Keyword: Larix occidentalis

Vegetative and edaphic responses in a northern mixed conifer forest three decades after harvest and fire: Implications for regeneration and carbon and nitrogen pools

Research Highlights: This experiment compares a range of combinations of harvest, prescribed fire, and wildfire. Leveraging a 30-year-old forest management-driven experiment, we explored the recovery of woody species composition, regeneration of the charismatic forest tree species Larix occidentalis Nutt., and vegetation and soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools.

Western larch regeneration responds more strongly to site and indirect climate factors than to direct climate factors

Substantial shifts in the distribution of western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) are predicted during the coming decades in response to changing climatic conditions. However, it is unclear how the interplay between direct climate effects, such as warmer, drier conditions, and indirect climate effects, such as predicted increases in fire disturbance, will impact fire-adapted species such as western larch.

Initiating climate adaptation in a western larch forest

Western larch forests are iconic in the interior northwest, and here we document the preemptive steps that scientists and managers are taking to steward these forests into the future. Changing climate is forecast to have acute and chronic impacts on growth and disturbance in western larch forests.

Stand density in relation to biological functions in young western larch forests

Dynamic change - that is what we see in the establishment and development of western larch (Larix occidentalis) forests. Spawned by traumatic events such as fire, harvesting, or post- harvest treatments that prepare receptive seedbeds, larch regenerates promptly and more often than not, excessively over much of its natural range (Schmidt and others 1976).

Density-dependent woody detritus accumulation in an even-aged, single-species forest

Deadwood in forests influences fire intensity, stores carbon and nutrients, and provides wildlife habitat. We used a 54-year-old density management experiment in Larix occidentalis Nutt. forests to evaluate density dependence of woody detritus accumulation. Based on self-thinning theory, we expected woody detritus produced by the current stand to increase with stand density.

Cone and seed production of western larch in response to girdling and nitrogen fertilization - an update

Western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) is a sporadic cone and seed producer. Because the species is such an important component of the -Northern Rocky Mountain forests, methods of increasing seed production are needed. Girdling, fertilizing, and a combination of the two were used on 75-year-old western larch in northern Idaho.

Early forest thinning changes aboveground carbon distribution among pools, but not total amount

Mounting concerns about global climate change have increased interest in the potential to use common forest management practices, such as forest density management with thinning, in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Long-term effects of forest density management on total aboveground C are not well understood, especially for precommercial thinning (PCT) implemented very early in stand development.