Compounding the Disturbance: Family Forest Owner Reactions to Invasive Forest Insects

Markowski-Lindsay, Marla; Borsuk, Mark E.; Butler, Brett J.; Duveneck, Matthew J.; Holt, Jonathan R.; Kittredge, David B.; Laflower, Danelle; MacLean, Meghan Graham; Orwig, David A.; Thompson, Jonathan R.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106461

Cited by 18 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…As summarized in Markowski‐Lindsay et al, , we designed and administered the New England Woodland Owner Survey, which was mailed to a random sample of FFOs owning ≥ 4ha of land in the Connecticut River Watershed (Figure ). Prior to administration, the survey content and human subjects protocol were reviewed and approved by the University of Massachusetts’ Institutional Review Board in accordance with the Human Research Protection Program.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We detected no non‐response biases based on telephone follow‐up calls or early/late respondent comparisons. See Markowski‐Lindsay et al, for a more in‐depth discussion of the survey creation and landowner responses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The model converged after 500 iterations and was run for a total of 1,000 iterations. We included survey sampling weights in the regression to generalize to the population; these weights are derived by Markowski‐Lindsay et al, .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data used in this analysis were collected from the following sources: (a) New England Woodland Owner Survey (Markowski‐Lindsay et al, ); (b) The American Community Survey 2011–2015 five‐year estimates (Manson et al, ); (c) The National Land Cover Database 2011 (Homer et al, ); (d) City boundaries (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.); and (e) Parcel shapefiles (obtained from each individual state and town). The full dataset is archived at the Harvard Forest Data Archive: http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu:8080/exist/apps/datasets/showData.html?xml:id=hf326 (Markowski‐Lindsay et al, . Survey of Family Forest Owners Regarding Invasive Insects in the Connecticut River Watershed 2017.…”

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The anticipated severity of the insect outbreak, the location of the woodland, and pest awareness may also be factors that influence landowners’ responses (or lack thereof) to the disturbance (Boyd, Gilligan, & Godfray, ; Nielsen‐Pincus, Ribe, & Johnson, ). To better understand these influences, we surveyed family forest owners (FFOs) in New England (northeastern United States) (Markowski‐Lindsay et al, ). New England is an ideal study system because the region contains many private landowners and one of the highest diversities of invasive insect pests in North America (Liebhold et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landowner functional types to characterize response to invasive forest insects

et al. 2019

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Invasive forest insects can induce tree mortality in two ways: (a) by directly harming trees; or (b) by influencing forest owners to pre‐emptively harvest threatened trees. This study investigates forest owners’ intentions to harvest trees threatened by invasive insects. Our first objective is to identify and characterize agent functional types (AFTs) of family forest owners in the northeastern United States using a set of contingent behaviour questions contained in a mail survey. We establish AFTs as a form of dimension reduction, effectively casting landowners into a typology in which each type (AFT) has distinct probabilities of tree harvesting in response to forest insects. Our analysis identifies three functional types of landowners: ‘Cutters’ (46% of respondents; high intent to harvest trees impacted by invasive forest insects), ‘Responsive Cutters’ (42% of respondents; intent sensitive to insect impact severity), and ‘Non‐cutters’ (12% of respondents; low intent to cut). Our second objective is to model AFT membership to predict the distribution of AFTs across the landscape. Predictors are chosen from a set of survey, geographic and demographic features. Our best AFT‐prediction model has three predictor variables: parcel size (hectares of forest), geographical region, and town‐level forested fraction. Application of the model provides a high‐resolution probability distribution of AFTs across the landscape. By coupling human and insect behaviour, our results allow for holistic assessments of how invasive forest insects disturb forests, inclusive of the management response to these pests. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landowner functional types to characterize response to invasive forest insects

et al. 2019

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Emerald ash borer intensifies harvest regimes on private land

Holt

Smetzer

Borsuk

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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Invasive forest insects have significant direct impacts on forest ecosystems and they are also generating new risks, uncertainties, and opportunities for forest landowners. The growing prevalence and inexorable spread of invasive insects across the United States, combined with the fact that the majority of the nation's forests are controlled by thousands of autonomous private landowners, raises an important question: To what extent will private landowners alter their harvest practices in response to insect invasions? Using a quasi‐experimental design, we conducted a causal analysis to investigate the influence of the highly impactful emerald ash borer (EAB) on (1) annual probability of harvest; (2) intensity of harvest; and (3) diameter of harvested trees, for both ash and non‐ash species on private land throughout the Midwest and mid‐Atlantic regions of the United States. We found that EAB detection had a negative impact on annual harvest probability and a positive impact on harvest intensity, resulting in a net increase in harvested biomass. Furthermore, our estimates suggest that EAB detection will influence private landowners to harvest greater quantities of ash, relative to non‐ash species. We also found that harvested trees in EAB‐infested areas had smaller diameters, on average, compared with those unaffected by EAB. These results can help policymakers, forest managers, and extension programs to anticipate and better advise landowners and managers about their options and the associated outcomes for forests.

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Logging response alters trajectories of reorganization after loss of a foundation tree species

Barker Plotkin,

Orwig,

MacLean

et al. 2024

Ecological Applications

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Forest insect outbreaks cause large changes in ecosystem structure, composition, and function. Humans often respond to insect outbreaks by conducting salvage logging, which can amplify the immediate effects, but it is unclear whether logging will result in lasting differences in forest structure and dynamics when compared with forests affected only by insect outbreaks. We used 15 years of data from an experimental removal of Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr. (Eastern hemlock), a foundation tree species within eastern North American forests, and contrasted the rate, magnitude, and persistence of response trajectories between girdling (emulating mortality from insect outbreak) and timber harvest treatments. Girdling and logging were equally likely to lead to large changes in forest structure and dynamics, but logging resulted in faster rates of change. Understory light increases and community composition changes were larger and more rapid in the logged plots. Tree seedling and understory vegetation abundance increased more in the girdled plots; this likely occurred because seedlings grew rapidly into the sapling‐ and tree‐size classes after logging and quickly shaded out plants on the forest floor. Downed deadwood pools increased more after logging but standing deadwood pools increased dramatically after girdling. Understory light levels remained elevated for a longer time after girdling. Perhaps because the window of opportunity for understory species to establish was longer in the girdled plots, total species richness increased more in the girdled than logged plots. Despite the potential for greater diversity in the girdled plots, Betula lenta L. (black birch) was the most abundant tree species recruited into the sapling‐ and tree‐size classes in both the girdled and logged plots and is poised to dominate the new forest canopy. The largest difference between the girdling and logging treatments—deadwood structure and quantity—will persist and continue to bolster aboveground carbon storage and structural and habitat diversity in the girdled plots. Human responses to insect outbreaks hasten forest reorganization and remove structural resources that may further alter forest response to ongoing climate stress and future disturbances.

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Compounding the Disturbance: Family Forest Owner Reactions to Invasive Forest Insects

Cited by 18 publications

References 33 publications

Landowner functional types to characterize response to invasive forest insects

Landowner functional types to characterize response to invasive forest insects

Emerald ash borer intensifies harvest regimes on private land

Logging response alters trajectories of reorganization after loss of a foundation tree species

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