Esther Cole
I work in both tropical and temperate ecosystems and am interested in the population biology and movement ecology of amphibians. In an Ecuadorian cloud forest I am examining the long term population trends of several species of terrestrial and arboreal frogs as they experience exposure to a fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, and introduction of an exotic predator, Oncorhynchus mykiss. Within a temperate, alpine environment, I am also interested in the function of landscape features (both climatic and physical) to control the movement of amphibian hosts and transmission of B. dendrobatidis among amphibian populations of the Trinity Alps Wilderness of Northern California.
Publications
Pfeifer-Meister, Laurel, Esther M. Cole, Bitty A. Roy, and Scott D. Bridgham. 2008. Abiotic constraints on the competitive ability of exotic and native grasses in a Pacific Northwest prairie. Oecologia 155: 357-366. [PDF]
Kip Van de Water
Fire is an important ecological process in many western U.S. coniferous forests, yet high fuel loads and rural home construction lead to the suppression of most wildfires. Using mechanical thinning and prescribed burning, managers often try to reduce fuels in strategic areas with the highest fuel loads. Riparian forests, however, are often designated as areas where limited management action can take place within a fixed-width zone. These highly productive zones have developed heavy fuel loads capable of supporting stand-replacing crown fires that erode stream channels, eliminate important wildlife habitat and degrade ecosystem function. Objectives of my research are to determine whether adjacent coniferous riparian and upland forests burned historically with different frequencies and seasonalities, whether they had different stand structures and fuel loadings, and whether the relationship varied by forest type, riparian zone widths, and precipitation regimes.
Tom Rambo
My research interests were developed and nurtured in Patricia Muir and Bruce McCune’s lab at Oregon State University where I earned my Master’s degree and became an authority on Pacific Northwest bryophytes. I am generally interested in forest management from an ecosystem approach: working at ways to maintain sustainable forest harvests while at the same time fostering indigenous biodiversity and vital ecosystem services. A US EPA STAR Graduate Fellowship and shared academic interests with Malcolm and my co-advisor at UC Davis, Michael Barbour, enabled me to extend research questions from the Pacific Northwest to new systems in the Sierra Nevada. Through association with Steve Sillett, I gained a love and appreciation for the rewards of combining research and recreation while working in forest canopies. My Dissertation research focuses on forest canopy microclimate and epiphyte community structure and composition in relationship to differing patterns and densities of post-thinning live-tree retention in the Teakettle Experimental Forest.
Publications
Rambo, T. and M. North. 2008. Spatial and temporal variability of canopy microclimate in a Sierra Nevada riparian forest. Northwest Science 82: 259-268. [PDF]
Rambo, T. and M. North. 2009. Canopy microclimate response to pattern and density of thinning in a Sierra Nevada forest. Forest Ecology and Management 257: 435-442. [PDF]
Sillett, S.C., B. McCune, J.E. Peck, and T.R. Rambo. 2000. Four years of epiphyte colonization in Douglas-fir forest canopies. Bryologist 103:661-669. [PDF]
Sillett, S.C., B. McCune, J.E. Peck, T.R. Rambo, and A. Ruchty. 2000. Dispersal limitations of epiphytic lichens result in species dependent on old-growth forests. Ecological Applications 10:789-799. [PDF]
Sillett, S.C., and T.R. Rambo. 2000. Vertical distribution of dominant epiphytes in Douglas-fir forests of the central Oregon Cascades. Northwest Science 74:44-49. [PDF]
Rosso, A.L., P.S. Muir, and T.R. Rambo. 2001. Using transplants to measure accumulation rates of epiphytic bryophytes in forests of western Oregon. Bryologist 104:430-439. [PDF]
Rosso, A.L., B. McCune, and T.R. Rambo. 2000. Ecology and conservation of a rare, old growth-associated canopy lichen in a silvicultural landscape. Bryologist 103:117-127. [PDF]
Rambo, T.R. and P.S. Muir. 1998. Bryophyte species associations with coarse woody debris and stand ages in Oregon. Bryologist 101:366-376. [PDF]
Rambo, T.R. and P.S. Muir. 1998. Forest floor bryophytes of Pseudotsuga menziesii-Tsuga heterophylla stands in Oregon: influences of substrate and overstory. Bryologist 101:116-130. [PDF]
Rambo, T.R. 2001. Decaying logs and habitat heterogeneity: implications for bryophyte diversity in western Oregon forests. Northwest Science 75:270-277. [PDF]
Muir, P.S., T.R. Rambo, R.W. Kimmerer, and D.B. Keon. 2006. Influence of overstory removal on growth of epiphytic mosses and lichens in western Oregon. Ecological Applications 16:1207-1221. [PDF]
McCune, B., K.A. Amsberry, F.J. Camacho, S. Clery, C. Cole, C. Emerson, G. Felder, P. French, D. Greene, R. Harris, M. Hutten, B. Larson, M. Lesko, S. Majors, T. Markwell, G.G. Parker, K. Pendergrass, E.B. Peterson, E.G. Peterson, J. Platt, J. Proctor, T. Rambo, A. Rosso, D. Shaw, R. Turner and M. Widmer. 1997. Vertical profile of epiphytes in a Pacific Northwest old-growth forest. Northwest Science 71:145-152. [PDF]
Jamie Shields
Forest reconstructions and limited historical data are often used to infer desired conditions for fuels-treated forests. Most of these studies, however, provide incomplete information for how fire regimes and resulting forest structure varied across the landscape. I am working to quantify how structure and composition vary with topography in unmanaged forests in the Sierra Nevada. My study sites are stands of mixed-conifer and ponderosa pine forest with the best available approximation of an active-fire regime (> 2 low intensity fires within the last 50 years) under recent climate conditions. Commonly prescribed uniform fuels treatments do not provide high canopy cover habitat preferred by some threatened and endangered species, and consequently can be stalled by legal challenges. Varying fuel reduction treatment characteristics with topography could provide greater habitat diversity for wildlife, and promote ecological processes while still reducing the risk of crown fires. Data from forests with an active-fire regime could provide a foundation for new restoration guidelines in fire-suppressed forests.