The European hazelnut, Corylus avellana L., was imported into the U.S. in the late 1800's and is now grown throughout the Willamette Valley in Oregon. A native species of hazelnut, C. cornuta Marshall, is a common shrub found in forested areas of the Pacific Northwest. Foliage of both C. avellana...
Prairies were once the dominant vegetation type in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Land use conversion, fire suppression, succession, and invasive species have reduced Willamette Valley prairies to less than 1% of their historical area. The remnant prairies that persist today are small in size and are highly fragmented. Marginal strips of...
The influence of loss of diversity on community dynamics and ecosystem functioning has recently received considerable attention. Although study of biodiversity has a long history within ecology, empirical investigations exploring consequences of loss have been rare. Because many factors confound diversity comparisons, experimental manipulations of diversity offer the most direct...
As ecologists are being called upon to predict the consequences of human
perturbations to natural communities, an important goal is to understand what factors
drive variability or consistency in nature.
In the rocky intertidal of San Juan Island, Washington, a comparative
experimental approach was used to investigate spatial and temporal...
The release of marine debris into the oceans and seas is a global issue of growing concern. These materials are harmful to marine environments and can also transport non-native species to novel habitats. Non-native species floating on marine litter is one of the lesser known impacts associated with marine debris....
Hopper dredge disposal of coarse grained sediment was
investigated between May and September, 1986, at a designated disposal
area, Site G, in Coos Bay, Oregon. The objectives of the study were
to: (a) identify and describe the benthic macrofaunal community
structure at Site G during May and September, 1986; (b)...
National Forest management in the Pacific Northwest is shifting
from a focus on commodity production to ecosystem management, in which
the health of the entire forest ecosystem is considered, rather than that
of a few key species. Ecosystem management includes retention of some
live trees following timber harvest (green-tree retention)...
Human alteration of natural landscapes leads to biodiversity loss, often from a combination of area effects and fragmentation effects. Smaller habitat patches support fewer species than large ones and incur additional consequences from isolation. Efforts to preempt biodiversity loss from insular habitat fragments are complicated by individualistic species responses and...
The sustainable use of wood for rail ties requires chemical treatment to increase service life and maintain structural integrity. Treatment can only be applied after lengthy air-seasoning to reduce moisture content in wood, but seasoning leaves ties exposed to attack by decay fungi for up to a year. One factor...
Spatially explicit maps of habitat relationships have proven to be valuable tools for conservation and management applications including evaluating how and which species may be impacted by large scale climate change, ongoing fragmentation of habitat, and local land-use practices. Studies have turned to remote sensing datasets as a way to...