General Info

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.

 

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

Trip 1. Sept. 10 — Subalpine forests in the Front Range

Trip 2. Sept. 24 — Montane forests in the Front Range

Trip 3. Oct. 1 and 15— An introduction to field methods in forest ecology

 

Class Policy

Reading quiz: 10%

Two midterm tests (30% each) 60%

Take home final exam ( due 9 a.m., Dec.12 ) 30%

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.

 

Textbook

Required text : Required text: Kimmins, J.P. 2003. Forest Ecology . 3 rd Edition. Macmillan Publishing, NY. [Available on Reserve at the Earth and Science Library]

 

Readings

Assigned readings :

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.

Romme, W.H., M.R. Kaufmann, T.T. Veblen, R. Sherriff and C.M. Regan. 2003b. Ecological effects of the Hayman Fire Part 2: 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.

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.

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. and J.A. Donnegan (2004). Historical range of variability assessment for forest vegetation of the national forests of the Colorado Front Range. Final report, USDA Forest Service. 182 p. Text only; Figures; Photo plates.

 

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.

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.

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.

Veblen, T.T., K.S. Hadley, E.M. Nel, T. Kitzberger, M. Reid, and R. Villalba. 1994. Disturbance regime and disturbance interactions in a Rocky Mountain subalpine forest. Journal of Ecology 82:125-135.

Veblen, T.T., T. Kitzberger and J. Donnegan. 2000. Climatic and human influences on fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests in the Colorado Front Range. Ecological Applications 10:1178-1195.

 

Schedules

Lecture and Assigned Reading Schedule

Lecture Topic

Assigned Reading

I. Introduction (8/23)

 

A. Forest dynamics and forest management (8/25)

Kimmins, Ch. 1, 2 & 3

II. Tree autoecology

A. The species as an ecological unit (8/30-9/1)

Kimmins, Ch. 16 (omit pp. 444-450)

B. The concept of environment (9/6)

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

C. Solar radiation (9/8-9/13)

Kimmins, Ch. 7 (omit pp. 193-194)

D. Temperature (9/15)

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

Quiz (30 minutes)

E. Wind (9/20)

 

Kimmins, Ch. 9 (omit pp. 247-249)

F. Water (9/22)

Kimmins, Ch. 10 (omit pp. 275-276)

G. Plant nutrients (9/27)

Kimmins, Ch. 5 (pages 72-79 and 87-105 only); and Ch. 11 (omit pp. 307-310)

H. Fire (9/29)

Kimmins, Ch. 12 (omit pp. 341-345)

Take-home test due 10/4

 

III. Forest synecology

A. Population ecology (10/4, 10/6, & 10/11)

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

B. Plant community concepts (10/18)

. Biotic interactions: herbivores (10/25)

Kimmins, Ch. 13

C. Succession and climax concepts (10/25)

Kimmins, Ch. 15

D. Mechanisms of succession and regeneration (10/27)

. Methods: age structure analysis (11/1)

Kimmins, Ch. 17

Veblen 1992, pp. 152-187

 

IV. Applications of ecological knowledge to forest management

A. Concepts of ecosystem-based management and historic range of variability (11/3)

Kimmins, Ch. 18 (omit pp. 523-528)

Kimmins, Ch. 19

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

In-class test (11/8)

B. Subalpine forests in Colorado: autecology and stand development (11/10)

Veblen and Donnegan 2004, sections 5.1.5 through 5.1.8 (subalpine cover types)

C. Subalpine forests in Colorado: beetles, blowdown and fire (11/15, 11/17, 11/22)

Veblen and Donnegan 2004, section 5.2 (Disturbance patterns) 6.4 (Euro-American influences on fire regimes)
D. Montane forests in Colorado: autecology and stand development (11/29)

Romme et al. 2003a,b,c

Veblen and Donnegan 2004, sections 5.1.1 through 5.1.4
E. Montane forests in Colorado: beetles, budworm and fire (12/1, 12/6) Veblen and Donnegan 2004, sections 5.2 and 6.4 (focus on montane cover types)

F. Climate variation and implications for forest management in Colorado (12/8)

Veblen and Donnegan 2004, sections 4 and 5.2.3.2

G. Synthesis (12/8)

Veblen and Donnegan 2004, section 7

Take-home final exam (due 9 a.m., Dec. 12)

 

 

Handouts

| 1-Introduction | 2-Silviculture & Ecosystem Management | 3-Tree_autecology | 4-Operational Environment | 5-Solar radiation |

| 6-Temperature | 7-Wind | 8-Water | 9_Plant nutrients | 10-Fire | 11-Population Ecology | 12-Community Concepts | 13-Community Ecology & Biotic Interactions | 14-Succession & Climax Concepts | 15-Mechanisms of Succession | 16-Methods of Analyzing Vegetation Change part 1 | 17-Methods.... part 2 | 18-Ecosystem Management & HRV | 19-Colorado Subalpine Autecology Notes | 20-Colorado Subalpine Aspen decline & blowdown | 21-Colorado Subalpine spruce beetle | 22-Colorado Montane Autecology Notes |

Midterm_keys

| Quiz | First Test | Second Test |

 

Field trips pictures

Subalpine forest | Montane forest 1 2 3 4 5 | Methods 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |