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Soil moisture and growth responses to climate extremes in subalpine forests

Principal Investigator: Marshall Worsham
Status: active
Field: Ecology and Evolutionary biology
Research Areas: Biogeochemistry; Climate change; Community ecology; Hydrology; Long-term research; Plant biology; Snow Science
Items: 73 (53 publications, 13 datasets, 7 documents)

Publications (53)

Article

Canopy structure modulates the sensitivity of subalpine forest stands to interannual snowpack and precipitation variability

2025Hydrology and Earth System ScienceDOI: 10.5194/hess-29-701-2025
Article

Abiotic influences on continuous conifer forest structure across a subalpine watershed

2025Remote Sensing of EnvironmentDOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114587
Publication

A Brief Escape to Normalcy: A Summer at RMBL

2020Mountain Views Chronicle
Publication

Climate-ecosystem interactions in montane meadows

2002
Student Paper

Effects of climatological factos on annual growth of shrubby species of the rocky mountains

2002
Student Paper

The ecological dynamics of alpine krummholz

1970
Thesis

Plant distributions along alpine moisture gradients: the roles of competition and physiological tolerances

1986
Student Paper

The variation in tree growth performance relative to a climate change along an elevation gradient

1998
Student Paper

Herbivory patterns in response to climate change in a sub-alpine meadow

1998
Student Paper

Factors in the recovery of a disturbed sub-alpine site

1987
Thesis

Climate change impacts on community and ecosystem properties: Integrating manipulations and gradient studies in montane meadows

2000
Book

Ecosystem Consequences of Soil Warming

2019
Thesis

Forest carbon cycling along an elevation gradient: the influence of species and climate

2003
Student Paper

The effects of drought on subalpine floral community diversity

2021
Student Paper

Trapping the litter: a negative feedback of climate change in the litter quality of montane vegetation in the Rocky Mountains

2008
Article

Gas exhange and water relations of two Rocky Mountain shrub species exposed to a climate change manipulation

2000Plant EcologyDOI: 10.1023/a:1009863201751
Article

Changes in water relations for leaves exposed to a climate-warming manipulation in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado

1997Environmental and Experimental BiologyDOI: 10.1016/s0098-8472(96)01043-x
Student Paper

Variations in montane meadow flora (especially <i>Poa interior</i>) with moisture

1973
Thesis

Global climate change and ecosystem carbon storage: an experimental investigation of ecologically-mediated feedbacks to climate in montane meadows

1998
Thesis

Effects of early snowmelt on plant phenophase timing and duration across an elevation gradient

2021
Article

Phenology of high-altitude climates

2013Phenology: An Integrative Environmental Science
Student Paper

A biogeophysical study of the plant-soil interface in varied habitats

1983
Student Paper

A comparison of vegetational maturity and succession rates in an avalanche area

1996
Student Paper

How grazing affects the height and diversity of vegetation in a sub-alpine meadow

1982
Student Paper

The occurrence of annuals and perennials in a subalpine system

1983
Student Paper

Production and productivity in an alpine tundra ecosystem

1980
Article

Factors in recovery of subalpine vegetation studied (Colorado)

1992Restoration and Management Notes
Article

Direct and indirect effects of episodic frost on plants growth and reproduction in subalpine wildflowers

2018Global Change Biology
Thesis

Ecosystem responses to warming-induced plant species loss and increased nitrogen availability in a Rocky Mountain subalpine meadow

2006
Student Paper

Summer snowpatches as high alpine resource sources: assessing potential impacts of climate change

2003
Student Paper

Reproductive efforts of plants along an altitudinal gradient

1973
Student Paper

Change in terrestrial vegetation and the relating consequences for stream communities

1995
Article

Microclimate amelioration may be critical to recovery of subalpine ecosystems (Colorado)

1993Restoration and Management Notes
Student Paper

The effect of sub-surface strata on ground cover

1940
Student Paper

Relationship of mist netting capture rates in aspen woods to levels of insolation, precipitation and temperature fluctuations

1982
Article

Responses of soil and water chemistry to mountain pine beetle induced tree mortality in Grand County, Colorado, USA

2011Applied GeochemistryDOI: 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2011.03.096
Student Paper

Effects of avalanche intensity on <i>Populus tremuloides</i> density

1995
Thesis

Physiography and Plant Ecology of a Subalpine Earthflow, Gunnison County, Colorado

1949
Student Paper

Ecological report concerning the spruce-fir climax forest and related areas

1954
Student Paper

Integration of disturbed ecosystems in areas of high altitudes

1992
Student Paper

Temperature and pH of water of lakes and streams and effect on organisms in the subalpine zone

1950
Student Paper

Floral succession in a spruce-fir forest

1971
Student Paper

A report on aspen ecotones

1970
Student Paper

Plant selection of mycorrhizal symbionts in response to abiotic stress.

2015
Student Paper

Natural history of a talus/aspen grove ecotone

1975
Student Paper

Effect of altitude on <i>Frasera speciosa</i> populations

1973
Student Paper

Relative Strengths of Spatial and Temporal Variation in Precipitation on Specific Leaf Area.

2014
Student Paper

A long-term study on the effects of temporal variation in precipitation on the flowering behavior of <i>Androsace septentrionalis</i> L. (Primulaceae)

1997
Chapter

Global change and mountain regions

2005
Publication

Effects of frost on wildflowers: an unexpected consequence of climate change

2011

Showing 50 of 53 publications

Datasets (13)

Dataset

Plant height and species information

2017DOI: 10.5061/dryad.772h7/2
Dataset

Data from: Disentangling the relative importance of species occurrence, abundance and intraspecific variability in community assembly: a trait-based approach at the whole-plant level in Mediterranean forests

2015DOI: 10.5061/dryad.dr275.2
Dataset

hydrokeira/Si_RandomForest: Si Random Forest Analysis Code

2024DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12667698
Dataset

Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) water potentials from clones with varying aspect and understory composition

2025DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17064802
Dataset

hmworsham/er-forest-structure: Abiotic influences on continuous conifer forest structure across a subalpine watershed: RSE review archive

2024DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12775449
Dataset

Data from: Aboveground resilience to species loss but belowground resistance to nitrogen addition in a montane plant community

2017DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4719199.v1
Dataset

Plant census and microenvironment dataset from Mt. Baldy, Colorado, USA, 2014-2017

2020DOI: 10.5285/d850fcd2-b70a-415e-acf4-fc27b38d59c1
Dataset

Data from: Microenvironment and functional-trait context dependence predict alpine plant community dynamics

2018DOI: 10.5061/dryad.33410
Dataset

Forrest_HOBO_data_May2013-Dec2016

2018DOI: 10.5061/dryad.r2dm56s/10
Dataset

Data for Context-dependent biotic interactions control plant abundance across altitudinal environmental gradients, 2014, 2016, Colorado, USA

2020DOI: 10.6073/pasta/953d0af267ddb6a0ddb970bff3218a61
Dataset

Data from: Size-related scaling of tree form and function in a mixed-age forest

2016DOI: 10.5061/dryad.6nc8c
Dataset

Experimental frost damage data for eight subalpine plant species

2015DOI: 10.5061/dryad.v4cv6/1
Dataset

Data for Lynn et al. “Soil microbes that may accompany climate warming increase alpine plant production”

2020DOI: 10.6073/pasta/7c493a1d737f81905a41a81630695f14