1. Large and Fine Scale Resiliency: Alder Disease in Alaska Lori Trummer, USFS Christa Mulder, UAF Barbara Roy, U of Oregon Roger Ruess, UAF Gerald Adams, MSU Glen Stanosz, U of Wisconsin Lori Winton, USDA Jennifer Rohrs-Richey

2. Alders (Alnus spp.) Alnus crispa (uplands) Alnus tenuifolia (floodplain)

3. Comments About Alders “Are alders weeds?” “Nobody really cares about alders in DNP. There are so many other cool things to study here.” “I hate alders!”

4. Forest Service Investigating Dying Alders Wed, April 29, 2009 Posted in Alaska NewsAlaska News For the past few years the U-S Forest Service has been investigating the cause of a massive die off of Alders across much of Alaska stretching from Nome down to Skagway. Mike Mason, KDLG - Dillingham Download AudioDownload Audio (MP3) Alaska Public Radio Network (APRN)

5. Soil Nitrogen Bank N Why are alders essential to ecosystem health? N-fixing bacteria N2N2

6. Dieback and Mortality Chena River

7. Canker Fungi: Cytospora canker (Valsa melanodiscus)

8. Natural Injuries for Pathogen Entry River Ice Hare Browsing Rubbing Snow Loading

9. Colonization of Stem

10. Resilience on the Landscape

11. Fine scale resilience: Host control, physiology Resiliency: Large vs. fine scale Large scale resilience: Location on the landscape (siltbar, stand density, age) Ecosystem resilience requires both large and fine scales

12. Physiological Damage to Alder Local symptom with systemic affects Pink– healthy tissue Tan– dead tissue Canker blocks water and nutrient transport

13. H2OH2O CO 2 H2OH2O Leaf Surface: Strategy for Coping with Stress Open Closing Optimum: conserve water AND maintain positive carbon balance

14. Can we influence resilience at both of these levels? Can we reduce vulnerability (stresses)?

15. Degrading Resilience on the Landscape

16. Less destructive clearing practices Reducing Vulnerability to Disease Human perception of alders works against maintaining resilience How to bring the social and ecological dynamics into conversation?

17. Research Support This research is supported by the Center for Global Change, Arctic Institute of North America, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Western Regional Center of the National Institute for Global Environmental Change. National Institute for Global Environmental Change U.S. Forest Service

18. Alder Physiology

19. 2003200419302005 Photo credit: Lori Trummer Begin Monitoring Cytospora canker isolated Valsa alni checklists Timeline 2007 Forest Health Report Experimental Inoculations 2006 Generating working hypotheses about disease

20. Quantifying Fine-Scale Resilience Research Results: Water Loss Photosyntheis (Carbon Uptake)

21. Agenda Canker disease Fine-scale resilience in alders Disease on the landscape (Interior) Alders in Alaska