Disturbance and climatic influences on age structure of ponderosa pine at the pine/grassland ecotone, Colorado Front Range

In the Colorado Front Range, disturbances and climatic variation influence stand structure of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) along the lower timberline ecotone. Over the past 100 years there has been a shift to a greater density and extent of ponderosa pine at the forest-grassland boundaries. Pond...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of biogeography 1998-07, Vol.25 (4), p.743-755
Main Authors:	Mast, Joy Nystrom, Veblen, Thomas T., Linhart, Yan B.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Age structure Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Biological and medical sciences Climate change Climate models Coniferous forests Dendrochronology Ecotones fire Forest regeneration Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology grazing Growth rings National parks New World Biogeography Pinus ponderosa Seedlings Sloping terrain Synecology Terrestrial ecosystems timberline
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Summary:	In the Colorado Front Range, disturbances and climatic variation influence stand structure of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) along the lower timberline ecotone. Over the past 100 years there has been a shift to a greater density and extent of ponderosa pine at the forest-grassland boundaries. Ponderosa pine regeneration at lower timberline appears to be influenced by fires in the 1860s and decreased grazing pressure in the 1970s-1980s. Climatic variation may also have influenced age structure, even though analyses of age structure at a 10-year class scale prevented the detection of climatic influences occurring at a finer scale. These changes in disturbance regimes, possibly together with moister springs/early summers, created favourable conditions for the increase in density and extent of ponderosa pine at lower timberline ecotone.
ISSN:	0305-0270 1365-2699