Quantifying Early-Seral Forest Composition with Remote Sensing

Cooley, Rayma Anne; Wolter, Peter T.; Sturtevant, Brian R.

doi:10.14358/pers.82.11.853

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 48 publications

(79 reference statements)

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“…For example, retention harvesting activities produce disturbance patterns that vary in abundance, size, and distribution compared to natural disturbances (wind, fire, insects etc.). It follows that these ground-to-satellite calibration methods to quantify DCWM and BA could easily be applied to forests following natural disturbance events that are known to alter standing BA and generate substantial volumes of DCWM, including large wildfires (Cooley et al 2016), blow down (Woodall and Nagel 2007), and insect and disease outbreaks (MacLean and Ostaff 1989).…”

Section: Implications and Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying downed coarse woody material and residual forest basal area following retention harvesting in northeastern Minnesota using Landsat sensor data

2017

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Retention harvesting shows great promise for restoring and maintaining forest structural and compositional diversity. However, economical, comprehensive monitoring is needed to advance understanding of the effectiveness of these management strategies through time. We investigate multitemporal winter Landsat sensor data (capturing snow ground cover at 7.6 cm and 106.7 cm depths) as a tool for discriminating between and providing regional estimates of both residual forest basal area (BA) and downed coarse woody material (DCWM) volume following retention harvesting in Minnesota, USA. Measurements from 34 ground plots were used with Landsat predictor variables to estimate these two biophysical forest parameters. According to similar studies, results for DCWM volume estimation are considered adequate, with an R2adj = 0.54 and absolute RMSE (RMSEa) = 19.02 m3·ha−1. Residual forest BA estimates were similar: total BA R2adj = 0.55 (RMSEa = 1.85 m2·ha−1), hardwood BA R2adj = 0.67 (RMSEa = 1.23 m2·ha−1), and conifer BA R2adj = 0.52 (RMSEa = 0.94 m2·ha−1). Use of winter Landsat imagery was key to quantifying these important forest biophysical parameters — a tool that carries the potential to transform our understanding of the impact of human and natural disturbance regimes on northern forest ecosystems.

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Section: Implications and Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying downed coarse woody material and residual forest basal area following retention harvesting in northeastern Minnesota using Landsat sensor data

2017

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Burn severity and heterogeneity mediate avian response to wildfire in a hemiboreal forest

Zlonis

Walton

Sturtevant³

et al. 2019

Forest Ecology and Management

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Post-fire forest recovery at high latitudes: tree regeneration dominated by fire-adapted, early-seral species increases with latitude

Ruggirello,

Bustamante,

Rodriguez

et al. 2023

Annals of Forest Science

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Key message Above 40° N/S, increasing latitude is linked to greater post-fire tree regeneration. However, species dominance shifts from conifers to short-lived deciduous trees, which may negatively impact flora, fauna, and ecosystem services dependent on coniferous forests. These results were primarily driven by studies from North America, highlighting the need for more research that directly measures post-fire forest recovery in other high-latitude regions. Context As the size and frequency of wildfires increase across many regions, high-latitude forests may be at particular risk for decreases in regeneration and state shifts post-fire. Aims Through this systematic review, we sought to determine the general relationship between post-fire tree regeneration densities and latitude in forests above 40° N/S. We expected regeneration densities post-fire would decrease with increasing latitude, and that forest regeneration would be negatively impacted by high burn severities, forest management, harsh site conditions, and unprotected microsites. We also anticipated that light-demanding species with adaptations to fire would replace shade-tolerant species that lack such adaptations post-fire. Methods We conducted a literature search that returned over 4500 articles. We selected those that directly measured post-fire regeneration at or above 40° N/S and retained 93 articles for analysis. Fire characteristics, pre- and post-fire tree species compositions and regeneration densities, and regeneration predictors were then extracted from the retained articles. We fit linear mixed models to post-fire regeneration density with latitude and species traits as explanatory variables and also explored the significance and magnitude of predictors that informed post-fire tree species response. Results Contrary to our expectations, post-fire regeneration increased significantly with latitude. High burn severities and unprotected microsites had negative impacts on post-fire regeneration; higher elevations and more prolific pre- or post-fire reproduction were positively correlated with post-fire regeneration, while management of any type did not have an impact. Conclusion Although forests are regenerating after wildfires at the most extreme latitudes included in this study (above 55° N), regeneration is often limited to only a handful of genera: aspen (Populus) and birch (Betula), for example. Regeneration was less abundant at the lower range of our study area. Certain lower latitude forests that occupy marginal habitats are under increasing stress from drier, warmer conditions that are exacerbated by wildfires. Results were largely driven by studies from Canada and the USA and may not be applicable to all high-latitude forests.

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Quantifying Early-Seral Forest Composition with Remote Sensing

Cited by 4 publications

References 48 publications

Quantifying downed coarse woody material and residual forest basal area following retention harvesting in northeastern Minnesota using Landsat sensor data

Quantifying downed coarse woody material and residual forest basal area following retention harvesting in northeastern Minnesota using Landsat sensor data

Burn severity and heterogeneity mediate avian response to wildfire in a hemiboreal forest

Post-fire forest recovery at high latitudes: tree regeneration dominated by fire-adapted, early-seral species increases with latitude

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