scholarly journals Stand dynamics and topographic setting influence changes in live tree biomass over a 34-year permanent plot record in a subalpine forest in the Colorado Front Range

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 1256-1264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel K. Chai ◽  
Robert A. Andrus ◽  
Kyle Rodman ◽  
Brian J. Harvey ◽  
Thomas T. Veblen
Keyword(s):  
Tree Mortality ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Permanent Plot ◽  
Colorado Front Range ◽  
Subalpine Forest ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Front Range ◽  
Species Dominance

Climate-induced increases in tree mortality are reported for many forests worldwide. Understanding the potential effects on carbon pools requires long-term monitoring of changes in forest biomass. We measured aboveground biomass (AGB) of living trees over a 34-year period (1982–2016) in permanent plots with varying stand ages, species compositions, and topographic settings in a subalpine forest in the Colorado Front Range. Stand-level and species-level AGB varied spatially and temporally in relation to stand age, successional processes, and site moisture classification. Young (ca. 122 years) postfire stands composed of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm. ex S. Watson) had lower mean AGB than older (>250 years) mixed-species stands. Mesic stands had higher AGB than xeric or hydric stands of similar age. At the level of individual species, significant shifts in AGB among species were primarily explained by successional replacement of shade-intolerant pines by shade-tolerant Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm.) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.). The permanent plot network recorded significant shifts in species dominance and tree densities between 1982 and 2016, reflecting successional patterns developing over several centuries and the effects of recent localized windthrow, insects, and pathogens. Despite increases in tree mortality, there was a general pattern of increasing AGB across the forest.

Blowdown and stand development in a Colorado subalpine forest

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 1218-1225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas T. Veblen ◽  
Keith S. Hadley ◽  
Marion S. Reid ◽  
Alan J. Rebertus
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Colorado Front Range ◽  
Subalpine Forest ◽  
Stand Development ◽  
Front Range ◽  
Southern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Engelmann Spruce ◽  
Shade Tolerant Species

Stand development of a subalpine forest in the Colorado Front Range following a ca. 15-ha blowdown was examined by analyzing tree population age structures and radial growth patterns. The stand studied was initiated by a fire at the start of the 18th century and was dominated by a dense population of lodgepole pine (Pinuscontorta Dougl. var. latifolia Engelm.) at the time of blowdown in 1973. Before the blowdown, the subcanopy was characterized by abundant subalpine fir (Abieslasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.) and scarce Engelmann spruce (Piceaengelmannii (Parry) Engelm.). Comparison with an adjacent control stand, affected only slightly by the blowdown, indicates that new seedling establishment following the blowdown was slight. Instead, the response was dominated by the release of the subcanopy fir and spruce, resulting in acceleration of the successional replacement of lodgepole pine by these shade-tolerant species. Given the >300 years required for an old-growth fir and spruce stand to develop following catastrophic fire, the likelihood of a major canopy disturbance in the form of blowdown and (or) lethal insect attack is high and should be explicitly incorporated into general explanations of stand development of subalpine forests in the southern Rocky Mountains.

Burnt to blazes: landscape fires, resilience and habitat interaction in frequently burnt coastal heath

2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Myerscough ◽  
Peter J. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
General Pattern ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Bare Ground ◽  
Obligate Seeder ◽  
Time Since Fire ◽  
Coastal Heath ◽  
Sand Plain ◽  
Rapid Regrowth

Four fires burned vegetation on a sand plain on a 4-km stretch of Pleistocene beach ridges between 1980–1981 and 1998. Fires of 1980–81 and 1991 burned the whole area. Those of 1994 and 1998 burned only parts of it. Cover of individual species and bare ground was scored on permanent plots at intervals between 1990 and 1996. Ordination and generalised linear model analysis of the data showed strong spatial variation between dry and wet heaths, four transects and plots within transects. This was strictly conserved through time, owing to the rapid regrowth of abundant resprouting species, most of which, after 1 year, showed little change in cover with increasing time-since-fire. Vegetation of the dry and wet heaths showed no detectable convergence or divergence in similarity with time-since-fire or variation of interval between fires. Changes with time-since-fire were found, and some change with the length of fire interval, owing to variation in cover of obligate-seeder species, which increased steadily with time up to 10 years since fire, and showed some decrease when fire interval decreased to 3.75 years. At 10 years since fire, obligate-seeder species reached ~25% of the totalled cover scores for all species, with 75% from resprouting species. Dry and wet heath were broadly similar in their general pattern of regrowth after fire, but in dry heath bare ground was more slowly covered than in wet heath, and wet heath had a higher cover of monocotyledons, especially restiads and sedges. Wet heath was more flammable than dry heath in the patchy fire of 1998. The heaths observed appeared highly resilient to recent fire regimes. Resprouting species always dominated their canopy; none of their obligate-seeding species formed a dominant overstorey canopy.

GOPHERS AS GEOMORPHIC AGENTS IN THE COLORADO FRONT RANGE

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric W. Winchell ◽  
◽  
Robert S. Anderson ◽  
Elizabeth M. Lombardi ◽  
Daniel F. Doak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorado Front Range ◽  
Front Range
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