@mastersthesis {839, title = {Spatial Relationships in Frost-Damaged High-Elevation Pines and Links to Major Volcanic Eruptions}, volume = {MS}, year = {2001}, pages = {67}, school = {University of Arizona}, address = {Tucson}, abstract = {

Frost injury in the annual growth rings of pines growing at upper treeline is a consequence of sudden freezing temperatures during the growing season (LaMarche \& Hirschboeck 1984). This updated and spatially extensive frost-ring study involves the systematic identification of frost rings in high-elevation pines located in 16 western USA tree-ring sites whose chronologies range from 1692 BC to AD 2000. Several \"notable frost events\" were identified, based on the criteria of frost damage occurring in greater than 25\% of trees at a given site and in two or more sites. The spatial variations between frost events indicate regional variations based on differences in elevation, latitude, and the location of polar outbreaks and their associated upper-level atmosphere circulation patterns. The 17 notable frost events correspond to previous frost ring and light ring evidence, and 13 of them are associated with climatically effective volcanic eruptions.

}, keywords = {atmosphere circulation, damage, dendrochronology, dendroclimatology, frost, high elevation, pine, polar outbreak, relationship, spacial, tree ring, tree-ring, volcanic eruption}, author = {Hallman, Christine Lee} } @mastersthesis {516, title = {Fire History in Riparian Canyon Pine-Oak Forests and the Intervening Desert Grasslands of the Southwest Borderlands: A Dendroecological, Historical, and Cultural Inquiry}, volume = {MS}, year = {1998}, school = {University of Arizona}, address = {Tucson}, abstract = {

Dendroecological, documentary, and ethnoecological evidence were combined to provide an integrated understanding of past natural and cultural fires in the Southwest Borderlands. Fire frequency for the desert grasslands was inferred from synchronous intercanyon fire events. Mean fire intervals range between 4-8 years in canyon pine-oak forests, 4-9 years in the intervening desert grasslands, and 5-9 years in the mixed-conifer forests. Riparian canyon pine-oak forests were important corridors for fire spread between the desert grasslands and higher-elevation forests. The decline of post-settlement (\>1870s) fires typical of most forests in U.S., is not evident south of the border in Mexico.

Documentary evidence reveals the Apache had detailed knowledge of fire, that burning practices were controlled and limited, and ecosystem enhancement through intentional burning was not suggested. However, the common exception was burning practiced during wartime periods, principally by the Apache but also by the Spanish, Mexicans, and later Americans. Fire reconstructions indicate that wartime-period fires were significantly more frequent than peacetime periods at several canyon-rancher{\'I}a sites.

}, keywords = {apache, borderland, cultural, dendrochronology, dendroecological, desert grassland, ethnoecological, fire, fire history, historical, Mexico, oak, peacetime, pine, post settlement, riparian, southwest, spanish, wartime, Watershed Management}, author = {Kaib, J. Mark} } @mastersthesis {661, title = {Late Quaternary vegetation history of the southern Owens Valley region, Inyo County, California}, volume = {Phd}, year = {1996}, school = {University of Arizona}, abstract = {This study analyzes the pollen, spores, and algae in the upper 90 m section of a mostly continuous, well dated, 323 m core (OL-92) from Owens Lake, southeastern California. The entire core has produced a paleoclimatic record for the past $\sim$800 ka. The 90 m interval dates from $\sim$9 ka to $\sim$151 ka beginning with the penultimate glaciation and ending during the termination of the last glaciation. The record shows high amplitude fluctuations in the abundances of pine, juniper, saltbush, sagebrush, chenopods/amaranths, and Ambrosia-type pollen. High percentages of juniper pollen with low percentages of desertscrub pollen during the intervals $\sim$150 ka to $\sim$120 ka and 73 ka to $\sim$20 ka alternate with low juniper pollen and relatively high percentages of desertscrub and oak pollen during the intervals $\sim$118 ka to $\sim$103 ka and $\sim$18 ka $\sim$10 ka and into the Holocene. Sagebrush pollen varies with juniper pollen but has a tendency to lead it in time. Pine and fir pollen tends to vary inversely with juniper over the long term. These trends are interpreted as vegetation change in response to glacial-interglacial cycles: During cold-wet glacial climates there was a downslope expansion of juniper woodland and sagebrush scrub, contraction of Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest, and displacement of warm desertscrub, suggesting average temperature and precipitation departures from modern values ranging from $-$2$\sp\circ$C to $-$6$\sp\circ$C and from +100 mm to +350 mm. Conversely under warmer and drier interglacials warm desert shrubs expanded their range in the lowlands, juniper and sagebrush retreated upslope, and the Sierran forests expanded. Estimated average temperature and precipitation departures from modern values ranged from $-$0.5$\sp\circ$C to +3.7$\sp\circ$C and +13 to $-$26 mm. Comparison of the pollen spectra spanning the penultimate and ultimate glacial maxima shows the former to have been longer and more intense, in accord with the Sierra Nevada glacial record. Similarly, the higher abundances of Ambrosia pollen during the last interglaciation, compared to the Holocene, indicate warmer temperatures in the former. The presence of high oak percentages also during the last interglaciation suggest an expansion of the summer monsoon. Finally, the match of the juniper curve with the marine oxygen isotope chronostratigraphy suggests a link between vegetation change in the southern Owens Valley and global climate.}, keywords = {climate, glaciation, global change, juniper, pine, sagebrush, saltbrush}, url = {http://ezproxy.library.arizona.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=739577661\&sid=22\&Fmt=2\&clientId=43922\&RQT=309\&VName=PQD}, author = {Wallace Woolfenden} } @mastersthesis {904, title = {Fire Regime of the Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta var. murrayana) Forests of the Mt. San Jacinto State Park Wilderness, California}, volume = {Master of Science}, year = {1984}, note = {

Please contact the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research to view this thesis.

}, month = {08/1984}, pages = {93}, school = {Cornell University}, address = {Ithaca}, abstract = {

For the purpose of providing recommendations for the fire management plan of the Mt. San Jacinto State Park Wilderness, California, the natural fire regime of the lodgepole pine forests within the wilderness was determined. Fire-scarred lodgepole pine trees were cored, and their growth rings crossdated against a composite ring series, to obtain fire date estimates of fires that have burned within the forests during the last 300 years. U.S. Forest Service fire records and personal accounts were also used to determine recent fire history.

Results indicate that the fires within the lodgepole pine forests of Mt. San Jacinto probably were quite small (\< 0.4 ha). Because of this, the fire regime is probably one of low-intensity fires. Fires started principally by lightning and they generally did not spread far because of low woody fuel loading on the ground. These small fires, however, occurred quite frequently throughout the lodgepole pine forests. Fires probably burned every one to two years, and in many years, more than one fire burned. The average fire return interval for separate locations within the lodgepole pine forests was not determined exactly because most of the burned trees had only one fire-scar.

The effects of this fire-regime on the forest vegetation composition was determined. This was accomplished with multiple regression analyses of vegetative and physiographic data collected from the area of each verified fire.

In the 2500 to 2900 m elevation range, white fir generally increased in importance (relative basal area) over lodgepole pine as years since the fire increased. However, the relationships of lodgepole pine and white fir importances to the time since the fire were not statistically significant. Above 2800 m elevation, neither lodgepole pine nor limber pine importance was affected by the fire regime. Throughout the lodgepole pine forests of this wilderness area, the fire regime has not greatly affected the forest vegetation composition.

To compare two methods of obtaining fire year estimates from living, fire-scarred trees, both wedging and coring was done on ten fire-scarred lodgepole pine trees. The rings of the wedges and cores were then crossdated against a composite ring series, and the respective fire year estimates of each method were compared for each tree. Seven pairs of wedges and cores were crossdated, and each pair gave the same fire year estimate for the respective tree. In the situation of single-scarred trees, the coring method, along with dendrochronology dating, should be attempted instead of wedging, which is more destructive to the tree than coring.

Based on this study, I recommend that the fire management plan for the lodgepole pine forests of the Mt. San Jacinto State Park Wilderness contain two options for fire control. First, in areas that have heavy use by recreationists and cultural or historical benefits, fire suppression should begin immediately after a fire has been detected. Second, in all other areas, a \“let burn\” policy should be attempted, whereby the fire would be allowed to die out on its own. This would save the expense of fire suppression, which can be very costly in remote wilderness areas. These fires should be monitored in case they do burn near valuable areas. Prescribed burning is not recommended because of the weak relationship of the fire regime to the forest vegetation composition.

}, keywords = {california, coring, dendrochronology, fire, fire management, fire scar, Limber pine, lodgepole, mt san jacinto, mt san jacinto state park wilderness, pine, pinus contortata, regime, suppression, tree ring, var murrayana, wedging, white fir}, author = {Paul Sheppard} }