• Understanding spatial and temporal patterns present in ectomycorrhizal fungal
community structure is critical to understanding both the scale and duration of
the potential impact these fungi have on the plant community. While recent studies
consider the spatial structure of ectomycorrhizal communities, few studies consider
how this changes over time....
Since the early 1900s, widespread agricultural abandonment has occurred in western New York leading to a general increase in forested areas through old-field succession. Even-aged stands typically follow these large-scale disturbances, resulting in a pattern of development with identifiable stages (Oliver 1980). At each stage, changes in vegetation dynamics encourage...
In the Sierra Nevada, distributions of forest tree species are largely controlled by the soil-moisture balance. Changes in temperature or precipitation as a result of increased greenhouse gas concentrations could lead to changes in species distributions. In addition, climatic change could increase the frequency and severity of wildfires. We used...
It is well established that individual organisms can acclimate and adapt to temperature to optimize their functioning. However, thermal optimization of ecosystems, as an assemblage of organisms, has not been examined at broad spatial and temporal scales. Here, we compiled data from 169 globally distributed sites of eddy covariance and...
The boreal forest of North America is especially liable to destruction by fires. It is a region in which forest fires have been extremely common and wide spreading. Lightning is certainly one of the causes of fires but man, both aboriginal and white, has been an even more prolific source....
To understand the roles of forest management
practices in meeting the goals of forest sustainability and CO2
sequestration, we evaluated the effects of burning and thinning
treatments on soil respiration and soil environments in an
old-growth, mixed-conifer forest in California’s southern Sierra
Nevada. Six experimental treatments with two levels of...