The combined effects of habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation pose a serious threat to Earth's biodiversity, imperiling even relatively common species. 'Habitat' is necessarily a species-specific concept, and investigations of bird diversity relationships and subsequent efforts to prioritize conservation areas, are challenged by the difficulty of estimating complex habitat gradients...
Seasonal wetlands in arid and semi-arid lands provide an important source of surface water in otherwise dry lands. Central Oregon's high desert, located in the Northern Great Basin (NGB) is dotted with hundreds of seasonal pools, locally called playas. The playas hold water or snow during parts of winter and...
With the resurgence in the interest of using natural textile dyes, a solution must be found that will overcome the limitations of traditional natural dyes. This solution must also be safer for both humankind and the environment than are synthetic dyes. This study compares the colorfastness of commercially available synthetic...
Black bears (Ursus americanus) in western Oregon and Washington peel bark from conifers in early spring to forage on the sugar-rich phloem and cambial tissues. This provides important energy at a time when similarly attractive forage is scarce. Bears often damage Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) trees in stands that are intensively...
Few studies have examined both long-term and fine-scale spatial variations in
water quality of small streams in the Pacific Northwest. As such, a case study was
conducted to determine if current physical and chemical properties of water in three
streams located in the Oregon Coast Range differed from historically measured...
Phytophthora pathogens secrete an array of specific effector proteins to manipulate host innate immunity to promote pathogen colonization. However, little is known about the host targets of effectors and the specific mechanisms by which effectors increase susceptibility. Here we report that the soybean pathogen Phytophthora sojae uses an essential effector...
Dry coniferous forests in the western United States are experiencing severe wildfires, insect outbreaks, forest disease epidemics and a growing presence of invasive species. Policies strongly emphasize reducing hazardous fuels at the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) where communities and forests intersect. However, these areas present restoration challenges as they tend...
Stand structure in headwater riparian areas of western Oregon is highly variable making quantification of structural attributes within these stands difficult. A reliable sampling design is important to characterize and monitor changes in stand structure over time. This study examined sixteen alternatives for sampling live conifers and six alternatives for...
Descriptions of the fire regime in the Douglas-fir/western hemlock region of the Pacific Northwest traditionally have emphasized infrequent, predominantly stand-replacement fires and an associated linear pathway of stand development, where all stands proceed along a common pathway until reset by the next fire. Although such a description may apply in...