Ecologist (forest health & disturbance focused) USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station Placerville, California, United States
The central and southern Sierra Nevada, California, experienced extreme drought during 2012-2016, inciting widespread tree mortality, much of which occurred via a western pine beetle outbreak in ponderosa pine from 2014-2016. Shrub and invasive plant response was assessed six years following the outbreak. Changes were less than initially hypothesized.
Learning Objectives:
To learn which invasive plants occurred most commonly on the plots immediately following the tree mortality event in 2017, and how that changed in our assessment of the response in 2022.
To learn which shrub species were most abundant on the plots immediately following the tree mortality event in 2017, and how that changed in our assessment of the response in 2022.
