FOREST GEOGRAPHY

FOREST GEOGRAPHY

Fall 2004

GEOGRAPHY 4371 INSTRUCTOR: T. VEBLEN

3 CREDITS OFFICE: GUGGENHEIM 201

OFFICE HOURS: right after lecture at 1:45; or by appointment (492-8528; email veblen@Colorado.Edu)

TEACHING ASSISTANT: Juan Paritsis (email: paritisis@colorado.edu)

OFFICE HOURS: Tuesdays, right after lecture 1:45

Lecture: Tu Th 12:30 - 1:45, Guggenheim room 205

Required text: Kimmins, J.P. 2003. Forest Ecology. 3^rd Edition. Macmillan Publishing, NY.

Recommended prerequisites: introductory courses in physical geography and biology and general ecology.

Note: if you have not had a general course on ecology you should read chapters 4 and 5 of Kimmins as soon as possible.

Grading: two midterm tests (30% each) 60%

take-home final exam (due 9 a.m., Dec.12) 40%

Note: Make-up exams are not given. If you have to miss a test for a medical or other valid (and documented) reason, you will be assigned a grade for that midterm determined by your average grade from the other tests.

Term paper option: anyone who wishes may substitute a term paper on a topic related to the course content (maximum length of 12 pages, double spaced) for the take-home exam; if you elect the term paper option, you must tell me the title of the paper no later than October 21.

Field trips: Saturday (8:00 a.m. to 3 p.m.) field trips are scheduled as follows:

Trip 1. Sept. 11 C Subalpine forests in the Front Range

Trip 2. Sept. 25 C Montane forests in the Front Range

Trip 3. Oct. 23 C An introduction to field methods in forest ecology

Lecture and Assigned Reading Schedule

Lecture Topic

Assigned Reading

I. Introduction (8/24) (Handout #1)

Kimmins, Ch. 1 & 2

A. The background and approach (8/26) (Handouts #2 and #3)

Kimmins, Ch. 3

II. Tree autecology (Handout #4 and #5)

A. The species as an ecological unit (8/31)

Kimmins, Ch. 16 (except pp. 444-447)

B. The concept of environment (9/2)

Kimmins, Ch. 6 (except pp. 159-166)

C. Solar radiation (9/7) (Handout # 6)

Kimmins, Ch. 7

D. Temperature (9/9 and 9/14) (Handout # 7)

Kimmins, Ch. 8 (except pp. 220-226)

E. Wind (9/16)( Handout # 8)

Kimmins, Ch. 9

F. Water (9/21 and 9/23) (Handout # 9)

Kimmins, Ch. 10

G. Plant nutrients (9/28) (Handout # 10)

Kimmins, Ch. 5 (pages 72-79 and 87-105 only); and Ch. 11

H. Fire (10/5 and 10/7) (Handout # 11) (animal influen)

Kimmins, Ch. 12

First test (10/12) I midterm key

III. Forest synecology

A. Population ecology (10/14) (Handout # 12)

Kimmins, Ch. 14 (except pages 384-394)

B. Plant community concepts (10/19) (Handout # 13)

Kimmins, Ch. 13

C. Succession and climax concepts (10/21) (Handout # 14)

Kimmins, Ch. 15

D. Mechanisms of succession and regeneration (10/26, 10/28, 11/2) (Handout # 15)

* Methods of analyzing forest changes (Handout # 16)

Kimmins, Ch. 17

Veblen 1992, pp. 152-187

Second test (11/9)

IV. Applications of ecological knowledge to forest management

A. Concepts of ecosystem-based management and historic range of variability (11/4)

Fire Methods (Handout # 17)

Kimmins, Ch. 18 and 19

Kimmins, Ch. 20 (except pages 553-563)

B. Subalpine forests in Colorado: Aspen, Lodgepole pine, Spruce-fir (11/11, 11/16, and 11/18) (Handout # 18 & Handout # 19)

Peet 2000; Rebertus et al. 1992; Veblen 2000

C. Montane forests in Colorado: Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir (11/23, 12/2, and 12/7) (Handout # 20 & Handout 21)

Veblen 2003, Romme et al. 2003a,b,c

D. Synthesis (12/9) Take Home Exam

Assigned readings on reserve in the Earth Sciences Library and Norlin Library:

Peet, R.K. 2000. Forests of the Rocky Mountains. Pp. 75-121 in M.G. Barbour and W.D. Billings, eds. North American Terrestrial Vegetation, 2^nd edition. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.

Rebertus, A.J., T.T. Veblen, L.M. Roovers, and J.N. Mast. 1992. Structure and dynamics of old-growth Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir in Colorado. Pp. 139-153 in USDA For. Serv. GTR RM-213.

Romme, W.H. T.T. Veblen, M.R. Kaufmann, R. Sherriff and C.M. Regan. 2003a. Ecological effects of the Hayman Fire Part1: Historical (Pre-1860) and current (1860-2002) fire regimes. Pages 181-195 in: Hayman Fire Case Study Analysis. USDA Forest Service Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-114.

http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr114/rmrs_gtr114_3.pdf

Romme, W.H., M.R. Kaufmann, T.T. Veblen, R. Sherriff and C.M. Regan. 2003b. Ecological effects of the Hayman Fire Part1: Historical (Pre-1860) and current (1860-2002) forest and landscape structure. Pages 196-203 in: Hayman Fire Case Study Analysis. USDA Forest Service Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-114. http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr114/rmrs_gtr114_3.pdf

Romme, W.H., C.M. Regan, M.R. Kaufmann, L. Huckaby, and T.T. Veblen. 2003c. Forest succession. Pages 220-227 in: Hayman Fire Case Study Analysis. USDA Forest Service Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-114. http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr114/rmrs_gtr114_3.pdf

Veblen, T.T. 2000. Disturbance patterns in southern Rocky Mountain forests. Pp. 31-54 in: R.L. Knight, F.W. Smith,S.W. Buskirk, W.H. Romme and W.L. Baker (editors), Forest Fragmentation in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Island Press.

Veblen, T.T. 1992. Regeneration dynamics. Pp. 152-187 in D.C. Glenn-Lewin, R.K. Peet, and T.T. Veblen. Plant Succession: Theory and Prediction. Chapman and Hall, London.

Veblen, T.T. 2003. Historic range of variability of mountain forest ecosystems: concepts and applications. The Forestry Chronicle 79:223-226.

Supplemental readings:

Bebi, P., D. Kulakowski, and T.T. Veblen. 2003. Interactions between fire and spruce beetle in a subalpine Rocky Mountain forest landscape. Ecology 84:362-371.

Kulakowski, D. and T.T. Veblen. 2002. Influences of fire history and topography on the pattern of a severe wind blowdown in a Colorado subalpine forest. Journal of Ecology 90:806-819.

Kulakowski, D., T.T. Veblen and S. Drinkwater. 2004. The persistence of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the Grand Mesa area, Colorado. Ecological Applications 14:1603-1614.

Schoennagel, T.L., T.T. Veblen and W.H. Romme. 2004. The interaction of fire, fuels and climate across Rocky Mountain forests. BioScience 54: 661-676.