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

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) 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.

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)

Kimmins, Ch. 1 & 2

A. The background and approach (8/26)

Kimmins, Ch. 3

II. Tree autecology

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)

Kimmins, Ch. 7

D. Temperature (9/9 and 9/14)

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

E. Wind (9/16)

Kimmins, Ch. 9

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

Kimmins, Ch. 10

G. Plant nutrients (9/28)

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

H. Fire (10/5 and 10/7)

Kimmins, Ch. 12

First test (10/12)

III. Forest synecology

A. Population ecology (10/14)

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

B. Plant community concepts (10/19)

Kimmins, Ch. 13

C. Succession and climax concepts (10/21)

Kimmins, Ch. 15

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

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)

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)

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)

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

D. Synthesis (12/9)

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 164-171 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. In press.

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.