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1. Using empirical data and modeled scenarios of Everglades restoration to understand changes in coastal vulnerability to sea level rise

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03231-9  

   Dessu, Shimelis B. ; Paudel, Rajendra ; Price, René M. ; Davis, Stephen E. ( October 2021 , Climatic Change)

   null (Ed.)
2. Co‐designed management scenarios shape the responses of seasonally dry forests to changing climate and fire regimes

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13630  

   Maxwell, Charles J. ; Serra‐Diaz, Josep M. ; Scheller, Robert M. ; Thompson, Jonathan R. ; Mori, ed., Akira ( May 2020 , Journal of Applied Ecology)

   Climate change is altering disturbance regimes and recovery rates of forests globally. The future of these forests will depend on how climate change interacts with management activities. Forest managers are in critical need of strategies to manage the effects of climate change.

   We co‐designed forest management scenarios with forest managers and stakeholders in the Klamath ecoregion of Oregon and California, a seasonally dry forest in the Western US subject to fire disturbances. The resultant scenarios span a broad range of forest and fire management strategies. Using a mechanistic forest landscape model, we simulated the scenarios as they interacted with forest growth, succession, wildfire disturbances and climate change. We analysed the simulations to (a) understand how scenarios affected the fire regime and (b) estimate how each scenario altered potential forest composition.

   Within the simulation timeframe (85 years), the scenarios had a large influence on fire regimes, with fire rotation periods ranging from 60 years in a minimal management scenario to 180 years with an industrial forestry style management scenario. Regardless of management strategy, mega‐fires (>100,000 ha) are expected to increase in frequency, driven by stronger climate forcing and extreme fire weather.

   High elevation conifers declined across all climate and management scenarios, reflecting an imbalance between forest types, climate and disturbance. At lower elevations (<1,800 m), most scenarios maintained forest cover levels; however, the minimal intervention scenario triggered 5 × 10⁵ ha of mixed conifer loss by the end of the century in favour of shrublands, whereas the maximal intervention scenario added an equivalent amount of mixed conifer.

   Policy implications. Forest management scenarios that expand beyond current policies—including privatization and aggressive climate adaptation—can strongly influence forest trajectories despite a climate‐enhanced fire regime. Forest management can alter forest trajectories by increasing the pace and scale of actions taken, such as fuel reduction treatments, or by limiting other actions, such as fire suppression.

    

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3. Fire return intervals explain different vegetation cover responses to wildfire restoration in two Sierra Nevada basins

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120429  

   Crompton, Octavia V. ; Boisrame, Gabrielle F.S. ; Rakhmatulina, Ekaterina ; Stephens, Scott L. ; Thompson, Sally E. ( October 2022 , Forest Ecology and Management)
4. Physiological responses of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) to light, adelgid infestation, and biological control: Implications for hemlock restoration

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.117903  

   Miniat, Chelcy Ford ; Zietlow, David R. ; Brantley, Steven T. ; Brown, Cindi L. ; Mayfield III, Albert E. ; Jetton, Robert M. ; Rhea, James R. ; Arnold, Paul ( March 2020 , Forest Ecology and Management)

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5. Identifying and quantifying sources of temporal and spatial uncertainty in assessing salmonid responses to watershed‐scale restoration

   https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3956  

   Rogers, Mark ; Selker, John ; Peterson, James ; Arismendi, Ivan ( March 2022 , River Research and Applications)

   Despite significant investments in watershed‐scale restoration projects, evaluation of their impacts on salmonids is often limited by inadequate experimental design. This project aimed to strengthen study designs by identifying and quantifying sources of temporal and spatial uncertainty while assessing population‐level salmonid responses in Before‐After‐Control‐Impact (BACI) restoration experiments. To evaluate sources of temporal uncertainty, meta‐analysis of 32 annual BACI experiments from the Pacific Northwest, USA was conducted. Experimental error was determined to be a function of the total temporal variation of both restoration and control salmonid population metrics and the degree of covariation, or synchrony, between these metrics (r² = 1). However, synchrony was both weak ( = 0.18) and unrelated to experimental error (r = 0.01) while temporal variability was found to account for 91% of this error. Because synchrony did not reduce experimental error, we conclude that BACI designs will not normally exhibit greater power over uncontrolled Before‐After (BA) designs. To evaluate spatial uncertainty, hierarchical BACI designs were simulated. It was found that spatial variability of hypothetical steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) growth values within watersheds can cause mis‐estimation of the restoration effect and reduce power. While hierarchical BACI designs can examine both reach and watershed‐scale restoration effects simultaneously, due to probable mis‐estimation of the restoration effect size, these scales should be examined separately. Paired‐reach designs such as Extensive Post‐Treatment (EPT) provide powerful replicated local‐scale restoration experiments, which can build understanding of restoration‐ecological mechanisms. Knowledge gained from reach‐scale experiments should then be implemented on watershed‐scales and monitored within a non‐hierarchical framework.

    

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