Long-term effect of forest harvesting on boreal species assemblages under climate change

Abstract

Logging is the main human disturbance impacting biodiversity in forest ecosystems. However, the impact of forest harvesting on biodiversity is modulated by abiotic conditions through complex relationships that remain poorly documented. Therefore, the interplay between forest management and climate change can no longer be ignored. Our aim was to study the expected long-term variations in the assemblage of bird and beetle communities following modifications in forest management under different climate change scenarios. We developed species distribution models to predict the occurrence of 88 species of birds and beetles in eastern Canadian boreal forests over the next century. We simulated three climate scenarios (baseline, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) under which we varied the level of harvesting. We also analyzed the regional assemblage dissimilarity by decomposing it into balanced variations in species occupancy and occupancy gradient. We predict that forest harvesting will alter the diversity by increasing assemblage dissimilarity under all the studied climate scenarios, mainly due to species turnover. Species turnover intensity was greater for ground-dwelling beetles, probably because they have lower dispersal capacity than flying beetles or birds. A good dispersal capacity allows species to travel more easily between ecosystems across the landscape when they search for suitable habitats after a disturbance. Regionally, an overall increase in the probability of occupancy is projected for bird species, whereas a decrease is predicted for beetles, a variation that could reflect differences in ecological traits between taxa. Our results further predict a decrease in the number of species that increase their occupancy after harvest under the most severe climatic scenario for both taxa. We anticipate that under severe climate change, increasing forest disturbance will be detrimental to beetles associated with old forests but also with young forests after disturbances.

Predicting the current and future distributions of Pinus merkusii in Southeast Asia under climate change

“…The model we presented here is a habitat suitability model based on the environmental variables. We are aware of other possibilities that can affect species distribution such as anthropogenic activities that greatly affect species distribution (Antúnez et al 2018;Bouderbala et al 2023) considering that P. merkusii is one of the commodities that is used economically (Lukmandaru et al 2020). So, it is necessary to make conservation efforts in the face of climate change.…”

The 2023 wildfire season in Québec: an overview of extreme conditions, impacts, lessons learned and considerations for the future

“…In addition to these drawbacks, a rapid anthropogenic conversion of boreal landscapes would have tremendously deleterious impacts on a myriad of species associated with conifer forest covers (Tremblay et al 2018; Labadie et al 2023), species that are also typically vulnerable to logging (Imbeau et al 2001; Venier et al 2014; Leblond et al 2022) and climate change (Bouderbala et al 2023). Rapid conversion of forest landscapes could also significantly alter the livelihoods, cultures, and identities of First Nations who are closely tied to the land (Belisle et al 2022).…”

Assessing the Cumulative Impacts of Forest Management on Forest Age Structure Development and Woodland Caribou Habitat in Boreal Landscapes: A Case Study from Two Canadian Provinces

“…Ecosystem integrity refers to the ability of ecosystems to maintain key ecological processes, recover from disturbances and adapt to new conditions, given the prevailing environmental drivers and perturbations, and continue the natural processes of regeneration [1]. The circumpolar boreal forest Land 2024, 13, 6 2 of 17 biome has now been subject to a long history of management for wood production, and an important focus of research has been the cumulative environmental impacts of logging on water [2], biodiversity [3][4][5], understory vegetation and coarse woody debris [6], and forest landscapes' age structure [7].…”