Much of Canada's terrestrial biodiversity is supported by boreal forests. Natural resource development in boreal forests poses risks to this biodiversity. This paper reviews the scientific literature to assess the effects of natural resource development on terrestrial biodiversity in Canadian boreal forests. We address four questions: (1) To what extent have Canadian boreal forests changed due to natural resource development? (2) How has biodiversity responded to these changes? (3) Will the biodiversity of second-growth forests converge with that of primary boreal forests? (4) Are we losing species from boreal forests? We focus on trees, understory plants, insects, fungi, selected mammals, and songbirds because these groups have been most studied. We review more than 600 studies and found that changes in community composition are prevalent in response to large-scale conversion of forest types, changes in stand structures and age distributions, and altered landscape structure resulting from forest management and habitat loss associated with other developments such as oil and gas, hydroelectric, and mining. The southern boreal forest has been more highly impacted than the north due to more extensive forest management and the cumulative effects of multiple forms of development. There is abundant evidence that most species are not in danger of being extirpated from the boreal forest due to these anthropogenic changes. A few species, including woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), have, however, undergone long-term range contractions. Significant gaps in our ability to assess the effects of natural resource development on biodiversity in the boreal zone are the lack of long-term spatial and population data to monitor the impact of forest changes on ecosystems and species.Résumé : Une bonne partie de la biodiversité du Canada se retrouve en forêt boréale. Le développement des ressources naturelles dans des forêts boréales présente des risques pour cette biodiversité. Les auteurs présentent une revue de la littérature pour évaluer les effets du développement des ressources naturelles sur la biodiversité terrestre dans les forêts boréales canadiennes. Ils ont soulevé quatre questions : (1) jusqu'à quel point les forêts boréales canadiennes se sont vues modifiées par le développe-ment des ressources naturelles ? (2) Comment la biodiversité a-t-elle réagi à ces changements ? (3) Y aura-t-il convergence de la biodiversité des forêts de seconde venue avec celle des forêts boréales primaires ? (4) Subissons-nous des pertes d'espèces en forêts boréales ? Les auteurs se sont intéressés en particulier aux arbres, aux plantes de sous-bois, aux insectes, aux champignons, à des mammifères et oiseaux chanteurs sélectionnés, car ces groupes ont été les plus étudiés. Ils ont suivi plus de 600 espèces et ont constaté que les changements de composition prévalent en réaction à des modifications à grande échelle des types forestiers, des changements de la structure, des classes d'âge, des modifications aux ...
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