NDLI: Variability of historical forest structure and fire across ponderosa pine landscapes of the Coconino Plateau and south rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Williams, Mark A. Baker, William L.
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	We undertook reconstructions of historical ponderosa pine forest structure and fire regimes across an entire landscape to expand understanding of spatial variability in forest structure and dynamics. The study area includes the ponderosa pine forests of the Coconino Plateau, Arizona, USA. Using General Land Office survey data and newly developed methods, we examined surveyor descriptions of overstory and understory composition and structure across 60,998 ha. For 41,214 ha of forests, we reconstructed density, basal area, diameter-class distributions, and fire severity and used GIS to analyse their relationships with topography. Ponderosa pine forests were continuous in only 34 % of the 60,998 ha landscape. In 40 %, they were mixed with piñon–juniper, 24 % was pure piñon–juniper and 2 % were grass or shrubs. In ponderosa pine forests, the focus of this study, mean tree density was 144.2 trees ha$^{−1}$; 18.8 % of the landscape had low tree density (<100 trees ha$^{−1}$) and 17.4 % had high tree density (>200 trees ha$^{−1}$). Small trees (<30 cm d.b.h.) composed >50 % of all trees on 47 % of the landscape and large trees (>40 cm) composed >50 % of all trees on 21 % of the landscape. Low-severity fire likely structured the forest on 59 % of the landscape while 39 % was structured by mixed-severity fire, likely including small, patchy crown fires. Forest parameters displayed wide variability across environmental gradients. Broader-scale reconstructions revealed a much more spatially complex forest that was structured by wide range of fire severities. Variability in ponderosa pine forests was often under-reported in past studies, but is important in perpetuating biological diversity.
Starting Page	297
Ending Page	310
Page Count	14
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09212973
Journal	Landscape Ecology
Volume Number	28
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	15729761
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2012-12-22
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	General Land Office survey Forest reconstruction Mixed-severity fire Piñon–juniper woodlands Topography Tree density Basal area Fire severity Landscape Ecology Plant Ecology Forestry Management Forestry Ecology Plant Sciences
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Geography, Planning and Development Ecology Nature and Landscape Conservation

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in