Disturbance Regime and Disturbance Interactions in a Rocky Mountain Subalpine Forest

Veblen, Thomas T.; Hadley, Keith S.; Nel, Elizabeth M.; Kitzberger, Thomas; Reid, Marion S.; Villalba, Ricardo

doi:10.2307/2261392

Cited by 347 publications

(354 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Surface fuels, and therefore fire hazard, will accumulate any time there is canopy mortality, but the hazard may exist for a short window of time. In Western boreal forest, Veblen et al (1994) suggest that fires essentially "block out" spruce beetles for many decades until the trees in the recovering stands reach a size suitable for the beetles to attack. Conversely, Bergeron and Leduc (1998) suggested that when fire return intervals lengthen, basal area loss due to spruce budworm will increase because of the proportional increase in budworm-susceptible balsam fir in these stands.…”

Section: Forest Fire Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While spruce budworm can become epidemic on lower elevation firs (Douglas-fir, grand fir) in the West (Swetnam and Lynch 1993;Despain 1990), it is less important in the subalpine zone, although it does attack subalpine fir and white spruce in the boreal zone (Van Sickle 1995). Lodgepole pine becomes more susceptible to mountain pine beetle as it ages, and a beetle attack will allow understory spruce and fir to release ingrowth (Agee 1993;Veblen et al 1994). Where recent beetle attack has occurred, surface fuels will increase, but a fire is not necessarily guaranteed.…”

Section: Other Natural Forest Disturbancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Colorado, the return interval for spruce beetle is estimated at 116 years (Veblen et al 1994). Attacks were dated by analyzing growth releases on firs and spruces too small to be attacked, indicating that beetle attacks in mixed species stands are usually not stand-destroying events like intense wildfires.…”

Section: Other Natural Forest Disturbancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecology and conservation of lynx in the United States

Ruggiero¹,

Aubry²,

Buskirk³

et al. 1999

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Once found throughout the Rocky Mountains and forests of the northern states, the lynx now hides in pockets of its former range while feeding mostly on small animals like snowshoe hares. A team of government and university scientists review the newest scientific knowledge of this unique cat's history, distribution, and ecology. The chapters on this web site provide information for current scientific and public debates regarding the fate of the lynx in the United States. Chapters look at the relationships among lynx, its habitat, and its prey. The attributes of northern versus southern lynx populations are compared and contrasted. The authors caution against making decisions without enough knowledge and show where we lack information. While the authors present the latest preliminary research results on lynx and offer some qualified insights into lynx management, the book's intent is to assess the current state of knowledge regarding lynx.Hard copies of the report will be available in late 1999 from the University Press of Colorado,

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Section: Forest Fire Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Other Natural Forest Disturbancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecology and conservation of lynx in the United States

Ruggiero¹,

Aubry²,

Buskirk³

et al. 1999

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“…Bark beetles are perhaps foremost among this group, and are natural disturbance agents that contribute to succession, nutrient dynamics, and carbon cycling in conifer biomes (3)(4)(5). Adults bore through the bark, mate, and oviposit, and their larvae feed within the phloem, killing the tree.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature-driven range expansion of an irruptive insect heightened by weakly coevolved plant defenses

Raffa¹,

Powell²,

Townsend

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

187

202

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Warming climate has increased access of native bark beetles to high-elevation pines that historically received only intermittent exposure to these tree-killing herbivores. Here we show that a dominant, relatively naïve, high-elevation species, whitebark pine, has inferior defenses against mountain pine beetle compared with its historical lower-elevation host, lodgepole pine. Lodgepole pines respond by exuding more resin and accumulating higher concentrations of toxic monoterpenes than whitebark pine, where they co-occur. Furthermore, the chemical composition of whitebark pine appears less able to inhibit the pheromonal communication beetles use to jointly overcome tree defenses. Despite whitebark pine's inferior defenses, beetles were more likely to attack their historical host in mixed stands. This finding suggests there has been insufficient sustained contact for beetles to alter their complex behavioral mechanisms driving host preference. In no-choice assays, however, beetles readily entered and tunneled in both hosts equally, and in stands containing less lodgepole pine, attacks on whitebark pines increased. High-elevation trees in pure stands may thus be particularly vulnerable to temperature-driven range expansions. Predators and competitors were more attracted to volatiles from herbivores attacking their historical host, further increasing risk in less coevolved systems. Our results suggest cold temperatures provided a sufficient barrier against herbivores for high-elevation trees to allocate resources to other physiological processes besides defense. Changing climate may reduce the viability of that evolutionary strategy, and the life histories of high-elevation trees seem unlikely to foster rapid counter adaptation. Consequences extend from reduced food supplies for endangered grizzly bears to altered landscape and hydrological processes.climate change | coevolution | disturbance | plant-insect interactions | forest insects

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“…More recently, studies of forest age structure in Westland have verified that many of these even-sized stands are even-aged (Norton 1983;Stewart & Rose 1989; *Plant Science Department, PO Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand. Duncan 1993;Cornere 1992;Rogers 1995), and it is now widely recognised that many forests of long-lived trees consist of a mosaic of relatively even-aged patches or cohorts of trees that have established in openings formed by natural disturbances such as windstorms or landslides Melick & Ashton 1991;Veblen et al 1992Veblen et al , 1994.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of widespread, synchronous, disturbance‐initiated forest establishment in Westland, New Zealand.

Wells¹,

Stewart²,

Duncan

1998

Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand

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Mature stands of trees dominate Westland forests and young stands are relatively scarce. To examine this pattern, we collate previously-gathered data on the age and diameter of trees in 60 forest stands from throughout Westland, and use these data to estimate the dates at which approximately even-aged cohorts of trees were initiated by major disturbances. The ages of the oldest tree in each of 80 cohorts were combined to give a picture of the timing of cohort establishment and the history of major disturbance in the Westland region.We identified two periods of greatly increased cohort establishment in the last 600 years, at c. 200-300 and 500-550 years ago. During these periods over 70 % of the cohorts we examined were initiated. These establishment periods were consistent across all six canopy species in the study, throughout north, central, and south Westland, and across a range of landforms. Our results suggest there have been two major pulses of tree regeneration in Westland over the last 600 years, although the longer and most recent pulse may reflect two separate pulses. Many cohorts contained independent evidence of a catastrophic origin following major disturbances such as floods and landslips, and we suggest that the pulses of cohort establishment reflect periods when there was a marked increase in the frequency or intensity of major natural disturbances throughout Westland. Adjusting for the time taken for trees to grow to coring height and for a delay in colonisation following disturbance, we estimate that there were episodes of major natural disturbance throughout Westland around 250-350 and 550-600 years ago. These dates closely coincide with estimates of the timing of two of the three last major movements of the Alpine Fault, and less closely coincide with inferred nationwide periods of increased storminess.

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Disturbance Regime and Disturbance Interactions in a Rocky Mountain Subalpine Forest

Cited by 347 publications

References 17 publications

Ecology and conservation of lynx in the United States

Ecology and conservation of lynx in the United States

Temperature-driven range expansion of an irruptive insect heightened by weakly coevolved plant defenses

Evidence of widespread, synchronous, disturbance‐initiated forest establishment in Westland, New Zealand.

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