Conifer Establishment and Encroachment on Subalpine Meadows around Mt. Baker, WA, USA

The subalpine ecotone is experiencing significant changes in habitat availability and connectivity as a result of climate change. The conversion of meadow habitats to forests has been observed in many mountainous regions. Rates of conifer encroachment into meadows appears to have increased in the 20th century, but the patterns of conifer establishment seem highly variable over both space and time. To understand how and why these changes vary temporally and spatially in the Pacific Northwest, we collected cross-sections and whorl counts from conifers along four transects in subalpine meadows around Mt. Baker, Washington. We quantified the relationships between temporal patterns of conifer establishment and a suite of climate variables, and between spatial patterns of conifer density and microsite characteristics. Our results show that establishment occurred in pulses throughout the 20th century, with greater establishment on drier sites during periods of greater precipitation, and greater establishment on wetter sites during periods of higher temperatures. We found that April precipitation and September temperature are particularly strongly correlated with establishment rates, suggesting that the best conditions for conifer seedling establishment occur in years with the warmth and soil moisture needed for the growing season to start earlier or last longer. Within individual meadows, conifer seedling establishment was greater on convex surfaces and in areas with a higher percentage of Vaccinium cover. Our findings at Mt. Baker show that periods of conifer establishment occurred somewhat synchronously across multiple mountains in the region, but we also identified distinct spatial and temporal differences linked to local site conditions.

Short-interval reburns in the boreal forest alter soil bacterial communities, reflecting increased pH and poor conifer seedling establishment

Increasing burn rates (percentage area burned annually) in some biomes are leading to fires burning in close succession, triggering rapid vegetation change as well as altering soil properties. Despite the importance of soil microbes for nutrient cycling and as plant symbionts, the effects of increased fire frequency on belowground microbial communities remain largely unknown. We present a study of the effects of short interval reburns (defined here as <20 years between fires) on soil bacterial communities in the boreal forest of northwestern Canada, using a paired site design that spans wetlands and uplands, with 50 sites total. We asked whether short interval reburns significantly alter soil bacterial community composition and richness, and which bacterial taxa are associated with greater or lower fire frequency. We found that, while short interval reburns had no significant effect on bacterial richness, there were significant changes in overall community composition. We did not find correlations between understory vegetation community dissimilarities and bacterial community dissimilarities, suggesting the primary drivers of changes induced by short interval reburns may differ between plants and microbes. We identified an abundant Blastococcus sp. that was consistently enriched in short interval reburns, in both wetlands and uplands, indicating its role as a strongly "pyrophilous" bacterium. We also identified an abundant Callaberonia sordidicola taxon as being consistently depleted in short interval reburns. This endophytic diazotrophic organism is a robust colonizer of pine and spruce seedlings and has the ability to increase seedling growth, due in part to large contributions of fixed nitrogen. Its depletion in short-interval reburn sites raises questions about whether this is contributing to - or merely reflects - poor conifer seedling recolonization post-fire at short-interval reburns.

Estimating Individual Conifer Seedling Height Using Drone-Based Image Point Clouds

Research Highlights: This is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the accuracy of height estimates for individual conifer seedlings derived from drone-based image point clouds (DIPCs). We provide insights into the effects on accuracy of ground sampling distance (GSD), phenology, ground determination method, seedling size, and more. Background and Objectives: Regeneration success in disturbed forests involves costly ground surveys of tree seedlings exceeding a minimum height. Here we assess the accuracy with which conifer seedling height can be estimated using drones, and how height errors translate into counting errors in stocking surveys. Materials and Methods: We compared height estimates derived from DIPCs of different GSD (0.35 cm, 0.75 cm, and 3 cm), phenological state (leaf-on and leaf-off), and ground determination method (based on either the DIPC itself or an ancillary digital terrain model). Each set of height estimates came from data acquired in up to three linear disturbances in the boreal forest of Alberta, Canada, and included 22 to 189 surveyed seedlings, which were split into two height strata to assess two survey scenarios. Results: The best result (root mean square error (RMSE) = 24 cm; bias = −11 cm; R2 = 0.63; n = 48) was achieved for seedlings >30 cm with 0.35 cm GSD in leaf-off conditions and ground elevation from the DIPC. The second-best result had the same GSD and ground method but was leaf-on and not significantly different from the first. Results for seedlings ≤30 cm were unreliable (nil R2). Height estimates derived from manual softcopy interpretation were similar to the corresponding DIPC results. Height estimation errors hardly affected seedling counting errors (best balance was 8% omission and 6% commission). Accuracy and correlation were stronger at finer GSDs and improved with seedling size. Conclusions: Millimetric (GSD <1 cm) DIPC can be used for estimating the height of individual conifer seedlings taller than 30 cm.

EFEITO DA PLANTA MATRIZ, ESTAÇÃO DO ANO E AMBIENTE DE CULTIVO NA MINIESTAQUIA DE Pinus radiata

A estaquia de genótipos superiores de Pinus radiata é uma prática comum na silvicultura. Para sua utilização no Brasil, protocolos de propagação precisam ser estabelecidos. Este trabalho avaliou a miniestaquia aplicada à produção de mudas da espécie, estudando a posição de coleta de broto na planta matriz, a estação do ano e o minijardim. Plantas matrizes seminais, com 1 m de altura e 1,5 anos de idade, foram utilizadas para a produção de miniestacas. Três ensaios consecutivos foram feitos: (i) o enraizamento das miniestacas coletadas de três posições nas matrizes (topo, intermediário e basal), (ii) a influência do minijardim (vaso, canaletão e campo) no desenvolvimento de minicepas e (iii) o efeito da estação do ano (inverno, primavera e verão) sobre o desenvolvimento de miniestacas coletadas de minicepas no canaletão, no vaso e em campo. As miniestacas coletadas da região intermediária das matrizes, com 1,5 anos de idade, apresentaram maior enraizamento do que as coletadas no topo e na região basal. As melhores estações para o desenvolvimento dos brotos foram inverno e primavera, em ambientes de vaso e campo. O verão promoveu melhor desenvolvimento das miniestacas em casa de vegetação, a partir de matrizes cultivadas em canaletão.Palavras-chave: Clonagem; conífera; produção de muda; propagação vegetativa. AbstractEffect of matrix plant, season and minigarden on Pinus radiata minicutting. Cutting of superior genotypes of Pinus radiata is current in forestry. For such practice in Brazil, protocols of propagation need to be established. We evaluated the mini-cutting applied to seedling production, focusing the collection point in matrix plant, season, and minigarden. We used seminal matrix 1 m height and 1.5 years old for mini-cutting production. Three consecutive trials were made: (i) the rooting of mini-cuttings collected from three points in the matrix (top, intermediate and basal), (ii) the influence of minigarden (pot, gutters and field) in development of rooted, and (iii) the effect of season (winter, spring and summer) on the development of rooted cuttings collected in pot, gutters and field. The mini-cuttings collected from the intermediate region of the 1.5 years old seedlings matrices had higher rooting than those collected from the top and basal region. The best time for the development of buds was winter and spring in pots as well as field environments. Summer promoted the best development of mini-cuttings, in greenhouse, from matrix plant grown in gutters.Keywords: Cloning; conifer; seedling production, vegetative propagation.