Progress 07/01/12 to 06/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Climatologists Forest ecologists Forest resource managers Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over the course of this project, the lab has provided training in dendrochronological methods to more than 78 faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. During this period, two dozen undergraduate students have been employed in the lab. They have been trained in the handling, preparation and measuring of increment cores and in the analysis of dendrochronological data. In addition, during the project the lab has provided training and technical support for graduate students, post-docs, and undergraduate researchers from five different departments at USU (Plant, Soils, and Climate; Biology; Geology; Wildland Resources; and Anthropology and Social Sciences) and the University of Utah (both Biology and Geography departments). The lab has collaborated with and hosted researchers from the University of Idaho (Pocatello), the University of Utah, Brigham Young University and Arizona State University to facilitate tree-ring analysis. Oftentimes this facilitation has resulted in research publications (e.g., DeRose, Bekker, and Long 2017). Staff (Petit) and collaborators (DeRose) have gone to the University of Utah Geography/Anthropology field camp for the last two years to teach tree-rings. This extends the reach (and bolsters our reputation as the tree-ring experts in the state), but it also results in great data for research collaboration. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Scientific results generated, directly and indirectly, from the USU Dendrochronology Lab have resulted in multiple publications and presentations. Collectively, this output represents broad dissemination of results to a wide diversity of scientists and managers (e.g., climatologists, water resource managers, and forest managers, many of whom would otherwise be unaware of the opportunities represented by dendrochronology research). Particularly noteworthy are the number of graduate and undergraduate students who have had the opportunity to work in the lab, gaining experience with dendrochronological research and fostering interest in learning and careers in natural resources science and management. Multiple public presentations on the art and science of dendrochronology have been given by technicians and researchers from the Dendro Lab (DeRose and Pettit) fostering increased awareness of dendrochronology and tree-ring science. USU Dendrochronology Lab has gained a regional reputation and this been in large part due to support from this UAES project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Final report, this project has been completed.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The most important impact, representing a fundamental change in knowledge, is that gridded tree-ring data from the extensive FIA plot network can be used to fill important gaps in existing tree-ring records and bolster climate station data in the Interior West (see Objective 5 below). In this project, the gridded and crossdated tree-ring data set includes over 18,000 trees from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Additionally, the lab has helped the Pacific Northwest States (California, Oregon, and Washington) begin the process of collecting, measuring, and archiving their FIA plot increment cores (2014 to current). The approach and methodological achievements of this major advancement in tree-ring data development were recently characterized (DeRose, Shaw, and Long 2017). This UAES project has facilitated the 'USU dendro lab' into becoming a major player in the Interior West in terms of providing tree-ring service, education, and research. An example is that Drs Petit and DeRose were invited to teach at the annual NADEF workshop, which has been going for 26 years. The invitation was because the workshop was in WY and our staff are the regional dendro 'opinion leaders'. Objective 1: The Lab will digitize all of the increment cores from the 8 Interior West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), one state at a time, and conduct preliminary analyses on this spatially rich data set. In this project, the gridded and crossdated tree-ring data set includes over 18,000 trees from Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Objective 2: Test whether tree-ring series for a particular species (e.g., Engelmann spruce, or common pinyon) collected from the systematic FIA grid provide a signal of sufficient strength to characterize an environmental variable. Essentially this objective is to test whether important climatic variables can be reconstructed from the systematic FIA grid. An accomplishment for this objective is that a PhD Candidate (Danny Barandiaran) in USU Department of Plant, Soils and Climate successfully used the FIA grid to build a gridded reconstruction of April 1st Snow Water Equivalent for the state of Utah (Barandiaran, Wang, and DeRose 2017). Another accomplishment for this objective was the demonstration that the FIA grid, composed of Douglas-fir and common pinyon in the state of Utah, were strongly and coherently related to hydroclimatic variability characteristic of the western U.S. (DeRose, Wang, and Shaw 2013) paving the way for future analyses of climatic variability, which are ongoing. Objective 3: Subjective site and tree selection increase the likelihood of capturing very long tree-ring series (i.e., very old trees). An objective is to determine if the systematic FIA grid which accurately characterizes variability of a species population that regularly achieves old age, will in fact capture a substantial proportion of old individuals. The range of ages found from trees in the systemic grid, so far, in the Interior West, by species are included in an article published in the Journal of Forestry (DeRose, Shaw, and Long 2017). Objective 4: Develop species-specific gridded tree-ring data sets state-by-state for important species in the Interior West. To date, this objective has been largely completed for Utah, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming. Work continues for Arizona (with a collaboration at Arizona State University), and New Mexico is ongoing. All the tree-ring data collected through the 2014 field season has been databased and archived for permanent storage in the FIADB system of the USFS. Currently 2015 to present are being databased. Once in the database the tree-ring data becomes easily available for retrieval by researchers and the public, a necessary component of the FIA program. Objective 5: For selected species (e.g., Douglas-fir), determine climate-growth relationships and determine the feasibility of bolstering station climate data using the gridded tree-ring data sets. This objective has been accomplished. In addition to Dr. Barandiaran's results (reported under Objective 2), we have explored climate teleconnections for the large (3,000 tree) cross-dated data set, showing a strong dipole in the El Nino- Southern Oscillation index. The results also show periodicity in the strength of ENSO, that appears to be modulated by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (DeRose, Wang, and Shaw 2014). Vast swaths of the FIA data set were collected in remote areas far from station data (filling holes) and also at much higher elevations than typical station data (important for correcting bias in station-based data).
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Brough, A. M., DeRose, R. J., Conner, M. M., Long, J. N. (2017). Summer-fall home-range fidelity of female elk in northwestern Colorado: implications for aspen managementl. Forest Ecology and Management, 389, 220-227.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
DeRose, R. J., Shaw, J. D., Long, J. N. (2017). Building the forest inventory and analysis tree-ring data set. Journal of Forestry, 115(4), 283-291.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
DeRose, R. J., Bekker, M. F., Long, J. N. (2017). Traumatic resin ducts as indicators of bark beetle outbreaks. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 47, 1168-1174
|
Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience Climatologists Forest ecologists Forest resource managers Changes/Problems:Changes/Problems While not part of the formal objectives for the project, we plan to develop and maintain collaborations. We will continue the collaboration with Margaret Evans in Tucson to get more AZ data (ponderosa, Douglas-fir, and pinyon). We may also share the whitebark pine tree-ring data with a researcher in Montana. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities In 2016 we have trained a dozen more lab technicians. Our lab manager, Dr. Joey Pettit has overseen half a dozen graduate projects for students from WATS, PSC, Geology, WILD, and Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology Department (Judson Finley). Drs. Pettit and DeRose have given guest lectures and tours of the lab. New to the lab in 2016 was the addition of the wood shop (for sample prep), facilitated by WILD. We now have the responsibility to oversee and manage it. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dissemination Scientific results generated, directly and indirectly, from the USU Dendrochronology Lab have resulted in multiple publications and presentations. Collectively, this output represents broad dissemination of results to a wide diversity of scientists and managers (e.g., climatologists, water resource managers, and forest managers, many of whom would otherwise be unaware of the opportunities represented by dendrochronology research). Particularly noteworthy are the number of graduate and undergraduate students who have had the opportunity to work in the lab, gaining experience with dendrochronological research and fostering interest in learning and careers in natural resources science and management. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plan of Work Objective 1: The Lab will digitize all of the increment cores from the 8 Interior West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), one state at a time, and conducting preliminary analyses on this spatially rich data set. In 2017, incoming FIA annual cores are expected from ID, CO, WY, and NM likely increasing the number of cores needing to be processed from 1,200 to ~2,000. We anticipate finishing the NM periodic cores in 2017. Objective 2: Test whether tree-ring series for a particular species (Engelmann spruce) collected from the systematic FIA grid provide a signal of sufficient strength to characterize an environmental variable. In 2017, we will continue analyzing the FIA tree-ring grid and plan to adjust lab manager's time so he can split it between managing the lab and doing analysis like this. Objective 3: Subjective site and tree selection increase the likelihood of capturing very long tree-ring series (i.e., very old trees). The plan for 2017 is to pair our entire crossdated FIA dataset with PRISM climate data and the ITRDB where we can formally test hypotheses about similarities between the data sets. Objective 4: Develop species-specific gridded tree-ring data sets state-by-state for important species in the Interior West. In 2017 we will be doing a lot to meet this objective. The goal is to essentially get everything FIA in the lab through the 2015 sampling year, cleaned, into a database, and delivered to FIA. This will include completing NV, CO, ID, and hopefully NM (New Mexico periodic is the bottom of the list, so if we don't have the time this will get pushed back). Objective 5: For selected species (e.g., Douglas-fir), determine climate-growth relationships and determine the feasibility of bolstering station climate data using the gridded tree-ring data sets. Work will extend the results to additional species/climate-growth relationships. This is also the main goal of future grants. The teleconnection results should be published in 2017.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments The most important impact (representing a fundamental change in knowledge) is that gridded tree-ring data from the extensive FIA plot network can be used to fill important gaps in existing tree-ring records and bolster climate station data in the Interior West (see Objective 5 below). In this fourth year of the project the pilot gridded and crossdated tree-ring data set was expanded to over 3,000 trees covering the states of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. In 2016 the addition of a lab manager (Dr. Joey Pettit) allowed us to: 1) complete the 2015 FIA annual data in just 5 months; 2) begin the final archival state (New Mexico); 3) complete the preparation and delivery of the 2014 Douglas-fir cores from the PNW states (CA, WA, OR), and; 4) manage various ancillary tree-ring projects coming through the lab (see opportunities below). This year most of the effort, and accomplishments, has been focused on Objectives 1, 4, and 5. Objective 1: The Lab will digitize all of the increment cores from the 8 Interior West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), one state at a time, and conduct preliminary analyses on this spatially rich data set. In total, over 15,000 FIA-collected cores have been prepped and measured; this includes cores for the entire states of Utah, Montana, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Arizona. This year the lab has received over 1,000 new cores from the FIA grid in the Interior West. In addition, the lab has received, and has begun processing, cores from the Pacific Northwest FIA Program (California, Oregon, and Washington). ~400 cores were received last year, and ~400 more are expected to come in this year. The total number of FIA-collected cores being prepared and measured is approaching 18,000 with the addition of more cores from Arizona periodic (overseen by the lab, but prepared in Tucson), the addition of more cores from the New Mexico periodic inventory, and the addition of ~1,200 new cores from the 2016 annual inventory. Objective 2: Test whether tree-ring series for a particular species (e.g., Engelmann spruce) collected from the systematic FIA grid provide a signal of sufficient strength to characterize an environmental variable. Essentially this objective is to test whether important climatic variables can be reconstructed from the systematic FIA grid. An accomplishment for this objective this year is that Danny Barandiaran (Climate PhD) used the FIA grid to build a gridded reconstruction of SWE for the state of Utah. These results are being submitted for publication. In addition, an analysis of growth variability with common pinyon is being undertaken by a collaborator, and will be presented at the 2016 AGU meeting. Objective 3: Subjective site and tree selection increase the likelihood of capturing very long tree-ring series (i.e., very old trees). An objective is to determine if the systematic FIA grid which accurately characterizes variability of a species population that regularly achieves old age, will in fact capture a substantial proportion of old individuals. The range of ages found from trees in the systemic grid, so far, in the Interior West, by species are included in an article (in press) in the Journal of Forestry. We are currently analyzing the crossdated data set (3,000) trees across the states of ID, MT, WY, UT, CO, by strictly comparing the FIA data to the International Tree-Ring Data Bank data sets. This required us to also build ITRDB data set from the public data, which is big and time-consuming. The PNW-GTR did analyze some large-scale patterns in ring-width characteristics, but not age specifically. The Journal of Forestry paper does compare core ages to forest type distribution. Objective 4: Develop species-specific gridded tree-ring data sets state-by-state for important species in the Interior West. This is probably the major contribution for this year. The ~3000 dated tree-ring series have been published in a PNW GTR, and will be presented at the FIA symposium in Dec. This year we finished the Douglas-fir data set for PNW (WA, OR, CA). We also finalized the periodic databases for Utah, Montana, Idaho, Colorado and those have been delivered to the FIA Information Management team. We have finalized the first 5 years of the Wyoming annual data, and delivered to FIA. Currently working on finalizing the NV database and plan to deliver it the first quarter of 2017. In collaboration with Margaret Even's lab in Tucson we are also developing the AZ periodic tree-ring data. They are following all the same crossdating protocols we have in the lab, and are under our direction. When they finish we will take their data set and develop a database to be delivered to FIA. Objective 5: For selected species (e.g., Douglas-fir), determine climate-growth relationships and determine the feasibility of bolstering station climate data using the gridded tree-ring data sets. This objective has been accomplished. In addition to Dr. Barandiaran's results (reported under Objective 2), In addition we have explored climate teleconnections for the large (3,000 tree) data set, showing a strong dipole in the El Nino- Southern Oscillation index. The results also show periodicity in the strength of ENSO, that appears to be modulated by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Vast swaths of the FIA data set were collected in remote areas far from station data (filling holes) and also at much higher elevations than typical station data (important for correcting bias in station-based data).
Publications
|
Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience Climatologist Forest ecologists Forest resource managers Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities During 2015, the lab has provided training in dendrochronological methods to more than 20 faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. During this period, half a dozen undergraduate students have been employed in the lab. They have been trained in the handling, preparation and reading of tree cores and in the analysis of dendrochronological data. During this reporting period, the lab has provided training and technical support for five graduate students from three different departments at USU and the University of Utah. During 2015 USU Archaeology professor Judson Finley has used the lab for his graduate-level class. The lab has also hosted researchers from the University of Idaho (Pocatello) to facilitate tree-ring analysis. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dissemination Scientific results generated, directly and indirectly, from the USU Dendrochronology Lab have resulted in multiple publications and presentations. Collectively, this output represents broad dissemination of results to a wide diversity of scientists and managers (e.g., climatologists, water resource managers, and forest managers, many of whom would otherwise be unaware of the opportunities represented by dendrochronology research). Particularly noteworthy are the number of graduate and undergraduate students who have had the opportunity to work in the lab, gaining experience with dendrochronolgical research and fostering interest in natural resources science and management. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plan of Work The lab now has three complete work stations (each with Velmex stage, digital measuring hardware, binocular microscope, and computer); this has substantially increased production capacity for core processing. During 2015, we acquired three microscope stations for crossdating, and one scanner for digital image processing. In addition to continued core preparation and measurement, work during the coming year will be focused on development of climate-growth relationships and master chronologies. Plan of work by objective: Objective 1: The Lab will digitize all of the increment cores from the 8 Interior West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), one state at a time, and conducting preliminary analyses on this spatially rich data set. In 2016, work will continue on core preparation and measurement. New cores will include approximately 800 from Colorado and 300 from Wyoming. There will also be new cores coming from the Pacific Northwest. Objective 2: Test whether tree-ring series for a particular species (Engelmann spruce) collected from the systematic FIA grid provide a signal of sufficient strength to characterize an environmental variable. In 2016, work will continue in testing feasibility of using FIA-generated tree-ring data to characterize environmental variables. Progress on this (and other objectives) will be bolstered by the addition of the new lab manager. Objective 3: Subjective site and tree selection increase the likelihood of capturing very long tree-ring series (i.e., very old trees). An objective is to determine if the systematic FIA grid which accurately characterizes variability of a species population that regularly achieves old age, will in fact capture a substantial proportion of old individuals. Work on this objection began in 2015 and will continue in 2016. Objective 4: Develop species-specific gridded tree-ring data sets state-by-state for important species in the Interior West. Work on this objective during 2016 will include the addition of as many as 1000 trees to the already huge data set. Objective 5: For selected species (e.g., Douglas-fir), determine climate-growth relationships and determine the feasibility of bolstering station climate data using the gridded tree-ring data sets. Work will continue on this objective. Work will extend the results to additional species/climate-growth relationships. This is also the main goal of grant proposals being prepared, so work on this objective is definitely in the plan for the coming year
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments The most important impact to date (representing a fundamental change in knowledge) is that gridded tree-ring data from the extensive FIA plot network can be used to fill important gaps in existing tree-ring records and bolster climate station data in the Interior West (see Objective 5 below). In this third year of the project the pilot gridded tree-ring data set was expanded from ~500 trees in Utah, to over 3,000 trees covering the states of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. During this third year of the project, most of the effort, and accomplishments, has been focused on Objectives 1, 4, and 5. Objective 1: The Lab will digitize all of the increment cores from the 8 Interior West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), one state at a time, and conducting preliminary analyses on this spatially rich data set. Over 15,000 FIA-collected cores have been prepped and measured; this represents cores for the entire states of Utah, Montana, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Arizona. In the past year over 1,000 new cores were received and processed. In addition, the lab has received, and has begun processing, cores from the Pacific Northwest FIA Program (California, Oregon, and Washington); ~400 cores were received last year, and ~400 more are expected to come in this year. Objective 2: Test whether tree-ring series for a particular species (e.g., Engelmann spruce) collected from the systematic FIA grid provide a signal of sufficient strength to characterize an environmental variable. A corollary to this objective is to test whether important climatic variables can be reconstructed from the systematic FIA grid. An accomplishment for this objective this year is that a PhD Candidate in USU Department of Plant, Soils and Climate successively used the FIA grid to build a gridded reconstruction of April 1st Snow Water Equivalent for the state of Utah. Objective 3: Subjective site and tree selection increase the likelihood of capturing very long tree-ring series (i.e., very old trees). An objective is to determine if the systematic FIA grid which accurately characterizes variability of a species population that regularly achieves old age, will in fact capture a substantial proportion of old individuals. No accomplishments to report Objective 4: Develop species-specific gridded tree-ring data sets state-by-state for important species in the Interior West. An accomplishment under this objective represents an important change in knowledge. A fundamental goal of forest biogeography is to understand the factors that drive spatiotemporal variability in forest growth across large areas (e.g., states or regions). Individual-tree growth data from increment cores were paired with plot-level variables from the inventory to investigate the spatiotemporal growth patterns for Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, common pinyon, and limber pine over the northern portion of the Interior West (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado). Based on dendrochronological theory proposed over 50 years ago, we tested three hypotheses that variability in ring-width increment: 1) would decrease as latitude increased; 2) would increase as continentality increases (i.e., west to east); and 3) would decrease as elevation increased. The data only support hypothesis 2. These results have important implications for interpreting tree-ring data (e.g., Objective 2). Objective 5: For selected species (e.g., Douglas-fir), determine climate-growth relationships and determine the feasibility of bolstering station climate data using the gridded tree-ring data sets. This objective has been accomplished for Douglas-fir. Also, see accomplishment noted under Objective 2 regarding reconstruction of April 1st Snow Water Equivalent for state of Utah.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Refereed Journal Articles
Kusbach, A., Shaw, J. D., Long, J. N. (2015). Land classification in the interior western United States: a critical assessment of the habitat type concept. Applied Vegetation Science, 18, 158-168.
|
Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audience Climatologist Forest ecologists Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Opportunities During 2014, the lab has provided training in dendrochronological methods to more than 25 faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. During this period eleven undergraduate students have been employed in the lab. They have been trained in the handling, preparation and reading of tree cores and in the analysis of dendrochronological data. During this reporting period, the lab has provided training and technical support for seven graduate students from five different departments at USU and the University of Utah. A formal course in dendrochronological methods was taught in the lab Spring semester 2014. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Dissemination Scientific results generated, directly and indirectly, from the USU Dendrochronology Lab have resulted in multiple publications and presentations. Collectively, this output represents broad dissemination of results to a wide diversity of scientists and managers (e.g., climatologists, water resource managers, and forest managers, many of whom would otherwise be unaware of the opportunities represented by dendrochronology research). Particularly noteworthy are the number of graduate and undergraduate students who have had the opportunity to work in the lab, gaining experience with dendrochronolgical research and fostering interest in learning and careers in natural resources science and management. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Plan of Work The lab now has three complete work stations (each with Velmex stage, digital measuring hardware, binocular microscope, and computer); this has substantially increased production capacity for core processing. In addition to continued core preparation and measurement, work during the coming year will be focused on development of climate-growth relationships and master chronologies. Plan of work by objective: Objective 1: The Lab will digitize all of the increment cores from the 8 Interior West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), one state at a time, and conducting preliminary analyses on this spatially rich data set. In 2015, work will continue on core preparation and measurement, including cores from the Pacific Northwest. Objective 2: Test whether tree-ring series for a particular species (Engelmann spruce) collected from the systematic FIA grid provide a signal of sufficient strength to characterize an environmental variable. In 2015, work will continue in testing feasibility of using FIA-generated tree-ring data to characterize environmental variables. Objective 3: Subjective site and tree selection increase the likelihood of capturing very long tree-ring series (i.e., very old trees). An objective is to determine if the systematic FIA grid which accurately characterizes variability of a species population that regularly achieves old age, will in fact capture a substantial proportion of old individuals. Work is planned to begin in 2015 on this objective. Objective 4: Develop species-specific gridded tree-ring data sets state-by-state for important species in the Interior West. No work planned for 2015 specifically on this objective. Objective 5: For selected species (e.g., Douglas-fir), determine climate-growth relationships and determine the feasibility of bolstering station climate data using the gridded tree-ring data sets. Work will continue on this objective. Work will extend the results to additional species/climate-growth relationships.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments The most important impact to date (representing a fundamental change in knowledge) is that gridded tree-ring data from the extensive FIA plot network can be used to fill important gaps in existing tree-ring records and bolster climate station data in the Interior West (see Objective 5 below). During this second year of the project, most of the effort, and accomplishments, has been focused on Objectives 1and 5. Objective 1: The Lab will digitize all of the increment cores from the 8 Interior West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), one state at a time, and conducting preliminary analyses on this spatially rich data set. Over 15,000 FIA-collected cores have been prepped and measured; this represents cores for the entire states of Utah, Montana, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Arizona. In addition, the lab has received, and has begun processing, cores from FIA in the Pacific Northwest (Washington and Oregon). Objective 2: Test whether tree-ring series for a particular species (e.g., Engelmann spruce) collected from the systematic FIA grid provide a signal of sufficient strength to characterize an environmental variable. No accomplishments to report Objective 3: Subjective site and tree selection increase the likelihood of capturing very long tree-ring series (i.e., very old trees). An objective is to determine if the systematic FIA grid which accurately characterizes variability of a species population that regularly achieves old age, will in fact capture a substantial proportion of old individuals. No accomplishments to report Objective 4: Develop species-specific gridded tree-ring data sets state-by-state for important species in the Interior West. No accomplishments to report Objective 5: For selected species (e.g., Douglas-fir), determine climate-growth relationships and determine the feasibility of bolstering station climate data using the gridded tree-ring data sets. This objective has been accomplished for Douglas-fir.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
DeRose, R. J., Long, J. N. (2014). Resistance and resilience: a conceptual framework for silviculture. Forest Science, 60(6), 1205-1212.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Long, J. N., Vacchiano, G. (2014). A comprehensive framework of forest stand property-density relationships: perspectives for plant population ecology and forest management. Annals of Forest Science, 71(3), 326-335
|
Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Climatologist Forest ecologists Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Since July, 2012, the lab has provided training in dendrochronological methods to more than 20 faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. During this period a dozen undergraduate students have been employed in the lab. They have been trained in the handling, preparation and reading of tree cores and in the analysis of dendrochronological data. During this reporting period, the lab has provided training and technical support for seven graduate students from five different departments at USU and the University of Utah. A formal course in dendrochronological methods has been developed, approved, and is scheduled to be taught in the lab Spring semester 2014. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Scientific results generated, directly and indirectly, from the USU Dendrochronology Lab have resulted in multiple publications and presentations. Collectively, this output represents broad dissemination of results to a wide diversity of scientists and managers (e.g., climatologists, water resource managers, and forest managers, many of whom would otherwise be unaware of the opportunities represented by dendrochronology research). Particularly noteworthy are the number of graduate and undergraduate students who have had the opportunity to work in the lab, gaining experience with dendrochronolgical research and fostering interest in learning and careers in natural resources science and management. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The lab now has three complete work stations (each with Velmex stage, digital measuring hardware, binocular microscope, and computer); this substantially increases production capacity for core processing. In addition to continued core preparation and measurement, work during the coming year will be focused on development of climate-growth relationships and master chronologies. A course in dendrochronological methods will be taught in the lab during the next year. Plan of work by objective: Objective 1: The Lab will digitize all of the increment cores from the 8 Interior West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), one state at a time, and conducting preliminary analyses on this spatially rich data set. In 2014, work will continue on core preparation and measurement. Objective 2: Test whether tree-ring series for a particular species (e.g., Engelmann spruce) collected from the systematic FIA grid provide a signal of sufficient strength to characterize an environmental variable. In 2014, work will begin on at least one individual species to test feasibility of using FIA-generated tree-ring data to characterize environmental varibles. Objective 3: Subjective site and tree selection increase the likelihood of capturing very long tree-ring series (i.e., very old trees). An objective is to determine if the systematic FIA grid which accurately characterizes variability of a species population that regularly achieves old age, will in fact capture a substantial proportion of old individuals. No work planned for 2014 specifically on this objective. Objective 4: Develop species-specific gridded tree-ring data sets state-by-state for important species in the Interior West. No work planned for 2014 specifically on this objective. Objective 5: For selected species (e.g., Douglas-fir), determine climate-growth relationships and determine the feasibility of bolstering station climate data using the gridded tree-ring data sets. Work will continue on this objective. Work will extend the results to additional species/climate-growth relationships.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The most important impact to date (representing a fundamental change in knowledge) is that gridded tree-ring data from the extensive FIA plot network can be used to fill important gaps in existing tree-ring records and bolster climate station data in the Interior West (see Objective 5 below). During this initial year of the project, most of the effort, and accomplishments, has been focused on Objectives 1and 5. Objective 1: The Lab will digitize all of the increment cores from the 8 Interior West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), one state at a time, and conducting preliminary analyses on this spatially rich data set. Over 11,000 FIA-collected cores have been prepped and measured; this represents cores for the entire states of Utah, Montana, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Arizona. In addition, approximately 1,000 cores collected during the FIA 2013 field season have been processed. More than 1,000 new cores (non-FIA) have been crossdated (ponderosa and pinyon pine from Utah, ponderosa pine from Arizona, and single-needle pinyon pine from Nevada. Objective 2: Test whether tree-ring series for a particular species (e.g., Engelmann spruce) collected from the systematic FIA grid provide a signal of sufficient strength to characterize an environmental variable. No accomplishments to report Objective 3: Subjective site and tree selection increase the likelihood of capturing very long tree-ring series (i.e., very old trees). An objective is to determine if the systematic FIA grid which accurately characterizes variability of a species population that regularly achieves old age, will in fact capture a substantial proportion of old individuals. No accomplishments to report Objective 4: Develop species-specific gridded tree-ring data sets state-by-state for important species in the Interior West. No accomplishments to report Objective 5: For selected species (e.g., Douglas-fir), determine climate-growth relationships and determine the feasibility of bolstering station climate data using the gridded tree-ring data sets. The dendrochronological data have been used to establish the feasibility of high-density climate reconstruction (DeRose et al. 2013).
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Bottero, A., Garbarino, M., Long, J. N., Motta, R. (2013). The interacting ecological effects of large-scale disturbances and salvage logging on montane spruce forest regeneration in the western European Alps. Forest Ecology and Management, 292, 19-28.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
DeRose, R. J., Bentz, B. J., Long, J. N., Shaw, J. D. (2013). Effect of increasing temperature on the distribution of spruce beetle in Engelmann spruce forests of the Interior West, USA. Forest Ecology and Management, 308, 198-206.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Long, J. N., Vacchiano, G. (2013). A comprehensive framework of forest stand property-density relationships: perspectives for plant population ecology and forest management. Annals of Forest Science.
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Since July, 2012 more than 2000 tree cores have been measured. Approximately 900 cores collected by FIA crews in NV, WY, and MT during the 2012 field season are being processed. PARTICIPANTS: USDA Forest Service Interior West Forest Inventory and Monitoring (FIA) TARGET AUDIENCES: "Forest ecologists Forest resource managers" PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
no outcomes to report
Publications
- Bottero, A., Garbarino, M., Long, J. N., & Motta, R. 2012. The interacting ecological effects of large-scale disturbances and salvage logging on montane spruce forest regeneration in the western European Alps.: Forest Ecology and Management. (Accepted).
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