Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center (FRESC)
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Scientists from the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center capitalize on their diverse expertise to answer scientific questions shaped by the environments of the western United States. We collaborate with each other and with partners to provide rigorous, objective, and timely information and guidance for the management and conservation of biological systems in the West and worldwide.
FRESC Research Teams
FRESC scientists, individually or collaboratively with partners, investigate high-priority questions about biological systems.
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News
Examination of Surveys to Measure Renewable Energy Effects on Birds and Bats
Although renewable energy facilities are often required to complete wildlife surveys before and after constructing facilities, there is a lack of published studies that have closely examined the types of surveys and whether they are comparable within and across facilities.
Response of Biocrust to Fuel Reduction Treatments
In the sagebrush steppe, land managers use fuel reduction treatments to minimize large fire risk. Although biocrusts are associated with reduced cover of fire-promoting, invasive grasses, the impact of fuel reduction treatments on biocrusts is poorly understood.
Frequent Fire Reduces Deep Soil Carbon
Fire activity is changing worldwide, with unclear effects on ecosystem carbon storage. Fire effects on carbon storage are better known for vegetation than for soil, and fire effects on deep soil carbon are especially uncertain.
Publications
Removal of cattle grazing correlates with increases in vegetation productivity and in abundance of imperiled breeding birds
Livestock grazing is the most prevalent land use practice in the western United States and a widespread cause of degradation of riparian vegetation. Riparian areas provide high-quality habitat for many species of declining migratory breeding birds. We analyzed changes in vegetation and bird abundance at a wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon...
Poessel, Sharon; Hagar, Joan; Haggerty, Patricia; Katzner, Todd E. Developing and optimizing shrub parameters representing sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems in the Northern Great Basin using the Ecosystem Demography (EDv2.2) model
Ecosystem dynamic models are useful for understanding ecosystem characteristics over time and space because of their efficiency over direct field measurements and applicability to broad spatial extents. Their application, however, is challenging due to internal model uncertainties and complexities arising from distinct qualities of the ecosystems...
Pandit, Karun; Dasthi, Hamid; Glenn, Nancy; Flores, Alejandro; Maguire, Kaitlin C.; Shinneman, Douglas; Flerchinger, Gerald; Fellow, Aaron Riparian soil nitrogen cycling and isotopic enrichment in response to a long-term salmon carcass manipulation experiment
Pacific salmon acquire most of their biomass in the ocean before returning to spawn and die in coastal streams and lakes, thus providing subsidies of marine‐derived nitrogen (MDN) to freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Recent declines in salmon abundance have raised questions of whether managers should mitigate for losses of salmon MDN...
Feddern, Megan; Holtgrieve, Gordon W.; Perakis, Steven; Hart, Julia A.; Ro, Hyejoo; Quinn, Tom