From fhwNS at hampshire.edu Wed May 2 09:47:48 2007 From: fhwNS at hampshire.edu (Fred Wirth) Date: Wed, 02 May 2007 09:47:48 -0400 Subject: [ESSP] Fri Lunch Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20070502094529.00c3d510@hampshire.edu> Last ESSP meet of the year, this Friday, May 4th at Noon CSC333 Lunch Provided - Pizza again. Sustainability of North American Forests through Disturbance Ecology Dr. James H. Speer Abstract Dendrochronology provides long-term information on the natural range of variability of forest disturbances, enabling forest managers to understand the natural processes that are operating in their managed lands. Through tree-ring research we now understand that ponderosa pine forests would have a low intensity surface fire every 3-10 years. Giant Sequoia forests need fire every 10 years for seedling to be able to establish in a clear understory. Lodgepole pine forests senesce at 150 years of age and need catastrophic fires to open their serotinous cones so that the next generation of pine trees can establish. Similarly, insects are an integral part to the functioning of many natural systems. They play important roles in nutrient cycling and process regulation. Dendrochronology provides a long-term record of these disturbance events enabling humans to manage natural lands in harmony with nature's processes. In this talk, I will give examples of disturbance reconstructions of fires and insect outbreaks and describe what we have learned from studying these natural systems. Hope to see you there Fred -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: