Underplanting tree seedlings in areas where natural regeneration is limited may offer a tool by which desired overstory composition can be maintained or restored in forests. However, invasive plant species and ungulate browsing may limit the effectiveness of underplanting, and in-turn, the successful restoration of forest ecosystems. Individually, the invasive shrub Lonicera maackii and browsin...

Black cottonwood Populus balsamifera L. subsp. trichocarpa (Brayshaw) dominated riparian forests are important habitats for organisms in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. Using a chronosequence approach and fixed area plots, successional processes were quantified in 28 stands along 145 km of the Willamette River in Western Oregon. Cluster analysis yielded five su...

High deer populations threaten the conservation value of woodlands and grasslands, but predicting the success of deer culling, in terms of allowing vegetation to recover, is difficult. Numerical simulation modeling is one approach to gain insight into the outcomes of management scenarios. We develop a spatially explicit model to predict the responses of Betula spp. to red deer (Cervus elaphus) ...

1. Many studies in northern Europe, North and South America, describe regional trends of population densification at altitudinal and polar tree lines during the 20th century. The purpose of this study was (1) to ascertain if this regeneration enhancement is present across the alpine ecotones of the Pyrenees, (2) if synchronous recruitment trends are common among the studied populations and (3) ...

The shortening of telomeres, the specific structures of repeated DNA sequence at the end of the eukaryotic chromosomes, has been connected with ageing and loss of cell replication or regeneration capacity. There is, however, only limited information available on telomeres of long-living trees. Physiological ageing, on the other hand, represents a serious problem for vegetative propagation of co...