Search by keywords, then use filters to narrow down results by type, year, topic, or ecosystem.
Displaying 21 - 40 of 76
Wildfire behavior depends on the type, quantity, and condition of fuels, and the effect that bark beetle outbreaks have on fuels is a topic of current research and debate. Remote sensing can provide estimates of fuels across landscapes, although few…
Year Published:
The recent mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) epidemic has affected millions of hectares of conifer forests in the Rocky Mountains. Land managers are interested in using biomass from beetle-killed trees for bioenergy and biobased…
Year Published:
Widespread tree mortality from mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) outbreaks has prompted forest management activities to reduce crown fire hazard in the Rocky Mountain region. However, little is known about how beetle-…
Year Published:
Spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) outbreaks are rapidly spreading throughout subalpine forests of the Rocky Mountains, raising concerns that altered fuel structures may increase the ecological severity of wildfires. Although many recent…
Year Published:
The western spruce budworm (Choristoneura occidentalis occidentalis Freeman) is recognized as the most ecologically and economically damaging defoliator in western North America. Synchronous western spruce budworm outbreaks can occur over much of a…
Year Published:
Understanding the causes and consequences of rapid environmental change is an essential scientific frontier, particularly given the threat of climate- and land use-induced changes in disturbance regimes. In western North America, recent widespread…
Year Published:
Fire frequency in low-elevation coniferous forests in western North America has greatly declined since the late 1800s. In many areas, this has increased tree density and the proportion of shade-tolerant species, reduced resource availability, and…
Year Published:
Wildfires have increased in western North America, creating extensive areas of regenerating forests. There is concern that recent large, stand-replacing fires will synchronize forest development and commit landscapes to a future of increased…
Year Published:
The causes of bark beetle outbreaks - particularly the role of disturbances - are poorly understood. Stand-scale disturbances, like fires, can suddenly improve local host susceptibility and may attract beetles; however, whether such increases can…
Year Published:
Removal of fire-killed trees (i.e. post-fire or salvage logging) is often conducted in part to reduce woody fuel loads and mitigate potential reburn effects. Studies of post-salvage fuel dynamics have primarily used chronosequence or modelling…
Year Published:
Forests are substantially influenced by disturbances, and therefore accurate information about the location, timing, and magnitude of disturbances is important for understanding effects. In the western United States, the two major disturbance agents…
Year Published:
Extensive outbreaks of bark beetles have killed trees across millions of hectares of forests and woodlands in western North America. These outbreaks have led to spirited scientific, public, and policy debates about consequential increases in fire…
Year Published:
In the western United States, mountain pine beetles (MPBs) have killed pine trees across 71,000 km2 of forest since the mid-1990s, leading to widespread concern that abundant dead fuels may increase area burned and exacerbate fire behavior. Although…
Year Published:
Patches of live, dead, and dying trees resulting from bark beetle-caused mortality alter spatial and temporal variability in the canopy and surface fuel complex through changes in the foliar moisture content of attacked trees and through the…
Year Published:
Induced defense is a common plant strategy in response to herbivory. Although abiotic damage, such as physical wounding, pruning, and heating, can induce plant defense, the effect of such damage by large-scale abiotic disturbances on induced…
Year Published:
Increased wildfire activity and recent bark beetle outbreaks in the western United States have increased the potential for interactions between disturbance types to influence forest characteristics. However, the effects of interactions between bark…
Year Published:
Widespread tree mortality caused by outbreaks of native bark beetles (Circulionidae: Scolytinae) in recent decades has raised concern among scientists and forest managers about whether beetle outbreaks fuel more ecologically severe forest fires and…
Year Published:
Mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreaks within the previous 10-15 years have affected millions of hectares of lodgepole pine forests in western North America. Concerns about the influence of recent tree mortality on changes in fire behaviour amongst…
Year Published:
Citizens, government officials, and natural resource managers are greatly concerned about potential impacts of the mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic on fire hazards and risk. Some mountain towns are surrounded by dead and dying trees. In the Rocky…
Year Published:
The widespread, native defoliator western spruce budworm (Choristoneura occidentalis Freeman) reduces canopy fuels, which might affect the potential for surface fires to torch (ignite the crowns of individual trees) or crown (spread between tree…
Year Published: