<p>Active forest management is generally considered a desirable approach for both private and public tracts. While stakeholder collaboration and input are used on public lands, states have used several approaches to facilitate forest management on private forests including property tax-incentive programs, cost-share and technical assistant programs, and professional advice. Some researchers have studied how educational programs can facilitate woodland management on private lands. While some determined that the adoption of management practices can be influenced, in part, by attending educational programs, understanding of the factors that contribute to successful outcomes of educational programs for family forest owners is limited. Similarly, many federal and state agencies have used stakeholder input to inform natural resource management and policy in a variety of collaborative formats. In Indiana, the Indiana Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee has provided input into private and public forest management in the state since 2010. </p> Using a case-study approach, this dissertation, through mail surveys and interviews, examined the role of the Forest Management for the Private Woodland Owner eight-week short course in woodland owner management decisions. Findings suggest that, across behaviors, woodland owner attitudes about and reasons for owning their woodlands were the most consistent predictors of the level of influence the course had on participants. Enrollment in the Indiana Classified Forest and Wildlands Program and likelihood of attending future educational programs were also positively associated with course influence for some behaviors while contact with the instructor after the course and owning woods for privacy had negative associations. The course played a role in different stages of the decision-making process of woodland owners to harvest timber, control invasive plants, create a written management plan, and use the services of a professional forester. Compatibility and relative advantage of a practice were important factors in adoption decisions. I also interviewed members of the Indiana Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee to investigate its perceived value to members and how they view its contributions to forest management in the state. Overall, members generally held a positive perspective of its value<a></a><a></a><a></a><a></a><a></a> and thought the committee benefited Indiana’s forests although there was limited evidence to support this viewpoint. The committee followed some recommended collaborative approaches, but fell short on others. Findings inform several recommendations that could benefit the committee and its role in the future.

Small-ruminant production is an important part of the agricultural economy of northeastern Brazil. However, mild-to-severe undernutrition of livestock is an annual occurrence. Goats can tolerate the marginal forage conditions better than sheep, but the mechanisms underlying their superior tolerance are not understood. An analysis of animal liveweights at the end of the year-long study indicated that reproducing mixed-race goats gained nearly twice (P<.05) the weight of reproducing hair-sheep of the Santa Ynez breed, and non-reproducing goats gained about 1.2 times more (P<.05) weight than non-reproducing sheep. Daily weight gains of lambs were less (P<.10) than those of Kids for their first 80 days of life. In the wet season, reproducing sheep and goats gained similar (P>.05) weight, while non-reproducing sheep gained more (P~.05) than non-reproducing goats. Non-reproducing goats had greater (P<.05) forage organic matter intake (OMI) than the corresponding sheep in the two wet periods. In the late-wet period, non-reproducing goats had greater (P<.05) digestible energy intake (DEI) than corresponding sheep did but had similar (P>.05) digestible protein intake (DPI) as sheep. In the dry season, reproducing sheep and goats lost similarbn(P> . 05) weight but only the five better performing sheep were weighed at the end of the dry season. The five poorer performers were removed from the study and given supplemental feed to keep them alive. The non-reproducing sheep lost weight during the dry season, while the non-reproducing goats gained weight . Non-reproducing sheep and goats had similar (P>.05) OMI and DEI during the dry periods. In the late-dry period when forage quality was lowest, the animals experienced their greatest weight loss, and both species had greatly reduced DPI; the goats had 83 percent greater (P<.05) DPI than the sheep. Digestion trials were conducted with actual diet samples selected by free-ranging animals. Goats had greater (P<.05) crude protein apparent digestibility than sheep in the late-dry period trial. This difference may be a key aspect explaining their responses to the dry season.

The interaction of land-use and climate can cause non-linear “state” changes in ecosystems, characterized by persistent differences in structure and function. Changes in land-use and climate on the Colorado Plateau may be driving many ecosystems toward undesired states where energy-intensive measures are required to return to previous states. Landscape classification systems based on “ecological potential” offer a robust framework to evaluate ecological conditions. Ecological sites are a popular landscape classification system based on long-term ecological potential and are widely used throughout the western US. Ecological sites have been described extensively for rangelands and woodlands on DOI Bureau of Land Management lands; however, they have yet to be described on USDA Forest Service (USFS) lands. In this thesis, I describe a statistical approach to ecological site delineation and the development of state-and-transition models, diagrams that illustrate ecosystem dynamics and responses to disturbances. In Chapter 2, I used a large inventory dataset and multivariate statistical procedures to classify plots based on life zone, soils, and potential vegetation, effectively delineating statistical ecological site-like groups. Most of the statistical ecological sites matched ecological sites already described by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Additionally, I described one new ecological site that has not been described by the NRCS in the Colorado Plateau region. In Chapter 3, I examined empirical evidence for alternative states in mountain ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson) and upland piñon-juniper ecosystems. Using multivariate statistical procedures, I found that plots cluster into groups consistent with generalized alternative states identified in a priori conceptual models. Additionally, I showed that ponderosa pine clusters were true alternative states and piñon-juniper clusters were not true alternative states because they were confounded by similarities in climate. Ponderosa pine clusters were differentiated by overstory ponderosa pine density and corresponded to three states: current potential, high fuel load, and reduced overstory. These results illustrate the range of ecosystem variability that is present throughout the study area and present evidence for alternatives states caused by historical land-use. This project is the first to propose ecological sites and state-and-transition models on USFS lands in this region. These techniques could be applied to areas that do not have formally described ecological sites and state-and-transition models and could help identify ecological sites that may have been overlooked using other means of delineation. Additionally, these methods can be used to evaluate the range of ecological variability throughout an area of interest and to improved understanding of ecosystem dynamics.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第19221号 / 理博第4113号 / 新制||理||1592(附属図書館) / 32220 / 京都大学大学院理学研究科生物科学専攻 / (主査)教授 伊谷 原一, 教授 幸島 司郎, 教授 村山 美穂 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

Erosion and weed dominance often limit the recovery of burned piñon-juniper woodlands. Soil water repellency (SWR) is one factor that may contribute to this by increasing overland flow and impeding seedling establishment. In spite of these effects, the extent of SWR within piñon-juniper woodlands is unknown. In this study, the extent, severity and thickness of SWR were sampled across 41 1,000 m2 plots within three 2009 Utah wildfires. Predictive models of SWR were built from ecological site characteristic data collected at each site. Across the study, SWR was found at 37% of the points sampled. SWR extent was strongly related to piñon-juniper canopy cover (r2 = 0.60) and was found to be significantly higher in tree/shrub mound zones (71%) as compared to interspaces (16%). Endorsed predictive models of SWR extent and severity had R2 adj values of 0.63 and 0.61; both models included piñon-juniper canopy cover and relative humidity the month before the fire as coefficient terms. These results suggest that as piñon-juniper canopy cover increases due to infilling processes in the coming years, post-fire SWR extent and severity will increase. As the effects of a changing climate in the Intermountain West link additively with infilling processes to increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires, the net effect will be stronger SWR over a greater spatial extent. To cope with these changes, land managers can apply the predictive models developed in this study to prioritize fuel control and post-fire restoration treatments with respect to SWR.

A sequence of burned surfaces aged 0, 1, 2, 24, and 80 years was investigated regarding changes in the spectral distribution of reflected light. Controls were introduced to isolate diurnal and seasonal effects. The results show gradually increasing reflectance with increasing age of burn. With the establishment of vegetation a new set of absorbtion and reflectance criteria are established substantially altering the spectral characteristics. The apparent effect of a mature forest canopy is ambiguous. Diffuse and overcast conditions reduce the reflectance for all surfaces. Further work is suggested to reinforce results for surfaces with low sampling replication. / Thesis / Bachelor of Science (BSc)

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