Sentences with word «pinyon»

In the study, they examined how the next generation of pinyon pine trees were recovering after a severe drought in 2002 - 2004 caused widespread mortality in adult trees.

His department has already seen a reduction in pinyon pines, and according to the USGS study, which is still undergoing peer review, things are only going to get worse.

A lack of this adaptation may eventually become a disadvantage for pinyon pine trees, but for now existing microsites provide both the offensive and defensive tactics needed to defend their ground from encroaching grasses.

At night, we socialized with the rest of the summer staff in those magical waters as the smell of sweat from climbers and hikers blended with the chlorine stench from the pool and the smoke from pinyon and juniper wood.

Along with a team of researchers, Gehring is studying pinyon pine trees and their susceptibility to severe drought conditions.

«Well, it looks like pinyon is dying,» said Leland Pierce, a coordinator of terrestrial species recovery at the New Mexico Department of Fish and Game.

This sky - blue jay is one of the most specialized birds in the U.S. and Canada, its entire life history tightly connected with the availability of conifer seeds, with pinyon seeds being highly favored.

These slightly darker and cooler areas kept sun - loving grasses from extending their reach into suitable pinyon regeneration sites.

The amount of shade was greatly reduced in areas that experienced the highest pinyon pine casualties.

«Recent droughts have resulted in widespread pinyon pine mortality throughout much of the southwestern U.S.,» said Miranda Redmond, CSU assistant professor and lead author of the study.

With all the discussion about global climate change effects, new research shows that another kind of climate is an important factor in regional pinyon pine tree recovery after drought events — the microclimate.

Redmond's team compared pinyon seedlings and young trees from various areas to see how more sunlight affected their microsites and found an interesting result.

Redmond said current warming trends could reduce the number of areas with microclimates favorable for future pinyon pine recovery, not if but when the next drought happens.

Fungi often manifest above ground as mushrooms, but in northern Arizona's pinyon habitat, the microorganisms are primarily below ground.

Shaded microsite areas found below mature pinyon pine canopies (or overstory) have lower soil temperature and retain higher soil moisture content, both of which are fundamental to new tree regeneration.

The short, bushy pinyon pine thrives in the arid climate of the U.S. Southwest, where there may be little or no rain for months or even years.

Arid pinyon - juniper forests of the Southwest store the least - 31 tons of carbon per acre on average.

No more pinyon pines, ponderosas or junipers.

Healthy pinyon stands are likely essential to future population health for this jay.

Within its limited range, the bird accepts a variety of habitats: cholla and yucca shrublands, Joshua tree woodlands, and even open pinyon — juniper stands.

Environmental signals inherent in carbon isotope indices from Southwestern pinyon tree rings.

«The good news is that while there were some areas with minimal regeneration, there were also areas that had a lot of pinyon pine regeneration,» Redmond said.

Researchers identified four factors that determine the potential for pinyon pine populations to recover after a period of extended drought:

Northern Arizona University researcher Catherine Gehring reached this conclusion while studying pinyon - juniper woodlands in northern Arizona, which support nearly 1,000 unique species.

Another rival could be the co-dominant tree in pinyon - juniper ecosystems.

The recent drought didn't affect all pinyon pine trees equally in the Southwest.

While many tree species become vulnerable to insects during drought conditions, Gehring's team discovered a twist: the pinyons that were insect - resistant were not surviving the drought.

Their findings offer an underlying explanation for scientific claims that this recent drought was just a taste of what the warming climate may do to pinyon - juniper ecosystems.

The team determined that pinyon pine resilience varied across the landscape because microclimates must meet specific conditions to promote young seedling regeneration and juvenile tree survivorship.

The study sites were spread out across 5,000 square miles of pinyon - juniper woodlands in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, to capture the wide range of elevation and soil gradients these trees take root in.

In general, juniper trees have resisted drought better than pinyon pine, and research has documented juniper regeneration in grassy areas.

Even though pinyon pine trees are generally well adapted to the Southwest's dry heat, grasses are even better, making them one potential threat to the pinyon pine kingdom.

«It takes a microclimate to raise a pinyon tree.»

The physical subtleties create smaller ground level environments called microsites, which are often necessary to support individual life forms like a pinyon pine tree.

«Grasses appear to compete with pinyon juveniles, suggesting that overstory tree mortality can adversely affect pinyon recruitment if these microsites experience a huge infiltration of grass.»

The pinyon jay, however, isn't that lucky.

But beauty won't save the pinyon jay nor will blandness work against its cousin when climate change raises temperatures and alters bird habitats in the southwestern United States, according to research sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The pinyon jay relies on the nuts from pinyon trees for its main source of food.

When pinyon nuts are plentiful, there is an increase in pinyon jay hatchlings, but when nourishment is scarce, hatchling populations scale way back, Pierce said.

An experiment shows that hotter average temperatures caused by climate change may be enough to kill off the pinyon pine

«These [die - offs] are events that transform the landscape,» Breshears says, noting that pinyon pines also face other threats such as bark beetles, which could exacerbate the problem.

That is bad news for the pinyon, one of the most prevalent forms of vegetation in the Southwest; droughts lasting four months, like the one in 2000, occur five times as frequently, even without taking into account any future drying effect of climate change.

It's also possible that the pinyon's sensitivity to temperature is shared by other trees and plants.

So ecologist Henry Adams, a doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona (U.A.) in Tucson, and his colleagues decided to test the effect of higher average temperatures on the pinyon, Pinus edulis.

In response to drought, the pinyons close the tiny openings on their needles known as stomata to conserve water but, by doing so, also block their supply of carbon dioxide, thus shutting down photosynthesis, Adams says.

«It's possible the pinyon is a canary in a coal mine, but the question is a lot broader than just the piñon pine.»

We used to live in a pinyon / juniper forrest and I was always afraid of fire!

She'd come upon a tree stand tucked about fifteen feet high in a pinyon, with tree steps still in place.