scholarly journals Survival of Whitebark Pine Seedlings Grown from Direct Seeding: Implications for Regeneration and Restoration under Climate Change

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. Pansing ◽  
Diana F. Tomback
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Seedling Survival ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Direct Seeding ◽  
Subalpine Forest ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
White Pine Blister Rust ◽  
Pine Seedlings ◽  
Elevation Zone ◽  
Parsimonious Model

Whitebark pine populations are declining nearly range-wide, primarily from the exotic fungal pathogen that causes white pine blister rust (WPBR). Climate change is expected to exacerbate these declines by decreasing climatically suitable areas. Planting WPBR-resistant seedlings is a key restoration action, but it is costly, time consuming, and labor intensive. Direct seeding—sowing seeds rather than planting seedlings—may reduce costs and open remote areas to restoration; however, its efficacy remains largely unexplored. In this case study, we estimated the annual survival rates (ASR) of seedlings grown from directly sown seeds, and the effect of elevation zone and microsite type on survival. For five years we monitored 184 caches containing one or more seedlings within one study area in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Seed caches were originally stratified between subalpine forest and treeline and among three microsite types defined by a nurse object: Rocks, trees, and no object. To estimate ASR, we selected the most parsimonious model of a set using AICc. ASR was best described by elevation zone and year and ranged from 0.571 to 0.992. The odds of seedling survival were 2.62 times higher at treeline than in subalpine forest and were 4.6 to 36.2 times higher in 2016–2018 than 2014. We estimated the probability that a whitebark pine seed cache would contain one or more living seedlings six years after sowing to be 0.175 and 0.0584 for treeline and subalpine caches, respectively. We estimated that 1410 and 4229 caches ha−1 would need to be sown at treeline and in subalpine forest, respectively, to attain target restoration densities of 247 established trees ha−1. Our findings, although based on one study area, suggest that climate change may be increasing treeline regeneration, and that direct seeding may be a viable restoration option and climate change mitigation tool for whitebark pine.

scholarly journals Microsite and elevation zone effects on seed pilferage, germination, and seedling survival during early whitebark pine recruitment

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (21) ◽  
pp. 9027-9040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. Pansing ◽  
Diana F. Tomback ◽  
Michael B. Wunder ◽  
Joshua P. French ◽  
Aaron C. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Seedling Survival ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
Elevation Zone

Restoring whitebark pine ecosystems in the face of climate change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Keane ◽  
Lisa M. Holsinger ◽  
Mary F. Mahalovich ◽  
Diana F. Tomback
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
The Face

Climate-induced treeline mortality during the termination of the Little Ice Age in the Greater Yellowstone Ecoregion, USA

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110116
Author(s):  
Maegen L Rochner ◽  
Karen J Heeter ◽  
Grant L Harley ◽  
Matthew F Bekker ◽  
Sally P Horn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Frost Damage ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
Engelmann Spruce ◽  
Greater Yellowstone

Paleoclimate reconstructions for the western US show spatial variability in the timing, duration, and magnitude of climate changes within the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, ca. 900–1350 CE) and Little Ice Age (LIA, ca. 1350–1850 CE), indicating that additional data are needed to more completely characterize late-Holocene climate change in the region. Here, we use dendrochronology to investigate how climate changes during the MCA and LIA affected a treeline, whitebark pine ( Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) ecosystem in the Greater Yellowstone Ecoregion (GYE). We present two new millennial-length tree-ring chronologies and multiple lines of tree-ring evidence from living and remnant whitebark pine and Engelmann spruce ( Picea engelmannii Parry ex. Engelm.) trees, including patterns of establishment and mortality; changes in tree growth; frost rings; and blue-intensity-based, reconstructed summer temperatures, to highlight the terminus of the LIA as one of the coldest periods of the last millennium for the GYE. Patterns of tree establishment and mortality indicate conditions favorable to recruitment during the latter half of the MCA and climate-induced mortality of trees during the middle-to-late LIA. These patterns correspond with decreased growth, frost damage, and reconstructed cooler temperature anomalies for the 1800–1850 CE period. Results provide important insight into how past climate change affected important GYE ecosystems and highlight the value of using multiple lines of proxy evidence, along with climate reconstructions of high spatial resolution, to better describe spatial and temporal variability in MCA and LIA climate and the ecological influence of climate change.

scholarly journals Warming Arctic summers unlikely to increase productivity of shorebirds through renesting

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah T. Saalfeld ◽  
Brooke L. Hill ◽  
Christine M. Hunter ◽  
Charles J. Frost ◽  
Richard B. Lanctot
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Chick Survival ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Phenological Mismatch ◽  
Daily Survival ◽  
Adequate Food

AbstractClimate change in the Arctic is leading to earlier summers, creating a phenological mismatch between the hatching of insectivorous birds and the availability of their invertebrate prey. While phenological mismatch would presumably lower the survival of chicks, climate change is also leading to longer, warmer summers that may increase the annual productivity of birds by allowing adults to lay nests over a longer period of time, replace more nests that fail, and provide physiological relief to chicks (i.e., warmer temperatures that reduce thermoregulatory costs). However, there is little information on how these competing ecological processes will ultimately impact the demography of bird populations. In 2008 and 2009, we investigated the survival of chicks from initial and experimentally-induced replacement nests of arcticola Dunlin (Calidris alpina) breeding near Utqiaġvik, Alaska. We monitored survival of 66 broods from 41 initial and 25 replacement nests. Based on the average hatch date of each group, chick survival (up to age 15 days) from replacement nests (Ŝi = 0.10; 95% CI = 0.02–0.22) was substantially lower than initial nests (Ŝi = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.48–0.81). Daily survival rates were greater for older chicks, chicks from earlier-laid clutches, and during periods of greater invertebrate availability. As temperature was less important to daily survival rates of shorebird chicks than invertebrate availability, our results indicate that any physiological relief experienced by chicks will likely be overshadowed by the need for adequate food. Furthermore, the processes creating a phenological mismatch between hatching of shorebird young and invertebrate emergence ensures that warmer, longer breeding seasons will not translate into abundant food throughout the longer summers. Thus, despite having a greater opportunity to nest later (and potentially replace nests), young from these late-hatching broods will likely not have sufficient food to survive. Collectively, these results indicate that warmer, longer summers in the Arctic are unlikely to increase annual recruitment rates, and thus unable to compensate for low adult survival, which is typically limited by factors away from the Arctic-breeding grounds.

Direct seeding of PinusSylvestris using microsite preparation and invigorated seed lots of different quality: 2-year results

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Winsa ◽  
Urban Bergsten
Keyword(s):  
Seed Quality ◽  
Seedling Survival ◽  
Seedling Emergence ◽  
Mineral Soil ◽  
Direct Seeding ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Humus Layer ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Mean Germination Time ◽  
Better Than

Direct seeding of Pinussylvestris L. is a regeneration method, with potential for development considering scarification, microsite preparation, seed invigoration, and seed quality. Three seed lots of different quality concerning seed weight, germination percent, and mean germination time were used on two sites in northern Sweden. Microsite preparation, 2 cm deep pyramidal indentations, of the mineral soil improved seedling emergence on the two sites by 48 and 62%, respectively, compared with seeding without preparation other than removal of the humus layer. Microsite preparation in combination with invigorated seed, i.e., seed incubated at 30% moisture content for 7 days at 15 °C, resulted in seedling emergence of about 85% for the highest and about 50% for the lowest seed quality at both sites. Noninvigorated seed, seeded without microsite preparation, reached about 55% for the highest and 22% at one and 43% at the other for the lowest seed quality. Without microsite preparation there was no, or a negative, effect of seed invigoration on seedling emergence. Seedling survival after the first winter improved significantly with better seed quality. Survival averaged 92 and 72% at the two sites, with frost heaving causing most mortality. Seedlings from invigorated and redried seed survived better than seedlings from untreated seed. Seedlings from the best seed quality had higher values in seedling height, about 35%, shoot length, about 60%, and needle length, about 30%, after two growing seasons than seedlings from lower seed qualities. Invigoration and microsite preparation had no effect on measured growth characteristics.

scholarly journals Landscape Topoedaphic Features Create Refugia from Drought and Insect Disturbance in a Lodgepole and Whitebark Pine Forest

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Cartwright
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Pine Forest ◽  
Boosted Regression Trees ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
Insect Outbreaks ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle

Droughts and insect outbreaks are primary disturbance processes linking climate change to tree mortality in western North America. Refugia from these disturbances—locations where impacts are less severe relative to the surrounding landscape—may be priorities for conservation, restoration, and monitoring. In this study, hypotheses concerning physical and biological processes supporting refugia were investigated by modelling the landscape controls on disturbance refugia that were identified using remotely sensed vegetation indicators. Refugia were identified at 30-m resolution using anomalies of Landsat-derived Normalized Difference Moisture Index in lodgepole and whitebark pine forests in southern Oregon, USA, in 2001 (a single-year drought with no insect outbreak) and 2009 (during a multi-year drought and severe outbreak of mountain pine beetle). Landscape controls on refugia (topographic, soil, and forest characteristics) were modeled using boosted regression trees. Landscape characteristics better explained and predicted refugia locations in 2009, when forest impacts were greater, than in 2001. Refugia in lodgepole and whitebark pine forests were generally associated with topographically shaded slopes, convergent environments such as valleys, areas of relatively low soil bulk density, and in thinner forest stands. In whitebark pine forest, refugia were associated with riparian areas along headwater streams. Spatial patterns in evapotranspiration, snowmelt dynamics, soil water storage, and drought-tolerance and insect-resistance abilities may help create refugia from drought and mountain pine beetle. Identification of the landscape characteristics supporting refugia can help forest managers target conservation resources in an era of climate-change exacerbation of droughts and insect outbreaks.

scholarly journals Dendrochronological Assessment of Whitebark Pine Response to Past Climate Change: Implications for a Threatened Species in Grand Teton National Park

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 58-64
Author(s):  
Kendra McLauchlan ◽  
Kyleen Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
Grand Teton National Park ◽  
Pine Trees

One of the keystone tree species in subalpine forests of the western United States – whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis, hereafter whitebark pine) – is experiencing a significant mortality event (Millar et al. 2012). Whitebark pine occupies a relatively restricted range in the high-elevation ecosystems in the northern Rockies and its future is uncertain. The current decline of whitebark pine populations has been attributed to pine beetle infestations, blister rust infections, anthropogenic fire suppression, and climate change (Millar et al. 2012). Despite the knowledge that whitebark pine is severely threatened by multiple stressors, little is known about the historic capacity of this species to handle these stressors. More specifically, it is unknown how whitebark pine has dealt with past climatic variability, particularly variation in the type of precipitation (rain vs. snow) available for soil moisture, and how differences in quantity of precipitation have influenced the establishment and growth of modern stands. We propose to study the past responses of whitebark pine to paleoclimatic conditions, which would be useful to park ecologists in developing new conservation and regeneration plans to prevent the extinction of this already severely threatened high-elevation resource. The purpose of this study is to determine in great temporal and spatial detail the demographics of the current stand of whitebark pine trees in the watershed surrounding an unnamed, high-altitude pond (known informally as Whitebark Pine Moraine Pond) located approximately 3.06 miles NW of Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). The main objectives of this study were: 1.) To obtain the precise GPS locations of the current stand of whitebark pine trees in the watershed to generate a GIS map detailing their locations. 2.) To obtain increment cores of a subset of the trees in the watershed to estimate age and date of establishment for the current stand of whitebark pines, with particular attention to fire history. 3.) To analyze ring widths from core samples to identify climatic indicators that may influence the regeneration and survival of whitebark pine.

scholarly journals Verbenone and Green-Leaf Volatiles Reduce Whitebark Pine Mortality in a Northern Range-Expanding Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etienne Cardinal ◽  
Brenda Shepherd ◽  
Jodie Krakowski ◽  
Carl James Schwarz ◽  
John Stirrett-Wood
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Green Leaf Volatiles ◽  
Green Leaf ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
White Pine Blister Rust ◽  
Leaf Volatiles ◽  
Disease Resistant ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Pine Trees

This is the first study testing effectiveness of semiochemical treatments to protect individual trees from a range-expanding mountain pine beetle (MPB, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) attack into newly exposed host populations of endangered whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelmann). We investigated the effectiveness of a combination of verbenone and Green-Leaf Volatiles (GLV) to protect rare and valuable disease-resistant trees during a MPB epidemic from 2015 to 2018 in Jasper National Park, Canada. Treatments reduced the proportion of trees attacked by MPB for all diameter classes, across all stands, from 46 to 60%. We also evaluated the effect of the exotic disease white pine blister rust (caused by the fungus Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fisch), the species’ other main regional threat. MPB were less likely to attack large, rust infected trees than healthy trees, emphasizing the value of the semiochemical treatment. Protecting large, cone-bearing disease-resistant whitebark pine trees is fundamental to whitebark pine recovery. Maintaining reproductive trees on the landscape increases the frequency and diversity of rust-resistant genotypes more effectively than just planting seedlings to replace MPB-killed trees, because this slow-growing species takes over 80 years to reproduce. Our study confirmed protecting large rust-resistant trees with verbenone and GLV is a proactive and effective treatment against MPB for whitebark pine in naïve populations.

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