Let it snow? Spring snowpack and microsite characterize the regeneration niche of high-elevation pines

Aim: The persistence potential of forests under rapid climate change will depend on species-specific tolerances to increasing growing season soil moisture stress as snowpack declines. High-elevation tree species may be particularly vulnerable to increasing water stress and associated changes to disturbance regimes because they occur at the environmental margins of tree distributions and are considered snowpack dependent. Here, we evaluate the interacting effects of climate, disturbance, and microsite conditions on tree regeneration in high-elevation, migration-limited pines that have experienced recent disturbance-induced tree mortality.

Location: Great Basin (California & Nevada), USA

Taxon: Gymnosperms; Pinaceae

Methods: We used field observations from 70 sites that varied in climate, disturbance, and local site conditions across semi-arid, high-elevation forests of the Great Basin. We employed structural equation models to evaluate how climate and disturbance interact wi...