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...
Soil respiration, or the combined CO₂ emissions from roots and soil microorganisms, constitutes one of the largest losses of carbon (C) from terrestrial ecosystems. The major drivers of soil respiration, which include soil moisture, temperature, and substrate quality, have been known for some time. Nevertheless,
correlations between these drivers and...
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...
Effects of small-scale disturbances on fecundity and growth rates of Linnaea
borealis L., Tiarella trifoliata L. var. unifoliata, and Trillium ovatum Pursh. were studied in
old-growth forests in the Tsuga heterophylla Zone on the west slope of the Cascade
Mountain Range of Oregon. Performance of each species was compared in...
This study assessed the effects of thinning on arthropod communities on understory plants in the Central Oregon Coast Range. Arthropods were sampled from five understory plants in five pairs of thinned and unthinned, young (50-80 yrs), managed Douglas-fir stands, from late May to mid-July of 1998. Vine maple (Acer circinatum),...
A simple debris-slide model, employing a digital elevation model (DEM) and geological data, was used in a geographic information system (GIS) to map slope stability in the Andrews Experimental Forest, located in the western Cascade Range in Oregon, USA. To evaluate the contribution of error in elevation to the uncertainty...
The growth potential of Douglas-fir, grand fir and western hemlock advance regeneration in the forest understory of Douglas-fir-dominated forests was investigated to detennine the feasibility of selection cutting systems in northwest Oregon. This study compared the growth of Douglas-fir, grand fir and western hemlock advance regeneration along a light gradient...
Seasonal and annual patterns of N fluxes and concentrations in streamwater in six conifer-dominated watersheds at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, OR, were studied to gain insight into the factors that influence N retention in this ecosystem. Processes affecting N flux in streamwater differed between organic (DON) and inorganic (DIN;...
A series of experiments were established to gain a better understanding of the extent to which Douglas-fir seeding root architecture may be manipulated and subsequent influences on seedling morphological and physiological development. The incorporation of amendments into nursery soils changed root architecture to some degree, but did not produce large...
Viability analysis of well-selected focal species can complement other types of conservation planning by revealing thresholds in habitat area and landscape connectivity that may not be evident from ecosystem-level evaluations. I used focal species analysis of five carnivores to suggest conservation planning guidelines for the Rocky Mountains and adjacent areas...
Maritime cyclonic windstorms cause widespread disturbance to forested ecosystems in southeast Alaska. The consequence of this disturbance process on the movement, storage, and quality of soil carbon, forest hydrology and streamwater chemistry was studied along a windthrow disturbance sequence. Soil profiles were described and the thickness of the major organic...
Estimates of potential carbon (C) storage can be used to constrain predictions of future carbon sequestration and to understand the degree to which disturbances, both natural aid anthropogenic, affect C storage. An upper bound on C storage in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States was estimated using field...
A series of studies, in three western Oregon Douglas-fir plantations, was conducted to understand the physiological impacts of Swiss needle cast on Douglas-fir physiology. Four aspects of the disease complex were investigated: fungal colonization and assessment, plant-water relations, carbon assimilation and interaction with climate. Several techniques were developed and used...
My objectives were to investigate the correlation of height and diameter growth in young Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) plantations with stand density, and to determine the effects of stand density on the canopy boundary layer conductance (g[subscript]ac) and microclimate characteristics of young Douglas-fir plantations. I measured annual height (h) and diameter...
History is an invaluable source of information to understand and evaluate management influences on contemporary ecosystems and landscapes. The first two chapters (Chapters 2 and 3) explored the concept of historical range of variability (HRV) in landscape structure and stand structure using a stochastic fire simulation model to simulate presettlement...
The Humboldt marten, Martes americana humboldtensis, has undergone a dramatic decline throughout its historical distribution in coastal Northwestern California. There is currently only one known population occupying an area occurring in <5% of the historical distribution of the subspecies. Conservation and management efforts to benefit this population are hampered by...
Hybrid poplar plantations (Populus trichocarpa x Populus deltoides) are a relatively new feature on the landscape in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and these plantations may soon include genetically engineered trees. Meanwhile, many wild poplar populations (Populus spp.) are highly degraded due in part to logging, dams, grazing,...
Every wood anatomist knows that the wood near the center of a tree (juvenile wood) differs from the wood laid down at some distance from the pith (mature wood), and that the wood produced during the spring (earlywood) differs from the wood produced during the summer (latewood). There is a...
By emulating natural disturbances such as wildfire, managers hope to maintain biodiversity in managed forests. Leaving residual (live) trees in harvested areas is key to this strategy. However, the effectiveness of this approach is unknown. I surveyed songbirds in 176 stands in the Rocky Mountains of southeastern British Columbia, Canada,...
This study examined debris flows occurring in a 125 km² study area in the Blue River watershed in the western Cascade Mountains of Oregon over a 50-year period. Debris flow occurrence was found to be concentrated in a distinct zone of high activity occupying approximately half of the study area,...