Birds beware! Pinecones armed and dangerous
...searchers removed spines from some open and closed ponderosa pine (Pinusponderosa) and open Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens) cones. Other cones wereleft with their spines intact. Crossbills were then allowed to eat seeds from the different types of cones, andthe time taken for birds to successfully acquire...USGS studies wildfire ecology in the western United States
... Over thousands of years, this region's widespread ponderosa pine forests have been shaped and structured by fi...Allen says that historically, a typical density of ponderosa pines in the Southwest was around 100 stems per acre. Today, densities at many sites exceed 2,000 st...Of gallflies, bees, mosquitoes, and butterflies: researchers to discuss insects
...ht: butterfly species richness increases following ponderosa pine restoration. Ecosystem restoration projects o...ersity has been researching how efforts to restore ponderosa pine areas in the Southwest have affected butterfly numbers. The areas studied have been restored u...To suppress or not to suppress: Questioning the ponderosa pine model of forest fire management
...y Johnson and Keeley, that ecosystems dominated by ponderosa pine have a long history of frequent surface fires...osed canopy northern pine forests differs from the ponderosa pine model. Again, the scientists say there is little evidence that these areas burned frequently i...Study offers a rare view of how species interactions evolve
...in contrasting habitats, including open grassland, ponderosa pine woodland, and streamside canyons. In all but one of the sites, the moths were completely dependent on L. parviflorum for food (nectar for adults and seeds for larvae) and for mating sites. At each study site, the researchers assessed the develop...Humongous fungus a new kind of individual
...es--such as western larch, western white pine, and ponderosa pine--and harvest the more susceptible trees during thinning." According to Cindy Prescott, co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, the findings are an exciting example of developments in forest research. "This study is an indication of...New clues emerge about the fate of smog in Sierra Nevada forests
...searchers determined the amount of ozone lost in a ponderosa pine plantation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, about 50 miles from Sacramento. They estimated that 45 to 55 percent of the ozone was lost in the summer through gas phase chemical reactions within the forest canopy. As the temperature cooled going f...Woodpeckers: There's a fungus among us
... examined several species of woodpeckers living in ponderosa pine forests in northern California and Oregon, finding that over 60 percent of the sampled birds nesting in tree cavities had a variety of wood-inhabiting fungi living in their beaks. These fungi serve a critical role in the decomposition of dead tr......is philosophy, which grew mainly out of studies in ponderosa pine forests, is embodied in the US administration's Healthy Forests Initiative. But the BioScience authors' studies of fire types lead them to believe that the philosophy is being applied uncritically, including in places where it is inappropriate. ...