Sarah Bisbing

Photo of Sarah Bisbing, Extension

Sarah Bisbing

Assistant Professor, Whittell Forest & Wildlife Area Director

Summary

My primary areas of specialization are forest ecology and silviculture, and my research evaluates forest compositional and structural responses to silvicultural treatment, interacting disturbances, and ongoing climate change. I am particularly interested in how species’ adaptations shape the forest community, stand dynamics, and associated ecosystem services. My research program is designed to support scientifically based management and conservation that increases the sustainability and resiliency of forest ecosystems. I focus my work around fundamental gaps in ecological knowledge that are critical to understanding the consequences of changing climate and altered disturbance regimes on western forests. I use observational, experimental, and long-term studies to address these knowledge gaps. Projects are currently underway on a gradient of landscape scales, from a local study of salvage logging impacts on conifer regeneration to a range-wide study of coast redwood resilience to compound disturbances. Many of these projects include a permanent plot network that will facilitate long-term monitoring of forest ecosystem change over time. We work closely with local land managers and researchers to identify the gaps in knowledge necessary for management and conservation of forest ecosystems.Research is driven by the need for an understanding of the role that species’ adaptations and novel disturbances play in determining establishment and success of ecologically and economically important conifers. 

 

Education

B.S. University of Montana, 2005
M.S. University of Montana, 2008
Ph.D. Colorado State University, 2013

Accomplishments

Outstanding New Teacher, California Polytechnic State University, 2016-2017

News & Journal Articles, Fact Sheets, Reports...

Journals
Dryland Watersheds in Flux: How Nitrogen Deposition and Changing Precipitation Regimes Shape Nitrogen Export
Our findings suggest that under future climate change, prolonged droughts that are followed by more intense storms may increase hydrologic nitrogen export and pose a major threat to water quality in dryland watersheds.
Jianning, R., Hanan, E., D'Odorico, P., Tague, C., Schimel, J., and Homyak, P. 2024, Earth's Future, Volume12, Issue 4, e2023EF004120
Lethal combination for seedlings: extreme heat drives mortality of drought-exposed high-elevation pine seedlings Lacey E Hankin, Felipe H Barrios-Masias, Alexandra K Urza, Sarah M Bisbing 2024, Annals of Botany, 2024;, mcae064
Rapid fuel recovery after stand-replacing fire in closed-cone pine forests and implications for short-interval severe reburns. Agne, M. C., Fontaine, J. B., Enright, N. J., Bisbing, S. M., & Harvey, B. J. 2023, Forest Ecology and Management, 545, 121263
Persistent, viable seedbank buffers serotinous bishop pine over a broad fire return interval. Bisbing, S. M., Urza, A. K., York, R. A., Hankin, L. E., & Putz, T. R. 2023, Fire Ecology, 19(1), 1-17
The century-long shadow of fire exclusion: Historical data reveal early and lasting effects of fire regime change on contemporary forest composition. Brodie, E. G., Knapp, E. E., Latimer, A. M., Safford, H. D., Vossmer, M., & Bisbing, S. M. 2023, Forest Ecology and Management, 539, 121011
Reforestation of high elevation pines: Direct seeding success depends on seed source and sowing environment Hankin, L. E., Leger, E. A., & Bisbing, S. M. 2023, Ecological Applications, 33(6), e2897
Abundance of microbial community genes encoding terminal proteins of the aerobic and denitrification respiratory chains as indicators of ecohydrologic gradients in a coastal temperate rainforest. Kreitinger, E., D'Amore, D., Bisbing, S., Nadeau, S., Shapleigh, J., & Walter, M. 2023, Ecological Indicators, 154, 110702
Single-tree salvage logging as a response to Alaska yellow-cedar climate-induced mortality maintains ecological integrity with limited economic returns. Bisbing, S.M., B.J. Buma, B. Vander Naald, and A.L. Bidlack 2022, Forest Ecology & Management Volume 503, 1 January 2022, 119815
Demographic processes underpinning post-fire resilience in California closed-cone pine forests: the importance of fire interval, stand structure, and climate M.C. Agne, J.B. Fontaine, N.J. Enright, S.M. Bisbing, B.J. Harvey 2022, Plant Ecology. 223 (2022) 751
Climate-Mediated Changes to Linked Terrestrial and Marine Ecosystems across the Northeast Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest Margin. BioScience, 71(6), 581. Bidlack, A. L., Bisbing, S. M., Buma, B. J., Diefenderfer, H. L., Fellman, J. B., Floyd, W. C., … Perakis, S. S. 2021, BioScience, Volume 71, Issue 6, June 2021, Pages 581–595
Let it snow? Spring snowpack and microsite characterize the regeneration niche of high-elevation pines. Hankin, L. E., & Bisbing, S. M. 2021, Journal of Biogeography
Testing an invasion mechanism for Eucalyptus globulus: is there evidence of allelopathy? Nelson, K., S. Bisbing, D. Grossenbacher, M. Ritter, and J. Yost 2021, American Journal of Botany
Seasonal water availability drives trait variation in isolated Basin and Range Pinus ponderosa. Putz, T., Urza, A., Hankin, L., & Bisbing, S. 2021, Forest Ecology & Management, 488
Can long-lived species keep pace with climate change? Evidence of local persistence potential in a widespread conifer. Sarah M. Bisbing; Alexandra K. Urza; Brian J. Buma; David J. Cooper; Marjorie Matocq; Amy L. Angert 2020, Diversity and Distributions, vol 27, iss2
From canopy to seed: loss of snow drives directional changes in forest composition. Bisbing, S., Buma, B., Oakes, L., Krapek, J., Bidlack, A. 2019, Ecology & Evolution
100 years of primary succession highlights stochasticity and competition driving community establishment and stability. Buma, B., Bisbing, S., Wiles, G., Bidlack, A. 2019, Ecology
Nitrogen dynamics vary across hydrologic gradients and by forest community composition in the perhumid coastal temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska Bisbing, S.M. and D.V. D'Amore 2018, Canadian Journal of Forest Research 48(2): 180-191.
Alternative interpretation and scale-based context for No evidence of recent (1995-2013) decrease in yellow-cedar in Alaska (Barrett and Pattison 2016). Bidlack, A. S. Bisbing, B. Buma, D. D’Amore, P. Hennon, J. Krapek, R. Mulvey, and L. Oakes. 2017, Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 47(8): 1145-1151
A foundation of ecology re-discovered: 100 years of succession on 100 William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Buma, B, S. Bisbing, J. Krapek, and G. Wright 2017, Ecology. 98(6): 1513-1523
Effect of the Gabcikovo waterworks (Slovakia) on riparian floodplain forest ecosystems the Danube inland delta: vegetation dynamics and trends. Matecny, I., J. Medvecka, E. Uhercikova, P. Pisut, S. Kubalova, M. Valachovic, I. Hodalova, P. Mered’a Jr., S.M. Bisbing, and M. Petrasova. 2017, Biologia. 72 (7): 722-734
Complex interactions among agents affect shore pine health in southeast Alaska. Mulvey, R. and S. Bisbing. 2016, Northwest Science 90 (2): 176 – 194.
Determinants of conifer species distributions across peatland to forest gradients in the coastal temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska. Bisbing, S.M., D.J. Cooper, D.V. D’Amore, and K.M. Marshall. 2015, Ecohydrology. doi: 10.1002/eco.1640
Karyological, morphological, and ecological differentiation of Sesleria caerula and Sesleria tatrae (Poaceae) in the Western Carpathians and adjacent regions Budzakova, M., I. Hodalova, P. Mered’a Jr., L. Somlyay, S.M. Bisbing, and J. Sibik 2014, Preslia 86: 245 - 277
Identifying genetic signatures of selection in a non-model species: a case study of the alpine gentian (Gentiana nivalis L.) Bothwell, H., S. Bisbing, L. Crawford, N. Therkildsen, N. Alvarez, R. Holderegger, and S. Manel. 2013, Conservation Genetics 14 (2): 476-481
Carbon storage of old-growth and second growth fire-dependent western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) forests of the Inland Northwest, USA. Bisbing, S.M., P.B. Alaback, and T.H. DeLuca 2010, Forest Ecology and Management 259 (5): 1041-1049.
Proceedings
Influence of fire history on coast redwood regeneration and stand structure. Brousil, M.* and S. Bisbing 2017, In Standiford and Valachovic. Proceedings of the Coast Redwood Science Symposium. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-258.