Phillip van Mantgem
Phil van Mantgem is a research ecologist at the Western Ecological Research Center.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Conservation biology
- Fire ecology
- Forest ecology
Professional Experience
Research Ecologist, USGS, Redwood Field Station, Arcata, CA, 2008 - Present
Ecologist, USGS, Sequoia and Kings Canyon Field Station, Three Rivers, CA, 2000 - 2008
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 2001
M.S., Plant Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 1996
B.S., Botany, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 1991
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 74
Low thinning and crown thinning of two severities as restoration tools at Redwood National Park
Interest in the restoration of second-growth forests has continued to increase in the redwood region, which has further increased the importance of evaluating restoration-based silvicultural strategies. This study assessed the short-term effectiveness of four silvicultural treatments (two silvicultural thinning methods, low thinning and crown thinning, and two basal area retentions, 80...
Authors
Jason R. Teraoka, Phillip van Mantgem, Christopher Keyes
The relative contributions of disease and insects in the decline of a long-lived tree: a stochastic demographic model of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis)
Pathogens and insect pests have become increasingly important drivers of tree mortality in forested ecosystems. Unfortunately, understanding the relative contributions of multiple mortality agents to the population decline of trees is difficult, because it requires frequent measures of tree survival, growth, and recruitment, as well as the incidence of mortality agents. We present a...
Authors
Erik S. Jules, Jenell I. Jackson, Phillip van Mantgem, Jennifer S. Beck, Michael W. Murray, E. April Sahara
Duration of fuels reduction following prescribed fire in coniferous forests of U.S. national parks in California and the Colorado Plateau
Prescribed fire is a widely used forest management tool, yet the long-term effectiveness of prescribed fire in reducing fuels and fire hazards in many vegetation types is not well documented. We assessed the magnitude and duration of reductions in surface fuels and modeled fire hazards in coniferous forests across nine U.S. national parks in California and the Colorado Plateau. We used...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Laura Lalemand, MaryBeth Keifer, Jeffrey M. Kane
Does prescribed fire promote resistance to drought in low elevation forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA?
Prescribed fire is a primary tool used to restore western forests following more than a century of fire exclusion, reducing fire hazard by removing dead and live fuels (small trees and shrubs). It is commonly assumed that the reduced forest density following prescribed fire also reduces competition for resources among the remaining trees, so that the remaining trees are more resistant...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Anthony C. Caprio, Nathan L. Stephenson, Adrian Das
Increasing elevation of fire in the Sierra Nevada and implications for forest change
Fire in high-elevation forest ecosystems can have severe impacts on forest structure, function and biodiversity. Using a 105-year data set, we found increasing elevation extent of fires in the Sierra Nevada, and pose five hypotheses to explain this pattern. Beyond the recognized pattern of increasing fire frequency in the Sierra Nevada since the late 20th century, we find that the upper...
Authors
Mark W. Schwartz, Nathalie Butt, Christopher R. Dolanc, Andrew Holguin, Max. A. Moritz, Malcolm P. North, Hugh D. Safford, Nathan L. Stephenson, James H. Thorne, Phillip van Mantgem
The influence of prefire tree growth and crown condition on postfire mortality of sugar pine following prescribed fire in Sequoia National Park
Tree mortality is a vital component of forest management in the context of prescribed fires; however, few studies have examined the effect of prefire tree health on postfire mortality. This is especially relevant for sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Douglas), a species experiencing population declines due to a suite of anthropogenic factors. Using data from an old-growth mixed-conifer...
Authors
Jonathan C.B. Nesmith, Adrian Das, Kevin L. O'Hara, Phillip van Mantgem
Structure, diversity, and biophysical properties of old-growth forestsin the Klamath region, USA
The diverse old-growth forests in Klamath region of northern California and southern Oregon provide valuable ecosystem services (e.g., maintaining watersheds, wildlife habitat, recreation), but may be vulnerable to a wide range of stressors, including invasive species, disrupted disturbance regimes, and climatic change. Yet our understanding of how forest structure in the Klamath region...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Daniel A Starr
An individual-based growth and competition model for coastal redwood forest restoration
Thinning treatments to accelerate coastal redwood forest stand development are in wide application, but managers have yet to identify prescriptions that might best promote Sequoia sempervirens (Lamb. ex D. Don) Endl. (redwood) growth. The creation of successful thinning prescriptions would be aided by identifying the underlying mechanisms governing how individual tree growth responds to...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Adrian Das
Rate of tree carbon accumulation increases continuously with tree size
Forests are major components of the global carbon cycle, providing substantial feedback to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Our ability to understand and predict changes in the forest carbon cycle—particularly net primary productivity and carbon storage - increasingly relies on models that represent biological processes across several scales of biological organization, from...
Authors
N.L. Stephenson, A.J. Das, R. Condit, S.E. Russo, P.J. Baker, N.G. Beckman, D.A. Coomes, E.R. Lines, W.K. Morris, Nadja Ruger, E. Álvarez, C. Blundo, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, George B. Chuyong, S.J. Davies, Á. Duque, C.N. Ewango, O. Flores, J.F. Franklin, H.R. Grau, Z. Hao, M. E. Harmon, S.P. Hubbell, David Kenfack, Y. Lin, J.-R. Makana, A. Malizia, L.R. Malizia, R.J. Pabst, N. Pongpattananurak, S.-H. Su, I-F. Sun, S. Tan, D. M. Thomas, P. J. van Mantgem, X. Wang, S.K. Wiser, M.A. Zavala
Estimating ecosystem carbon stocks at Redwood National and State Parks
Accounting for ecosystem carbon is increasingly important for park managers. In this case study we present our efforts to estimate carbon stocks and the effects of management on carbon stocks for Redwood National and State Parks in northern California. Using currently available information, we estimate that on average these parks’ soils contain approximately 89 tons of carbon per acre...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Mary Ann Madej, Joseph Seney, Janelle Deshais
Climatic stress increases forest fire severity across the western United States
Pervasive warming can lead to chronic stress on forest trees, which may contribute to mortality resulting from fire-caused injuries. Longitudinal analyses of forest plots from across the western US show that high pre-fire climatic water deficit was related to increased post-fire tree mortality probabilities. This relationship between climate and fire was present after accounting for fire...
Authors
Philip J. van Mantgem, Jonathan C.B. Nesmith, MaryBeth Keifer, Eric E. Knapp, Alan L. Flint, Lorraine E. Flint
Climatic correlates of tree mortality in water- and energy-limited forests
Recent increases in tree mortality rates across the western USA are correlated with increasing temperatures, but mechanisms remain unresolved. Specifically, increasing mortality could predominantly be a consequence of temperature-induced increases in either (1) drought stress, or (2) the effectiveness of tree-killing insects and pathogens. Using long-term data from California’s Sierra...
Authors
Adrian Das, Nathan L. Stephenson, Alan L. Flint, Tapash Das, Phillip van Mantgem
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 74
Low thinning and crown thinning of two severities as restoration tools at Redwood National Park
Interest in the restoration of second-growth forests has continued to increase in the redwood region, which has further increased the importance of evaluating restoration-based silvicultural strategies. This study assessed the short-term effectiveness of four silvicultural treatments (two silvicultural thinning methods, low thinning and crown thinning, and two basal area retentions, 80...
Authors
Jason R. Teraoka, Phillip van Mantgem, Christopher Keyes
The relative contributions of disease and insects in the decline of a long-lived tree: a stochastic demographic model of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis)
Pathogens and insect pests have become increasingly important drivers of tree mortality in forested ecosystems. Unfortunately, understanding the relative contributions of multiple mortality agents to the population decline of trees is difficult, because it requires frequent measures of tree survival, growth, and recruitment, as well as the incidence of mortality agents. We present a...
Authors
Erik S. Jules, Jenell I. Jackson, Phillip van Mantgem, Jennifer S. Beck, Michael W. Murray, E. April Sahara
Duration of fuels reduction following prescribed fire in coniferous forests of U.S. national parks in California and the Colorado Plateau
Prescribed fire is a widely used forest management tool, yet the long-term effectiveness of prescribed fire in reducing fuels and fire hazards in many vegetation types is not well documented. We assessed the magnitude and duration of reductions in surface fuels and modeled fire hazards in coniferous forests across nine U.S. national parks in California and the Colorado Plateau. We used...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Laura Lalemand, MaryBeth Keifer, Jeffrey M. Kane
Does prescribed fire promote resistance to drought in low elevation forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA?
Prescribed fire is a primary tool used to restore western forests following more than a century of fire exclusion, reducing fire hazard by removing dead and live fuels (small trees and shrubs). It is commonly assumed that the reduced forest density following prescribed fire also reduces competition for resources among the remaining trees, so that the remaining trees are more resistant...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Anthony C. Caprio, Nathan L. Stephenson, Adrian Das
Increasing elevation of fire in the Sierra Nevada and implications for forest change
Fire in high-elevation forest ecosystems can have severe impacts on forest structure, function and biodiversity. Using a 105-year data set, we found increasing elevation extent of fires in the Sierra Nevada, and pose five hypotheses to explain this pattern. Beyond the recognized pattern of increasing fire frequency in the Sierra Nevada since the late 20th century, we find that the upper...
Authors
Mark W. Schwartz, Nathalie Butt, Christopher R. Dolanc, Andrew Holguin, Max. A. Moritz, Malcolm P. North, Hugh D. Safford, Nathan L. Stephenson, James H. Thorne, Phillip van Mantgem
The influence of prefire tree growth and crown condition on postfire mortality of sugar pine following prescribed fire in Sequoia National Park
Tree mortality is a vital component of forest management in the context of prescribed fires; however, few studies have examined the effect of prefire tree health on postfire mortality. This is especially relevant for sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Douglas), a species experiencing population declines due to a suite of anthropogenic factors. Using data from an old-growth mixed-conifer...
Authors
Jonathan C.B. Nesmith, Adrian Das, Kevin L. O'Hara, Phillip van Mantgem
Structure, diversity, and biophysical properties of old-growth forestsin the Klamath region, USA
The diverse old-growth forests in Klamath region of northern California and southern Oregon provide valuable ecosystem services (e.g., maintaining watersheds, wildlife habitat, recreation), but may be vulnerable to a wide range of stressors, including invasive species, disrupted disturbance regimes, and climatic change. Yet our understanding of how forest structure in the Klamath region...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Daniel A Starr
An individual-based growth and competition model for coastal redwood forest restoration
Thinning treatments to accelerate coastal redwood forest stand development are in wide application, but managers have yet to identify prescriptions that might best promote Sequoia sempervirens (Lamb. ex D. Don) Endl. (redwood) growth. The creation of successful thinning prescriptions would be aided by identifying the underlying mechanisms governing how individual tree growth responds to...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Adrian Das
Rate of tree carbon accumulation increases continuously with tree size
Forests are major components of the global carbon cycle, providing substantial feedback to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Our ability to understand and predict changes in the forest carbon cycle—particularly net primary productivity and carbon storage - increasingly relies on models that represent biological processes across several scales of biological organization, from...
Authors
N.L. Stephenson, A.J. Das, R. Condit, S.E. Russo, P.J. Baker, N.G. Beckman, D.A. Coomes, E.R. Lines, W.K. Morris, Nadja Ruger, E. Álvarez, C. Blundo, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, George B. Chuyong, S.J. Davies, Á. Duque, C.N. Ewango, O. Flores, J.F. Franklin, H.R. Grau, Z. Hao, M. E. Harmon, S.P. Hubbell, David Kenfack, Y. Lin, J.-R. Makana, A. Malizia, L.R. Malizia, R.J. Pabst, N. Pongpattananurak, S.-H. Su, I-F. Sun, S. Tan, D. M. Thomas, P. J. van Mantgem, X. Wang, S.K. Wiser, M.A. Zavala
Estimating ecosystem carbon stocks at Redwood National and State Parks
Accounting for ecosystem carbon is increasingly important for park managers. In this case study we present our efforts to estimate carbon stocks and the effects of management on carbon stocks for Redwood National and State Parks in northern California. Using currently available information, we estimate that on average these parks’ soils contain approximately 89 tons of carbon per acre...
Authors
Phillip van Mantgem, Mary Ann Madej, Joseph Seney, Janelle Deshais
Climatic stress increases forest fire severity across the western United States
Pervasive warming can lead to chronic stress on forest trees, which may contribute to mortality resulting from fire-caused injuries. Longitudinal analyses of forest plots from across the western US show that high pre-fire climatic water deficit was related to increased post-fire tree mortality probabilities. This relationship between climate and fire was present after accounting for fire...
Authors
Philip J. van Mantgem, Jonathan C.B. Nesmith, MaryBeth Keifer, Eric E. Knapp, Alan L. Flint, Lorraine E. Flint
Climatic correlates of tree mortality in water- and energy-limited forests
Recent increases in tree mortality rates across the western USA are correlated with increasing temperatures, but mechanisms remain unresolved. Specifically, increasing mortality could predominantly be a consequence of temperature-induced increases in either (1) drought stress, or (2) the effectiveness of tree-killing insects and pathogens. Using long-term data from California’s Sierra...
Authors
Adrian Das, Nathan L. Stephenson, Alan L. Flint, Tapash Das, Phillip van Mantgem