Early forest thinning changes aboveground carbon distribution among pools, but not total amount

Schaedel, Michael S.; Larson, Andrew J.; Affleck, David L. R.; Belote, R. Travis; Goodburn, John M.; Page‐Dumroese, Deborah S.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2016.12.018

Cited by 37 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…, Schaedel et al. ). However, while many parallels exist between natural and anthropogenic disturbances, there are also significant disparities that complicate the development of useful generalizations across the two (Blair et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Contemporary forest management is increasingly focused on balancing timber production with ecological objectives (Puettmann et al 2012), and practices are intentionally structured to mimic natural disturbance regimes (Long 2009, Palik andD'Amato 2017). The resulting levels of disturbance severity may be closely related to deliberate management decisions, which are designed to sustain long-term ecological integrity, including the retention of live-tree legacies and transfer of biomass to detrital pools (Gustafsson et al 2012, Schaedel et al 2017). However, while many parallels exist between natural and anthropogenic disturbances, there are also significant disparities that complicate the development of useful generalizations across the two (Blair et al 2016, Roberts et al 2016.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing the ecological impacts of biomass harvesting along a disturbance severity gradient

Kurth

D’Amato

Bradford

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

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Disturbance is a central driver of forest development and ecosystem processes with variable effects within and across ecosystems. Despite the high levels of variation in disturbance severity often observed in forests following natural and anthropogenic disturbance, studies quantifying disturbance impacts often rely on categorical classifications, thus limiting opportunities to examine potential gradients in ecosystem response to a given disturbance or management regime. Given the potential increases in disturbance severity associated with global change, as well as shifts in management regimes related to procurement of biofuel feedstocks, there is an increasing need to quantitatively describe disturbance severity and associated responses of forest development, soil processes, and structural conditions. This study took advantage of two replicated large‐scale studies of forest biomass harvesting in Populus tremuloides and Pinus bansksiana forests, respectively, to develop and test the utility of a continuous, quantitative, disturbance severity index (DSI) for describing postharvest response of plant communities and nutrient pools to different levels of biomass removal and legacy retention (i.e., live trees and coarse woody material). There was a high degree of variability in DSI within categorical treatments associated with different levels of legacy retention and regression models using DSI as a predictor explained a portion of the variation (>50%) for many of the ecosystem‐ and community‐level responses to biomass harvesting examined. Nutrient losses associated with biomass harvesting were positively related to disturbance severity, particularly in P. tremuloides forests, with postharvest nutrient availability generally declining along the gradient of impacts. Consistent with expectations from ecological theory, species richness and diversity of woody plant communities were greatest at intermediate disturbance severities and regeneration densities of dominant trees species were most abundant at highest levels of disturbance. Although categorical benchmarks will continue to be the primary way through which management guidelines are conveyed to practitioners, evaluation of their effectiveness at sustaining ecosystem functioning should be through continuous analyses, such as the DSI approach used in this study, to allow for the more precise identification of thresholds that ensure a range of desirable outcomes exist across managed landscapes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the ecological impacts of biomass harvesting along a disturbance severity gradient

Kurth

D’Amato

Bradford

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Carbon stocks increased with stand age and stocking level; thinning method had an effect only at the lowest level of stocking, where both the thin from above and thin from below treatments had lower carbon stocks than stands that were thinned proportionally. Schaedel et al (2017) investigated the effects of early precommercial thinning in western larch (Larix occidentalis, again, using a historical study) in Montana; stands were thinned from below to range of density levels (target levels 200, 360, and 680 TPA). The number of entries also varied.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

50 years ofscience-management cooperation

Stout¹

2019

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This report represents proceedings of the Allegheny Society of American Foresters training session titled "SILVAH: 50 Years of Science Management Cooperation." This meeting celebrated a unique and long-lasting community of practice that includes forest and natural resource managers and scientists. SILVAH originated in northwestern Pennsylvania in the late 1960s. Over time, the research results, shared efforts, and training sessions led to decision support software and all became known as SILVAH, and the geographic range of the community expanded. This published proceedings includes 12 papers that describe the origins and early history of the community of practice, the current state of science and management guidelines as presented at the conference, as well as a paper that explores the factors that contributed to its long-term success.

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“…Among forest management practices, thinning is the most commonly applied treatment for manipulating growth of plantations 8,9 . Thinning is able to decrease competition between the remaining trees and improve stand vigor, thereby effectively increasing volume growth for commercial purposes 10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinning Effects on Biomass and Carbon Stock for Young Taiwania Plantations

Lin

Chiu

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Forests play an important role as carbon sinks by sequestrating carbon through photosynthesis. Thinning treatments have large impacts on carbon storage, in addition to strengthening quality and quantity of plantations. This study analyzed the effects of different thinning treatments on carbon stocks in both individual trees and stands of Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides) plantations. Repeated field measurements and allometric equations were used to calculate total C storage and sequestration rates of live trees. The results of this study showed that the total carbon stock of stands with thinning treatments was less than that of the non-thinned stands. The non-thinned 23-year old stands had an estimated carbon stock of 96.8 Mg C ha−1, which is higher than the carbon stock found in either medium- (84.1 Mg C ha−1) or heavily-thinned (74.7 Mg C ha−1) treatment plots of the same age. If the objective of Taiwania plantations was to store large amounts of carbon in the young growth stage, without regard to the initial rate of storage, a better option is no-thinning. However, the medium thinned forests seem to be more promising for carbon sequestration than the no-thinned forests if a longer period is considered.

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Early forest thinning changes aboveground carbon distribution among pools, but not total amount

Cited by 37 publications

References 54 publications

Assessing the ecological impacts of biomass harvesting along a disturbance severity gradient

Assessing the ecological impacts of biomass harvesting along a disturbance severity gradient

50 years ofscience-management cooperation

Thinning Effects on Biomass and Carbon Stock for Young Taiwania Plantations

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