Group Clearfell Harvest Can Promote Regeneration of Aspen Forests Affected by Sudden Aspen Decline in Western Colorado

Shepperd, Wayne D.; Smith, F. W.; Pelz, Kristen A.

doi:10.5849/forsci.14-101

Cited by 12 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…An early warning system of incipient tree mortality following drought thus presents an opportunity for managers to prepare treatments and trigger forest regeneration in managed forest settings (Cobb et al, ). With aspen, research has shown that treatment before canopy dieback reaches 30% typically yields robust forest regeneration while treatment after that threshold does not (Shepperd, Smith, & Pelz, ). For land management and mechanistic and modeling studies, there is a short “window of opportunity” between when drought strikes and all the trees have eventually died to improve our understanding of tree mortality and to improve forest resilience to climate extremes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing early warning metrics for drought‐induced tree physiological stress and mortality

Anderegg

Huang

2019

Global Change Biology

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Climate change‐driven drought stress has triggered numerous large‐scale tree mortality events in recent decades. Advances in mechanistic understanding and prediction are greatly limited by an inability to detect in situ where trees are likely to die in order to take timely measurements and actions. Thus, algorithms of early warning and detection of drought‐induced tree stress and mortality could have major scientific and societal benefits. Here, we leverage two consecutive droughts in the southwestern United States to develop and test a set of early warning metrics. Using Landsat satellite data, we constructed early warning metrics from the first drought event. We then tested these metrics' ability to predict spatial patterns in tree physiological stress and mortality from the second drought. To test the broader applicability of these metrics, we also examined a separate drought in the Amazon rainforest. The early warning metrics successfully explained subsequent tree mortality in the second drought in the southwestern US, as well as mortality in the independent drought in tropical forests. The metrics also strongly correlated with spatial patterns in tree hydraulic stress underlying mortality, which provides a strong link between tree physiological stress and remote sensing during the severe drought and indicates that the loss of hydraulic function during drought likely mediated subsequent mortality. Thus, early warning metrics provide a critical foundation for elucidating the physiological mechanisms underpinning tree mortality in mature forests and guiding management responses to these climate‐induced disturbances.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing early warning metrics for drought‐induced tree physiological stress and mortality

Anderegg

Huang

2019

Global Change Biology

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“…Because root systems are a more distal sink, root carbon stores are not replenished [65] and root biomass growth decreases-while carbohydrate concentration in stems increases significantly as carbohydrates are mobilized for other higher priority, particularly maintenance respiration [14,15]. The eventual loss of fine root biomass because of carbohydrate starvation is a major consequence of, and a key factor leading to, canopy decline and tree mortality [13][14][15][16]23]. Nonetheless, baseline data of pre-SAD fine root biomass has not been documented, precluding any comparison of SAD effects upon the fine root system.…”

Section: Photosynthate Allocation and Carbon Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This facilitates aspen vegetative regeneration by triggering the formation and release of dormant and adventitious root buds by increasing soil temperature, nutrient and light availability, and decreasing competition [82][83][84][85]. Coppice cutting in stands experiencing low to moderate mortality in the initial stages of SAD can promote natural sprout origin regeneration, mitigate the loss of root carbohydrate reserves, and limit hydraulic stress following intense drought [12,17,18,23,83]. Understory trees and areas subject to recent coppice do not exhibit the rapid mortality seen in the overstory of uncut aspen dominant stands.…”

Section: Coppice Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This corresponds to the autecology of vegetative regeneration in aspen: small-sized clonally regenerating trees are better supported by the large residual root systems than adult trees. Treating stands that have already experienced severe decline is less effective; hydraulic root failure and impeded sucker growth were observed in such stands following treatments [12,23]. Implementing this strategy effectively can be challenging because it requires assessing stand health and timing a cut.…”

Section: Coppice Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With further evidence of widespread aspen dieback throughout its range, this phenomenon has now been termed sudden aspen decline (SAD) [8,9]. Since defining the disease, multiple studies have characterized SAD's etiology [12], physiology [13][14][15][16][17][18][19], predisposing factors [20,21], secondary pathogens [22], and restoration silviculture [23]. These advancements have been used in conjunction with climate predictions to model SAD's future impact [9,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sudden Aspen Decline: A Review of Pattern and Process in a Changing Climate

Singer

Turnbull

Foster

et al. 2019

Forests

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The American quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and its close relative, the Eurasian quaking aspen (Populus tremula L.), cover a realm that is perhaps the most expansive of all tree species in the world. In North America, sudden aspen decline (SAD) is a growing concern that marks the rapid decline of quaking aspen trees leading to mortality at the stand and landscape scale. Research suggests that drought and water stress are the primary causes of SAD. Predisposing factors (age, structure, and landscape position), as well as associated stressors (i.e., pests and pathogens), have been linked to mortality in affected stands. The conflation of multiple interacting factors across the aspen’s broad geographic range in North America has produced significant debate over the classification of SAD as a disease and the proper management of affected stands. Interestingly, no such effects have been reported for the Eurasian aspen. We here review and synthesize the growing body of literature for North America and suggest that SAD is a novel decline disease resulting from multiple inciting and interacting factors related to climate, land-use history, and successional dynamics. We suggest that the range of aspen observed at the onset of the 21st Century was bolstered by a wet period in western North America that coincided with widespread regional cutting and clearing of late-successional forests for timber and grazing. No comparable land-use history, successional status, or age-class structure is apparent or linked for Eurasian forests. Eurasian aspen is either absent or young in managed forests, or old and decadent in parks in Fenno-Scandinavia, or it grows more intimately with a more diverse mixture of tree species that have arisen from a longer period of frequent timber cutting in Russia. Based on these insights we provide recommendations for practical management techniques that can promote stand resilience and recovery across a range of stand conditions in North America. Managers should attempt to identify SAD-prone stands using the presence of predisposing conditions and focus treatments such as coppice or prescribed fire on stands with suitable topographies, elevations, and climates. We conclude that SAD will persist throughout the coming decades, given the enormity of past cutting history, fire exclusion, and current changes in climate until a more active restoration agenda is implemented.

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Tree regeneration and soil responses to management alternatives in beetle-infested lodgepole pine forests

Rhoades

Hubbard

Elder

et al. 2020

Forest Ecology and Management

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Group Clearfell Harvest Can Promote Regeneration of Aspen Forests Affected by Sudden Aspen Decline in Western Colorado

Cited by 12 publications

References 18 publications

Testing early warning metrics for drought‐induced tree physiological stress and mortality

Testing early warning metrics for drought‐induced tree physiological stress and mortality

Sudden Aspen Decline: A Review of Pattern and Process in a Changing Climate

Tree regeneration and soil responses to management alternatives in beetle-infested lodgepole pine forests

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