Scaling Process and Pattern in Montane Forest Landscapes

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to quantify the relationship of environmental variables to the spatial distribution and abundance of forest tree species in montane forest landscapes. Field studies will be conducted at sites in the western Cascades (OR), the Sierra Nevada (CA), the White Mountains (NH), and the Southern Appalachians (NC). These sites have exceptional baseline data sets that will be expanded for model development and validation during this project. Complex environmental gradients will be divided into component variables (topography, soils, climate). Field studies will investigate forest establishment (including dispersal), growth, and death in response to those individual variables. A modeling framework will be used to synthesize forest response within and between sites. These models will be used to develop regionally nested sensitivity analyses indicating the relative importance of different environmental parameters and biotic variables in governing ecosystem responses. The results of this study will allow us to make more valid projections of possible forest response to environmental change.