Influence of fire and harvest severity on understory plant communities

Jean, Mélanie; Lafleur, Benoît; Fenton, Nicole J.; Paré, David; Bergeron, Yves

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2019.01.004

Cited by 10 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Clearcutting and partial harvesting are two common disturbance types in forest management practices that affect the abundance and diversity of understorey vegetation [8,35,[118][119][120]. In surveying the published literature, we found that these forest management practices influence the abundance and diversity of understorey vegetation through the mechanisms described above; colonization time, resource availability, and resource heterogeneity [39,94,118,[121][122][123].…”

Section: The Effects Of Forest Management Practices (Clearcutting Andmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…In the interim, clearcutting and partial harvesting are likely to modify the abundance and diversity of understorey vegetation by altering the understorey resource availability and heterogeneity [23,30,118,[124][125][126][127]. In contrast to stand-replacing wildfire that eradicates both overstorey and understorey vegetation, and releases soil nutrients through the combustion of coarse woody debris [15,69,118,120], clearcutting, which also removes overstorey vegetation, has a lesser impact on understorey vegetation [14,33,123]. Partial harvesting is divided into uniform harvesting and patch harvesting, both of which increase light availability and heterogeneity in the understorey, particularly with patch harvesting, and decrease the availability of soil moisture [66,119,[128][129][130].…”

Section: The Effects Of Forest Management Practices (Clearcutting Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Wang

Huang

et al. 2019

Forests

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Understorey vegetation comprises a major portion of plant diversity and contributes greatly to nutrient cycling and energy flow. This review examines the mechanisms involved in the response of understorey vegetation to stand development and the overstorey canopy following disturbances. The overall abundance and diversity of the understorey is enhanced with the availability and heterogeneity of light, soil nutrients, soil moisture, and substrates. Vascular plants are positively impacted by the availability and heterogeneity of light and soil nutrients, whereas non-vascular vegetation is more strongly influenced by colonization time, soil moisture, and substrates, and is decreased with a higher proportion of broadleaf overstorey. The availability of resources is a prominent driver toward the abundance and diversity of understorey vegetation, from the stand initiation to stem exclusion stage under a single-species dominated overstorey. However, resource heterogeneity dominates at the later stages of succession under a mixed overstorey. Climate and site conditions modify resource availability and heterogeneity in the understorey layer, but the extent of their influences requires more investigation. Forest management practices (clearcutting and partial harvesting) tend to increase light availability and heterogeneity, which facilitates the abundance and diversity of understorey vascular plants; however, these factors reduce the occurrence of non-vascular plants. Nevertheless, in the landscape context, anthropogenic disturbances homogenize environmental conditions and reduce beta-diversity, as well, the long-term effects of anthropogenic disturbances on understorey vegetation remain unclear, particularly compared with those in primary forests.

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Section: The Effects Of Forest Management Practices (Clearcutting Andmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: The Effects Of Forest Management Practices (Clearcutting Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Wang

Huang

et al. 2019

Forests

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“…The understory plant community represents a substantial proportion of overall plant diversity in most boreal or temperate forests [26], and plays essential roles in biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function [27]. Due to its sensitivity to a variety of factors such as overstory characteristics [23], soil properties [28][29][30], and forest disturbances or management practices [31,32], understory diversity might also be an important indicator of forest site quality and of the environmental impact of management [33]. Furthermore, simplifying species composition and diversity to functional trait diversity can provide a synthetic view of a plant community [34,35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Combined Role of Retention Pattern and Post-Harvest Site Preparation in Regulating Plant Functional Diversity: A Case Study in Boreal Forest Ecosystems

Wei

Fenton

Lafleur

et al. 2019

Forests

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Changes in the light availability in forests generated by diversified retention patterns (e.g., clear cut, partial harvest) have been shown to strongly filter the plant species present. Modified soil microsite conditions due to post-harvest site preparation (e.g., mechanical site preparation, prescribed fire) might also be an important determinant of plant diversity. The objective here was to detect how retention pattern and post-harvest site preparation act as filters that explain the understory functional diversity in boreal forests. We also assessed whether these effects were dependent on forest attributes (stand type, time since fire, and time since harvest). We retrieved data from seven different studies within 101 sites in boreal forests in Eastern Canada. Our data included forests harvested with two retention patterns: careful logging and clear cut, plus unharvested control forests. Three post-harvest site preparation techniques were applied: plow or disk trenching after careful logging, and prescribed fire after clear cut. We collected trait data (10 traits) representing plant morphology, regeneration strategy, or resource utilization for common species. Our results demonstrated significant variation in functional diversity after harvest. The combined effect of retention pattern and site preparation was the most important factor explaining understory diversity compared to retention pattern only and forest attributes. According to RLQ analysis, harvested forests with site preparation favored traits reflecting resistance or resilience ability after disturbance (clonal guerilla species, geophytes, and species with higher seed weight). Yet harvested forests without site preparation mainly affected understory plant species via their light requirements. Forest attributes did not play significant roles in affecting the relationship between site preparation and functional diversity or traits. Our results indicated the importance of the compounding effects of light variation and soil disturbance in filtering understory diversity and composition in boreal forests. Whether these results are also valid for other ecosystems still needs to be demonstrated.

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“…Second, chainsaw harvesting in deep snow pack conditions would limit disturbance to the natural seedbed (Jean et al 2019). When a site is harvested by large machinery, seedlings are more likely to be damaged through trampling (Donato et al 2006;Royo et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boreal tree regeneration after fire and fuelwood harvesting in coastal Nunatsiavut

Brehaut

Brown

2020

Arctic Science

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Consecutive landscape-scale disturbances are known to influence boreal forest regeneration, yet few published data exist on the compounding effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbance on regeneration in subarctic forests. We conducted a dendroecological study of eastern coastal boreal forest regeneration two decades after fire at three subarctic forest stands that are important sources of fuelwood for the people of Nunatsiavut (Labrador, Canada). We quantified spruce (Picea spp.) and balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) seedling regeneration, standing dead tree density, trees harvested within burned forests, and aged proximal unburned stands. Age of unburned forest varied with site; however, each exhibited continuous regeneration over several decades. Despite low seedling regeneration at each site (stems·m−2; less than 35% of pre-fire stem density), model results indicated harvesting post-fire did not impact seedling regeneration. Findings suggest a negative pressure on seedling abundance from increased presence of tall multi-stemmed shrubs, yet we argue that because stands exhibit a range in tree age, shrubs may be a set of early successional species rather than indicating a change in successional trajectory. Examination of a larger chronosequence within coastal forest stands of Nunatsiavut is warranted to further understand forest regeneration in the eastern subarctic under changing disturbance regimes.

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Influence of fire and harvest severity on understory plant communities

Cited by 10 publications

References 68 publications

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

The Combined Role of Retention Pattern and Post-Harvest Site Preparation in Regulating Plant Functional Diversity: A Case Study in Boreal Forest Ecosystems

Boreal tree regeneration after fire and fuelwood harvesting in coastal Nunatsiavut

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