Impact of logging and natural stand-replacing disturbances on high-elevation boreal landscape dynamics (1950–2005) in eastern Canada

Boucher, Yan; Grondin, Pierre

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.09.012

Cited by 28 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…In combination with human-induced fire, it created a landscape age structure dominated by forests younger than in presettlement times. This phenomenon has also been observed elsewhere in North America (Frelich 1995;Cyr et al 2009;Boucher and Grondin 2012) and Eurasia (Ö stlund et al 1997;Achard et al 2006;Hellberg et al 2009). The influence of physiography and disturbance on landscape composition…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…The cold and rainy climate in the higher elevation forests of eastern North America does not favor fires (Reiners and Lang 1979;Flatley et al 2011). The fact that the high-elevation zone was not intensively affected by human activities until the beginning of the twentieth century (Boucher and Grondin 2012) reduces the past influence of anthropogenic fires. Trembling aspen is also absent, but since it is very frost tolerant and can establish itself under climatic conditions that are much more rigorous than those of the study area (Sakai and Table 6 Average coefficients and confidence intervals (CI) for each variable of the most parsimonious models predicting presence of, black spruce, paper birch, trembling aspen and balsam fir cover type.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…are found at lower elevations in the northwestern section of the Lower Saguenay limits. Research conducted within the study region (Blais 1965;Cogbill 1985;Delisle-Boulianne et al 2011;Boucher and Grondin 2012;Couillard et al 2013) indicates that the area's natural disturbance regime was characterized by small-scale disturbances (insect epidemics, canopy-gaps), and fires. Despite the fact that the Innu First Nation occupied the area well before the arrival of the first Europeans, nothing in the ethnographic literature indicates their use of fire, unlike what has been documented in other parts of northeastern America (Russel 1983).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Extensive industrial logging only began at the turn of twentieth century, with an increasing demand for pulp and paper. During this period, even-aged management was the main silvicultural system, targeting conifer trees (Girard and Perron 1989;Boucher and Grondin 2012).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Colonization activities and the resulting escaped settlement fires during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have considerably affected the wildfire regime (Foster et al 1998;Weir and Johnson 1998). Moreover, industrial forestry practices during the twentieth century have increased both the frequency of stand-replacing disturbances and their spatial footprint within forested landscapes (Rhemtulla et al 2007;Boucher et al 2009a;Boucher and Grondin 2012). Nowadays, industrial logging has replaced fire as the main stand-replacing disturbance agent affecting the southern portion of North America's boreal forest (Reich et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Land use history (1840–2005) and physiography as determinants of southern boreal forests

2013

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Land use history has altered natural disturbance dynamics, causing widespread modifications of the earth's forests. The aim of this study is to reconstruct a regional, spatially-explicit, fire and logging history for a large southern boreal forest landscape (6,050 km 2 ) of eastern Canada. We then examined the long-term influence of land use history, fires, and physiographical gradients on the area's disturbances regimes, present-day age structure and tree species composition. Spatially-explicit fire (1820-2005) and logging histories were reconstructed from forestry maps, terrestrial forest inventories and historical records (local newspapers, travel notes, regional historical reviews). Logistic regression was used to model the occurrence of major boreal tree species at the regional scale, in relation to their disturbance history and physiographical variables. The interplay of elevation and fire history was found to explain a large part of the present-day distribution of the four species studied. We conclude that human-induced fires following the colonization activities of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have increased fire frequency and the dominance of fire-adapted species at lower elevations. At higher elevations, the low historical fire frequency has fostered the dominance of fire-sensitive species. Twentieth-century forestry practices and escaped settlement fires have generated a forest landscape dominated by younger forest habitats than in presettlement times. The expected increase of wildfire activity in North America's eastern boreal forest, in conjunction with continued forest management, could have significant consequences on the resilience of boreal forests.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Land use history (1840–2005) and physiography as determinants of southern boreal forests

2013

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Impacts of spruce budworm defoliation on the habitat of woodland caribou, moose, and their main predators

Chagnon

Bouchard

Pothier

2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Forest logging has contributed to the decline of several woodland caribou populations by causing the fragmentation of mature coniferous stands. Such habitat alterations could be worsened by spruce budworm (SBW) outbreaks. Using 6201 vegetation plots from provincial inventories conducted after the last SBW outbreak (1968–1992) in boreal forests of Québec (Canada), we investigated the influence of SBW‐caused tree defoliation and mortality on understory vegetation layers relevant to woodland caribou and its main predators. We found a positive association between severe outbreaks and the cover of most groups of understory plant species, especially in stands that were dominated by balsam fir before the outbreak, where a high canopy openness particularly benefited relatively fast‐growing deciduous plants. Such increases in early successional vegetation could provide high‐quality forage for moose, which is likely to promote higher wolf densities and increase predation pressure on caribou. SBW outbreaks may thus negatively affect woodland caribou by increasing predation risk, the main factor limiting caribou populations in managed forests. For the near future, we recommend updating the criteria used to define critical caribou habitat to consider the potential impacts of spruce budworm defoliation.

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Challenges for the Sustainable Management of the Boreal Forest Under Climate Change

Girona

Aakala

Aquilué

et al. 2023

Advances in Global Change Research

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The increasing effects of climate and global change oblige ecosystem-based management to adapt forestry practices to deal with uncertainties. Here we provide an overview to identify the challenges facing the boreal forest under projected future change, including altered natural disturbance regimes, biodiversity loss, increased forest fragmentation, the rapid loss of old-growth forests, and the need to develop novel silvicultural approaches. We specifically address subjects previously lacking from the ecosystem-based management framework, e.g., Indigenous communities, social concerns, ecological restoration, and impacts on aquatic ecosystems. We conclude by providing recommendations for ensuring the successful long-term management of the boreal biome facing climate change.

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Impact of logging and natural stand-replacing disturbances on high-elevation boreal landscape dynamics (1950–2005) in eastern Canada

Cited by 28 publications

References 63 publications

Land use history (1840–2005) and physiography as determinants of southern boreal forests

Land use history (1840–2005) and physiography as determinants of southern boreal forests

Impacts of spruce budworm defoliation on the habitat of woodland caribou, moose, and their main predators

Challenges for the Sustainable Management of the Boreal Forest Under Climate Change

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