Historical patterns of fire severity and forest structure and composition in a landscape structured by frequent large fires: Pumice Plateau ecoregion,Oregon, USA

Context

Lack of quantitative observations of extent, frequency, and severity of large historical fires constrains awareness of departure of contemporary conditions from those that demonstrated resistance and resilience to frequent fire and recurring drought.

Objectives

Compare historical and contemporary fire and forest conditions for a dry forest landscape with few barriers to fire spread.

Methods

Quantify differences in (1) historical (1700–1918) and contemporary (1985–2015) fire extent, fire rotation, and stand-replacing fire and (2) historical (1914–1924) and contemporary (2012) forest structure and composition. Data include 85,750-ha tree-ring reconstruction of fire frequency and extent; >?375,000-ha timber inventory following >?78,900-ha fires in 1918; and remotely-sensed maps of contemporary fire effects and forest conditions.

Results

Historically, fires?>?20,000 ha occurred every 9.5 years; fire rotation was 14.9 years; seven fires?>?40,469 ha occurred during extreme drought (PDSI <?? 4.0); and stand-replacing fire occurred primarily in lodgepole (Pinus contorta var. murrayana). In contemporary fires, only 5% of the ecoregion burned in 30 years, and stand-replacing fire occurred primarily in ponderosa (Pinus ponderosa) and mixed-conifer. Historically, density of conifers?>?15 cm dbh exceeded 120 trees/ha on?<?5% of the area compared to 95% currently.

Conclusions

Frequent, large, low-severity fires historically maintained open-canopy ponderosa and mixed-conifer forests in which large fire- and drought-tolerant trees were prevalent. Stand-replacing patches in ponderosa and mixed-conifer were rare, even in fires >?40,469 ha (minimum size of contemporary “megafires”) during extreme drought. In this frequent-fire landscape, mixed-severity fire historically influenced lodgepole and adjacent forests. Lack of large, frequent, low-severity fires degrades contemporary forest ecosystems.

     

Chemical comparison of goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis L.) root powder from three commercial suppliers

The characterization of herbal materials is a significant challenge to analytical chemists. Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis L.), which has been chosen for toxicity evaluation by NIEHS, is among the top 15 herbal supplements currently on the market and contains a complex mixture of indigenous components ranging from carbohydrates and amino acids to isoquinoline alkaloids. One key component of herbal supplement production is botanical authentication, which is also recommended prior to initiation of efficacy or toxicological studies. To evaluate material available to consumers, goldenseal root powder was obtained from three commercial suppliers and a strategy was developed for characterization and comparison that included Soxhlet extraction, HPLC, GC-MS, and LC-MS analyses. HPLC was used to determine the weight percentages of the goldenseal alkaloids berberine, hydrastine, and canadine in the various extract residues. Palmatine, an isoquinoline alkaloid native to Coptis spp. and other common goldenseal adulterants, was also quantitated using HPLC. GC-MS was used to identify non-alkaloid constituents in goldenseal root powder, whereas LC-MS was used to identify alkaloid components. After review of the characterization data, it was determined that alkaloid content was the best biomarker for goldenseal. A 20-min ambient extraction method for the determination of alkaloid content was also developed and used to analyze the commercial material. All three lots of purchased material contained goldenseal alkaloids hydrastinine, berberastine, tetrahydroberberastine, canadaline, berberine, hydrastine, and canadine. Material from a single supplier also contained palmatine, coptisine, and jatrorrhizine, thus indicating that the material was not pure goldenseal. Comparative data for three commercial sources of goldenseal root powder are presented.     

Dynamic headspace analysis of the release of volatile organic compounds from ethanolic systems by direct APCI-MS

Static equilibrium headspace was diluted with a stream of nitrogen to study the stability of the volatile headspace concentration. The headspace dilution profile of 18 volatile compounds above aqueous and ethanolic solutions was measured in real time using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry. Under dynamic conditions the volatiles headspace concentration above water solutions decreased readily upon dilution. The presence of ethanol helped to maintain the volatile headspace concentration when the ethanol solution concentration was above 50 mL/L. This effect was such that under dynamic conditions the absolute volatile concentration above an ethanolic solution was higher than that above an aqueous solution, contrary to results observed in equilibrium studies. The ratio of the headspace concentration of volatiles above ethanolic 120 mL/L and water solutions was correlated to their air/water partition coefficient.     

Simulation modelling of potato virus Y spread in relation to initial inoculum and vector activity

Potato virus Y(PVY) is a non-persistent virus that is transmitted by many aphid species and causes significant damage to potato production. We constructed a spatially-explicit model simulating PVY spread in a potato field and used it to investigate possible effects of transmission efficiency, initial inoculum levels, vector behavior, vector abundance, and timing of peak vector activity on PVY incidence at the end of a simulated growing season. Lower PVY incidence in planted seed resulted in lower virus infection at the end of the season. However, when populations of efficient PVY vectors were high, significant PVY spread occurred even when initial virus inoculum was low. Non-colonizing aphids were more important for PVY spread compared to colonizing aphids, particularly at high densities. An early-season peak in the numbers of noncolonizing aphids resulted in the highest number of infected plants in the end of the season, while mid-and late-season peaks caused relatively little virus spread. Our results highlight the importance of integrating different techniques to prevent the number of PVY-infected plants from exceeding economically acceptable levels instead of trying to control aphids within potato fields. Such management plans should be implemented very early in a growing season.     

Two-year development of southern pine seedlings and associated vegetation following spray-and-burn site preparation with imazapyr alone or in mixture with other herbicides

Eight herbicide combinations containing imazapyr alone or in mixture with glyphosate, triclopyr, or picloram+2,4-D were applied July–August 1991 at each of three upland sites in the southeastern U.S., with or without a subsequent broadcast burn in September. Seedlings of loblolly (Pinus taeda L.) or slash (P. elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii) pine were planted that winter. Second-year (August 1993) vegetation responses indicate that broadcast burning, in combination with herbicides, was associated with increased abundances of grasses, forbs, and shrubs and decreased abundances of vines and hardwood trees. In the presence of burning, imazapyr-in-mixture treatments were associated with a high abundance of grass (53% cover) and a mean size of pines less than that of seedlings growing in imazapyr-alone treatments. In the absence of burning, imazapyr-alone treatments were associated with a high abundance of blackberry (21% cover), an average height of hardwoods (131 cm) exceeding that of pines (71 cm), and a mean size of pines less than that of trees growing in imazapyr-in-mixture treatments. Hardwood height in the absence of burning was less when imazapyr was combined with glyphosate (75 cm) than with triclopyr (102 cm). Regardless of the presence or absence of burning, size of pines and abundance of shrubs and hardwoods did not differ between imazapyr rates of 0.56 and 0.84 kg acid equivalent/ha or among herbicides applied in mixture with imazapyr.     

Growth and Biochmical Studies of Mrigal Fish (Cirrhinus mrigala) Fed Graded Levels of Oil

A 45-day experiment was carried out to evaluate the growth performance,digestive enzymes activity and biochemical response of Cirrhinus mrigala fed graded levels of oil.Three isonitrogenous purified diets(6%,8%and 10%of oil)were formulated.A total of 108 juveniles of Cirrhinus mrigala(5.95±0.25)g were equally distributed in triplicate groups in nine plastic tanks of 100 L capacity and fed under natural light cycle.Growth performance of the fish significantly reflected the effect of inclusion levels of oil tested but the diet with 8%lipid had the best significant growth performance[%weight gain,Feed Conversion Ratio(FCR)and Specific Growth Rate(SGR)],across different experimental groups.Levels of secretion of digestive enzymes in the fish fed different experimental diets resulted in significant values of(p0.05)amylase and lipase,while Aspartate transaminase(AST),Alanine transaminase(ALT),Lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)and Malate dehydrogenase(MDH)values in the muscle and liver decreased significantly(p0.05)as the levels of oil in the diet increased.However,serum biochemical parameters did not record any significant difference(p0.05)with the exception of the total lipid across diets.The study confirmed the inclusion effect of graded levels of oil in juvenile Mrigal diet,but the inclusion should not be more than 8%to avert growth depression.     

Patterns and impacts of fish bycatch in a scallop dredge fishery

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