Advanced Search Results Detail

Project ID: 01B-3-3-05

Year: 2002

Date Started: 05/30/2002

Date Completed: 08/07/2006

Title: Fuel Reduction Effects on a Key Sierra Food Web

Project Proposal Abstract: Fire fundamentally changes a forest's composition and function, yet we know little about its effects on food web structure. In the Sierra Nevada, forest management and fuel reduction policies have been directed to minimize impacts on the California spotted owl. This proposal examines the central food web affecting the owl and whether fire and mechanic fuel reduction have similar effects on its trophic structure. We will focus on the critical linkage common in most forest ecosystems between trees, mycorrb.izal fungi and the truffles they produce, and smaJ.l mammals. Changes in the structure of this food web directly affect the abundance of prey species that owls depend upon. We will determine small mammal density, and truffle biomass and composition in replicate plots before and after fuel reduction treatments, A nested study will concentrate on density, home range, movement patterns and diet of the truffle-dependent northern flying squirrel, the main prey of spotted owls. We will examine three hypotheses comparing the effects of fire and thinning on this trophic structure: a positive response to fire (the fIre hypothesis), similar response to thinning and fire (equivalency), and a disturbance- intensity determined response (intensity). This comparison can help determine how fuel reduction plans affect this food web and the status of a threatened species which is driving forest management in the Sierra Nevada.

Principal Investigator: Doug Kelt

Agency/Organization: University of California-Davis

Branch or Dept: Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Marc Meyer	Forest Service	PSW-Sierra Nevada Research Center
Collaborator/Contributor	Dave McCandliss	Forest Service	Sierra NF-High Sierra Ranger District
Federal Cooperator	Malcolm P. North	Forest Service	PSW-Sierra Nevada Research Center

Project Locations

Consortium

California

There are no project locations identified for this project.

Project Deliverables

Final Report ("Results presented in JFSP Final Reports may not have been peer-reviewed and should be interpreted as tentative until published in a peer-reviewed source.")

	ID	Type	Title
	5298	Refereed Publication	Truffle Abundance in Riparian and Upland Mixed-Conifer Forest of California’s Southern Sierra Nevada
	5297	Refereed Publication	Short-Term Effects of Fire and Forest Thinning on Truffle Abundance and Consumption by Neotamias speciosus in the Sierra Nevada of California
	5296	Refereed Publication	Nest Trees of Northern Flying Squirrels in the Sierra Nevada
	5295	Refereed Publication	Fungi in the Diets of Northern Flying Squirrels and Lodgepole Chipmunks in the Sierra Nevada
	8834	NonRefereed Publication	Small Mammal and Truffle Response to Burning in Mixed-Conifer Forest
	8833	NonRefereed Publication	Hypogeous Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Species on Roots and in Small Mammal Diet in a Mixed-Conifer Forest

Supporting Documents

There are no supporting documents available for this project.

Convert PDF documents to an html document using Adobe's online conversion tool.