Post‐settlement ecological changes in the forests of the Great Lakes National Parks

Abstract

Abstract. National parks of the United States seek to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of the United States, yet parks in the eastern and Midwestern United States were established after periods of human settlement and disturbance. In the Great Lakes region, fire and windfall originally dominated as disturbance agents, driving dynamics in prairies, savannas, and in many forested ecosystems. How ever, fire suppression over the last century has radically lengthened fire return intervals. Additionally, widespread logging, slash burning, mining, and agricultural settlement successively shifted the dominant forms of land use, greatly altering these forests. From 2008 to 2014, the National Park Service's Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Program surveyed vegetation in nine Great Lakes National Parks. We compared these surveys with data derived from the mid-to late-1800s Public Land Survey (PLS) to assess shifts in forest composition. Community composition has changed dramatically since the mid-19th cen tury. Preferred timber species (e.g., Pinus strobus and Tsuga canadensis) and fire-adapted species (e.g., Quercus macrocarpa and Pinus banksiana) have declined across the region, while aspen (Populus spp.) and/or maple (Acer spp.) have consistently increased. Ordinations reveal both these general trends and substantial divergence in composition within particular parks since the PLS. Past logging practices and mesification following fire suppression account for most general trends across the region, while local differences in edaphic conditions, ungulate herbivory, and disturbance regimes account for many park-to-park differences. Understanding how these factors, alone and in combination, have affected forests in these parks provides both a picture of regional forest dynamics and tools that improve our ability to manage these parks. Continuing to monitor forest vegetation in these parks will allow us to test our understanding of forest dynamics and to use these parks as the "land laboratories" that Leopold envisioned.

Imprints of management history on hemiboreal forest ecosystems in the Baltic States

“…Ordination of species composition can reveal human impacts (Paulson et al. ). The management influence (or naturalness) is one possible ordination factor mentioned by several authors (Curtis , Frey , Lõhmus , Cottam et al.…”

Are U.S. national parks in the Upper Midwest acting as refugia? Inside vs. outside park disturbance regimes

“…Paulson et al. (, this issue) documented the shift in forest community composition since the 19th century toward early‐successional species (aspen and maple) and declines in fire‐dependent species (jack pine, red pine, bur oak) and species present during the early 20th‐century cutover (white pine and hemlock). At ISRO, fire was the major disturbance agent between 1843 and 1900 when much of the forest was burned by mining companies to accommodate prospectors (Snyder and Janke ).…”

Ecological monitoring and evidence‐based decision‐making in America's National Parks: highlights of the Special Feature

“…The NPS is entrusted with stewarding a rather astounding array of natural resources, that, as reflected here, often span very broad geographic (e.g., Miller et al 2016, Rodhouse et al 2016) and temporal scales (e.g., Ketz et al 2016, Paulsen et al 2016, Roland et al 2016, and multiple levels of ecological complexity (e.g., Coletti et al 2016, Fakhraei et al 2016. The NPS is entrusted with stewarding a rather astounding array of natural resources, that, as reflected here, often span very broad geographic (e.g., Miller et al 2016, Rodhouse et al 2016) and temporal scales (e.g., Ketz et al 2016, Paulsen et al 2016, Roland et al 2016, and multiple levels of ecological complexity (e.g., Coletti et al 2016, Fakhraei et al 2016.…”

“…Miller et al (2016) showed that parks in the eastern United States provide significantly older forest structure and different demographic rates than forests outside of parks. Also in the Great Lakes region, Paulsen et al (2016) provide a long view comparing contemporary forest species composition patterns in parks with those recorded during 19th-century public land surveys. Also in the Great Lakes region, Paulsen et al (2016) provide a long view comparing contemporary forest species composition patterns in parks with those recorded during 19th-century public land surveys.…”

“…Similarly, Kirschbaum et al (2016) used remote sensing techniques to reveal nuances about disturbance processes in forested parks and adjacent landscapes in the Great Lakes region and Upper Mississippi Valley. Also in the Great Lakes region, Paulsen et al (2016) provide a long view comparing contemporary forest species composition patterns in parks with those recorded during 19th-century public land surveys. This study not only provides a perspective on historic land-use impacts across the entire region, it also establishes the long-lasting legacy of these land-use impacts still affecting contemporary park ecosystems and constraining management options for these systems.…”