Download Threats to Whitebark Pine

The
Changing
Landscape
Dr. Carrie Pucko
and
Dr. Ken Tabbutt
Intro to Ecology
Ecology is the study of how organisms and their environments interact
Scale
• There is no defined size of an
“ecosystem” and ecosystems
have no boundaries.
Ecosystems are defined by:
Environment
• Climate
• Precipitation, temperature,
timing of events
• Geology
• Bedrock, physical features,
hydrology
• Disturbance
• Natural, human, large- and
small-scale, recurrence
Organisms
• Biodiversity
• Species Interactions
• Distribution and Quantity of
Individual Species or Groups
of Species
Individual
Metapopulation
Population
Guild
Community
Ecosystem
Stand
Landscape
Whitebark Pine
(Pinus albicaulis)
• High elevation pine throughout the
west
• In the 5-needle Pine Group
• Considered a “keystone species”
because of its value to local
biodiversity
• Slow growing and slow to
reproduce
• Food source for many high
elevation birds and mammals
Threats to Whitebark Pine
• White Pine Blister Rust
• Introduced fungal disease that kills most infected trees
• Mountain Pine Beetles
• Kill trees by eating the cambium (the inner bark) of many species of
western conifers
• Climate Change
• Changes in climate can stress trees, making them more prone to
secondary infection
• Shift in a species ideal climatic conditions can result in a corresponding
shift in species range
• Human Development
• Recreation can impact habitat and pollution can damage leaf tissues
Whitepine Blister Rust
• Rust fungus native to Europe and
introduced in Vancouver in 1910
• Produces cankers that can
eventually kill trees
• There is likely a confounding
effect with mountain pine beetles.
• Infection on the East Coast 5needle pines is far less severe
Individual
Metapopulation
Population
Guild
Community
Ecosystem
Stand
Landscape
Ecology Sub-Disciplines
• Physiological Ecology
• Population Ecology
• Community Ecology
• Evolutionary Ecology
• Ecosystems Ecology
• Conservation Ecology
• Landscape Ecology
….and in reality, many more
Ecologist Convention
• You will be given a piece of paper that tells you what type of
ecologist you are going to be for the next half hour. (Ex. Landscape
Ecologist A)
• You will be working in groups of 3 – 4 to come up with questions
that you might try to answer regarding the Whitebark Pine that
pertain to your sub-discipline.
• Then we will hear from each super-group (A and B combined) about
your specific type of ecology and what each type of ecologist might
focus on.
Physiological Ecology
• Physiological ecology is he study of how environmental factors
influence the physiology of organisms. These scientists might
study the way in which a coldblooded animal such as a lizard
controls its body temperature in daytime heat and the cold
desert night. Or they might try to understand how light is
captured by different shaped leaves in the rainforest.
Evolutionary Ecology
• Why has the mortality rate changed
over time?
• Can genetic resistance transfer
between populations/species?
• How does
Population Ecology
• Invasive species
• Pine nut distribution
• Timing of reproduction
• Lifespan
• Preferred climate and elevation
• Age vs. Elevation vs. slope
• Sub-species differences
• Natural disaster influences
Conservation Ecology
• Logging regimes and beetles and
health
• What can we do to assist beetle
predators?
• No biological controls?
• Predatory fungi
• Assisted migration!!
• Planting seedlings
• Addressing future climate in
planting locations
Ecosystem Ecology
• How do the nutrients available
affect pathogens?
• What takes the place of whitebark
pine when they are gone?
• What are the optimal conditions
for reproductions? Nutrients?
Climate?
• How does climate change affect
the available nutrients
Community Ecology
• What other species rely on the
whitebark pine for food and shelter
• How do predators affect
reproduction?
• How do species adapt
• Who do birds affect distributions?
Fungal community interactions
Physiological Ecology
• How do pH, temp, nutrients, soil
affect tree function?
• How does it affect the relationship
between fungus and tree
• Incubation times of species?
• What parts are affected
• Why are they more susceptible?
• Symptoms?
• Timing and spatial distributions of
infections?
Landscape Ecology
• Forestry practices affect
susceptibility?
• Food web interactions?
Migrations / population
dynamics
• Guild and unique niche of WBP
Basic Tree ID
Landscape Ecology A
Landscape Ecology B
Conservation Ecology B
Ecosystem Ecology A
Ecosystem Ecology B
Physiological Ecology B
Community Ecology A
Community Ecology B
Population Ecology B
Evolutionary Ecology A
Evolutionary Ecology B
Conservation Ecology A
Physiological Ecology A
Population Ecology A