A new geodatabase of fuel treatments across federal lands in the USA.

Catastrophic wildfires threaten landscapes across the United States, and fuel treatments are key to mitigating this risk. Yet, information regarding when, where, and what types of treatments have occurred is scattered across multiple systems of record. Limited accessibility and utility of these data have impeded the coordinated tracking of treatment implementation and assessment of treatment effectiveness.

Timing and mode of simulated ungulate herbivory alter aspen defense strategies.

Timing of herbivory or selection of specific plant tissues (mode of herbivory) by different ungulate herbivore species are likely to have important influences on plant defense strategies. In this study, we devised two different modes of simulated herbivory, representing a selective ungulate feeding strategy (defoliation: leaf tissue removal only) and a bulk feeding strategy (clipping: leaves, twigs and meristems taken together). We applied these contrasting herbivory treatments to juvenile aspen suckers (Populus tremuloides Michx.

Outbreak of Drepanopeziza fungus in aspen forests and variation in stand susceptibility: leaf functional traits, compensatory growth and phenology.

In the spring of 2015, a severe outbreak of the necrotrophic pathogen Drepanopeziza (also known as Marssonina) spread across large portions of aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) forests in the western United States. Among adjacent stands, some were diseased and others were not.