John J Battles

Associate Professor, Co-Director Center for Forestry
  
  

137 Mulford Hall #3114
Berkeley, California 94720
jbattles@nature.berkeley.edu
office: 510-643-0684   lab: 510-643-0684   fax:  510-642-5438

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ESPM 102A: Terrestrial Resource Ecology
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
ESPM 101c Forest and Field Measurements (summer)
Global Environment Theme Program

The goal of my research program is to know how and why forests change. Specifically, I focus on the nonequilibrium determinants of forest composition, structure and function. Although I work in a variety of forest types, my research centers on three basic questions: 1) the role of the disturbance regime in forest dynamics; 2) the interplay between tree demography and ecosystem function; and 3) the mechanisms of resource capture and allocation in forests under conditions of multiple resource limitation.

Answering these questions for specific forests is more than just an interesting academic puzzle. As a result of human enterprise (e.g., pollution, land transformations, biotic additions and losses), many forest ecosystems will experience fundamentally novel challenges. In the face of this uncertainty, we need to understand the dynamics well enough to anticipate the likely direction and magnitude of responses.

Any understanding of forest dynamics must apply to forests in the real world with all the attendant complexities and variabilities. Therefore robust, quantitative field studies form the core of my research program. The objective is to produce answers to relevant questions that a physicist accepts as valid and that a naturalist acknowledges as authentic

One focus in our lab is to learn how to use an adaptive management and monitoring system to understand ecosystem behavior, incorporate stakeholder participation, and inform the implementation of adaptive management for Forest Service lands in the Sierra Nevada of California. As part of a team of University of California researchers, we have been working for the last year to develop an effective approach to the challenge. Nearly a century of fire management in the Sierra has had the unintended consequence of placing millions of hectares of forest at risk of catastrophic fire. This regional assessment of fire hazard and fuel loads is reflected in the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment, in which modifying wildland fire behavior is a management priority. The preferred alternative is to apply strategic fuel management at the landscape level. The approach is based on the theoretical demonstration that disconnected fuel treatment patches that overlap in the direction of the head fire spread reduce the overall rate and intensity of the fire. Simulations have shown that with as little as 30% of the area in these strategically placed area treatments (SPLATs), fire risk can be decreased for the entire landscape. Despite the sound theoretical underpinning of strategic fuel treatments, there is uncertainty regarding their efficacy in modifying fire behavior and concern regarding potential impacts on forest health, wildlife and water resources. As part of a team of University of California researchers, we have been working for the last year to develop an effective approach to help answer these pressing questions. Details of this project can be obtained at http://snamp.cnr.berkeley.edu/

Our lab is also involved in a large collaborative effort to assess the impact of climate change on the forests and natural landscapes of California. Climate changes and increased CO2 concentrations are expected to alter the extent and character of forest and other ecosystems. The distribution of species is expected to shift, the risk of climate-related disturbance such as wildfires, disease, and drought is expected to rise, and forest productivity is projected to increase or decrease depending on species and region. The ecosystems most susceptible to temperature rise are the alpine and sub-alpine forest cover. In addition, changes in fire frequency are expected to lead to an increase in grasslands, largely at the expense of woodland and shrub-land ecosystems. We have taken the lead in assessing the impact of climate change on forest productivity and tree mortality. For more details visit the California Climate Change Portal http://www.climatechange.ca.gov/climate_action_team/index.html

Eschtruth, A.K. and J.J. Battles. In press. Effects of deer herbivory on exotic plant invasion in a forested ecosystem. Conservation Biology.

Eschtruth, A.K. and J.J. Battles. In press. Assessing the relative importance of disturbance, herbivory, species diversity, and propagule pressure in exotic plant invasion. Ecological Monographs.

Das, A., J.J. Battles, N.L. Stephenson, and P.J. van Mantgem. 2008. Spatial elements of mortality risk in old-growth forests. Ecology 89: 1744-1756.

Eschtruth, A.K and J.J. Battles. 2008. Deer herbivory alters forest response to canopy decline caused by an exotic insect pest. Ecological Applications 18: 360-376.

Battles, J.J., T. Robards, A. Das, K. Waring, J.K. Gilless, G. Biging, and F. Schurr. 2008. Climate change impacts on forest growth and tree mortality: a data-driven modeling study in a mixed-conifer forest of the Sierra Nevada. Climatic Change 87: S193-S213.

Menning, K. M., J. J. Battles, and T. L. Benning. 2007. Quantifying change in distributions: A new departure index that detects, measures and describes change in distributions from population structures, size-classes and other ordered data. Oecologia 154(1): 75-84.

York, R.A., J. J. Battles, and R.C. Heald. 2007. Depth of positive edge effect on mature trees surrounding group selection openings. Western Journal of Applied Forestry.

Das, A., J.J. Battles, N.L. Stephenson, and P.J. van Mantgem. 2007.The relationship between tree growth patterns and likelihood of mortality: a study of two tree species in the Sierra Nevada. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 37: 580-597.

Stella, J.C., J. J. Battles, B. K. Orr, J.R. McBride. 2006. Synchrony of seed dispersal, hydrology and local climate in a semi-arid river reach in California. Ecosystems 9: 1200-1214.