Coarse woody debris (CWD) decomposition in the Russian boreal forests of the southern taiga zone was studied at four sites located near St. Petersburg in Northwestern Russia, Krasnoyarsk in Eastern Siberia, lrkutsk in the Baikal region, and Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East. This study was part of a broader...
Forest floor vertebrate species presence and abundance may be influenced by the volume and cover of coarse woody debris (CWD) in managed forests. I studied macro- and microhabitat associations of vertebrate species in 18 closed-canopy stands ranging in CWD volume from 14 to 859 m3/ha. Pitfall traps were used to...
As concern over global warming intensifies, sequestration and storage of atmospheric CO2 has become an important scientific and policy issue. Confusion persists, however, over interpretation of forest carbon (C) source-sink dynamics, in part because conclusions drawn depend on temporal and spatial scales of analysis (e.g. day-week
scale vs. successional-scale), type...
Historical aerial photos were used to examine the early phase of forest succession after stand replacement disturbance, covering the Coast Ranges Province (CRP) and the western Cascades Province (WCP) of western Oregon. The study consisted of two components: characterizing the pattern of forest succession in western Oregon; analyzing the influence...
The rapid accumulation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste caused by disposable plastic water bottle use is a worldwide problem that will continue to affect our environment, economy and society unless new methods of reduction and degradation are explored. The large amounts of energy and resources that are required during...
Ecosystems are highly heterogeneous systems subjected to important levels of environmental variability; however, it is common in terrestrial biogeochemical models to assume homogeneous properties of the elements of the system or constant environmental conditions. For some processes, heterogeneity in these models is treated very simplistically, but there is not much...
Previous studies have indicated that roots from five tree species (Picea sitchensis, Tsuga heterophylla, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pinus ponderosa, and Pinus contorta) decompose at different rates across an environmental gradient in Oregon. Measurements of wood chemistry from each tree species as well as moisture and
temperature from each location do not...
Tropical forest-to-agriculture conversions contribute to ~20% of contemporary global C emissions. Current global C flux estimates assume C is lost from vegetation and soils over time due to this conversion, and that C stocks in agricultural lands are fairly uniform across the tropics. Global C stock and flux estimates may...
Quantifying and modeling processes involved in the global carbon cycle is important to evaluate the temporal and spatial variability of these processes and understand the effect of this variability on future response to changing climate and land use patterns. Biomass accumulation and Net Primary Productivity (NPP) are large components of...
Concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere has increased over the past 150 years. Because CO₂ is one of a number of radiatively active gases, there is concern that global temperatures will rise and climatic conditions will change. Recent research indicates northern hemisphere forests may currently be accumulating carbon...