Sarah Bisbing

Associate Professor, Whittell Forest & Wildlife Area Director

Department: Natural Resources & Environmental Science
Office: 775-784-4034
Email: sbisbing@unr.edu
Building: FA
Room: 218a
Mailstop: 186
Website: sarah bisbing web site

Summary

Research in the lab utilizes field, lab, and greenhouse studies to understand the primary drivers of tree species’ distributions and evaluate the role of disturbance in altering forest composition, structure, and function. We are particularly interested in identifying the local abiotic and biotic factors determining successful regeneration and establishment. Our research uses this knowledge to examine how altered disturbance regimes and ongoing climate change will influence forest resilience and impact species’ ranges.

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.

Education

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

Publications

Journals

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.

2023

Ecological Indicators, 154, 110702

Kreitinger, E., D'Amore, D., Bisbing, S., Nadeau, S., Shapleigh, J., & Walter, M.

Persistent, viable seedbank buffers serotinous bishop pine over a broad fire return interval.

2023

Fire Ecology, 19(1), 1-17

Bisbing, S. M., Urza, A. K., York, R. A., Hankin, L. E., & Putz, T. R.

Rapid fuel recovery after stand-replacing fire in closed-cone pine forests and implications for short-interval severe reburns.

2023

Forest Ecology and Management, 545, 121263

Agne, M. C., Fontaine, J. B., Enright, N. J., Bisbing, S. M., & Harvey, B. J.

Reforestation of high elevation pines: Direct seeding success depends on seed source and sowing environment

2023

Ecological Applications, 33(6), e2897

Hankin, L. E., Leger, E. A., & Bisbing, S. M.

The century-long shadow of fire exclusion: Historical data reveal early and lasting effects of fire regime change on contemporary forest composition.

2023

Forest Ecology and Management, 539, 121011

Brodie, E. G., Knapp, E. E., Latimer, A. M., Safford, H. D., Vossmer, M., & Bisbing, S. M.

Demographic processes underpinning post-fire resilience in California closed-cone pine forests: the importance of fire interval, stand structure, and climate

2022

Plant Ecology. 223 (2022) 751

M.C. Agne, J.B. Fontaine, N.J. Enright, S.M. Bisbing, B.J. Harvey

Single-tree salvage logging as a response to Alaska yellow-cedar climate-induced mortality maintains ecological integrity with limited economic returns.

2022

Forest Ecology & Management Volume 503, 1 January 2022, 119815

Bisbing, S.M., B.J. Buma, B. Vander Naald, and A.L. Bidlack

Climate-Mediated Changes to Linked Terrestrial and Marine Ecosystems across the Northeast Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest Margin. BioScience, 71(6), 581.

2021

BioScience, Volume 71, Issue 6, June 2021, Pages 581–595

Bidlack, A. L., Bisbing, S. M., Buma, B. J., Diefenderfer, H. L., Fellman, J. B., Floyd, W. C., … Perakis, S. S.

Let it snow? Spring snowpack and microsite characterize the regeneration niche of high-elevation pines.

2021

Journal of Biogeography

Hankin, L. E., & Bisbing, S. M.

Seasonal water availability drives trait variation in isolated Basin and Range Pinus ponderosa.

2021

Forest Ecology & Management, 488

Putz, T., Urza, A., Hankin, L., & Bisbing, S.

Testing an invasion mechanism for Eucalyptus globulus: is there evidence of allelopathy?

2021

American Journal of Botany

Nelson, K., S. Bisbing, D. Grossenbacher, M. Ritter, and J. Yost

Can long-lived species keep pace with climate change? Evidence of local persistence potential in a widespread conifer.

2020

Diversity and Distributions, vol 27, iss2

Sarah M. Bisbing; Alexandra K. Urza; Brian J. Buma; David J. Cooper; Marjorie Matocq; Amy L. Angert

100 years of primary succession highlights stochasticity and competition driving community establishment and stability.

2019

Ecology

Buma, B., Bisbing, S., Wiles, G., Bidlack, A.

From canopy to seed: loss of snow drives directional changes in forest composition.

2019

Ecology & Evolution

Bisbing, S., Buma, B., Oakes, L., Krapek, J., Bidlack, A.

Nitrogen dynamics vary across hydrologic gradients and by forest community composition in the perhumid coastal temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska

2018

Canadian Journal of Forest Research 48(2): 180-191.

Bisbing, S.M. and D.V. D'Amore

A foundation of ecology re-discovered: 100 years of succession on 100 William S. Cooper plots in Glacier Bay, Alaska.

2017

Ecology. 98(6): 1513-1523

Buma, B, S. Bisbing, J. Krapek, and G. Wright

Alternative interpretation and scale-based context for No evidence of recent (1995-2013) decrease in yellow-cedar in Alaska (Barrett and Pattison 2016).

2017

Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 47(8): 1145-1151

Bidlack, A. S. Bisbing, B. Buma, D. D’Amore, P. Hennon, J. Krapek, R. Mulvey, and L. Oakes.

Effect of the Gabcikovo waterworks (Slovakia) on riparian floodplain forest ecosystems the Danube inland delta: vegetation dynamics and trends.

2017

Biologia. 72 (7): 722-734

Matecny, I., J. Medvecka, E. Uhercikova, P. Pisut, S. Kubalova, M. Valachovic, I. Hodalova, P. Mered’a Jr., S.M. Bisbing, and M. Petrasova.

Complex interactions among agents affect shore pine health in southeast Alaska.

2016

Northwest Science 90 (2): 176 – 194.

Mulvey, R. and S. Bisbing.

Determinants of conifer species distributions across peatland to forest gradients in the coastal temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska.

2015

Ecohydrology. doi: 10.1002/eco.1640

Bisbing, S.M., D.J. Cooper, D.V. D’Amore, and K.M. Marshall.

Karyological, morphological, and ecological differentiation of Sesleria caerula and Sesleria tatrae (Poaceae) in the Western Carpathians and adjacent regions

2014

Preslia 86: 245 - 277

Budzakova, M., I. Hodalova, P. Mered’a Jr., L. Somlyay, S.M. Bisbing, and J. Sibik

Identifying genetic signatures of selection in a non-model species: a case study of the alpine gentian (Gentiana nivalis L.)

2013

Conservation Genetics 14 (2): 476-481

Bothwell, H., S. Bisbing, L. Crawford, N. Therkildsen, N. Alvarez, R. Holderegger, and S. Manel.

Carbon storage of old-growth and second growth fire-dependent western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) forests of the Inland Northwest, USA.

2010

Forest Ecology and Management 259 (5): 1041-1049.

Bisbing, S.M., P.B. Alaback, and T.H. DeLuca

Proceedings

Influence of fire history on coast redwood regeneration and stand structure.

2017

In Standiford and Valachovic. Proceedings of the Coast Redwood Science Symposium. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-258.

Brousil, M.* and S. Bisbing