BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST                                    

Geography 413/513

 

Instructor: Dr. Keith Hadley                                    

Office: 424 M CH                                                 

Office Hours: MWF 11:30-12:30 or by appointment

Phone: 725-3078  

E-mail: hadleyk@geog.pdx.edu (Subject: Geog413)

Web Site: http://web.pdx.edu/~hadley

 

COURSE OBJECTIVE: This course examines the biogeography of the Pacific Northwest from a historical and ecological perspective.  Major topics include historical and current plant and animal distributions, the abiotic constraints to species distributions, ecological communities, and the exogenous (external) and endogenous (internal) processes that shape these communities.  Much of the course will focus on ecological processes such as succession, disturbance, competition, and coexistence.  Biogeographical theory and its application to management and human modification of ecological communities will also be examined.                                    

 

PREREQUISITES:

            Introductory biogeography, ecology, or consent of instructor.                                 

 

OPTIONAL TEXT:                                                 

            Natural Vegetation of Oregon and Washington.  Franklin, J.F. and Dyrness, C.T. 1988.

                        Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon.

   

GRADING:                                                        

                        Final grades will be based on:                             

                                    (1)  Class participation

                                    (2)  Article Reviews

                                    (3)  Take Home Final Exam

                                    (4)  Term Project

                                    (5)  Field Trip Participation and Summary

                                    (6)  Graduate Student Presentations

                                   


The grading for this course focuses on: 1) in class student participation based on their reviews of the course readings, 2) a term project, 3) field trip participation, and 4) a take home Final Exam.  Course readings will focus on classic papers that examine various biogeographic patterns and processes found in the Pacific Northwest.  The term project will allow students to examine a particular aspect of the biogeography of the Pacific Northwest in greater detail (see term project handout).  For example, students may wish to examine a particular biogeographic pattern such as the distribution of a particular organism or community or a particular process such as succession, disturbance, invasion, etc.  The objective of the Final Exam is to have the student to synthesize the course material in a fashion that is personally meaningful.  Specifically, the Final Exam will consist of several questions the student may choose from that will have an applied or theoretical slant such as preserve management, the preservation of biodiversity, or the adaptive characteristics certain communities have to a particular type of  disturbance. 

            The class will have 1-3 field trips towards the end of the term.  These will most likely take place on Saturdays and each will replace one of our class meetings.  Each field trip will have a set of required readings.  Graduate students may choose to lead portions of one trip in lieu of their class presentation.

            Final grades for the course will be curved.  Students who feel they have a learning disability that may affect their performance are encouraged to meet with me as soon as possible so that accommodations can be made.

            The following is a course outline covering the major course topics and reading assignments.  This is a tentative schedule that may be adjusted as the term progresses.  In addition to textbook assignments, students will be responsible for weekly written reviews of the reserved readings (see below) and for the material included on course handouts.  Reserved readings and copies of the overhead masters referred to during lecture are available in the Geography Department Office.  You may check out these materials for not more than two hours; after 4:45 PM they may be checked out overnight but must be returned by 9 AM the following

morning.   

 

                                                TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE¹                    

 

TOPIC                                     DESCRIPTION

 

 

    1                                          Environmental Setting

    2                                          History and Development of PNW Vegetation                         

    3                                          Current Vegetation of the Pacific Northwest                                      

    4                                          Community Classification and Analysis                                  

    5                                          Ecosystem Processes: Succession                                              

    6                                          Disturbance Ecology                                                                  

    7                                          Environmental Gradients                                                             

    8                                          Boundaries, Edges, and Ecotones                                               

    9                                          Meadows, Balds, and Prairies                                      

   10                                         Applied Biogeography and Landscape Ecology    

 

¹ Required readings for each topic are listed below; Franklin, J.F. and Dyrness, C.T. (1988) refers to your text.

 

 

REQUIRED READINGS

 

      Each student will create an annotated bibliography for the required readings (except for readings from the text). The bibliography will consist of: 1) a full reference for the article (as given below) and 2) an article summary not to exceed one page.  Each article review must be completed before the discussion of the article in class.  All reviews will be graded and returned to the student with comments the following week.  All reviews must be prepared using a word processing program. 

 

 

Environmental Setting

 

Daubenmire, R. 1969.  Ecologic plant geography of the Pacific Northwest. Madroño 20:111-128.

Franklin, J.F. and Dyrness, C.T. 1988.  Introduction and Physical Setting.

Kruckeberg, A.R. 1969.  Soil diversity and the distribution of plants, with examples from western North America.  Madroño 20:129-154.

 

Vegetation History²

 

Delting, L. 1968.  Historical Background of the Flora of the Pacific Northwest.  University of Oregon Natural History Museum Bulletin 13. 

Wolfe, J.A. 1978.  A Paleobotanical Interpretation of Tertiary Climates in the Northern Hemisphere.  American Scientist  66:694-703.

 

² Graduate students read each article; undergraduate students read either Delting (1968) or Wolfe (1978).

 

Current Vegetation of the Pacific Northwest

 

Delting, L.E. 1953.  Relict islands of xeric flora west of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon.

      Madroño 12:39-47.

Franklin, J.F. 1988.  Pacific Northwest Forests.  In: Barbour, M.G. and Billings, W.D. (eds.).

      North American Terrestrial Vegetation.  Cambridge University Press, New York.

Johannessen, C., Davenport, W.A., Millet, A., and McWilliams.  1971.  The vegetation of the

      Willamette Valley.  Annals of the Association of American Geographers 61:286-302.

Taylor, D.W.  1977.  Floristic Relationships along the Cascade-Sierran axis.  American Midland Naturalist  97:333-349.

Waring and Franklin 1979.  Evergreen coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest.  Science

      204:1380-1386.

 

Community Classification and Ecology³

 

Franklin, J.F., Cromack, K. Jr., Denison, W., McKee, A., Maser, C., Sedell, J., Swanson, F., and

      Juday, G. 1981.  Ecological characteristics of old-growth Douglas-fir forests.  USDA,

      USFS General Technical Report PNW-118.  Portland, OR.

Franklin, J.F. and Dyrness, C.T. 1988.  Major Vegetational Regions.

Minore, D. (1979)  Comparative Autecological Characteristics of Northwestern Tree Species: A

      Literature Review.  USDA Forest Service Technical Report, PNW-87. 

Wilson, M.V., Hibbs, D.E., and Alverson, E.R. 1991.  Native plants, native ecosystems, and native landscapes.  Kalmiopsis 13-17.

 

³Graduate students read all; undergraduates all except Minore (1979)

 

 

 

 

 

Ecosystem Processes: Succession

 

Weaver, H. 1959.  Ecological changes in the ponderosa pine forest of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon.  Journal of Forestry 57:15-20.

Fastie, C.  1995.  Causes and ecosystem consequences of multiple pathways of primary succession at Glacier Bay, Alaska.  Ecology 76:1899-1916.

 

Disturbance Ecology4

 

Fire

 

Agee, J. K. 1994.  Fire and weather disturbances in terrestrial ecosystems of the eastern

Cascades.  USDA, USFS General Technical Report  PNW -GTR-320.  Portland, OR.

Boyd, R. 1986.  Strategies of Indian burning in the Willamette Valley.  Canadian Journal of Anthropology 5:65-86.

Kauffman, J.B. 1990.  Ecological Relationships of vegetation and fire in Pacific Northwest

       Forests.  Pp.39-52.  In: Walstad, J.D., Radosevich, S.R., and Sandberg, D.V. (eds.).

       Natural and Prescribed Fire in Pacific Northwest Forests.  Oregon State University Press.

      Corvallis, Oregon.

Morris, W.G. 1934.  Forest fires in Oregon and Washington.  Oregon Historical Quarterly 35:313-339.

 

4Graduate students read all; undergraduate students read Boyd (1986), Kauffman (1990), and Morris (1934)

 

Wind Throw

 

Hadley, K.S. and Savage, M..  1996.  Wind disturbance and development of a near-edge forest interior, Marys Peak, Oregon Coast Range.  Physical Geography 17:47-61.

Taylor, A.H. 1990.  Disturbance and persistence of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong) Carr.) in coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest, North America.  Journal of Biogeography 17:47-58.

 

Insect Outbreaks

 

Speer, J., Swetnam, T.W., Wickman, B.E., and Youngblood, A. 2001.  Changes in Pandora

      moth outbreak dynamics during the past 622 years.  Ecology 82:679-697.

 

Grazing

 

Belsky, A.J. and Blumenthal, D.M. 1997.  Effects of livestock grazing on stand dynamics and soils in upland forest

      of the interior West.  Conservation Biology 11:315-327.

Rummell, R.S. 1951.  Some effects of livestock grazing on ponderosa pine forest and range in central Washington.  Ecology 32:594-607.

 

 

Volcanic Eruptions

 

Halpren, C.B., Frenzen, P.M., Means, J.E., and Franklin, J.F. 1990.  Plant succession in areas of scorched and blown-down forest after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington.  Journal of Vegetation Science 1:181-194.

Yamaguchi, D.  1993.  Forest History, Mount St. Helens.  National Geographic Research and Exploration 9:294-325.

 

Multiple Disturbance Agents

 

Geiszler, D.R., Gara, R.I., Driver, C.H., Gallucci, V.F., and Martin, R.E. 1980.  Fire, fungi, and

beetle influences on a lodgepole pine ecosystem in south-central Oregon.  Oecologia 46:239-243.

 

Environmental Gradients

 

Parker, A.J. 1995.  Comparative gradient structure and forest cover types in Lassen Volcanic and Yosemite National Parks, California.  Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 122:58-68.

Zobel, D.B., McKee, A., and Hawk, G.M. 1976.  Relationships of environment to composition, structure, and diversity of forest communities of the central western Cascades of Oregon.

      Ecological Monographs 46:135-156.

 

Boundaries, Edges, and Ecotones

 

Chen, J., Franklin, J.F., and Spies, T.A. 1992.  Vegetation responses to edge environments in old-growth Douglas-fir Forests.  Ecological Applications 2:387-396.

 

Meadows, Balds, and Prairies

 

 

Hadley, K.S. 1999.  Forest History and Meadow Invasion at the Rigdon Meadows Archeological

      Site, Western Cascades, Oregon.  Physical Geography 20(2):116-133.

Magee, T.K. and Antos, J.A. (1992)  Tree invasion into a mountain-top meadow in the Oregon

      Coast Range, USA.  Journal of Vegetation Science 3:485-494.

Taylor, A.H. 1990.  Tree invasion in meadow of the Lassen Volcanic National Park.  Professional Geographer 42:457-470.

 

Applied Ecology, Biogeography, and Landscape Ecology

 

Franklin, J.F. and Forman, R.T.T.  1987.  Creating landscape patterns by forest cutting: Ecological consequences and principles.  Landscape Ecology 1:5-18.

Orians, G.H. 1990.  “New Forestry” and the old-growth Forests of Northwestern North America: a conversation with Jerry F. Franklin.  The Northwest Environmental Journal 6:445-461.

 

 

 

Zoobiogeography of the Pacific Northwest5

 

Ralph, J.C., Hunt, G.L. Jr., Raphael, M.G., and Piatt, J.F. 1995.  Ecology and Conservation of

      the Marbled Murrelet in North America: An Overview.  Chapter 1, Pp 3-22. In: Ralph, J.C.,

      Hunt, G.L. Jr., Raphael, M.G., and Piatt, J.F. (Technical Editors),.  Ecology and Conservation of the Marbled Murrelet.  USDA, USFS, General Technical Report PSW-GTR-152.  Albany, California.          

Carey, A.B., Horton, S.P., and Biswell, B.L. 1992.  Northern spotted owls: influence of prey base and landscape character.  Ecological Monographs 62:223-250.

Sanford, E. 1999.  Regulation of keystone predation by small changes in ocean temperature.

      Science 283:2095-2097.

 

5Read either Ralph et al. 1995 or Carey et al. 1992.

 

 

Reading for Field Trip

 

Whittaker R.  1961.  Vegetation history of the Pacific Coast States and the “central” significance of the Klamath Region.  Madroño 16:5-23.