Meadows are natural dynamic features of forested mountain landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. Proportions of meadows and forests change with environmental conditions and disturbance history. We investigated the belowground microbial communities associated with these two vegetation types and how they change across the meadow–forest transition at two sites in Oregon. Soils were sampled along rep...

In this study, artificial neural network analyses (ANN) were used to identify the forcing environmental variables that are most significant in governing the transpiration rates of an Austrian Pine stand and its forest floor. Latent heat flux densities (Lh) of the Austrian Pine stand and its forest floor were separately measured using the eddy covariance technique. To assess the sensitivity of t...

The coupling relationship between urban vegetation and land surface temperature (LST) has been heatedly debated in a variety of environmental studies. This paper studies the urban vegetation information and LST by utilizing a series of remote sensing imagery covering the period from 1990 to 2007. Their coupling relationship is analyzed, in order to provide the basis for ecological planning and ...

LANDFIRE is a large interagency project that supports national fire management and fuels treatment activities. A primary data product of LANDFIRE is a detailed vegetation type classification. This study describes how independent data from Landsat imagery, topographic data, biophysical data layers, and dependent field-collected data can be used in a hierarchical mapping approach to improve veget...

The objective of our work was to verify the value of the vegetation corridor in the conservation of small mammals in fragmented tropical landscapes, using a model system in the southeastern Minas Gerais. We evaluated and compared the composition and structure of small mammals in a vegetation corridor, forest fragments and a coffee matrix. A total of 15 species were recorded, and the highest spe...

This study focuses on spatial variability of throughfall water and chemistry and forest floor water content within a Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii, Franco L.) forest plot. Spatial patterns of water and chemistry (NH4 +, NO3 -, SO4 2-, Cl-, Mg2+, Ca2+, Na+ and K+) were compared and tested for stability over time. The spatial coefficient of variation (CV) was between 18 and 26% for amounts o...

Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) woodlands and savannas are among the most frequently burned ecosystems in the world with fire return intervals of 1-10 years. This fire regime has maintained high levels of biodiversity in terms of both species richness and endemism. Land use changes have reduced the area of this ecosystem by >95%, and inadequate fire frequencies threaten many of the remnants tod...

Forests are usually assessed as a discrete land cover type. However, we hypothesise that the resources associated with forests show diverse spatial patterns, only partially matching current forest boundaries. Therefore tree vegetation parameters related to relevant forest resources at the landscape level were assessed for the Canton of Geneva in western Switzerland. LIDAR based digital terrain ...

A regional assessment of the ecological effects of chipping and mastication fuels reduction and forest restoration treatments. Project Title: A regional assessment of the ecological effects of chipping and mastication fuels reduction and forest restoration treatments. ABSTRACT: Over the past several years, fire managers have increased their use of mastication treatments, the on-site disposal of...