Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

Whitebark Pine Prevalence and Ecological Function in Treeline Communities of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, U.S.A.: Potential Disruption by White Pine Blister Rust

Show simple item record

dc.contributor Geography
dc.creator Wagner, Aaron C.
dc.creator Tomback, Diana F.
dc.creator Resler, Lynn M.
dc.creator Pansing, Elizabeth R.
dc.date 2018-10-31T16:59:24Z
dc.date 2018-10-31T16:59:24Z
dc.date 2018-10-12
dc.date 2018-10-31T15:26:54Z
dc.date.accessioned 2023-03-01T18:53:00Z
dc.date.available 2023-03-01T18:53:00Z
dc.identifier Wagner, A.C.; Tomback, D.F.; Resler, L.M.; Pansing, E.R. Whitebark Pine Prevalence and Ecological Function in Treeline Communities of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, U.S.A.: Potential Disruption by White Pine Blister Rust. Forests 2018, 9, 635.
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/10919/85605
dc.identifier https://doi.org/10.3390/f9100635
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/281679
dc.description In the northern Rocky Mountains of the U.S. and Canada, whitebark pine (<i>Pinus albicaulis</i> Engelm.) is a functionally important species in treeline communities. The introduced fungal pathogen <i>Cronartium ribicola</i>, which causes white pine blister rust, has led to extensive whitebark pine mortality nearly rangewide. We examined four treeline communities within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) to assess structure and composition, whitebark pine prevalence and functional role, differences in growing season mesoclimate among study areas, and blister rust infection incidence. We found that (1) whitebark pine frequently serves as the majority overall, solitary, and leeward tree island conifer; (2) the prevalence of different tree species in the windward position in tree islands, and thus their potential as tree island initiators, may be predicted from their relative abundance as solitary trees; and (3) white pine blister rust infection incidence ranged from 0.6% to 18.0% across study areas. White pine blister rust poses a threat to treeline development and structure and the provision of ecosystem services in the GYE. Increasing blister rust resistance in nearby subalpine whitebark pine communities through seedling planting or direct seeding projects should eventually result in higher levels of blister rust resistance in whitebark pine in treeline communities.
dc.description Published version
dc.format application/pdf
dc.format application/pdf
dc.language en
dc.publisher MDPI
dc.rights Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
dc.rights http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject Pinus albicaulis Engelm.
dc.subject alpine-treeline ecotone
dc.subject treeline
dc.subject tree islands
dc.subject Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
dc.subject Cronartium ribicola
dc.subject white pine blister rust
dc.subject climate
dc.subject ecosystem services
dc.subject community structure
dc.subject ecological function
dc.title Whitebark Pine Prevalence and Ecological Function in Treeline Communities of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, U.S.A.: Potential Disruption by White Pine Blister Rust
dc.title Forests
dc.type Article - Refereed
dc.type Text


Files in this item

Files Size Format View
forests-09-00635.pdf 3.575Mb application/pdf View/Open

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search DSpace


Advanced Search

Browse