Forest Ecology: An Evidence-Based Approach

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 The Nature of Forests
	Forest Ecology Deals with Individual Trees Across Time
	Many Processes Occur in a Tree Every Hour
	Tree Physiology Follows Daily Cycles
	Trees Must Cope with Seasonal Cycles Through Each Year
	Trees Grow and Reproduce at Times Scales of a Century
	The Story of Forests Is More than the Sum of the Individual Trees, Because Interactions Are So Strong
	The Coweeta Forests Aren’t the Same as Two Centuries Ago
	Across Dozens of Generations of Trees, Almost Everything Changed at Coweeta
	The Futures of the Tree and the Forest Will Depend on Both Gradual, Predictable Changes and Contingent Events
	Ecological Afterthoughts: Is a Forest an Organism?
Chapter 2 Forest Environments
	Climate Influences Where Forest Occur, and How They Grow
	Warmer Forests Have More Species of Trees
	Chemical and Biological Reactions Go Faster with Increasing Temperature
	Temperature is the Balance Point Between Energy Gains and Losses
	All Objects Shine; Hot Objects Shine Brightly
	Incoming Sunlight Decreases in Winter and at Higher Latitudes
	Forests Receive Shortwave Sunlight, and Shine off Longwave Radiation
	Temperatures Decline with Increasing Latitude
	Temperatures Increase at Lower Elevations
	Temperature Variation Over Time, and Across Space, Strongly Influences Forest Ecology
	Temperature Strongly Influences Phenology and Growth
	Forests Use Very Large Amounts of Water
	Water Flows Down Gradients of Potential, Which Sometimes Means Going Up
	Wind Shapes Trees and Forests
	Events and Interactions Are More Important Than Averages and Single Factors
	Fires Depend on Temperature, Water, Winds
	Droughts Affect Trees, Beetles, Forest Structure and Fire Intensity
	Weather Events Can Matter More than Averages
	Ecological Afterthoughts
Chapter 3 Evolution and Adaptation in Forests
	What’s in a Name?
	The Core Idea of Evolution Is the Combination of Variation, Failure, and Innovation
	Darwin Could Not Explain Why Variations Occurred, or Why They Were Passed on to Offspring
	Does Selection Work on Species or on Genes, or Is This Only a Chicken-and-Egg Question?
	Biology Operates from a Simple Story of DNA to Incredible Complexity of Proteins and Biochemistry
	Why Are There Only Two Species of Tulip Poplar, and Why Are They 12 000 km Apart?
	Tall Growth Requires Strong Stems
	The First Trees from Seeds Were Gymnosperms
	Collaboration with Insects Helped Angiosperms Take over the Planet
	The Highest Diversity Is in Tropical Rain Forests
	Do all Trees Need to Have Trunks?
	Some Broadleaved Trees Make Fertilizer Out of Thin Air
	What’s the Largest Tree in the World?
	History Has No Need to Repeat Itself
	Critchfield Spruce Melted Away at the End of the Last Ice Age
	Ponderosa Pine Went from Obscurity to Prominence in Just a Few Thousand Years
	Eastern Hemlock Has Had a Dynamic History of Up and Down
	Almost all the Animal Species Are Missing from Temperate and Boreal Forests
	Climate, Animals and Fire Interact Across Forest Generations
	Modern Forests Are Changing Faster Than Ever, on a Global Scale
	Ecological Afterthoughts
Chapter 4 Physiology and Life History of Trees
	Biological Energy Is About Moving Electrons
	Forest Energy Comes from Sunlight; Wood Comes from Thin Air
	Why Are Leaves Green?
	Leaves Are Not Always Green
	Carbon Uptake Is the Second Half of Photosynthesis
	Growth Happens After Photosynthesis – Sometimes Long After
	Trees Do Not Live by Carbon Alone
	Photosynthesis and Growth Depend on Acquisition of Resources
	More Leaves Means More Light Capture, up to a Point
	One Square-Meter of Leaves Has a Mass of 50–150 g
	Each Square Meter of a Forest has Multiple Layers of Leaves above
	Large Trees Depend on Large Roots
	Networks of Fine Roots Permeate Soils
	Do Roots Take Up Water and Nutrients?
	Trees (and Mycorrhizal Fungi) Obtain Nutrients by the Interaction of Mass Flow and Diffusion
	Life History Is the Story of Going from Seed to Mature Seed-Producing Tree
	Tree Seeds Range in Mass from Smaller than a Flea to Larger than a Mouse
	Why Is the Understory of a Forest a Tough Place for Small Trees to Thrive?
	All Good Summers Come to an End
	Most Trees Die Young
	Reproduction Is the Beginning and the End of Life History Stories
	Ecological Afterthoughts: What Benefit Comes from Aspen Having Chlorophyll in Its Bark?
Chapter 5 Ecology of Wildlife in Forests
	Many Species of Trees Coevolved with Animals as Seed Dispersers
	Some Animal Species Specialize in Eating Trees
	Livestock Grazing and Browsing has been a Core Part of People’s Livelihoods Through History
	Was Aldo Leopold Right About the Kaibab Deer Herd?
	Wildlife Population Dynamics Occur Within Complex Ecological Systems
	Moose and Wolves Established New Populations on Isle Royale in the Early 1900s
	The Cycles of Snowshoe Hares and Lynx Repeat, but They Are Far from Simple
	Patterns and Processes of Wildlife Population Dynamic Shift Across Space and Time
	Good Ideas Without Good Evidence May Be Unreliable, or Wrong
	Strong Evidence Comes from Comparisons of Treatments at the Same Point in Time
	Ecological Afterthoughts
Chapter 6 Forest Soils, Nutrient Cycling, and Hydrology
	Forests Need Soils for Physical Support
	Soils Here Are Different from Over There, and Soils Now Are Different from Soils Then
	Organic Matter is the Top Feature of Soils
	Clay Content Comes in Second to Organic Matter
	Soils Breathe
	The Variety of Soils Is Parsed into Soil Taxonomic Groups
	Soils Differ in Age, Even if Most Don’t Have Birthdays
	Trees Affect Soils
	Decomposition Reverses Photosynthesis and Nutrient Uptake
	Almost all Forest Biodiversity Is Found in the Soil
	Leonardo da Vinci Couldn’t Figure out How Water Got to the Top of Mountains
	The Atmosphere Holds Only a Few Days of Precipitation
	Forest Water Budgets Begin with Precipitation
	Water Use by Forests Can Be Measured Across a Range of Scales
	Trees Use Most (or All) of the Water
	George Perkins Marsh (and Everyone Else) Was Wrong About the Effect of Forest Cutting on Water
	Reliable Generalizations Require Evidence from More than One Case
	Nutrients Make Life Possible
	Nutrients Come From the Atmosphere and From Rocks
	Biogeochemical Cycles Are Complex
	Decomposition is the Centerpiece of Nutrient Cycling in Forests
	Nutrient Losses Are Chronic and Episodic
	Ecological Afterthoughts: Consequences of a Warmer World for Snow, Streams, and Forests
Chapter 7 Ecology of Growth of Trees and Forests
	Forests Are Small and Large, and Growth Is the Key Process Driving Increases
	Growth is Examined in a Variety of Ways
	Yield Tables Were an Early Example of Parsing Variation in Forests Across Landscapes
	Patterns in Yield Tables Were Explained Based on “Growing Space”
	Production Ecology Parses Growth into Ecophysiological Factors Constrained by Mass Balance
	Forest Growth Is a Function of Resources in the Environment, Resources Acquired, and Efficiency of Resource Use
	The Growth of a Forest is the Sum of the Growth of All the Trees
	Large Trees Usually Grow Faster than Small Trees in the Same Forest
	Dense Forests Have the Highest Growth Rates
	Forest Growth Peaks at a Young Age and Then Declines, but Not the Growth of the Biggest Trees in the Forest
	Forest Growth Changes over Time, Not Just with Age
	Neighbors Influence the Growth of Trees
	How Might a Mixed-Species Forest Grow Faster than a Single-Species Forest?
	Mixed-Species Forests Usually Cannot Match the Growth of Fast-Growing Monocultures
	When a Species Increases Resource Supplies, Mixtures May (or May Not) Outperform Single-Species Forests
	The Growth of Mixed-Species Forests Changes over Time
	Mixed-Species Forests Are not Only About Growth Interactions Between Species
	Understory Vegetation is Important in Most Forests
	Mortality Gets the Final Word on Forest Production
	Death is Not the End of the Story for Trees
	Ecological Afterthoughts: Is it Better to Remove Small Trees or Large Trees When Thinning a Forest?
Chapter 8 Forests Across Space
	The Three Most Important Things for a Tree Are Location, Location, and Location
	How Small Can a Forest Be?
	Forests May Be Divided Into Stands, But Not All Forests Are Structured As Distinct Stands
	People Engage with Forests by Defining Areas of Interest
	Larger Plots Contain More Species
	Vegetation Differs Between Locations
	Space Has Another Dimension for Animals
	Differences in Forests Usually Increase with Distance, But Not Always
	Location Matters Both Locally and Regionally
	Resource Use Varies Across Landscape Gradients
	Mind the Gap: Spatial Patterns of Trees Within Forests Modify Resource Supplies
	The Ecology of Gaps is Not Binary
	The Ecology of Gaps and Edges Affects Animals, and Is Shaped by Animals
	The Location of Each Tree Allows a Wide Range of Assessments of Forest Structure and Processes
	Forest-Level Information Can Be Dissected Down to the Level of Individual Trees
	Riparian Forests Are Special and Important, for Different Reasons in Different Forests
	Spatial Patterns Are Important, Even in the Most Uniform Forests
	Forest Classification Is Different in the Twenty-First Century
	Ecological Afterthoughts: When It’s Not About the Trees
Chapter 9 Forests Through Time
	Sometimes a Classic Story Comes True
	Long-Term Experimental Forests Provide Knowledge at the Scale of Tree Lifetimes
	When Recorded History Is Not Enough, Tree Rings Can Provide a Record of Both Age and Size
	Dendrochronology Developed Because There Are No Canals on Mars
	Dendrochronology Can Explain Past Forest Structure and Dynamics
	Darwin’s Ideas Contributed Very Little to Early Ideas of Forest Change (Unfortunately)
	Chronosequences Are a Shortcut to the Future, But They May Be Unreliable
	Strong Chronosequences Require Large Numbers of Replicates
	Growth Always Declines in Old Forests
	People Change How Forests Change Over Time
	Time Scales of Forests and Human Planning Do Not Always Match
	Over the Long-Term, Forests Have Not Changed As Predicted
	Ecological Afterthoughts
Chapter 10 Events in Forests: Wind, Insects and Diseases
	It’s Remarkable That Trees Can Stand Up to Strong Winds
	Tree Stems May Break or Uproot
	Storms Blow in with a Wide Range of Wind Speeds
	Storm Impacts Can Be Severe in Local Areas
	Storms that Are Severe Enough to Be Named Are Strong Enough to Topple Vast Numbers of Trees
	How Large an Area Can Be Covered by a Single Storm?
	How Massive Can a Storm’s Impact Be?
	When Will the Next Storm Come?
	The Next Storm Will Be Different Than the Last One
	Trees Provide the Dominant Structure of Forests, But Small Insects Can Play a Very Major Role
	How Do Tiny Insects Manage to Kill Large Trees?
	Which Trees Are Most Vulnerable to Mountain Pine Beetles?
	Which Forests Are Most Susceptible to Mountain Pine Beetles?
	Mountain Pine Beetle Impacts Are Consistent When Scaled Up to Regional Areas
	Tree Death Alters Environmental Conditions at Local Scales, But Less at Watershed Scales
	Why Don’t Beetles Kill More Trees?
	Is This a Healthy Forest?
	Forests Often Thrive When Insects Kill Trees
	Should Forests with Lots of Beetle-Killed Trees Be Logged?
	Other Dynamics of Forests and Beetles Occurred Across the Region Too
	Other Forests and Other Insects Have Other Stories
	Tree Diseases Are Reshaping Forests in a Globalized World
	Major Events May, or May Not, Influence the Probability of Other Major Events
	Events in Combinations Can Have Drastically Different Legacies
	Ecological Afterthought: The Ecology of Avalanches
Chapter 11 Events in Forests: Fire
	Forest Growth Sets the Stage for Rapid Return to Chemical Equilibrium
	Thick Bark Protects Cambium from Heat
	The Post-Fire Forest May Be Dominated by Resprouting Vegetation
	Post-Fire Environments Can Be Good for Seedling Establishment
	The Spatial Scale of Forest Fires is Important, But Not Simple
	Most Forest Fires Are Small, Though the Uncommon Large Fires Have Great Impacts
	Fires Burn Differently at Different Places
	Periods of Gradual Change Are Punctuated by the Large Changes from Fire Events
	Typical Fire-Free Periods Within Forest Types Vary Across Sites and Over Centuries
	When Fire-Free Intervals Get Longer, Forests Get Denser
	The Spatial Aspects of Fires Also Include Patterns Within Burned Patches
	Fire Ecology Might, or Might Not, Be Described with Fire Regimes
	Fires Change Soils
	Fires Generate Erosion in Areas That Burn, with Sediment Deposition Downslope
	Erosion After Fire is Usually Not a Problem, But Sometimes It’s Very Severe
	Each Species of Animal Has a Different Response to Forest Fires
	Fires Interact with Other Major Events in Forests
	Ecological Afterthoughts: How Do Slow Changes in Forests Shape the Effects of Fires?
Chapter 12 Events in Forests: Management
	Harvesting Is the Third Largest Forest Event Across the Planet
	Few Forests Are Plantations, But Plantations Provide Most of Our Wood
	Deforestation Can Be Tallied from Government Reports, or from Satellites
	Human Influences on Forests Have a Spectrum from Low to Very High
	Tree Farms Are All About Production, Not Broader Ecological Features
	How Sustainable Are Tree Farms?
	Managed Forests Come in a Variety of Systems
	Rotational Forests Have Birthdays
	Understories and Overstories Interact Through a Rotation
	Continuous Cover Forests Have no Birthdays, and Less Change
	Tree Growth Is Faster in Rotational Forestry than in Continuous Cover Forestry
	Management of Unmanaged Forests May Seem Like an Oxymoron
	How Does Retaining Trees Influence the Next Forest After Logging in Unmanaged Forests?
	Harvesting Is the End of the Line for Some Trees and Forests, and the Beginning of the Next Forest
	Harvesting Is Not the Only Big Event that Happens in Managed Forests
	Can Forests Remove Enough CO2 from the Atmosphere to Save the Planet?
	Ecological Afterthoughts: What’s Next for These Forests?
Chapter 13 Conservation, Sustainability and Restoration of Forests
	Conservation, Sustainability and Restoration Build Values, Ethics, and Esthetics onto a Foundation of Forest Ecology
	Conservation, Sustainability and Restoration Are About the Future
	Why Do Species Go Extinct, and How Can This Be Prevented?
	Conserving Old Forests Is Important, but Old Forests Do Not Last Forever
	Conservation and Sustainability Have Similarities
	Restoration Comes into Play When Conservation and Sustainability Have Not Been Achieved
	The History of a Forest Might Be Read in Reports, in Photographs, in Trees and Remnants of Trees
	Clues to the Past Structure of Forests Lurks in Tree Rings, Stumps, and Logs
	What Does It Take to Restore a Forest?
	Many Forests Have Reestablished Following Agricultural Land Use
	Forest Reestablishment May Be Faster with Planting, and Contain More Desirable Species
	Forest Reestablishment Leads to the Redevelopment of Forest Soils
	Reestablishing Forests in the Absence of Soils Is a Major Challenge, Requiring Insights and Money
	Management Can Shift Forests Away from Undesirable Conditions
	Two Key Ideas Connect Forest Ecology with Conservation, Sustainability, and Restoration
	Ecological Afterthoughts: Restoring Forests May Be About Restoring Non-Tree Vegetation
Chapter 14 Forests of the Future
	Forests Have Already Changed, and Continue to Change
	Can Invasions Be Predicted?
	Some Forests Are More Invasible Than Others
	Not all Invasive Species Are Alike: Identity Matters
	Plantations of Non-Native Trees Can Lead to Invasions
	Biological Control May Help Limit Invasive Species
	Genetics Matter
	The Future Is Certain to Be Warmer, with More CO2 in the Atmosphere
	If Droughts Increase, Which Forests and Trees Will Show Increased Mortality?
	Changing Climates Will Change the Distribution of Species
	Fires Have Always Been Important in Forests, and Fires May Become More Important
	People Will Contribute to Shaping Future Forests
	All These Factors Will Interact to Shape the Dynamics of Future Forests
	Rocket Science Can Get You to the Moon, but Pocket Science Leads to Better Outcomes in Forests
	The Core Framework Actually Needs a Fourth Question
	Ecological Afterthoughts: Growing Meaning in Forests
References
Index
EULA