Ecological Applications
1939-5582
1051-0761
Mỹ
Cơ quản chủ quản: Wiley-Blackwell , WILEY
Lĩnh vực:
Ecology
Phân tích ảnh hưởng
Thông tin về tạp chí
The pages of Ecological Applications are open to research and discussion papers that integrate ecological science and concepts with their application and implications. Of special interest are papers that develop the basic scientific principles on which environmental decision-making should rest, and those that discuss the application of ecological concepts to environmental problem solving, policy, and management. Papers that deal explicitly with policy matters are welcome. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged, as are short communications on emerging environmental challenges.
Các bài báo tiêu biểu
ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION OF SOUTHWESTERN PONDEROSA PINE ECOSYSTEMS: A BROAD PERSPECTIVE
Tập 12 Số 5 - Trang 1418-1433 - 2002
The national Fire and Fire Surrogate study: effects of fuel reduction methods on forest vegetation structure and fuels Changes in vegetation and fuels were evaluated from measurements taken before and after fuel reduction treatments (prescribed fire, mechanical treatments, and the combination of the two) at 12 Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) sites located in forests with a surface fire regime across the conterminous United States. To test the relative effectiveness of fuel reduction treatments and their effect on ecological parameters we used an information‐theoretic approach on a suite of 12 variables representing the overstory (basal area and live tree, sapling, and snag density), the understory (seedling density, shrub cover, and native and alien herbaceous species richness), and the most relevant fuel parameters for wildfire damage (height to live crown, total fuel bed mass, forest floor mass, and woody fuel mass). In the short term (one year after treatment), mechanical treatments were more effective at reducing overstory tree density and basal area and at increasing quadratic mean tree diameter. Prescribed fire treatments were more effective at creating snags, killing seedlings, elevating height to live crown, and reducing surface woody fuels. Overall, the response to fuel reduction treatments of the ecological variables presented in this paper was generally maximized by the combined mechanical plus burning treatment. If the management goal is to quickly produce stands with fewer and larger diameter trees, less surface fuel mass, and greater herbaceous species richness, the combined treatment gave the most desirable results. However, because mechanical plus burning treatments also favored alien species invasion at some sites, monitoring and control need to be part of the prescription when using this treatment.
Tập 19 Số 2 - Trang 285-304 - 2009
DETERMINING REFERENCE CONDITIONS FOR ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT OF SOUTHWESTERN PONDEROSA PINE FORESTS
Tập 7 Số 3 - Trang 895-908 - 1997
FIRE AND FOREST HISTORY AT MOUNT RUSHMORE Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota is known worldwide for its massive sculpture of four of the United States' most respected presidents. The Memorial landscape also is covered by extensive ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa ) forest that has not burned in over a century. We compiled dendroecological and forest structural data from 29 plots across the 517‐ha Memorial and used fire behavior modeling to reconstruct the historical fire regime and forest structure and compare them to current conditions. The historical fire regime is best characterized as one of low‐severity surface fires with occasional (>100 years) patches (<100 ha) of passive crown fire. We estimate that only ∼3.3% of the landscape burned as crown fire during 22 landscape fire years (recorded at ≥25% of plots) between 1529 and 1893. The last landscape fire was in 1893. Mean fire intervals before 1893 varied depending on spatial scale, from 34 years based on scar‐to‐scar intervals on individual trees to 16 years between landscape fire years. Modal fire intervals were 11–15 years and did not vary with scale. Fire rotation (the time to burn an area the size of the study area) was estimated to be 30 years for surface fire and 800+ years for crown fire. The current forest is denser and contains more small trees, fewer large trees, lower canopy base heights, and greater canopy bulk density than a reconstructed historical (1870) forest. Fire behavior modeling using the NEXUS program suggests that surface fires would have dominated fire behavior in the 1870 forest during both moderate and severe weather conditions, while crown fire would dominate in the current forest especially under severe weather. Changes in the fire regime and forest structure at Mount Rushmore parallel those seen in ponderosa pine forests from the southwestern United States. Shifts from historical to current forest structure and the increased likelihood of crown fire justify the need for forest restoration before a catastrophic wildfire occurs and adversely impacts the ecological and aesthetic setting of the Mount Rushmore sculpture.
Tập 18 Số 8 - Trang 1984-1999 - 2008
Fire treatment effects on vegetation structure, fuels, and potential fire severity in western U.S. forests Forest structure and species composition in many western U.S. coniferous forests have been altered through fire exclusion, past and ongoing harvesting practices, and livestock grazing over the 20th century. The effects of these activities have been most pronounced in seasonally dry, low and mid‐elevation coniferous forests that once experienced frequent, low to moderate intensity, fire regimes. In this paper, we report the effects of Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) forest stand treatments on fuel load profiles, potential fire behavior, and fire severity under three weather scenarios from six western U.S. FFS sites. This replicated, multisite experiment provides a framework for drawing broad generalizations about the effectiveness of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments on surface fuel loads, forest structure, and potential fire severity. Mechanical treatments without fire resulted in combined 1‐, 10‐, and 100‐hour surface fuel loads that were significantly greater than controls at three of five FFS sites. Canopy cover was significantly lower than controls at three of five FFS sites with mechanical‐only treatments and at all five FFS sites with the mechanical plus burning treatment; fire‐only treatments reduced canopy cover at only one site. For the combined treatment of mechanical plus fire, all five FFS sites with this treatment had a substantially lower likelihood of passive crown fire as indicated by the very high torching indices. FFS sites that experienced significant increases in 1‐, 10‐, and 100‐hour combined surface fuel loads utilized harvest systems that left all activity fuels within experimental units. When mechanical treatments were followed by prescribed burning or pile burning, they were the most effective treatment for reducing crown fire potential and predicted tree mortality because of low surface fuel loads and increased vertical and horizontal canopy separation. Results indicate that mechanical plus fire, fire‐only, and mechanical‐only treatments using whole‐tree harvest systems were all effective at reducing potential fire severity under severe fire weather conditions. Retaining the largest trees within stands also increased fire resistance.
Tập 19 Số 2 - Trang 305-320 - 2009
CLIMATE CHANGE AND FORESTS OF THE FUTURE: MANAGING IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINTY We offer a conceptual framework for managing forested ecosystems under an assumption that future environments will be different from present but that we cannot be certain about the specifics of change. We encourage flexible approaches that promote reversible and incremental steps, and that favor ongoing learning and capacity to modify direction as situations change. We suggest that no single solution fits all future challenges, especially in the context of changing climates, and that the best strategy is to mix different approaches for different situations. Resources managers will be challenged to integrate adaptation strategies (actions that help ecosystems accommodate changes adaptively) and mitigation strategies (actions that enable ecosystems to reduce anthropogenic influences on global climate) into overall plans. Adaptive strategies include resistance options (forestall impacts and protect highly valued resources), resilience options (improve the capacity of ecosystems to return to desired conditions after disturbance), and response options (facilitate transition of ecosystems from current to new conditions). Mitigation strategies include options to sequester carbon and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. Priority‐setting approaches (e.g., triage), appropriate for rapidly changing conditions and for situations where needs are greater than available capacity to respond, will become increasingly important in the future.
Tập 17 Số 8 - Trang 2145-2151 - 2007
REFERENCE CONDITIONS FOR GIANT SEQUOIA FOREST RESTORATION: STRUCTURE, PROCESS, AND PRECISION
Tập 9 Số 4 - Trang 1253-1265 - 1999
METHODS FOR MEASURING DENITRIFICATION: DIVERSE APPROACHES TO A DIFFICULT PROBLEM
Tập 16 Số 6 - Trang 2091-2122 - 2006
NITROGEN DEPOSITION ONTO THE UNITED STATES AND WESTERN EUROPE: SYNTHESIS OF OBSERVATIONS AND MODELS
Tập 15 Số 1 - Trang 38-57 - 2005
BIRDS DEFEND OIL PALMS FROM HERBIVOROUS INSECTS Top‐down forces are expected to be important in regulating herbivore populations in most agricultural systems where primary productivity is high and species diversity is low. Under such conditions, trophic cascades are predicted to occur when predator populations are reduced or removed. Studies on how predator removal indirectly affects herbivory rates in agricultural systems are lacking. Through a bird‐exclosure experiment, I test the hypothesis that insectivorous birds indirectly defend oil palms (Elaeis guineensis ) from herbivorous insects. Results show that bird exclusion significantly increased herbivory damage to oil palms, and that the size of this exclusion effect increased with bird density, although the latter result was not statistically significant. These findings suggest that insectivorous birds deliver a natural pest control service for oil palm agriculture, which is important not only for the direct benefits it delivers for human welfare, but also in strengthening the economic justifications for conserving the remaining natural habitats and biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
Tập 18 Số 4 - Trang 821-825 - 2008