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M E Harmon

Publications and source records attributed to M E Harmon.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Trends in bole biomass accumulation, net primary production and tree mortality in Pseudotsuga menziesii forests of contrasting age.

Although it is generally accepted that the rate of accumulation of biomass declines as forests age, little is known about the relative contributions to this decline of changes in net primary production (NPP) and tree mortality. We used 10-15 years of observations of permanent plots in three small watersheds in and near the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon, to examine these issues. The three watersheds are of similar elevation and potential productivity and support young (29 years at last measurement), mature (approximately 100 years) and old (approximately 400 years) forest dominated by Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco and Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. Accumulation of tree bole biomass was greatest in the young stand, reaching approximately 7 Mg ha-1 year-1 in the last measurement interval. Bole biomass accumulation was relatively constant (approximately 4-5 Mg ha-1 year-1) in the mature stand, and there was no net accumulation of bole biomass in the old-forest stand. The NPP of boles increased with time in the young stand, from approximately 3 to approximately 7 Mg ha-1 year-1, but was nearly constant in the mature and old-forest stands, at approximately 6 and 3-4 Mg ha-1 year-1, respectively. Mortality increased slowly in the young stand (from < 0.1 to 0.3 Mg ha-1 year-1), but fluctuated between 1-2 and 2-6 Mg ha-1 year-1 in the mature and old-forest stands, respectively. Thus, declining biomass accumulation with stand age reflects, in approximately equal amounts, both decreasing NPP and increasing mortality.

Biomass↗
PubMed2002

Successional changes in live and dead wood carbon stores: implications for net ecosystem productivity.

If forests are to be used in CO2 mitigation projects, it is essential to understand and quantify the impacts of disturbance on net ecosystem productivity (NEP; i.e., the change in ecosystem carbon (C) storage with time). We examined the influence of live tree and coarse woody debris (CWD) on NEP during secondary succession based on data collected along a 500-year chronosequence on the Wind River Ranger District, Washington. We developed a simple statistical model of live and dead wood accumulation and decomposition to predict changes in the woody component of NEP, which we call NEP(w). The transition from negative to positive NEP(w), for a series of scenarios in which none to all wood was left after disturbance, occurred between 0 and 57 years after disturbance. The timing of this transition decreased as live-tree growth rates increased, and increased as CWD left after disturbance increased. Maximum and minimum NEP(w) for all scenarios were 3.9 and -14.1 Mg C ha-1 year-1, respectively. Maximum live and total wood C stores of 319 and 393 Mg C ha(-1), respectively, were reached approximately 200 years after disturbance. Decomposition rates (k) of CWD ranged between 0.013 and 0.043 year-1 for individual stands. Regenerating stands took 41 years to attain a mean live wood mass equivalent to the mean mass of CWD left behind after logging, 40 years to equal the mean CWD mass in 500-year-old forest, and more than 150 years to equal the mean total live and dead wood in an old-growth stand. At a rotation age of 80 years, regenerating stands stored approximately half the wood C of the remaining nearby old-growth forests (predominant age 500 years), indicating that conversion of old-growth forests to younger managed forests results in a significant net release of C to the atmosphere.

Biomass↗
PubMed2001

Consistent land- and atmosphere-based U.S. carbon sink estimates.

For the period 1980-89, we estimate a carbon sink in the coterminous United States between 0.30 and 0.58 petagrams of carbon per year (petagrams of carbon = 10(15) grams of carbon). The net carbon flux from the atmosphere to the land was higher, 0.37 to 0.71 petagrams of carbon per year, because a net flux of 0.07 to 0.13 petagrams of carbon per year was exported by rivers and commerce and returned to the atmosphere elsewhere. These land-based estimates are larger than those from previous studies (0.08 to 0.35 petagrams of carbon per year) because of the inclusion of additional processes and revised estimates of some component fluxes. Although component estimates are uncertain, about one-half of the total is outside the forest sector. We also estimated the sink using atmospheric models and the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (the tracer-transport inversion method). The range of results from the atmosphere-based inversions contains the land-based estimates. Atmosphere- and land-based estimates are thus consistent, within the large ranges of uncertainty for both methods. Atmosphere-based results for 1980-89 are similar to those for 1985-89 and 1990-94, indicating a relatively stable U.S. sink throughout the period.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2001

Use of helper-free replication-defective simian immunodeficiency virus-based vectors to study macrophage and T tropism: evidence for distinct levels of restriction in primary macrophages and a T-cell line.

Cell tropism of human and simian immunodeficiency viruses (HIV and SIV, respectively) is governed in part by interactions between the viral envelope protein and the cellular receptors. However, there is evidence that envelope-host cell interactions also affect postentry steps in viral replication. We used a helper-free replication-defective SIV macaque (SIVmac)-based retroviral vector carrying the enhanced jellyfish green fluorescent protein inserted into the nef region (V1EGFP) to examine SIV tropism in a single cycle of infection. Vector stocks containing envelope proteins from three different SIVmac clones, namely, SIVmac239 (T-lymphocyte tropic [T-tropic]), SIVmac316 (macrophage tropic [M-tropic]), and SIVmac1A11 (dualtropic), were tested. SIVmac239 replicates efficiently in many human T-cell lines, but it does not efficiently infect primary rhesus macrophages. Conversely, SIVmac316 efficiently infects primary macrophages, but it does not replicate in Molt4-Clone8 (M4C8) T cells. SIVmac1A11 replicates efficiently in both cell types. When primary macrophages were infected with V1EGFP pseudotyped by SIVmac316 or SIVmac1A11 envelopes, the infection was substantially (ca. 200- to 300-fold) more efficient than for the SIVmac239 pseudotype. Thus, in primary macrophages, a major component of M versus T tropism involves relatively early events in the infection cycle. Quantitative PCR studies indicated that synthesis and transport of vector DNA into the nucleus were similar for macrophages infected with the clone 239 and 316 pseudotypes, suggesting that the restriction for SIVmac239 infection is after reverse transcription and nuclear import of viral DNA. When the same vector pseudotypes were used to infect M4C8 cells, they all showed approximately equivalent infectivities, even though replication-competent SIVmac316 does not continue to replicate in these cells. Therefore, in M4C8 cells, restriction involves a late step in the infection cycle (after proviral integration and expression). Thus, depending on the cell type infected, envelope-dependent cell interactions that govern SIV M and T tropism may involve different steps in infection.

Animals↗