Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology
Yellowstone Ecoregion Mountain Pine Beetle project A range of wood-boring beetles (including the mountain pine beetle) have affected broad areas of the Rocky Mountains over the past two decades. These infestations are unprecedented in historical times, and correspond to a period of warming climate that has decreased winter mortality of beetles and led to latitudinal …
Nutrients are exchanged between ecosystems in many ways. The direction and magnitude of fluxes across the landscape can dramatically influence ecosystem processes. In Lake Myvatn in northern Iceland, an abundance of midges (in Icelandic, ‘my’ is midge, and ‘vatn’ is lake) emerge from the lake on a boom-and-bust cycle approximately every 7 years and create a visible …
Wildlife management agencies are tasked with balancing problems of wildlife overabundance (e.g. damage to agriculture, nuisance) with problems of scarcity (e.g. risk of extinction, loss of ecosystem services) and citizens’ desires for hunting opportunities, wildlife viewing, and other wildlife-associated values. Population management decisions generally involve three steps: 1) determination of a population goal for the …
We can observe and describe forest disturbances in a number of ways using satellite imagery, airborne observations, and field measurements. Our work in Upper Midwest and Great Lakes forests considers numerous disturbance types: severe storm winds, insect defoliation, fire, and various partial and clear-cut harvest treatments. We’ve collected a number of field measurement datasets in …