The Teakettle experiment

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Publication Information

Title: The Teakettle experiment

Author: North, Malcolm P.

Date: 2002

Source: In: Verner, Jared, tech. editor. Proceedings of a Symposium on the Kings River Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Project: Progress and Current Status. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-183, Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 47-54

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Station ID: GTR-PSW-183

Description: A critical question in the Sierra Nevada concerns how to use disturbance effectively to restore forest ecosystems after nearly a century of fire suppression. With increases in stem densities and ladder fuels, many forests require a combination of stand thinning and controlled burning to mimic natural fire intensity. In spite of their widespread use, the different effects of fire and thinning on fundamental ecological processes have never been studied in mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada. The Teakettle Ecosystem Experiment is designed to compare these effects in an old-growth, experimental forest by applying fire and thinning manipulations in a factorial design. By using integrated sampling methods, coordinated studies will follow vegetation, soil, microclimate, invertebrate, and tree response variables before and after treatments on replicated plots. These five component studies will provide a core understanding of changes in ecosystem allocations of energy, water, and nutrients among plants and first-order consumers. Responses of these baseline processes should provide important metrics of fundamental changes in ecosystem conditions throughout higher trophic levels. This experiment can provide an important contrast of how the type and intensity of disturbance affect forest functions and succession.

Publication Notes:

Citation

North, Malcolm P. 2002. The Teakettle experiment In: Verner, Jared, tech. editor. Proceedings of a Symposium on the Kings River Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Project: Progress and Current Status. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-183, Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 47-54.