Utah

The Utah Forest Dynamics Plot (UFDP) is located on the Colorado Plateau in Cedar Breaks National Monument. The plot lies within the spruce-fir forest type, with the principal tree species being Abies bifolia, Populus tremuloides, Picea engelmannii, Pinus flexilis, Pinus longaeva, and Picea pungens. Forest basal area is 33.50 m² ha^-1. Emergent trees are 30 m to 40 m tall. Climate in the UFDP is characterized by short, cool summers and long, cold winters. Mean high temperatures in July are 20°C; mean low temperatures in January are -11°C. Annual precipitation averages 850 mm.

In the UFDP, there are 12 tree and six shrub species, representing 10 genera and six plant families. Including all species, there are 29,204 live trees, 5,364 snags, and 4,526 pieces of deadwood ≥10 cm diameter. Additionally, there are 1,671 seedlings of genus Pinus ≥2 years old. Live stem densities at the 20 m x 20 m quadratic grain range from 0 to 8375 stems/ha with a mean of 1717 stems/ha, and quadrat basal area ranges from 0 to 132.5 m²/ha with a mean of 33.48 m²/ha (snag basal area 11.62 m²/ha). 

Overview information can be found in: Furniss, T. J., A. J. Larson, and J. A. Lutz. 2017. Reconciling niches and neutrality in a subalpine temperate forest. Ecosphere. Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1847

Our research objectives include mechanistic understanding of tree mortality including the effects of interannual climate variation on the rates and causes of mortality as described in: Lutz, J. A. 2015. The evolution of long-term data for forestry: large temperate research plots in an era of global change. Northwest Science 89(3): 255-269. Link: http://www.bioone.org/doi/10.3955/046.089.0306

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