Monitoring whitebark pine in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: 2016 annual report
Greater Yellowstone Whitebark Pine Monitoring Working Group. 2017. Monitoring whitebark pine in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: 2016 annual report. Natural Resource Report. NPS/GRYN/NRR—2017/1453. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) occurs at high elevations and in subalpine communities in the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains. It is a key component in the upper ranges of these ecosystems where it plays a variety of ecological roles, including regulating snowpack and provid-ing high-energy food sources to birds and mammals. As a stone pine species, it produces cones with wingless seeds and relies primarily on birds for seed dispersal. In mixed and dominant stands, whitebark pine occurs in over two million acres within the five national forests and two national parks that make up the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Currently, whitebark pine is impacted by multiple ecological disturbances. White pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), wildfires, and climate change all pose significant threats to the persistence of healthy whitebark pine populations on the landscape. Substantial declines in whitebark pine populations have been documented through-out its range. In 2004, an interagency whitebark pine long-term monitoring program was established. The objectives of the whitebark pine monitoring program are to detect and monitor changes in the health and status of whitebark pine populations across the GYE due to infection by white pine blister rust, attack by mountain pine beetle, and damage by other environmental and anthropogenic agents. This report is a summary of data collected in 2016 on Panel 1 of the four total sample panels (Panels 1 through 4), and marks the thirteenth year of monitoring. In addition, 2016 commenced the fourth time-step in our repeat data collection series.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Greater Yellowstone Whitebark Pine Monitoring Working Group
- Date of Issue
- 2017-05
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRTE , GRYN , NRSS , YELL
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Infestations and Disease | Plant Diseases , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Forest/Woodland Communities