No abstract

Tamarisk species are shrubs or small trees considered by some to be among the most aggressively invasive and potentially detrimental exotic plants in the United States. Although extensively studied in the southern and interior west, northwestern (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) distribution and habitat information for tamarisk is either limited or lacking. We obtained distribution data for the northwest, developed a habitat suitability map, and projected changes in habitat due to climate change in a smaller case study area using downscaled climate data. Results show extensive populations of tamarisk east of the Cascade Mountains. Despite the perceived novelty of tamarisk in the region, naturalized populations were present by the 1920s. Major population centers are limited to the warmest and driest environments in the central Snake River Plain, Columbia Plateau, and Northern Basin and Range. Habitat suitability model results indicate that 21% of the region supports suitable tamarisk habitat. Less than 1% of these areas are occupied by tamarisk; the remainder is highly vulnerable to invasion. Although considerable uncertainty exists regarding future climate change, we project a 2- to 10-fold increase in highly suitable tamarisk habitat by the end of the century. Our habitat suitability maps can be used in “what if” exercises as part of planning, detection, restoration, management, and eradication purposes.

We analyzed wildfire exposure for key social and ecological features on the national forests in Oregon and Washington. The forests contain numerous urban interfaces, old growth forests, recreational sites, and habitat for rare and endangered species. Many of these resources are threatened by wildfire, especially in the east Cascade Mountains fire-prone forests. The study illustrates the application of wildfire simulation for risk assessment where the major threat is from large and rare naturally ignited fires, versus many previous studies that have focused on risk driven by frequent and small fires from anthropogenic ignitions. Wildfire simulation modeling was used to characterize potential wildfire behavior in terms of annual burn probability and flame length. Spatial data on selected social and ecological features were obtained from Forest Service GIS databases and elsewhere. The potential wildfire behavior was then summarized for each spatial location of each resource. The analysis suggested strong spatial variation in both burn probability and conditional flame length for many of the features examined, including biodiversity, urban interfaces, and infrastructure. We propose that the spatial patterns in modeled wildfire behavior could be used to improve existing prioritization of fuel management and wildfire preparedness activities within the Pacific Northwest region.

). Reproductive biology of the monoecious clonal shrub Taxus canadensis. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 123: 7-15 1996.-Strobilus production, pollination, and maturation were studied in Taxus canadensis, a procumbent clonally-spreading shrub. Plants that produced many cones had greater shoot growth; no obvious tradeoff between sexual effort and vegetative growth was observed. T. canadensis is monoecious, but plants showed considerable variation in phenotypic gender. Because related species are dioecious, we hypothesize that T. canadensis evolved from a dioecious ancestor. Monoecy may have been favored as a means of assuring pollination via selfing; the proportion of ovules pollinated was positively correlated with the number of male cones on a plant. Sclfing may be at the cost of inbreeding depression; 26r/r; of the female cones aborted, about twice the percentage of the dioecious Taxus cuspidata. Application of nutrient fertilizer did not reduce the abortion percentage. Seed and aril maturation in T. canadensis occurred over a three month period, much more gradually than in T. cuspidata. Removal of the seeds, probably by antagonistic rodents, was very rapid and thorough in T. canadensis. Asynchronous ripening and monoecy may help reduce seed predation by rodents by reducing the conspicuousness of "fruiting" displays relative to the dioecious species.

M. 2005. Community response to removals of plant functional groups and species from a Chihuahuan Desert shrubland. Á/ Oikos 110: 67 Á/80.Arid and semi-arid ecosystems often exhibit diverse plant growth forms in waterlimited environments, but it is unclear whether resource competition (interference) is actually important in structuring communities. We chose a diverse Chihuahuan desert shrubland to examine the response of the plant community to experimental removals of selected perennial plant species or groups of species. Four treatments involved the removal of all individuals of all species of a single functional group (functional group removals: shrub removal, succulent removal, subshrub removal, perennial grass removal). Three other treatments involved removing species within functional groups. These seven treatments plus a control (no plants removed) were replicated six times each in 25)/25 m experimental plots, in summer 1995. Permanent belt transects were surveyed for number and sizes of all vascular plants in spring and fall in 1997, 1999, 2000, and 2001. Those plots from which the dominant shrub, Larrea tridentata , was removed had not recovered in total plant cover or volume by 2001, but cover and volume in all other treatments were similar to those in control plots. Relatively few species demonstrated a positive response to the removal of other species or functional groups. The perennial grass group and forbs were the most responsive; perennial grass cover increased in the shrub removal treatment relative to the control but treatment differences diminished after dry growing seasons in 2000 and 2001. Results over the first five years suggest that either environmental conditions or intrinsic biological characteristics limit the ability of most plant species to respond to the removal of substantial fractions of community biomass and composition in the short term. Such slow response by both dominant and less abundant components of the community has implications for the recovery of semi-arid systems after human disturbance or other events leading to the reduction of biological diversity.