scholarly journals Post-Wildfire Regeneration in a Sky-Island Mixed- Conifer Ecosystem of the North American Great Basin

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 900
Author(s):  
Mackenzie Kilpatrick ◽  
Franco Biondi

Information on wildfire impacts and ecosystem responses is relatively sparse in the Great Basin of North America, where subalpine ecosystems are generally dominated by five-needle pines. We analyzed existing vegetation, with an emphasis on regeneration following the year 2000 Phillips Ranch Fire, at a sky-island site in the Snake Range of eastern Nevada. Our main objective was to compare bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva; PILO) post-fire establishment and survival to that of the co-occurring dominant conifers limber pine (Pinus flexilis; PIFL) and Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii; PIEN) in connection with site characteristics. Field data were collected in 40 circular 0.1 ha plots (17.8 m radius) randomly located using GIS so that half of them were inside (“burned”) and half were outside (“unburned”) the 2000 fire boundary. While evidence of previous burns was also found, we focused on impacts from the Phillips Ranch Fire. Mean total basal area, including live and dead stems, was not significantly different between plots inside the burn and plots outside the fire perimeter, but the live basal area was significantly less in the former than in the latter. Wildfire impacts did not limit regeneration, and indeed bristlecone seedlings and saplings were more abundant in plots inside the 2000 fire perimeter than in those outside of it. PILO regeneration, especially saplings, was more abundant than PIFL and PCEN combined, indicating that PILO can competitively regenerate under modern climatic conditions. Surviving PILO regeneration in burned plots was also taller than that of PIFL. By contrast, PCEN was nearly absent in the plots that had been impacted by fire. Additional research should explicitly address how climatic changes and disturbance processes may interact in shaping future vegetation dynamics.

1992 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim I. Mead ◽  
Christopher J. Bell ◽  
Lyndon K. Murray

AbstractTeeth of northern bog lemming, Mictomys borealis, are reported from Cathedral and Smith Creek caves and represent the first Wisconsin remains of the genus from the Great Basin. Specimens from Cathedral Cave, Snake Range, are associated with U-series ages of 24,000 to 15,000 yr B.P. Previous work with pollen and packrat middens, dating to the same age as the Mictomys, indicate that Smith Creek Canyon contained a riparian, locally mesic community, including Picea engelmannii (spruce), Betula sp. (birch), Cercocarpus sp. (mountain mahogany), and Artemisia sp. (sagebrush) among other species. Exposed canyon slopes and the adjacent valley apparently contained a more xeric steppe community including sagebrush and Chenopodiineae species; rocky outcrop permitted Pinus flexilis (limber pine) and P. longaeva (bristlecone pine) to grow adjacent to Lake Bonneville or low in the canyon. The region apparently experienced a dry climate (not necessarily drier than today); however, Smith Creek Canyon was fed by glacial meltwater from Mt. Moriah. The northern bog lemming probably lived only in the riparian community and possibly on the north-facing slope below Cathedral Cave. Few canyons of the Snake Range would have had the unusually mesic conditions found in Smith Creek Canyon.


1973 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valmore C. LaMarche

AbstractRemains of dead bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva Bailey) are found at altitudes up to 150 m above present treeline in the White Mountains. Standing snags and remnants in two study areas were mapped and sampled for dating by tree-ring and radiocarbon methods. The oldest remnants represent trees established more than 7400 y.a. Experimental and empirical evidence indicates that the position of the treeline is closely related to warm-season temperatures, but that precipitation may also be important in at least one of the areas. The upper treeline was at high levels in both areas until after about 2200 B.C., indicating warm-season temperatures about 3.5°F higher than those of the past few hundred years. However, the record is incomplete, relative warmth may have been maintained until at least 1500 B.C. Cooler and wetter conditions are indicated for the period 1500 B.C.-500 B.C., followed by a period of cool but drier climate. A major treeline decline occurred between about A.D. 1100 and A.D. 1500, probably reflecting onset of cold and dry conditions. High reproduction rates and establishment of scattered seedlings at high altitudes within the past 100 yr represents an incipient treeline advance, which reflected a general climatic warming beginning in the mid-19th century that has lasted until recent decades in the western United States. This evidence for climatic variation is broadly consistent with the record of Neoglacial advances in the North American Cordillera, and supports Antevs' concept of a warm “altithermal age” in the Great Basin.


Author(s):  
V. Fedorov ◽  
E. Sleptsov ◽  
K. Plemyashov

A growth in the number of deer and an increase in their productivity are closely related to the solution of the complex problem of reproduction and rational use of deer females. Significant damage to reindeer husbandry is caused by the barrenness of northern domestic deer, the level of which has been quite high in recent years. So, in the Republic of Sakha, on 01.01.2020, the number of domesticated reindeer was 152,068, of which female deer and heifers — 71,818, offspring per 100 females — 59, business yield amounted to 52 fawns per 100 females. The causes of infertility are very diverse, as the natural and climatic conditions of the breeding zones have a significant influence on the reproductive function of reindeer. In Yakutia, the main population of northern domestic deer is bred in mountain taiga and tundra natural-climatic zones, so there are about 55 thousand deer in the mountain taiga zone and more than 65 thousand deer in the tundra zone. In this regard, the study of the peculiarities of the postpartum period course in domestic reindeer females, its morphophysiology, and behavioral reactions depending on the natural and climatic conditions of breeding is of great importance.


2019 ◽  
pp. 42-44
Author(s):  
I.V. GUSAROV ◽  
V.A. OSTAPENKO ◽  
T.V. NOVIKOVА

Впервые в мире создана популяция зубров на территории 60 градусов северной широты. В новых климатических условиях разведения и сохранения зубров определены и проанализированы факторы существования вида на севере Европейской части РФ. Выявлены признаки, динамика численности, которые являются составной частью системы, предназначенной для управления биоразнообразием. Интродукция, являясь процессом введения в экосистему нехарактерных для нее видов, может усиливать изменения биоценозов как положительно, так и отрицательно. Насколько быстро и успешно проходит процесс адаптации заселенного вида, и усматривается его влияние на окружающую среду зависит дальнейшее существование зубров и в целом биоразнообразия. В статье обсуждаются вопросы взаимоотношения зубров с другими видами копытных и хозяйственной деятельностью человека, а также дальнейшим использованием зубров в сельскохозяйственном производстве. Пластичность зубров, выявление изменений и их анализ при вселении видов в новые условия обитания необходимы не только для определения развития или деградации биоценозов и в целом экосистемы, но и прогноза социально-экономических последствий интродукции как одного из методов сохранения редких и исчезающих видов фауны.For the first time in the world, a bison population has been created in an area of 60 degrees north latitude. In the new climatic conditions of breeding and preservation of bison, the factors of the species existence in the north of the European part of the Russian Federation are identified and analyzed. The signs, dynamics of abundance, which are an integral part of the system designed to manage biodiversity are identified, since the preservation of biological diversity on the planet is one of the main problems of our time. Introduction, being the process of introducing non-typical species into an ecosystem, can enhance changes in biocenoses, both positively and negatively. The question posing sounds especially when it comes to such a large hoofed animal as the European bison. How quickly and successfully the process of adaptation of the universe takes place and its environmental impact is seen depends on the continued existence of bison and biodiversity in general. The article discusses the relationship of bison with other types of ungulates and human activities, as well as the further use of bison in agricultural production. How these issues will be resolved positively depends on the future of these animals. Thus, the plasticity of bison, the identification of changes and their analysis, with the introduction of species into new habitat conditions is necessary not only to determine the development or degradation of biocenoses and the ecosystem as a whole, but also to predict the socio-economic consequences due to the introduction as one of the methods of preserving rare and endangered species of fauna.


1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 711-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Madsen

A satisfactory and explicit definition of the Fremont has not been produced in over 50 years of research—a failure which suggests that no comprehensive entity exists. Attempts to define a Fremont through the use of trait lists have failed, although such lists have provided the basis for three apparently conflicting theories of origin. Analyses of subsistence economies and settlement patterns suggest that no comprehensive entity exists and that all three origin theories may possibly be valid. A Sevier "culture," based on marsh collecting and supplemented by corn agriculture, can be defined in the eastern Great Basin. A Fremont "culture," based on corn agriculture and supplemented by hunting, can be defined on the Colorado Plateau. A third unnamed, but possibly Plains-related, culture may be defined to the north of these. These "cultures" are distinctive enough to be separated on the same taxonomic level as are the Anasazi and the Sinagua.


Author(s):  
M. Edwards ◽  
A.W.G. John ◽  
H.G. Hunt ◽  
J.A. Lindley

Continuous Plankton Recorder records from the North Sea and north-east Atlantic from September 1997 to March 1998 indicate an exceptional influx of oceanic indicator species into the North Sea. These inflow events, according to historical evidence, have only occurred sporadically during this century. This exceptional inflow and previous inflow events are discussed in relation to their similarity in terms of their physical and climatic conditions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Fendeková ◽  
Pavla Pekárová ◽  
Marián Fendek ◽  
Ján Pekár ◽  
Peter Škoda

Abstract Changes in runoff parameters are very important for Slovakia, where stream-flow discharges, being supplied by precipitation and groundwater runoff, are preferentially influenced by climatic conditions. Therefore, teleconnections between runoff parameters, climate parameters and global atmospheric drivers such as North Atlantic Oscillation, Southern Pacific Oscillation, Quasi-biennial oscillation and solar activity were studied in the Nitra River Basin, Slovakia. Research was mostly based on records of 80 years (1931-2010) for discharges and baseflow, and 34 years for groundwater heads. Methods of autocorrelation, spectral analysis, cross-correlation and coherence function were used. Results of auto- correllograms for discharges, groundwater heads and base flow values showed a very distinct 11-year and 21-year periodicity. Spectrogram analysis documented the 11-year, 7.8-year, 3.6-year and 2.4-year periods in the discharge, precipitation and air temperature time series. The same cycles except of 11-years were also identified in the long-term series of the North Atlantic Oscillation and Southern Pacific Oscillation indices. The cycle from approximately 2.3 to 2.4-years is most likely connected with Quasi-biennial oscillation. The close negative correlation between the North Atlantic Oscillation winter index and the hydrological surface and groundwater parameters can be used for their prediction within the same year and also for one year in advance.


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