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Context: Growth releases of individuals that survive disturbances are important compensatory response mechanisms that contribute to ecological resilience. However, the role of fine-scale spatial heterogeneity in shaping compensatory growth responses is poorly understood for many broad-scale disturbances. Objectives: We quantified how fine-scale spatial structure affects individual and aggregate tree growthleading up to and following a severe mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak. We asked: (1) How does individual tree growth vary with tree- and neighborhood-scale characteristics? (2) How do within-stand aggregate growth and overstory recruitment vary with neighborhood-scale characteristics? Methods: We used a spatially explicit long-term monitoring dataset of a subalpine lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) forest (in Colorado, USA) in which every tree ≥ 5 cm diameter was measured and mapped prior to (1989, 2004) and following (2018) a severe MPB outbreak (2003–2011). We used spatial regression to characterize drivers of growth. Results: Overall, we found strong evidence for post-outbreak compensatory responses across spatial scales. Neighborhood characteristics shaped both individual and aggregate growth, with the magnitude of growth strongly mediated by pre-outbreak neighborhood structure and neighborhood mortality. Variation in tree-scale growth, combined with the spatial arrangement of surviving trees, resulted in highly variable emergent patterns of aggregate growth and recruitment. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of fine-scale landscape configuration in shaping forest resilience. Quantifying compensatory responses in a spatially explicit framework at different scales is critical for modeling post-disturbance forest dynamics, which is increasingly important as climate warms and forest disturbance regimes change.
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Mountain pine beetles and ecological imaginaries: The social construction of forest insect disturbance
Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) outbreaks bear attributions at multiple scales, from the practices of local extractive industries to state and federal forest management to global climate change. Since 1996, an outbreak of MPB has swept across nearly 3.4 million acres in north central Colorado. The area affected is constituted by a heterogeneous group of communities, and provides an opportunity to examine how institutional forces pattern experiences of the natural world and emergent environmental narratives. This work examines the narratives of local community and regional organizations, along with interviews and household survey data to consider culturally situated experiences and framings of the outbreak. Tracing environmental narratives is part of understanding different environmental vulnerabilities, which is essential to developing management regimes that are inclusive and ultimately sustainable.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1733990
- PAR ID:
- 10152054
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- J. Urquhart, C. Potter, and M. Marzano (eds.) Human Dimensions in Forest and Tree Health. London: Palgrave Macmillan
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 77–107
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76956-1_4
