-forest gradient and spatial scale on the distributions of large and mid-sized mammals in the world's largest metropolitan area in warm-temperate Asia using nonspecific camera-trapping along two linear transects spanning from the urban zone in the Tokyo metropolitan area to surrounding rural and forest landscapes. Many large and mid-sized species generally decreased from forest landscapes to urban cores, although some species preferred anthropogenic landscapes. Sika deer (Cervus nippon, Reeves' muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi, Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata, Japanese squirrel (Sciurus lis, Japanese marten (Martes melampus, Japanese badger (Meles anakuma, and wild boar (Sus scrofa generally dominated the mammal assemblage of the forest landscape. Raccoon (Procyon lotor, raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides, and Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus dominated the mammal assemblage in the intermediate zone (i.e., rural and suburban landscape. Cats (feral and free-roaming housecats; Felis catus were common in the urban assemblage. The key spatial scales for forest species were more than 4000-m radius, indicating that conservation and management plans for these mammal assemblages should be considered on large spatial scales. However, small green spaces will also be important for mammal conservation in the urban landscape, because an indigenous omnivore (raccoon dog had a smaller key spatial scale (500-m radius than those of forest mammals. Urbanization was generally the most important factor in the distributions of mammals, and it is necessary to consider the spatial scale

Exploring the natural fungal biodiversity of tropical and temperate forests toward improvement of biomass conversion.

Science.gov (United States)

Berrin, Jean-Guy; Navarro, David; Couturier, Marie; Olivé, Caroline; Grisel, Sacha; Haon, Mireille; Taussac, Sabine; Lechat, Christian; Courtecuisse, Régis; Favel, Anne; Coutinho, Pedro M; Lesage-Meessen, Laurence

2012-09-01

In this study, natural fungal diversity in wood-decaying species was explored for biomass deconstruction. In 2007 and 2008, fungal isolates were collected in temperate forests mainly from metropolitan France and in tropical forests mainly from French Guiana. We recovered and identified 74 monomorph cultures using morphological and molecular identification tools. Following production of fungal secretomes under inductive conditions, we evaluated the capacity of these fungal strains to potentiate a commercial Trichoderma reesei cellulase cocktail for the release of soluble sugars from biomass. The secretome of 19 isolates led to an improvement in biomass conversion of at least 23%. Of the isolates, the Trametes gibbosa BRFM 952 (Banque de Ressources Fongiques de Marseille) secretome performed best, with 60% improved conversion, a feature that was not universal to the Trametes and related genera. Enzymatic characterization of the T. gibbosa BRFM 952 secretome revealed an unexpected high activity on crystalline cellulose, higher than that of the T. reesei cellulase cocktail. This report highlights the interest in a systematic high-throughput assessment of collected fungal biodiversity to improve the enzymatic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass. It enabled the unbiased identification of new fungal strains issued from biodiversity with high biotechnological potential.

Estimating the carbon budget and maximizing future carbon uptake for a temperate forest region in the U.S.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Forests of the Midwest U.S. provide numerous ecosystem services. Two of these, carbon sequestration and wood production, are often portrayed as conflicting. Currently, carbon management and biofuel policies are being developed to reduce atmospheric CO2 and national dependence on foreign oil, and increase carbon storage in ecosystems. However, the biological and industrial forest carbon cycles are rarely studied in a whole-system structure. The forest system carbon balance is the difference between the biological (net ecosystem production) and industrial (net emissions from forest industry) forest carbon cycles, but to date this critical whole system analysis is lacking. This study presents a model of the forest system, uses it to compute the carbon balance, and outlines a methodology to maximize future carbon uptake in a managed forest region. Results We used a coupled forest ecosystem process and forest products life cycle inventory model for a regional temperate forest in the Midwestern U.S., and found the net system carbon balance for this 615,000 ha forest was positive (2.29 t C ha-1 yr-1). The industrial carbon budget was typically less than 10% of the biological system annually, and averaged averaged 0.082 t C ha-1 yr-1. Net C uptake over the next 100-years increased by 22% or 0.33 t C ha-1 yr-1 relative to the current harvest rate in the study region under the optized harvest regime. Conclusions The forest’s biological ecosystem current and future carbon uptake capacity is largely determined by forest harvest practices that occurred over a century ago, but we show an optimized harvesting strategy would increase future carbon sequestration, or wood production, by 20-30%, reduce long transportation chain emissions, and maintain many desirable stand structural attributes that are correlated to biodiversity. Our results for this forest region suggest that increasing harvest over the next 100 years increases the strength of

Estimating the carbon budget and maximizing future carbon uptake for a temperate forest region in the U.S.

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Peckham Scott D

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Forests of the Midwest U.S. provide numerous ecosystem services. Two of these, carbon sequestration and wood production, are often portrayed as conflicting. Currently, carbon management and biofuel policies are being developed to reduce atmospheric CO2 and national dependence on foreign oil, and increase carbon storage in ecosystems. However, the biological and industrial forest carbon cycles are rarely studied in a whole-system structure. The forest system carbon balance is the difference between the biological (net ecosystem production and industrial (net emissions from forest industry forest carbon cycles, but to date this critical whole system analysis is lacking. This study presents a model of the forest system, uses it to compute the carbon balance, and outlines a methodology to maximize future carbon uptake in a managed forest region. Results We used a coupled forest ecosystem process and forest products life cycle inventory model for a regional temperate forest in the Midwestern U.S., and found the net system carbon balance for this 615,000 ha forest was positive (2.29 t C ha-1 yr-1. The industrial carbon budget was typically less than 10% of the biological system annually, and averaged averaged 0.082 t C ha-1 yr-1. Net C uptake over the next 100-years increased by 22% or 0.33 t C ha-1 yr-1 relative to the current harvest rate in the study region under the optized harvest regime. Conclusions The forest’s biological ecosystem current and future carbon uptake capacity is largely determined by forest harvest practices that occurred over a century ago, but we show an optimized harvesting strategy would increase future carbon sequestration, or wood production, by 20-30%, reduce long transportation chain emissions, and maintain many desirable stand structural attributes that are correlated to biodiversity. Our results for this forest region suggest that increasing harvest over the next 100�

Modeled forest inventory data suggest climate benefits from fuels management

Science.gov (United States)

Jeremy S. Fried; Theresa B. Jain; Jonathan. Sandquist

2013-01-01

As part of a recent synthesis addressing fuel management in dry, mixed-conifer forests we analyzed more than 5,000 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots, a probability sample that represents 33 million acres of these forests throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and extreme northern California. We relied on the BioSum analysis framework that...

Do multiple fires interact to affect vegetation structure in temperate eucalypt forests?

Science.gov (United States)

Haslem, Angie; Leonard, Steve W J; Bruce, Matthew J; Christie, Fiona; Holland, Greg J; Kelly, Luke T; MacHunter, Josephine; Bennett, Andrew F; Clarke, Michael F; York, Alan

2016-12-01

Fire plays an important role in structuring vegetation in fire-prone regions worldwide. Progress has been made towards documenting the effects of individual fire events and fire regimes on vegetation structure; less is known of how different fire history attributes (e.g., time since fire, fire frequency) interact to affect vegetation. Using the temperate eucalypt foothill forests of southeastern Australia as a case study system, we examine two hypotheses about such interactions: (1) post-fire vegetation succession (e.g., time-since-fire effects) is influenced by other fire regime attributes and (2) the severity of the most recent fire overrides the effect of preceding fires on vegetation structure. Empirical data on vegetation structure were collected from 540 sites distributed across central and eastern Victoria, Australia. Linear mixed models were used to examine these hypotheses and determine the relative influence of fire and environmental attributes on vegetation structure. Fire history measures, particularly time since fire, affected several vegetation attributes including ground and canopy strata; others such as low and sub-canopy vegetation were more strongly influenced by environmental characteristics like rainfall. There was little support for the hypothesis that post-fire succession is influenced by fire history attributes other than time since fire; only canopy regeneration was influenced by another variable (fire type, representing severity). Our capacity to detect an overriding effect of the severity of the most recent fire was limited by a consistently weak effect of preceding fires on vegetation structure. Overall, results suggest the primary way that fire affects vegetation structure in foothill forests is via attributes of the most recent fire, both its severity and time since its occurrence; other attributes of fire regimes (e.g., fire interval, frequency) have less influence. The strong effect of environmental drivers, such as rainfall and

Environment vs. Plant Ontogeny: Arthropod Herbivory Patterns on European Beech Leaves along the Vertical Gradient of Temperate Forests in Central Germany

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Stephanie Stiegel

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Environmental and leaf trait effects on herbivory are supposed to vary among different feeding guilds. Herbivores also show variability in their preferences for plant ontogenetic stages. Along the vertical forest gradient, environmental conditions change, and trees represent juvenile and adult individuals in the understorey and canopy, respectively. This study was conducted in ten forests sites in Central Germany for the enrichment of canopy research in temperate forests. Arthropod herbivory of different feeding traces was surveyed on leaves of Fagus sylvatica Linnaeus (European beech; Fagaceae in three strata. Effects of microclimate, leaf traits, and plant ontogenetic stage were analyzed as determining parameters for herbivory. The highest herbivory was caused by exophagous feeding traces. Herbivore attack levels varied along the vertical forest gradient for most feeding traces with distinct patterns. If differences of herbivory levels were present, they only occurred between juvenile and adult F. sylvatica individuals, but not between the lower and upper canopy. In contrast, differences of microclimate and important leaf traits were present between the lower and upper canopy. In conclusion, the plant ontogenetic stage had a stronger effect on herbivory than microclimate or leaf traits along the vertical forest gradient.

Role of forest conservation in lessening land degradation in a temperate region: the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Manzo-Delgado, Lilia; López-García, José; Alcántara-Ayala, Irasema

2014-06-01

With international concern about the rates of deforestation worldwide, particular attention has been paid to Latin America. Forest conservation programmes in Mexico include Payment for Environmental Services (PES), a scheme that has been successfully introduced in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. To seek further evidence of the role of PES in lessening land degradation processes in a temperate region, the conservation state of the Cerro Prieto ejido within the Reserve was assessed by an analysis of changes in vegetation cover and land-use between 1971 and 2013. There were no changes in the total forest surface area, but the relative proportions of the different classes of cover density had changed. In 1971, closed and semi-closed forest occupied 247.81 ha and 5.38 ha, 82.33% and 1.79% of the total area of the ejido, respectively. By 2013, closed forest had decreased to 230.38 ha (76.54% of the ejido), and semi-closed cover was 17.23 ha (5.72% of the ejido), suggesting that some semi-closed forest had achieved closed status. The final balance between forest losses and recovery was: 29.63 ha were lost, whereas 13.72 ha were recovered. Losses were mainly linked to a sanitation harvest programme to control the bark beetle Scolytus mundus. Ecotourism associated with forest conservation in the Cerro Prieto ejido has been considered by inhabitants as a focal alternative for economic development. Consequently, it is essential to develop a well-planned and solidly structured approach based on social cohesion to foster a community-led sustainable development at local level. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of climate change on temperate forest ecosystems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brolsma, R.J.

2010-01-01

In temperate climates groundwater can have a strong effect on vegetation, because it can influence the spatio-temporal distribution of soil moisture and therefore water and oxygen stress of vegetation. Current IPCC climate projections based on CO2 emission scenarios show a global temperature rise

The likely impact of elevated [CO2], nitrogen deposition, increased temperature and management on carbon sequestration in temperate and boreal forest ecosystems: a literature review

Science.gov (United States)

Riitta Hyvönen; Göran I. Ågren; Sune Linder; Tryggve Persson; M. Francesca Cotrufo; Alf Ekblad; Michael Freeman; Achim Grelle; Ivan A. Janssens; Paul G. Jarvis; Seppo Kellomäki; Anders Lindroth; Denis Loustau; Tomas Lundmark; Richard J. Norby; Ram Oren; Kim Pilegaard; Michael G. Ryan; Bjarni D. Sigurdsson; Monika Strömgren; Marcel van Oijen; Göran Wallin

2007-01-01

Temperate and boreal forest ecosystems contain a large part of the carbon stored on land, in the form of both biomass and soil organic matter. Increasing atmospheric [CO2], increasing temperature, elevated nitrogen deposition and intensified management will change this C store. Well documented single-factor responses of net primary production are: higher photosynthetic...

Development of a Regional Lidar-Derived Above-Ground Biomass Model with Bayesian Model Averaging for Use in Ponderosa Pine and Mixed Conifer Forests in Arizona and New Mexico, USA

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Karis Tenneson

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Historical forest management practices in the southwestern US have left forests prone to high-severity, stand-replacement fires. Reducing the cost of forest-fire management and reintroducing fire to the landscape without negative impact depends on detailed knowledge of stand composition, in particular, above-ground biomass (AGB. Lidar-based modeling techniques provide opportunities to increase ability of managers to monitor AGB and other forest metrics at reduced cost. We developed a regional lidar-based statistical model to estimate AGB for Ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forest systems of the southwestern USA, using previously collected field data. Model selection was performed using Bayesian model averaging (BMA to reduce researcher bias, fully explore the model space, and avoid overfitting. The selected model includes measures of canopy height, canopy density, and height distribution. The model selected with BMA explains 71% of the variability in field-estimates of AGB, and the RMSE of the two independent validation data sets are 23.25 and 32.82 Mg/ha. The regional model is structured in accordance with previously described local models, and performs equivalently to these smaller scale models. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of lidar for developing cost-effective, robust regional AGB models for monitoring and planning adaptively at the landscape scale.

Seed regeneration potential of canopy gaps at early formation stage in temperate secondary forests, Northeast China.

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Qiao-Ling Yan

Full Text Available Promoting the seed regeneration potential of secondary forests undergoing gap disturbances is an important approach for achieving forest restoration and sustainable management. Seedling recruitment from seed banks strongly determines the seed regeneration potential, but the process is poorly understood in the gaps of secondary forests. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the effects of gap size, seed availability, and environmental conditions on the seed regeneration potential in temperate secondary forests. It was found that gap formation could favor the invasion of more varieties of species in seed banks, but it also could speed up the turnover rate of seed banks leading to lower seed densities. Seeds of the dominant species, Fraxinus rhynchophylla, were transient in soil and there was a minor and discontinuous contribution of the seed bank to its seedling emergence. For Quercus mongolica, emerging seedling number was positively correlated with seed density in gaps (R = 0.32, P<0.01, especially in medium and small gaps (<500 m(2. Furthermore, under canopies, there was a positive correlation between seedling number and seed density of Acer mono (R = 0.43, P<0.01. Gap formation could promote seedling emergence of two gap-dependent species (i.e., Q. mongolica and A. mono, but the contribution of seed banks to seedlings was below 10% after gap creation. Soil moisture and temperature were the restrictive factors controlling the seedling emergence from seeds in gaps and under canopies, respectively. Thus, the regeneration potential from seed banks is limited after gap formation.

Seed Regeneration Potential of Canopy Gaps at Early Formation Stage in Temperate Secondary Forests, Northeast China

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Yan, Qiao-Ling; Zhu, Jiao-Jun; Yu, Li-Zhong

2012-01-01

Promoting the seed regeneration potential of secondary forests undergoing gap disturbances is an important approach for achieving forest restoration and sustainable management. Seedling recruitment from seed banks strongly determines the seed regeneration potential, but the process is poorly understood in the gaps of secondary forests. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the effects of gap size, seed availability, and environmental conditions on the seed regeneration potential in temperate secondary forests. It was found that gap formation could favor the invasion of more varieties of species in seed banks, but it also could speed up the turnover rate of seed banks leading to lower seed densities. Seeds of the dominant species, Fraxinus rhynchophylla, were transient in soil and there was a minor and discontinuous contribution of the seed bank to its seedling emergence. For Quercus mongolica, emerging seedling number was positively correlated with seed density in gaps (R = 0.32, P<0.01), especially in medium and small gaps (<500 m2). Furthermore, under canopies, there was a positive correlation between seedling number and seed density of Acer mono (R = 0.43, P<0.01). Gap formation could promote seedling emergence of two gap-dependent species (i.e., Q. mongolica and A. mono), but the contribution of seed banks to seedlings was below 10% after gap creation. Soil moisture and temperature were the restrictive factors controlling the seedling emergence from seeds in gaps and under canopies, respectively. Thus, the regeneration potential from seed banks is limited after gap formation. PMID:22745771

Abiotic and biotic control of methanol exchanges in a temperate mixed forest

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Laffineur, Q.; Aubinet, M.; Schoon, N.; Amelynck, C.; Müller, J.-F.; Dewulf, J.; van Langenhove, H.; Steppe, K.; Heinesch, B.

2012-01-01

Methanol exchanges over a mixed temperate forest in the Belgian Ardennes were measured for more than one vegetation season using disjunct eddy-covariance by a mass scanning technique and Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS). Half-hourly methanol fluxes were measured in the range of -0.6 μg m-2 s-1 to 0.6 μg m-2 s-1, and net daily methanol fluxes were generally negative in summer and autumn and positive in spring. On average, the negative fluxes dominated (i.e. the site behaved as a net sink), in contrast to what had been found in previous studies. An original model describing the adsorption/desorption of methanol in water films present in the forest ecosystem and the methanol degradation process was developed. Its calibration, based on field measurements, predicted a mean methanol degradation rate of -0.0074 μg m-2 s-1 and a half lifetime for methanol in water films of 57.4 h. Biogenic emissions dominated the exchange only in spring, with a standard emission factor of 0.76 μg m-2 s-1. The great ability of the model to reproduce the long-term evolution, as well as the diurnal variation of the fluxes, suggests that the adsorption/desorption and degradation processes play an important role in the global methanol budget. This result underlines the need to conduct long-term measurements in order to accurately capture these processes and to better estimate methanol fluxes at the ecosystem scale.

Leaf life spans of some conifers of the temperate forests of South America Longevidad foliar de algunas coníferas de los bosques templados de Sudamérica

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CHRISTOPHER H. LUSK

2001-09-01

Full Text Available Interspecific variation in leaf life span has wide-ranging implications for plant species sorting on resource availability gradients, and for ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling. Very little is known about leaf life spans of evergreen trees in the temperate forests of South America. Leaf life spans were estimated by static demographic methods, and associated leaf traits measured, for four conifers of this region. It was expected that leaf life span variation would correlate negatively with soil fertility of habitats normally occupied by each species. This prediction was upheld by the data. The mean leaf life span determined for Araucaria araucana (24 years is among the highest figures reported for any plant species. This extreme leaf longevity was associated with very robust construction (high leaf mass per unit area and very low nitrogen content. These aspects of the ecology of A. araucana may affect its fitness in two ways. Firstly, slow foliage turnover will reduce its annual nutrient requirements for crown maintenance, a trait that is thought to be crucial for survival on nutrient-poor sites. Secondly, the low decomposability of A. araucana leaf litter is likely to cause nutrient immobilisation, possibly favouring site retention by A. araucana in the face of competition from faster-growing but more nutrient-demanding species. Interspecific variation in leaf life span appeared to be systematically related to variation in leaf mass per unit area (LMA and leaf nitrogen, in agreement with a large body of evidence that leaf evolution is constrained by a trade-off between trait combinations which optimise carbon gain and growth in resource-rich habitats, and those which favour persistence in chronically adverse environmentsLas diferencias específicas en longevidad foliar tienen importantes implicancias para la distribución de las plantas en relación con gradientes de recursos, y en procesos ecosistémicos tales como el ciclaje de

Eastern hemlock response to even- and uneven-age management in the Acadian forest: results from the Penobscot Experimental Forest long-term silviculture study

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John C. Brissette; Laura S. Kenefic

2000-01-01

Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.) is an important tree species in the mixed-species conifer forests of northern New England and adjacent Canada. Hemlock is very tolerant of understory conditions; consequently, it responds differently to various silvicultural treatments. In a long-term study at the Penobscot Experimental Forest in east-...

Stem water transport and freeze-thaw xylem embolism in conifers and angiosperms in a Tasmanian treeline heath.

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Feild, Taylor S; Brodribb, Tim

2001-05-01

The effect of freezing on stem xylem hydraulic conductivity and leaf chlorophyll a fluorescence was measured in 12 tree and shrub species from a treeline heath in Tasmania, Australia. Reduction in stem hydraulic conductivity after a single freeze-thaw cycle was minimal in conifers and the vessel-less angiosperm species Tasmannia lanceolata (Winteraceae), whereas mean loss of conductivity in vessel-forming angiosperms fell in the range 17-83%. A positive linear relationship was observed between percentage loss of hydraulic conductivity by freeze-thaw and the average conduit diameter across all 12 species. This supports the hypothesis that large-diameter vascular conduits have a greater likelihood of freeze-thaw cavitation because larger bubbles are produced, which are more likely to expand under tension. Leaf frost tolerances, as measured by a 50% loss of maximum PSII quantum yield, varied from -6 to -13°C, indicating that these species were more frost-sensitive than plants from northern hemisphere temperate forest and treeline communities. There was no evidence of a relationship between frost tolerance of leaves and the resilience of stem water transport to freezing, suggesting that low temperature survival and the resistance of stem water transport to freezing are independently evolving traits. The results of this study bear on the ecological importance of stem freezing in the southern hemisphere treeline zones.

Tree Morphologic Plasticity Explains Deviation from Metabolic Scaling Theory in Semi-Arid Conifer Forests, Southwestern USA.

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Tyson L Swetnam

Full Text Available A significant concern about Metabolic Scaling Theory (MST in real forests relates to consistent differences between the values of power law scaling exponents of tree primary size measures used to estimate mass and those predicted by MST. Here we consider why observed scaling exponents for diameter and height relationships deviate from MST predictions across three semi-arid conifer forests in relation to: (1 tree condition and physical form, (2 the level of inter-tree competition (e.g. open vs closed stand structure, (3 increasing tree age, and (4 differences in site productivity. Scaling exponent values derived from non-linear least-squares regression for trees in excellent condition (n = 381 were above the MST prediction at the 95% confidence level, while the exponent for trees in good condition were no different than MST (n = 926. Trees that were in fair or poor condition, characterized as diseased, leaning, or sparsely crowned had exponent values below MST predictions (n = 2,058, as did recently dead standing trees (n = 375. Exponent value of the mean-tree model that disregarded tree condition (n = 3,740 was consistent with other studies that reject MST scaling. Ostensibly, as stand density and competition increase trees exhibited greater morphological plasticity whereby the majority had characteristically fair or poor growth forms. Fitting by least-squares regression biases the mean-tree model scaling exponent toward values that are below MST idealized predictions. For 368 trees from Arizona with known establishment dates, increasing age had no significant impact on expected scaling. We further suggest height to diameter ratios below MST relate to vertical truncation caused by limitation in plant water availability. Even with environmentally imposed height limitation, proportionality between height and diameter scaling exponents were consistent with the predictions of MST.

Tree Morphologic Plasticity Explains Deviation from Metabolic Scaling Theory in Semi-Arid Conifer Forests, Southwestern USA.

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Swetnam, Tyson L; O'Connor, Christopher D; Lynch, Ann M

2016-01-01

A significant concern about Metabolic Scaling Theory (MST) in real forests relates to consistent differences between the values of power law scaling exponents of tree primary size measures used to estimate mass and those predicted by MST. Here we consider why observed scaling exponents for diameter and height relationships deviate from MST predictions across three semi-arid conifer forests in relation to: (1) tree condition and physical form, (2) the level of inter-tree competition (e.g. open vs closed stand structure), (3) increasing tree age, and (4) differences in site productivity. Scaling exponent values derived from non-linear least-squares regression for trees in excellent condition (n = 381) were above the MST prediction at the 95% confidence level, while the exponent for trees in good condition were no different than MST (n = 926). Trees that were in fair or poor condition, characterized as diseased, leaning, or sparsely crowned had exponent values below MST predictions (n = 2,058), as did recently dead standing trees (n = 375). Exponent value of the mean-tree model that disregarded tree condition (n = 3,740) was consistent with other studies that reject MST scaling. Ostensibly, as stand density and competition increase trees exhibited greater morphological plasticity whereby the majority had characteristically fair or poor growth forms. Fitting by least-squares regression biases the mean-tree model scaling exponent toward values that are below MST idealized predictions. For 368 trees from Arizona with known establishment dates, increasing age had no significant impact on expected scaling. We further suggest height to diameter ratios below MST relate to vertical truncation caused by limitation in plant water availability. Even with environmentally imposed height limitation, proportionality between height and diameter scaling exponents were consistent with the predictions of MST.

Repeated wildfires alter forest recovery of mixed-conifer ecosystems.

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Stevens-Rumann, Camille; Morgan, Penelope

2016-09-01

Most models project warmer and drier climates that will contribute to larger and more frequent wildfires. However, it remains unknown how repeated wildfires alter post-fire successional patterns and forest structure. Here, we test the hypothesis that the number of wildfires, as well as the order and severity of wildfire events interact to alter forest structure and vegetation recovery and implications for vegetation management. In 2014, we examined forest structure, composition, and tree regeneration in stands that burned 1-18 yr before a subsequent 2007 wildfire. Three important findings emerged: (1) Repeatedly burned forests had 15% less woody surface fuels and 31% lower tree seedling densities compared with forests that only experienced one recent wildfire. These repeatedly burned areas are recovering differently than sites burned once, which may lead to alternative ecosystem structure. (2) Order of burn severity (high followed by low severity compared with low followed by high severity) did influence forest characteristics. When low burn severity followed high, forests had 60% lower canopy closure and total basal area with 92% fewer tree seedlings than when high burn severity followed low. (3) Time between fires had no effect on most variables measured following the second fire except large woody fuels, canopy closure and tree seedling density. We conclude that repeatedly burned areas meet many vegetation management objectives of reduced fuel loads and moderate tree seedling densities. These differences in forest structure, composition, and tree regeneration have implications not only for the trajectories of these forests, but may reduce fire intensity and burn severity of subsequent wildfires and may be used in conjunction with future fire suppression tactics. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

Empirical analysis of the influence of forest extent on annual and seasonal surface temperatures for the Continental United States

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James D. Wickham; Timothy G. Wade; Kurt H. Riitters

2013-01-01

Aim Because of the low albedo of forests and other biophysical factors, most scenario-based climate modelling studies indicate that removal of temperate forest will promote cooling, indicating that temperate forests are a source of heat relative to other classes of land cover. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that US temperate forests reduce...

Carbon balance of a partially harvested mixed conifer forest following mountain pine beetle attack and its comparison to a clear-cut

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A. Mathys

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The recent mountain pine beetle (MPB outbreak has had an impact on the carbon (C cycling of lodgepole pine forests in British Columbia. This study examines how partial harvesting as a forest management response to MPB infestation affects the net ecosystem production (NEP of a mixed conifer forest (MPB-09 in Interior BC. MPB-09 is a 70-year-old stand that was partially harvested in 2009 after it had been attacked by MPB. Using the eddy-covariance technique, the C dynamics of the stand were studied over two years and compared to an adjacent clear-cut (MPB-09C over the summertime. The annual NEP at MPB-09 increased from −108 g C m−2 in 2010 to −57 g C m−2 in 2011. The increase of NEP was due to the associated increase in annual gross ecosystem photosynthesis (GEP from 812 g C m−2 in 2010 to 954 g C m−2 in 2011, exceeding the increase in annual respiration (Re from 920 g C m−2 to 1011 g C m−2 during the two years. During the four month period between June and September 2010, NEP at MPB-09C was −103 g C m−2, indicating high C losses in the clear-cut. MPB-09 was a C sink during the growing season of both years, increasing from 9 g C m−2 in 2010 to 47 g C m−2 in 2011. The increase of NEP in the partially harvested stand amounted to a recovery corresponding to a 26% increase in the maximum assimilation rate in the second year. This study shows that retaining the healthy residual forest can result in higher C sequestration of MPB-attacked stands compared to clear-cut harvesting.

Effect of summer throughfall exclusion, summer drought, and winter snow cover on methane fluxes in a temperate forest soil

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Borken, W.; Davidson, E.A.; Savage, K.; Sundquist, E.T.; Steudler, P.

2006-01-01

Soil moisture strongly controls the uptake of atmospheric methane by limiting the diffusion of methane into the soil, resulting in a negative correlation between soil moisture and methane uptake rates under most non-drought conditions. However, little is known about the effect of water stress on methane uptake in temperate forests during severe droughts. We simulated extreme summer droughts by exclusion of 168 mm (2001) and 344 mm (2002) throughfall using three translucent roofs in a mixed deciduous forest at the Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, USA. The treatment significantly increased CH4 uptake during the first weeks of throughfall exclusion in 2001 and during most of the 2002 treatment period. Low summertime CH4 uptake rates were found only briefly in both control and exclusion plots during a natural late summer drought, when water contents below 0.15 g cm-3 may have caused water stress of methanotrophs in the A horizon. Because these soils are well drained, the exclusion treatment had little effect on A horizon water content between wetting events, and the effect of water stress was smaller and more brief than was the overall treatment effect on methane diffusion. Methane consumption rates were highest in the A horizon and showed a parabolic relationship between gravimetric water content and CH4 consumption, with maximum rate at 0.23 g H2O g-1 soil. On average, about 74% of atmospheric CH4 was consumed in the top 4-5 cm of the mineral soil. By contrast, little or no CH4 consumption occurred in the O horizon. Snow cover significantly reduced the uptake rate from December to March. Removal of snow enhanced CH4 uptake by about 700-1000%, resulting in uptake rates similar to those measured during the growing season. Soil temperatures had little effect on CH4 uptake as long as the mineral soil was not frozen, indicating strong substrate limitation of methanotrophs throughout the year. Our results suggest that the extension of snow periods may affect the annual rate

Knowing and doing: research leading to action in the conservation of forest genetic diversity of Patagonian temperate forests.

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Gallo, Leonardo A; Marchelli, Paula; Chauchard, Luis; Peñalba, Marcelo Gonzalez

2009-08-01

Researchers dealing with conservation subjects usually do not put the results of their work into practice, even when the primary purpose of their research is the preservation of biodiversity. In the South American temperate forests we identified an area with the highest genetic diversity in Argentina of Nothofagus nervosa, one of the most relevant southern beech species. Based on the information of our scientific study and our recommendations, the authorities of Lanin National Park changed the protection status of this area to avoid logging. The new forestry management plans include consideration of "high genetic diversity" in decisions on where logging will be allowed. Results of our initial genetic study induced the analysis of biodiversity at the species and ecosystems levels, which yielded results similar to our genetic studies. A strong connection among researchers and managers from the onset of our study and the awareness of the former about the importance of the implementation of the research work were key to bridging the gap between conservation research and conservation practice.

Repeated prescribed fires decrease stocks and change attributes of coarse woody debris in a temperate eucalypt forest.

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Aponte, Cristina; Tolhurst, Kevin G; Bennett, Lauren T

2014-07-01

Previous studies have found negligible effects of single prescribed fires on coarse woody debris (CWD), but the cumulative effects of repeated low-intensity prescribed fires are unknown. This represents a knowledge gap for environmental management because repeated prescribed fires are a key tool for mitigating wildfire risk, and because CWD is recognized as critical to forest biodiversity and functioning. We examined the effects of repeated low-intensity prescribed fires on the attributes and stocks of (fallen) CWD in a mixed-species eucalypt forest of temperate Australia. Prescribed fire treatments were a factorial combination of two seasons (Autumn, Spring) and two frequencies (three yearly High, 10 yearly Low), were replicated over five study areas, and involved two to seven low-intensity fires over 27 years. Charring due to prescribed fires variously changed carbon and nitrogen concentrations and C to N ratios of CWD pieces depending on decay class, but did not affect mean wood density. CWD biomass and C and N stocks were significantly less in Fire than Control treatments. Decreases in total CWD C stocks of -8 Mg/ha in Fire treatments were not balanced by minor increases in pyrogenic (char) C (-0.3 Mg/ha). Effects of prescribed fire frequency and season included significantly less C and N stocks in rotten CWD in High than Low frequency treatments, and in the largest CWD pieces in Autumn than Spring treatments. Our study demonstrates that repeated low-intensity prescribed fires have the potential to significantly decrease CWD stocks, in pieces of all sizes and particularly decayed pieces, and to change CWD chemical attributes. CWD is at best a minor stock of pyrogenic C under such fire regimes. These findings suggest a potential trade-off in the management of temperate eucalypt forests between sustained reduction of wildfire risk, and the consequences of decreased CWD C stocks, and of changes in CWD as a habitat and biogeochemical substrate. Nonetheless

Fire regimes approaching historic norms reduce wildfire-facilitated conversion from forest to non-forest

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Ryan B. Walker; Jonathan D. Coop; Sean A. Parks; Laura Trader

2018-01-01

Extensive high-severity wildfires have driven major losses of ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests in the southwestern United States, in some settings catalyzing enduring conversions to nonforested vegetation types. Management interventions to reduce the probability of stand-replacing wildfire have included mechanical fuel treatments, prescribed fire, and wildfire...

Short-term ecological consequences of collaborative restoration treatments in ponderosa pine forests of Colorado

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Jennifer S. Briggs; Paula J. Fornwalt; Jonas A. Feinstein

2017-01-01

Ecological restoration treatments are being implemented at an increasing rate in ponderosa pine and other dry conifer forests across the western United States, via the USDA Forest Service’s Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) program. In this program, collaborative stakeholder groups work with National Forests (NFs) to adaptively implement and monitor...

Accounting for Biomass Carbon Stock Change Due to Wildfire in Temperate Forest Landscapes in Australia

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Keith, Heather; Lindenmayer, David B.; Mackey, Brendan G.; Blair, David; Carter, Lauren; McBurney, Lachlan; Okada, Sachiko; Konishi-Nagano, Tomoko

2014-01-01

Carbon stock change due to forest management and disturbance must be accounted for in UNFCCC national inventory reports and for signatories to the Kyoto Protocol. Impacts of disturbance on greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories are important for many countries with large forest estates prone to wildfires. Our objective was to measure changes in carbon stocks due to short-term combustion and to simulate longer-term carbon stock dynamics resulting from redistribution among biomass components following wildfire. We studied the impacts of a wildfire in 2009 that burnt temperate forest of tall, wet eucalypts in south-eastern Australia. Biomass combusted ranged from 40 to 58 tC ha−1, which represented 6–7% and 9–14% in low- and high-severity fire, respectively, of the pre-fire total biomass carbon stock. Pre-fire total stock ranged from 400 to 1040 tC ha−1 depending on forest age and disturbance history. An estimated 3.9 TgC was emitted from the 2009 fire within the forest region, representing 8.5% of total biomass carbon stock across the landscape. Carbon losses from combustion were large over hours to days during the wildfire, but from an ecosystem dynamics perspective, the proportion of total carbon stock combusted was relatively small. Furthermore, more than half the stock losses from combustion were derived from biomass components with short lifetimes. Most biomass remained on-site, although redistributed from living to dead components. Decomposition of these components and new regeneration constituted the greatest changes in carbon stocks over ensuing decades. A critical issue for carbon accounting policy arises because the timeframes of ecological processes of carbon stock change are longer than the periods for reporting GHG inventories for national emissions reductions targets. Carbon accounts should be comprehensive of all stock changes, but reporting against targets should be based on human-induced changes in carbon stocks to incentivise mitigation activities

Forest gradient response in Sierran landscapes: the physical template

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Urban, Dean L.; Miller, Carol; Halpin, Patrick N.; Stephenson, Nathan L.

2000-01-01

Vegetation pattern on landscapes is the manifestation of physical gradients, biotic response to these gradients, and disturbances. Here we focus on the physical template as it governs the distribution of mixed-conifer forests in California's Sierra Nevada. We extended a forest simulation model to examine montane environmental gradients, emphasizing factors affecting the water balance in these summer-dry landscapes. The model simulates the soil moisture regime in terms of the interaction of water supply and demand: supply depends on precipitation and water storage, while evapotranspirational demand varies with solar radiation and temperature. The forest cover itself can affect the water balance via canopy interception and evapotranspiration. We simulated Sierran forests as slope facets, defined as gridded stands of homogeneous topographic exposure, and verified simulated gradient response against sample quadrats distributed across Sequoia National Park. We then performed a modified sensitivity analysis of abiotic factors governing the physical gradient. Importantly, the model's sensitivity to temperature, precipitation, and soil depth varies considerably over the physical template, particularly relative to elevation. The physical drivers of the water balance have characteristic spatial scales that differ by orders of magnitude. Across large spatial extents, temperature and precipitation as defined by elevation primarily govern the location of the mixed conifer zone. If the analysis is constrained to elevations within the mixed-conifer zone, local topography comes into play as it influences drainage. Soil depth varies considerably at all measured scales, and is especially dominant at fine (within-stand) scales. Physical site variables can influence soil moisture deficit either by affecting water supply or water demand; these effects have qualitatively different implications for forest response. These results have clear implications about purely inferential approaches

[Parameter optimization of BEPS model based on the flux data of the temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest in Northeast China.

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Lu, Wei; Fan, Wen Yi; Tian, Tian

2016-05-01

Keeping other parameters as empirical constants, different numerical combinations of the main photosynthetic parameters V c max and J max were conducted to estimate daily GPP by using the iteration method in this paper. To optimize V c max and J max in BEPSHourly model at hourly time steps, simulated daily GPP using different numerical combinations of the parameters were compared with the flux tower data obtained from the temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest of the Maoershan Forest Farm in Northeast China. Comparing the simulated daily GPP with the observed flux data in 2011, the results showed that optimal V c max and J max for the deciduous broad-leaved forest in Northeast China were 41.1 μmol·m -2 ·s -1 and 82.8 μmol·m -2 ·s -1 respectively with the minimal RMSE and the maximum R 2 of 1.10 g C·m -2 ·d -1 and 0.95. After V c max and J max optimization, BEPSHourly model simulated the seasonal variation of GPP better.

Litter type control on soil C and N stabilization dynamics in a temperate forest.

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Hatton, Pierre-Joseph; Castanha, Cristina; Torn, Margaret S; Bird, Jeffrey A

2015-03-01

While plant litters are the main source of soil organic matter (SOM) in forests, the controllers and pathways to stable SOM formation remain unclear. Here, we address how litter type ((13) C/(15) N-labeled needles vs. fine roots) and placement-depth (O vs. A horizon) affect in situ C and N dynamics in a temperate forest soil after 5 years. Litter type rather than placement-depth controlled soil C and N retention after 5 years in situ, with belowground fine root inputs greatly enhancing soil C (x1.4) and N (x1.2) retention compared with aboveground needles. While the proportions of added needle and fine root-derived C and N recovered into stable SOM fractions were similar, they followed different transformation pathways into stable SOM fractions: fine root transfer was slower than for needles, but proportionally more of the remaining needle-derived C and N was transferred into stable SOM fractions. The stoichiometry of litter-derived C vs. N within individual SOM fractions revealed the presence at least two pools of different turnover times (per SOM fraction) and emphasized the role of N-rich compounds for long-term persistence. Finally, a regression approach suggested that models may underestimate soil C retention from litter with fast decomposition rates. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Sequential effects of severe drought and defoliation on tree growth and survival in a diverse temperate mesic forest

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Matthes, J. H.; Pederson, N.; David, O.; Martin-Benito, D.

2017-12-01

Understanding the effects of climate change and biotic disturbance within diverse temperate mesic forests is complicated by the need to scale between impacts within individuals and across species in the community. It is not clear how these impacts within individuals and across a community influences the stand- and regional-scale response. Furthermore, co-occurring or sequential disturbances can make it challenging to interpret forest responses from observational data. In the northeastern United States, the 1960s drought was perhaps the most severe period of climatic stress within the past 300 years and negatively impacted the growth of individual trees across all species, but unevenly. Additionally, in 1981 the northeast experienced an outbreak of the defoliator Lymantria dispar, which preferentially consumes oak leaves, but in 1981 impacted a high proportion of other species as well. To investigate the effects of drought (across functional groups) and defoliation (within a functional group), we combined a long-term tree-ring dataset from an old-growth forest within the Palmaghatt Ravine in New York with a version of the Ecosystem Demography model that includes a scheme for representing forest insects and pathogens. We explored the sequential impacts of severe drought and defoliation on tree growth, community composition, and ecosystem-atmosphere interactions (carbon, water, and heat flux). W­e also conducted a set of modeling experiments with climate and defoliation disturbance scenarios to bound the potential long-term response of this forest to co-occurring and sequential drought-defoliator disturbances over the next fifty years.

Alpine forest-tundra ecotone response to temperature change,Sayan Mountains, Siberia

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Ranson, K Jon; Kharuk, Vyetcheslav I.

2007-01-01

Models of climate change predict shifts of vegetation zones. Tree response to climate trends is most likely observable in the forest-tundra ecotone, where temperature mainly limits tree growth. There is evidence of vegetation change on the northern treeline However, observations on alpine tree line response are controversial. In this NEESPI related study we show that during the past three decades in the forest-tundra ecotone of the Sayan Mountains, Siberia, there was an increase in forest stand crown closure, regeneration propagation into the alpine tundra, and transformation of prostrate Siberian pine and fir into arboreal forms. We found that these changes occurred since the mid 1980s, and strongly correlates with positive temperature (and to a lesser extent, precipitation) trends. Improving climate for forest growth( i.e., warmer temperatures and increased precipitation) provides competitive advantages to Siberian pine in the alpine forest-tundra ecotone, as well as in areas typically dominated by larch, where it has been found to be forming a secondary canopy layer. Substitution of deciduous conifer, larch, for evergreen conifers, decreases albedo and provides positive feedback for temperature increase.

Contribution of fine tree roots to the silicon cycle in a temperate forest ecosystem developed on three soil types

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Turpault, Marie-Pierre; Calvaruso, Christophe; Kirchen, Gil; Redon, Paul-Olivier; Cochet, Carine

2018-04-01

The role of forest vegetation in the silicon (Si) cycle has been widely examined. However, to date, little is known about the specific role of fine roots. The main objective of our study was to assess the influence of fine roots on the Si cycle in a temperate forest in north-eastern France. Silicon pools and fluxes in vegetal solid and solution phases were quantified within each ecosystem compartment, i.e. in the atmosphere, above-ground and below-ground tree tissues, forest floor and different soil layers, on three plots, each with different soil types, i.e. Dystric Cambisol (DC), Eutric Cambisol (EC) and Rendzic Leptosol (RL). In this study, we took advantage of a natural soil gradient, from shallow calcic soil to deep moderately acidic soil, with similar climates, atmospheric depositions, species compositions and management. Soil solutions were measured monthly for 4 years to study the seasonal dynamics of Si fluxes. A budget of dissolved Si (DSi) was also determined for the forest floor and soil layers. Our study highlighted the major role of fine roots in the Si cycle in forest ecosystems for all soil types. Due to the abundance of fine roots mainly in the superficial soil layers, their high Si concentration (equivalent to that of leaves and 2 orders higher than that of coarse roots) and their rapid turnover rate (approximately 1 year), the mean annual Si fluxes in fine roots in the three plots were 68 and 110 kg ha-1 yr-1 for the RL and the DC, respectively. The turnover rates of fine roots and leaves were approximately 71 and 28 % of the total Si taken up by trees each year, demonstrating the importance of biological recycling in the Si cycle in forests. Less than 1 % of the Si taken up by trees each year accumulated in the perennial tissues. This study also demonstrated the influence of soil type on the concentration of Si in the annual tissues and therefore on the Si fluxes in forests. The concentrations of Si in leaves and fine roots were approximately 1

Avian relationships with wildfire at two dry forest locations with different historical fire regimes

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Quresh Latif; Jamie Sanderlin; Vicki Saab; William Block; Jonathan Dudley

2016-01-01

Wildfire is a key factor influencing bird community composition in western North American forests. We need to understand species and community responses to wildfire and how responses vary regionally to effectively manage dry conifer forests for maintaining biodiversity. We compared avian relationships with wildfire burn severity between two dry forest...

Word-wide meta-analysis of Quercus forests ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity reveals southwestern Mexico as a hotspot.

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García-Guzmán, Olimpia Mariana; Garibay-Orijel, Roberto; Hernández, Edith; Arellano-Torres, Elsa; Oyama, Ken

2017-11-01

Quercus is the most diverse genus of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) host plants; it is distributed in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, from temperate to tropical regions. However, their ECM communities have been scarcely studied in comparison to those of conifers. The objectives of this study were to determine the richness of ECM fungi associated with oak forests in the Cuitzeo basin in southwestern Mexico; and to determine the level of richness, potential endemism and species similarity among ECM fungal communities associated with natural oak forests worldwide through a meta-analysis. The ITS DNA sequences of ECM root tips from 14 studies were included in the meta-analysis. In total, 1065 species of ECM fungi have been documented worldwide; however, 812 species have been only found at one site. Oak forests in Europe contain 416 species, Mexico 307, USA 285, and China 151. Species with wider distributions are Sebacinaceae sp. SH197130, Amanita subjunquillea, Cenococcum geophilum, Cortinarius decipiens, Russula hortensis, R. risigallina, R. subrubescens, Sebacinaceae sp. SH214607, Tomentella ferruginea, and T. lapida. The meta-analysis revealed (1) that Mexico is not only a hotspot for oak species but also for their ECM mycobionts. (2) There is a particularly high diversity of ECM Pezizales in oak seasonal forests from western USA to southwestern Mexico. (3) The oak forests in southwestern Mexico have the largest number of potential endemic species. (4) Globally, there is a high turnover of ECM fungal species associated with oaks, which indicates high levels of alpha and beta diversity in these communities.

POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON PLANT DIVERSITY OF HILLY AREAS OF AZAD KASHMIR AND THEIR MITIGATION: A REVIEW

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K. F. Akbar

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Azad Kashmir has variety of mountain ecosystems which are rich in floral and faunal diversity. These ecosystems are fragile and are under stress due to various natural and anthropogenic pressures. Mountain ecosystems of Azad Kashmir are more vulnerable to global warming and are expected to show its impacts rapidly. Climate change may cause major changes in distribution ranges of different vegetation types. As a result of climate change, the area of three vegetation groups (alpine, grassland/arid woodlands and deserts is expected to decrease and the areas of five types (cold conifer/mixed woodland, cold conifer/mixed forests, temperate conifer/mixed forests, warm conifer/mixed forests, and steppe/arid shrub lands are expected to increase. Climate change is going to affect conservation of plant species and ecosystems by causing direct loss of plant species and intensify the effects of existing threats such as habitat degradation, deforestation and over-harvesting of plants by local communities, pollution and invasive species. These stresses, acting individually and collectively on species, communities and ecosystems, are depleting and will continue to deplete biodiversity. The negative impacts of climate change are multi-dimensional and wide-ranging. Their mitigation requires an integrated and coordinated policy response for conservation of plant resources. These measures include a regular monitoring and observation system, restoration of degraded habitats and forests, identifying new solutions involving cross-sectoral linkages to conserve biological diversity of Azad Kashmir by supporting the intricate and complex responses of species and ecosystems to climate change.

Experimental warming does not enhance soil respiration in a semiarid temperate forest-steppe ecosystem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lellei-Kovacs, E.; Kovacs-Lang, E.; Kalapos, T.

2008-01-01

are still limited. Soil respiration rate-measured monthly between April and November from 2003 to 2006-remained very low (0.09 - 1.53 mu mol CO2 m(-2) s(-1))in accordance with the moderate biological activity and low humus content of the nutrient poor, coarse sandy soil. Specific soil respiration rate...... ( calculated for unit soil organic matter content), however, was relatively high (0.36 - 7.92 mu mol CO g(-1) C(org)h(-1)) suggesting substrate limitation for soil biological activity. During the day, soil respiration rate was significantly lower at dawn than at midday, while seasonally clear temperature......The influence of simulated climate change on soil respiration was studied in a field experiment on 4 m x 5 m plots in the semiarid temperate Pannonian sand forest-steppe. This ecosystem type has low productivity and soil organic matter content, and covers large areas, yet data on soil carbon fluxes...

Quantifying Fire's Impacts on Total and Pyrogenic Carbon Stocks in Mixed-Conifer Forests: Results from Pre- and Post-Fire Measurements in Active Wildfire Incidents

Science.gov (United States)

Miesel, J. R.; Reiner, A. L.; Ewell, C. M.; Sanderman, J.; Maestrini, B.; Adkins, J.

2016-12-01

Widespread US fire suppression policy has contributed to an accumulation of vegetation in many western forests relative to historic conditions, and these changes can exacerbate wildfire severity and carbon (C) emissions. Serious concern exists about positive feedbacks between wildfire emissions and global climate; however, fires not only release C from terrestrial to atmospheric pools, they also create "black" or pyrogenic C (PyC) which contributes to longer-term C stability. Our objective was to quantify wildfire impacts on aboveground and belowground total C and PyC stocks in California mixed-conifer forests. We worked with incident management teams to access five active wildfires to establish and measure plots within days before and after fire. We measured pre- and post-fire aboveground forest structure and woody fuels to calculate aboveground biomass, biomass C, and PyC, and we collected pre- and post-fire forest floor and 0-5 cm mineral soil samples to measure belowground C and PyC stocks. Our preliminary results show that fire had minimal impact on the number of trees per hectare, whereas C losses from the tree layer occurred via consumption of foliage, and PyC gain occurred in tree bark. Fire released 54% to 100% of surface fuel C. In the forest floor layer, we observed 33 to 100% C loss, whereas changes in PyC stocks ranged from 100% loss to 186% gain relative to pre-fire samples. In general, fire had minimal to no impact on 0-5 cm mineral soil C. We will present relationships between total C, PyC and post-fire C and N dynamics in one of the five wildfire sites. Our data are unique because they represent nearly immediate pre- and post-fire measurements in major wildfires in a widespread western U.S. forest type. This research advances understanding of the role of fire on forest C fluxes and C sequestration potential as PyC.

Canopy structure and tree condition of young, mature, and old-growth Douglas-fir/hardwood forests

Science.gov (United States)

B.B. Bingham; J.O. Sawyer

1992-01-01

Sixty-two Douglas-fir/hardwood stands ranging from 40 to 560 years old were used to characterize the density; diameter, and height class distributions of canopy hardwoods and conifers in young (40 -100 yr), mature (101 - 200 yr) and old-growth (>200 yr) forests. The crown, bole, disease, disturbance, and cavity conditions of canopy conifers and hardwoods were...

Role of burning season on initial understory vegetation response to prescribed fire in a mixed conifer forest

Science.gov (United States)

Knapp, E.E.; Schwilk, D.W.; Kane, J.M.; Keeley, J.E.

2007-01-01

Although the majority of fires in the western United States historically occurred during the late summer or early fall when fuels were dry and plants were dormant or nearly so, early-season prescribed burns are often ignited when fuels are still moist and plants are actively growing. The purpose of this study was to determine if burn season influences postfire vegetation recovery. Replicated early-season burn, late-season burn, and unburned control units were established in a mixed conifer forest, and understory vegetation was evaluated before and after treatment. Vegetation generally recovered rapidly after prescribed burning. However, late-season burns resulted in a temporary but significant drop in cover and a decline in species richness at the 1 m 2 scale in the following year. For two of the several taxa that were negatively affected by burning, the reduction in frequency was greater after late-season than early-season burns. Early-season burns may have moderated the effect of fire by consuming less fuel and lessening the amount of soil heating. Our results suggest that, when burned under high fuel loading conditions, many plant species respond more strongly to differences in fire intensity and severity than to timing of the burn relative to stage of plant growth. ?? 2007 NRC.

Photochemical smog effects in mixed conifer forests along a natural gradient of ozone and nitrogen deposition in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Science.gov (United States)

Arbaugh, Michael; Bytnerowicz, Andrzej; Grulke, Nancy; Fenn, Mark; Poth, Mark; Temple, Patrick; Miller, Paul

2003-06-01

Toxic effects of photochemical smog on ponderosa and Jeffrey pines in the San Bernardino Mountains were discovered in the 1950s. It was revealed that ozone is the main cause of foliar injury manifested as chlorotic mottle and premature needle senescence. Various morphological, physiological and biochemical alterations in the affected plants have been reported over a period of about 40 years of multidisciplinary research. Recently, the focus of research has shifted from studying the effects of ozone to multiple pollutant effects. Recent studies have indicated that the combination of ozone and nitrogen may alter biomass allocation in pines towards that of deciduous trees, accelerate litter accumulation, and increase carbon sequestration rates in heavily polluted forests. Further study of the effects of multiple pollutants, and their long-term consequences on the mixed conifer ecosystem, cannot be adequately done using the original San Bernardino Mountains Air Pollution Gradient network. To correct deficiencies in the design, the new site network is being configured for long-term studies on multiple air pollutant concentrations and deposition, physiological and biochemical changes in trees, growth and composition of over-story species, biogeochemical cycling including carbon cycling and sequestration, water quality, and biodiversity of forest ecosystems. Eleven sites have been re-established. A comparison of 1974 stand composition with data from 2000 stand composition indicate that significant changes in species composition have occurred at some sites with less change at other sites. Moist, high-pollution sites have experienced the greatest amount of forest change, while dryer low-pollution sites have experienced the least amount of stand change. In general, ponderosa pine had the lowest basal area increases and the highest mortality across the San Bernardino Mountains.

Patterns of plant diversity in seven temperate forest types of Western Himalaya, India

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Javid Ahmad Dar

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Plant biodiversity patterns were analyzed in seven temperate forest types [Populus deltoides (PD, Juglans regia, Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, mixed coniferous, Abies pindrow (AP and Betula utilis (BU] of Kashmir Himalaya. A total of 177 plant species (158 genera, 66 families were recorded. Most of the species are herbs (82.5%, while shrubs account for 9.6% and trees represent 7.9%. Species richness ranged from 24 (PD to 96 (AP. Shannon, Simpson, and Fisher α indices varied: 0.17–1.06, 0.46–1.22, and 2.01–2.82 for trees; 0.36–0.94, 0.43–0.75, and 0.08–0.35 for shrubs; and 0.35–1.41, 0.27–0.95, and 5.61–39.98 for herbs, respectively. A total of five species were endemic. The total stems and basal area of trees were 35,794 stems (stand mean 330 stems/ha and 481.1 m2 (stand mean 40.2 m2/ha, respectively. The mean density and basal area ranged from 103 stems/ha (BU to 1,201 stems/ha (PD, and from 19.4 m2/ha (BU to 51.9 m2/ha (AP, respectively. Tree density decreased with increase in diameter class. A positive relationship was obtained between elevation and species richness and between elevation and evenness (R2 = 0.37 and 0.19, respectively. Tree and shrub communities were homogenous in nature across the seven forest types, while herbs showed heterogeneous distribution pattern.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides and its Utility in Paleoecological Reconstruction of Eocene High Latitude Forests

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, C. J.; LePage, B. A.; Vann, D. R.; Johnson, A. H.

2001-05-01

. branch diameter (r2 = 0.91) for living Metasequoia and branch diameters of the Eocene trees, branch biomass of the Eocene trees was estimated to be 28 Mg ha-1 dry weight and foliar biomass (and annual foliar production for this deciduous conifer) of fossil Metasequoia was estimated to be 3.5 Mg ha-1 dry weight. Total standing biomass of the fossil forest was estimated to be 591 Mg ha-1 dry weight. On a stand-average basis, the annual ring width of the trees we sampled equaled 1.3 mm. Based on this ring width our preliminary estimate for the aboveground net primary productivity (NPP) of these forests is 5.9 Mg ha-1yr^{-1}$ (foliage production plus wood production). Thus, these were high biomass forests with moderate productivity typical of modern cool temperate forests similar in stature and total biomass to the modern old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest (USA).

Ecophysiological Remote Sensing of Leaf-Canopy Photosynthetic Characteristics in a Cool-Temperate Deciduous Forest in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Noda, H. M.; Muraoka, H.

2014-12-01

Satellite remote sensing of structure and function of canopy is crucial to detect temporal and spatial distributions of forest ecosystems dynamics in changing environments. The spectral reflectance of the canopy is determined by optical properties (spectral reflectance and transmittance) of single leaves and their spatial arrangements in the canopy. The optical properties of leaves reflect their pigments contents and anatomical structures. Thus detailed information and understandings of the consequence between ecophysiological traits and optical properties from single leaf to canopy level are essential for remote sensing of canopy ecophysiology. To develop the ecophysiological remote sensing of forest canopy, we have been promoting multiple and cross-scale measurements in "Takayama site" belonging to AsiaFlux and JaLTER networks, located in a cool-temperate deciduous broadleaf forest on a mountainous landscape in Japan. In this forest, in situ measurement of canopy spectral reflectance has been conducted continuously by a spectroradiometer as part of the "Phenological Eyes Network (PEN)" since 2004. To analyze the canopy spectral reflectance from leaf ecophysiological viewpoints, leaf mass per area, nitrogen content, chlorophyll contents, photosynthetic capacities and the optical properties have been measured for dominant canopy tree species Quercus crispla and Betula ermanii throughout the seasons for multiple years.Photosynthetic capacity was largely correlated with chlorophyll contents throughout the growing season in both Q. crispla and B. ermanii. In these leaves, the reflectance at "red edge" (710 nm) changed by corresponding to the changes of chlorophyll contents throughout the seasons. Our canopy-level examination showed that vegetation indices obtained by red edge reflectance have linear relationship with leaf chlorophyll contents and photosynthetic capacity. Finally we apply this knowledge to the Rapid Eye satellite imagery around Takayama site to scale

Evaluation of climate-related carbon turnover processes in global vegetation models for boreal and temperate forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Thurner, Martin; Beer, Christian; Ciais, Philippe; Friend, Andrew D; Ito, Akihiko; Kleidon, Axel; Lomas, Mark R; Quegan, Shaun; Rademacher, Tim T; Schaphoff, Sibyll; Tum, Markus; Wiltshire, Andy; Carvalhais, Nuno

2017-08-01

Turnover concepts in state-of-the-art global vegetation models (GVMs) account for various processes, but are often highly simplified and may not include an adequate representation of the dominant processes that shape vegetation carbon turnover rates in real forest ecosystems at a large spatial scale. Here, we evaluate vegetation carbon turnover processes in GVMs participating in the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP, including HYBRID4, JeDi, JULES, LPJml, ORCHIDEE, SDGVM, and VISIT) using estimates of vegetation carbon turnover rate (k) derived from a combination of remote sensing based products of biomass and net primary production (NPP). We find that current model limitations lead to considerable biases in the simulated biomass and in k (severe underestimations by all models except JeDi and VISIT compared to observation-based average k), likely contributing to underestimation of positive feedbacks of the northern forest carbon balance to climate change caused by changes in forest mortality. A need for improved turnover concepts related to frost damage, drought, and insect outbreaks to better reproduce observation-based spatial patterns in k is identified. As direct frost damage effects on mortality are usually not accounted for in these GVMs, simulated relationships between k and winter length in boreal forests are not consistent between different regions and strongly biased compared to the observation-based relationships. Some models show a response of k to drought in temperate forests as a result of impacts of water availability on NPP, growth efficiency or carbon balance dependent mortality as well as soil or litter moisture effects on leaf turnover or fire. However, further direct drought effects such as carbon starvation (only in HYBRID4) or hydraulic failure are usually not taken into account by the investigated GVMs. While they are considered dominant large-scale mortality agents, mortality mechanisms related to insects and

Vegetation Indices for Mapping Canopy Foliar Nitrogen in a Mixed Temperate Forest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhihui Wang

2016-06-01

findings demonstrated the feasibility of using hyperspectral vegetation indices to estimate %N in a mixed temperate forest which may relate to the effect of the physical basis of nitrogen absorption features on canopy reflectance, or the biological links between nitrogen, chlorophyll, and canopy structure.

Dynamic and inertial controls on forest carbon-water relations

Science.gov (United States)

Maxwell, T.; Silva, L.; Horwath, W. R.

2017-12-01

This study fuses theory, empirical measurements, and statistical models to evaluate multiple processes controlling coupled carbon-water cycles in forest ecosystems. A series of latitudinal and altitudinal transects across the California Sierra Nevada was used to study the effects of climatic and edaphic gradients on intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) - CO2 fixed per unit of water lost via transpiration - of nine dominant trees species. Transfer functions were determined between leaf, litter, and soil organic matter stable isotope ratios of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, revealing causal links between the physiological performance of tree species and stand-level estimations of productivity and water balance. Our results show that species iWUE is governed both by leaf traits (24% of the variation) and edaphic properties, such as parent material and soil development (3% and 12% of the variation, respectively). We show that soil properties combined with isotopic indicators can be used to explain constraints over iWUE by regulating water and nutrient availability across elevation gradients. Based on observed compositional shifts likely driven by changing climates in the region, encroachment of broad leaf trees could lead to an 80% increase in water loss via transpiration for each unit of CO2 fixed in Sierra mixed conifer zones. A combination of field-based, laboratory, and remote sensed data provide a useful framework for differentiating the effect of multiple controls of carbon and water cycles in temperate forest ecosystems.

Abiotic and biotic control of methanol exchanges in a temperate mixed forest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Q. Laffineur

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Methanol exchanges over a mixed temperate forest in the Belgian Ardennes were measured for more than one vegetation season using disjunct eddy-covariance by a mass scanning technique and Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS. Half-hourly methanol fluxes were measured in the range of −0.6 μg m⁻² s⁻¹ to 0.6 μg m⁻² s⁻¹, and net daily methanol fluxes were generally negative in summer and autumn and positive in spring. On average, the negative fluxes dominated (i.e. the site behaved as a net sink, in contrast to what had been found in previous studies.

An original model describing the adsorption/desorption of methanol in water films present in the forest ecosystem and the methanol degradation process was developed. Its calibration, based on field measurements, predicted a mean methanol degradation rate of −0.0074 μg m⁻² s⁻¹ and a half lifetime for methanol in water films of 57.4 h. Biogenic emissions dominated the exchange only in spring, with a standard emission factor of 0.76 μg m⁻² s⁻¹.

The great ability of the model to reproduce the long-term evolution, as well as the diurnal variation of the fluxes, suggests that the adsorption/desorption and degradation processes play an important role in the global methanol budget. This result underlines the need to conduct long-term measurements in order to accurately capture these processes and to better estimate methanol fluxes at the ecosystem scale.

Towards scaling interannual ecohydrological responses of conifer forests to bark beetle infestations from individuals to landscapes

Science.gov (United States)

Mackay, D. S.; Ewers, B. E.; Peckham, S. D.; Savoy, P.; Reed, D. E.; Frank, J. M.

2013-12-01

Widespread epidemics of forest-damaging insects have severe implications for the interconnections between water and ecosystem processes under present-day climate. How these systems respond to future climates is highly uncertain, and so there is a need for a better understanding of the effects of such disturbances on plant hydraulics, and the consequent effects on ecosystem processes. Moreover, large-scale manifestations of such disturbances require scaling knowledge obtained from individual trees or stands up to a regional extent. This requires a conceptual framework that integrates physical and biological processes that are immutable and scalable. Indeed, in Western North America multiple conifer species have been impacted by the bark beetle epidemic, but the prediction of such widespread outbreaks under changing environmental conditions must be generalized from a relatively small number of ground-based observations. Using model-data fusion we examine the fundamental principles that drive ecological and hydrological responses to bark beetles infestation from individuals to regions. The study includes a mid-elevation (2750 m a.s.l) lodgepole pine forest and higher (3190 m a.s.l.) elevation Engelmann spruce - fir forest in southern Wyoming. The study included a suite of observations, comprising leaf gas exchange, non-structural carbon (NSC), plant hydraulics, including sap flux transpiration (E), vulnerability to cavitation, leaf water potentials, and eddy covariance, were made pre-, during-, and post-disturbance, as the bark beetle infestation moved through these areas. Numerous observations tested hypotheses generated by the Terrestrial Regional Ecosystem Exchange Simulator (TREES), which integrates soil hydraulics and dynamic tree hydraulics (cavitation) with canopy energy and gas exchange, and operates at scales from individuals to landscapes. TREES accurately predicted E and NSC dynamics among individuals spanning pre- and post-disturbance periods, with the 95

Changes of Organic Carbon Quantity and Quality in Temperate Forest Soils

Science.gov (United States)

Kühnel, Anna; Satwika Lestari, Annisa; Schubert, Alfred; Wiesmeier, Martin; Spörlein, Peter; Schilling, Bernd; Kögel-Knabner, Ingrid

2017-04-01

Climate change will have profound impacts on organic matter stocks and thus on the functionality of soils. Soil organic carbon (SOC) content in soil is mainly regulated by the fluxes of organic matter which are highly associated with the aboveground and root litter production and their decompositions into CO2 by soil microorganism. The predicted rising temperatures in Bavaria might lead to an increased decomposition and release of soil carbon into the atmosphere, which would deteriorate a number of important soil functions. Here, we present an assessment of SOC stocks in three temperate forest sites over the last 30 years. Soil to a depth of 30 cm was analysed with density fractionation to evaluate SOC stocks and distribution in different pools. Additionally, tree-aboveground organic carbon (OC) stocks were measured to assess their influence on SOC. SOC stocks decreased between 1988 and 2004 and increased between 2004 and 2016. OC changes of litter + O layer and mineral soil differed. Highest changes of SOC occurred in the light fractions, followed by the mineral fractions. Tree-aboveground biomass, stand composition, and changing climate had an influence on SOC stocks. Precipitation change was correlated with the litter + O layer OC stocks. Further studies on the changes of each SOC fraction and the influence of other edaphic factors are needed to better understand the changes in SOC stocks and quality.

Visitor preferences for visual changes in bark beetle-impacted forest recreation settings in the United States and Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Arne Arnberger; Martin Ebenberger; Ingrid E. Schneider; Stuart Cottrell; Alexander C. Schlueter; Eick von Ruschkowski; Robert C. Venette; Stephanie A. Snyder; Paul H. Gobster

2018-01-01

Extensive outbreaks of tree-killing insects are increasing across forests in Europe and North America due to climate change and other factors. Yet, little recent research examines visitor response to visual changes in conifer forest recreation settings resulting from forest insect infestations, how visitors weigh trade-offs between physical and social forest...

Sugar export limits size of conifer needles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rademaker, Hanna; Zwieniecki, Maciej A.; Bohr, Tomas

2017-01-01

Plant leaf size varies by more than three orders of magnitude, from a few millimeters to over one meter. Conifer leaves, however, are relatively short and the majority of needles are no longer than 6 cm. The reason for the strong confinement of the trait-space is unknown. We show that sugars...... does not contribute to sugar flow. Remarkably, we find that the size of the active part does not scale with needle length. We predict a single maximum needle size of 5 cm, in accord with data from 519 conifer species. This could help rationalize the recent observation that conifers have significantly...

Relation of Chlorophyll Fluorescence Sensitive Reflectance Ratios to Carbon FluxMeasurements ofMontanne Grassland and Norway Spruce Forest Ecosystems in the Temperate Zone

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Ač, Alexander; Malenovský, Z.; Urban, Otmar; Hanuš, Jan; Zitová, Martina; Navrátil, M.; Vráblová, M.; Olejníčková, Julie; Špunda, V.; Marek, Michal V.

2012-01-01

Roč. 2012, č. 2012 (2012), s. 1-13 ISSN 1537-744X R&D Projects: GA MŽP(CZ) SP/2D1/70/08; GA MŽP(CZ) SP/2D1/93/07; GA MŠk(CZ) LM2010007; GA MŠk(CZ) ED1.1.00/02.0073 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60870520 Keywords : Chlorophyll fluorescence * carbon flux * forest ecosystems * Norway Spruce * temperate zone Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 1.730, year: 2012

Simulating carbon and water cycles of larch forests in East Asia by the BIOME-BGC model with AsiaFlux data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ueyama

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Larch forests are widely distributed across many cool-temperate and boreal regions, and they are expected to play an important role in global carbon and water cycles. Model parameterizations for larch forests still contain large uncertainties owing to a lack of validation. In this study, a process-based terrestrial biosphere model, BIOME-BGC, was tested for larch forests at six AsiaFlux sites and used to identify important environmental factors that affect the carbon and water cycles at both temporal and spatial scales.

The model simulation performed with the default deciduous conifer parameters produced results that had large differences from the observed net ecosystem exchange (NEE, gross primary productivity (GPP, ecosystem respiration (RE, and evapotranspiration (ET. Therefore, we adjusted several model parameters in order to reproduce the observed rates of carbon and water cycle processes. This model calibration, performed using the AsiaFlux data, substantially improved the model performance. The simulated annual GPP, RE, NEE, and ET from the calibrated model were highly consistent with observed values.

The observed and simulated GPP and RE across the six sites were positively correlated with the annual mean air temperature and annual total precipitation. On the other hand, the simulated carbon budget was partly explained by the stand disturbance history in addition to the climate. The sensitivity study indicated that spring warming enhanced the carbon sink, whereas summer warming decreased it across the larch forests. The summer radiation was the most important factor that controlled the carbon fluxes in the temperate site, but the VPD and water conditions were the limiting factors in the boreal sites. One model parameter, the allocation ratio of carbon between belowground and aboveground, was site-specific, and it was negatively correlated with the annual climate of annual mean air temperature and total precipitation

Simulating carbon and water cycles of larch forests in East Asia by the BIOME-BGC model with AsiaFlux data

Science.gov (United States)

Ueyama, M.; Ichii, K.; Hirata, R.; Takagi, K.; Asanuma, J.; Machimura, T.; Nakai, Y.; Ohta, T.; Saigusa, N.; Takahashi, Y.; Hirano, T.

2010-03-01

Larch forests are widely distributed across many cool-temperate and boreal regions, and they are expected to play an important role in global carbon and water cycles. Model parameterizations for larch forests still contain large uncertainties owing to a lack of validation. In this study, a process-based terrestrial biosphere model, BIOME-BGC, was tested for larch forests at six AsiaFlux sites and used to identify important environmental factors that affect the carbon and water cycles at both temporal and spatial scales. The model simulation performed with the default deciduous conifer parameters produced results that had large differences from the observed net ecosystem exchange (NEE), gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (RE), and evapotranspiration (ET). Therefore, we adjusted several model parameters in order to reproduce the observed rates of carbon and water cycle processes. This model calibration, performed using the AsiaFlux data, substantially improved the model performance. The simulated annual GPP, RE, NEE, and ET from the calibrated model were highly consistent with observed values. The observed and simulated GPP and RE across the six sites were positively correlated with the annual mean air temperature and annual total precipitation. On the other hand, the simulated carbon budget was partly explained by the stand disturbance history in addition to the climate. The sensitivity study indicated that spring warming enhanced the carbon sink, whereas summer warming decreased it across the larch forests. The summer radiation was the most important factor that controlled the carbon fluxes in the temperate site, but the VPD and water conditions were the limiting factors in the boreal sites. One model parameter, the allocation ratio of carbon between belowground and aboveground, was site-specific, and it was negatively correlated with the annual climate of annual mean air temperature and total precipitation. Although this study substantially

Public Preferences Across Europe for Different Forest Stand Types as Sites for Recreation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David M. Edwards

2012-03-01

Full Text Available A Delphi survey involving experts in forest preference research was carried out to derive scores for the recreational value of 240 forest stand types across Europe. The survey was organized around four regional panels: Great Britain, Nordic Region, Central Europe, and Iberia. In each region, 60 forest stand types were defined according to five forest management alternatives (FMAs on a continuum of management intensity, four phases of development (establishment, young, medium, and adult, and three tree species types (conifer, broadleaved, and mixed stands of conifer and broadleaved. The resulting scores were examined using conjoint analysis to determine the relative importance of the three structural attributes (FMA, phase of development, and tree species type, and each level or component of the attributes. The findings quantify the extent to which forest visitors prefer a degree of management to unmanaged forest nature reserves across the four regions. Phase of development was shown to make the highest contribution to the recreational value of forests while the contribution of tree species type was shown to be relatively unimportant. While the results are indicative, they provide evidence to support long-term retention and low-impact silviculture in forests where recreation is a primary objective of management.

Estimating carbon emissions from forest fires during 1980 to 1999 in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

white birch (Betula platyphylla Suk.), mixed broadleaved-conifer (L. gmelinii & B. platyphylla) and Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica Fish.) forests were 437 947, 20 939, 142 527, 168 532 and 1 375 hm2 during 1980 to 1999 period, respectively. The fuel consumed based on these forests were 29.0 to 46.5, 16.7 to 26.5, ...

Disturbance and productivity interactions mediate stability of forest composition and structure

Science.gov (United States)

Christopher D. O' Connor; Donald A. Falk; Ann M. Lynch; Thomas W. Swetnam; Craig P. Wilcox

2017-01-01

Fire is returning to many conifer-dominated forests where species composition and structure have been altered by fire exclusion. Ecological effects of these fires are influenced strongly by the degree of forest change during the fire-free period. Response of fire-adapted species assemblages to extended fire-free intervals is highly variable, even in communities with...

Simulating Canopy-Level Solar Induced Fluorescence with CLM-SIF 4.5 at a Sub-Alpine Conifer Forest in the Colorado Rockies

Science.gov (United States)

Raczka, B. M.; Bowling, D. R.; Lin, J. C.; Lee, J. E.; Yang, X.; Duarte, H.; Zuromski, L.

2017-12-01

Forests of the Western United States are prone to drought, temperature extremes, forest fires and insect infestation. These disturbance render carbon stocks and land-atmosphere carbon exchanges highly variable and vulnerable to change. Regional estimates of carbon exchange from terrestrial ecosystem models are challenged, in part, by a lack of net ecosystem exchange observations (e.g. flux towers) due to the complex mountainous terrain. Alternatively, carbon estimates based on light use efficiency models that depend upon remotely-sensed greenness indices are challenged due to a weak relationship with GPP during the winter season. Recent advances in the retrieval of remotely sensed solar induced fluorescence (SIF) have demonstrated a strong seasonal relationship between GPP and SIF for deciduous, grass and, to a lesser extent, conifer species. This provides an important opportunity to use remotely-sensed SIF to calibrate terrestrial ecosystem models providing a more accurate regional representation of biomass and carbon exchange across mountainous terrain. Here we incorporate both leaf-level fluorescence and leaf-to-canopy radiative transfer represented by the SCOPE model into CLM 4.5 (CLM-SIF). We simulate canopy level fluorescence at a sub-alpine forest site (Niwot Ridge, Colorado) and test whether these simulations reproduce remotely-sensed SIF from a satellite (GOME2). We found that the average peak SIF during the growing season (yrs 2007-2013) was similar between the model and satellite observations (within 15%); however, simulated SIF during the winter season was significantly greater than the satellite observations (5x higher). This implies that the fluorescence yield is overestimated by the model during the winter season. It is important that the modeled representation of seasonal fluorescence yield is improved to provide an accurate seasonal representation of SIF across the Western United States.

Root water uptake and lateral interactions among root systems in a temperate forest

Science.gov (United States)

Agee, E.; He, L.; Bisht, G.; Gough, C. M.; Couvreur, V.; Matheny, A. M.; Bohrer, G.; Ivanov, V. Y.

2016-12-01

A growing body of research has highlighted the importance of root architecture and hydraulic properties to the maintenance of the transpiration stream under water limitation and drought. Detailed studies of single plant systems have shown the ability of root systems to adjust zones of uptake due to the redistribution of local water potential gradients, thereby delaying the onset of stress under drying conditions. An open question is how lateral interactions and competition among neighboring plants impact individual and community resilience to water stress. While computational complexity has previously hindered the implementation of microscopic root system structure and function in larger scale hydrological models, newer hybrid approaches allow for the resolution of these properties at the plot scale. Using a modified version of the PFLOTRAN model, which represents the 3-D physics of variably saturated soil, we model root water uptake in a one-hectare temperate forest plot under natural and synthetic forcings. Two characteristic hydraulic architectures, tap roots and laterally sprawling roots, are implemented in an ensemble of simulations. Variations of root architecture, their hydraulic properties, and degree of system interactions produce variable local response to water limitation and provide insights on individual and community response to changing meteorological conditions. Results demonstrate the ability of interacting systems to shift areas of active uptake based on local gradients, allowing individuals to meet water demands despite competition from their peers. These results further illustrate how inter- and intra-species variations in root properties may influence not only individual response to water stress, but also help quantify the margins of resilience for forest ecosystems under changing climate.

Evidence and implications of recent and projected climate change in Alaska's forest ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Wolken, Jane M.; Hollingsworth, Teresa N.; Rupp, T. Scott; Chapin, Stuart III; Trainor, Sarah F.; Barrett, Tara M.; Sullivan, Patrick F.; McGuire, A. David; Euskirchen, Eugénie S.; Hennon, Paul E.; Beever, Erik A.; Conn, Jeff S.; Crone, Lisa K.; D'Amore, David V.; Fresco, Nancy; Hanley, Thomas A.; Kielland, Knut; Kruse, James J.; Patterson, Trista; Schuur, Edward A.G.; Verbyla, David L.; Yarie, John

2011-01-01

The structure and function of Alaska's forests have changed significantly in response to a changing climate, including alterations in species composition and climate feedbacks (e.g., carbon, radiation budgets) that have important regional societal consequences and human feedbacks to forest ecosystems. In this paper we present the first comprehensive synthesis of climate-change impacts on all forested ecosystems of Alaska, highlighting changes in the most critical biophysical factors of each region. We developed a conceptual framework describing climate drivers, biophysical factors and types of change to illustrate how the biophysical and social subsystems of Alaskan forests interact and respond directly and indirectly to a changing climate. We then identify the regional and global implications to the climate system and associated socio-economic impacts, as presented in the current literature. Projections of temperature and precipitation suggest wildfire will continue to be the dominant biophysical factor in the Interior-boreal forest, leading to shifts from conifer- to deciduous-dominated forests. Based on existing research, projected increases in temperature in the Southcentral- and Kenai-boreal forests will likely increase the frequency and severity of insect outbreaks and associated wildfires, and increase the probability of establishment by invasive plant species. In the Coastal-temperate forest region snow and ice is regarded as the dominant biophysical factor. With continued warming, hydrologic changes related to more rapidly melting glaciers and rising elevation of the winter snowline will alter discharge in many rivers, which will have important consequences for terrestrial and marine ecosystem productivity. These climate-related changes will affect plant species distribution and wildlife habitat, which have regional societal consequences, and trace-gas emissions and radiation budgets, which are globally important. Our conceptual framework facilitates

Long and Short-Term Effects of Fire on Soil Charcoal of a Conifer Forest in Southwest Oregon