Professional Documents
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Microclimate Ecosystem
and Ecology
Landscape
Variations in local climate can be used to monitor and compare
the effects of different management regimes
Jiquan Chen, Sari C. Saunders, Thomas R. Crow, Robert J. Naiman, Kimberley D. Brosofske,
Glenn D. Mroz, Brian L. Brookshire, and Jerry F. Franklin
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these spatial scales, these responses
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2 scales, largely because of difficulties
associated with simultaneous sam-
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pling of large areas and lack of ap-
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propriate quantitative methods for
data analysis.
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development over the last three de-
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0 50 100 150 200 250 300 -50 0 cades has greatly expanded the po-
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tential for field studies on microcli-
Distance from the Stream (m)
mate. For example, it is now possible
to use multiple data loggers and cus-
Figure7. Microclimaticgradientsacrossa small streambeforeand afterharvestingin tom-made thermocouples to simul-
westernWashington.Variablesmonitoredinclude:(a ande) meanairtemperature(?C), taneously record information on
(b andf) relativehumidity(%),(candg) soil temperature(?C),and (d andh) wind speed multiple microclimatic variables ev-
(m/s). The center of the stream is at 0 m, and the points to the immediate left and ery 5 m across long transects (e.g.,
right representthe buffer edges (i.e., planned bufferedges for pre-harvestsites, and
actual buffer edges for post-harvest sites) at which microclimate was monitored. up to 760 m, as in the Chequamegon
The retained buffer was a similar width (23 m) on both sides of the stream. National Forest in northern Wiscon-
Microclimatic data are averages (3-day) relative to the minimum average for the sin; Figure 8). By moving measuring
same variable measured at all the monitoring stations for the stream (n = 8; 7 devices along transects during the
stations along the streamgradient, 1 in the uplandforest interior).Relative data are growing season, it is possible to mea-
provided to minimize the confounding effects of changing macroclimate between sure temperature gradients over ap-
years. Data were collected between 3 and 5 August 1993 and between 27 and 29 proximately 3-4 km of fragmented
June 1994 for the pre- and post-harvestenvironment,respectively.Data are for one forest landscapes. Such data make it
stream;however, results were qualitativelysimilarfor four other streamsexamined possible to determine the importance
before and after harvest (see Brosofske et al. 1997). of spatial scale in structure-climate
relationships (Saunders et al. 1998).
scape scale, these changes in tem- have greater impacts at both local Wavelet analysis has recently been
perature are occurring within a much and regional scales than modifica- used in ecological research to exam-
shorter time span (i.e., over one har- tions predicted from the greenhouse ine dynamics over continuous spa-
vesting period), and their cumula- effect. tial scales or to detect patchiness at
tive impacts at broader spatial and multiple scales (Bradshaw and Spies
temporal scales are not well under- 1992, Gao and Li 1993, Saunders et
stood. Thus, climate changes (e.g.,
Importance of scaling al. 1998). We used this technique to
temperature increase) caused by ex- The microclimatic environment and detect multiscale patterns in and as-
tensive land-use alteration may its relative importance for driving sociations between canopy structure