Recovery of late-seral vascular plants in a chronosequence of post-clearcut forest stands in coastal Nova Scotia, Canada

Moola, Faisal; Vasseur, Liette

doi:10.1023/b:vege.0000026326.09137.06

Cited by 83 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…We subsequently deleted five of the congeners based on expert recommendations. The following 20 late-seral indicators were identified: Achlys triphylla, Adenocaulon bicolor, Chimaphila menziesii, Chimaphila umbellata, Clintonia uniflora, Coptis laciniata, Corallorhiza maculata, Corallorhiza menziesii, Corallorhiza striata, Goodyera oblongifolia, Linnaea borealis, Listera cordata, Listera caurina, Osmorhiza berteroi, Phlox adsurgens, Pyrola asarifolia, Pyrola picta, Smilacina racemosa, Smilacina stellata, and Trillium ovatum (31,(53)(54)(55)(56)(57). We calculated the relative percent of cover by these late-seral indicator species for each plot.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Transitional forests (1,200-1,500 m above sea level) are dominated by white fir, and upper montane to subalpine forests (1,500-2,200 m above sea level) are dominated by red fir (Abies magnifica) and mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana). Typical understory herbs include many genera shared with Pacific Northwestern and even northeastern US forests (25,31,(55)(56)(57).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological contingency in the effects of climatic warming on forest herb communities

Harrison

Damschen

Grace

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Downscaling from the predictions of general climate models is critical to current strategies for mitigating species loss caused by climate change. A key impediment to this downscaling is that we lack a fully developed understanding of how variation in physical, biological, or land-use characteristics mediates the effects of climate change on ecological communities within regions. We analyzed change in understory herb communities over a 60-y period (1949/1951-2007/ 2009) in a complex montane landscape (the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon) where mean temperatures have increased 2°C since 1948, similar to projections for other terrestrial communities. Our 185 sites included primary and secondary-growth lower montane forests (500-1.200 m above sea level) and primary upper montane to subalpine forests (1,500-2,100 m above sea level). In lower montane forests, regardless of land-use history, we found multiple herbcommunity changes consistent with an effectively drier climate, including lower mean specific leaf area, lower relative cover by species of northern biogeographic affinity, and greater compositional resemblance to communities in southerly topographic positions. At higher elevations we found qualitatively different and more modest changes, including increases in herbs of northern biogeographic affinity and in forest canopy cover. Our results provide communitylevel validation of predicted nonlinearities in climate change effects.climate change | elevation | land use | plant community | topography U pward and poleward shifts of species and vegetation zones are expected under climatic warming, and considerable evidence has been found in support of these broad predictions (1-5). However, large differences among communities in the magnitude, rate, and direction of responses to climatic warming are also expected, based on factors such as topography and substrate, landuse history, and community-level variation in species functional traits (e.g., 6, 7-10). Anticipating ecological contingency in responses to climate change is especially critical for managers of natural resources, who are well aware of the potential for major nonlinearities ("surprises") in community change and of the particular difficulty of making predictions for physically and biotically complex landscapes (e.g., 11-13). Our ability to test and refine predictions about contingent changes over time is limited by the scarcity of both appropriate data sets and metrics for comparisons across ecological communities.One of the earliest and best-known expectations about contingency is that climate change effects should be most pronounced at high elevations where plant growth is most strongly limited by temperature (14), specifically by the length of the snow-free growing season. This expectation is based on studies in the alpine and nival zones of the European Alps and elsewhere, where warming temperatures have been observed to lead to increases in plant productivity and species richness, although with losses of high-elevation specialist species, presumably as ...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological contingency in the effects of climatic warming on forest herb communities

Harrison

Damschen

Grace

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The results are contradictory, ranging from no differences (Moola & Vasseur 2004, Kern et al 2006, He & Barclay 2000, Berger & Puettmann 2000, Thomas et al 2001, to di versity going significantly higher (Lindgren et al 2006, Decocq et al 2004, Bailey et al 1998, Thysell & Carey 2000, Battles et al 2001, or lower (Thomas et al 1999, Jobidon et al 2004, Hansen et al 1991, Elliott et al 1997) following canopy thinning. Jobidon et al (2004) investigated the influence of thin ning and found that large increases in hard wood productivity occurred at the expense of species richness and diversity of the under story stratum, which could not be explained by variability in canopy light.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Long-term outcome of precommercial thinning on floristic diversity in north western New Brunswick, Canada

Cole¹,

Newmaster²,

Lanteigne³

et al. 2008

iForest

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The Green River spacing trials were established between 1959 and 1961 to study the long-term growth and development of balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) and red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) in response to precommercial thinning (PCT). Three nominal spacings (1.2 m, 1.8 m, 2.4 m) and an unthinned control were applied in a randomized complete block design with 5 replicates to regenerating stands, an average of 8 years after harvest. Our study examines floristic diversity associated with these treatments approximately four decades later. Floristic diversity was assessed with several alpha diversity indices as well as multivariate analysis to compare community composition. Specific a-priori contrasts compared plant diversity among a) control and average of the wider spacings (1.8 m and 2.4 m), b) control and the narrowest spacing (1.2 m), and c) the narrowest spacing and the widest spacing. Our results indicate that there were no appreciable differences among the treatments across all measures of plant diversity investigated. As such, we conclude that the forest understory, as represented by the unthinned plots, was analogous in the thinned plots at time of stand maturity. Vegetation response to PCT treatments is inconsistent in the published literature, but this can be attributed to differences in thinning intensities, recovery age or the type of forest ecosystem studied. We conclude that PCT is a variable silvicultural tool that could be used to attain both economic productivity and biodiversity conservation goals

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“…In age class 5, high abundance of moss resulted in lower ground exposure. Moola and Vasseur (2004) reported from Nova Scotia, Canada a three-fold increase in ground vegetation cover in 6-year old clearcuts compared to late successional stands. Following harvesting, increased light availability stimulates streamside vegetation (Jackson et al 2007), resulting in lower ground exposure, which is in line with our findings of higher canopy and lower ground exposure in the early stage of headwater system recovery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomorphic changes of headwater systems 3–23 years after forest harvesting by clearcutting

et al. 2011

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Abstract. Forest harvesting directly affects headwater systems, causing changes in catchment hydrology and riparian habitats. We investigated geomorphological impacts of clearcut harvesting on headwater systems and their recovery in the boreal mixedwood forests of northwestern Ontario, Canada. We studied 30 headwater streams (width ,3 m), 24 in previously clearcut sites and six in undisturbed mature forests as reference. Each sampled stream had two segments, i ) in clearcut 10 m away from the cut edge and ii ) in riparian buffer of the larger stream to which it flows. Using MANOVA and discriminant function analysis, we examined harvesting impacts on stream width, depth, number of stream channels, riparian width, ground exposure, canopy exposure and organic matter depths as disturbance index in clearcut chronosequence and reference forest. Among all these factors we found canopy exposure contributed most to the observed harvesting impacts, which remained significantly high up to 15 years after clearcutting compared to the reference forest. Stream width and number of stream channels were also significantly high in clearcut sites for up to three years after harvesting but the differences tapered within 10 years. Streams were shallower in recently harvested sites, a difference that remained detectable even 23 years after clearcutting. General impacts of harvesting adjacent to headwater streams and their riparian zones were detectable at least until 15 years after harvesting. Although it is likely that harvest related biophysical damage in the headwater systems have negative effects on the aquatic ecosystems of the larger streams no study in the boreal forests has yet evaluated this direct link. We argue that although protecting all small streams and their headwater system by buffers is not possible, biophysical damage during harvesting can be avoided by complying with guidelines that forbid harvesting equipments near waters edge and retaining residual vegetation along small streams.

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Recovery of late-seral vascular plants in a chronosequence of post-clearcut forest stands in coastal Nova Scotia, Canada

Cited by 83 publications

References 38 publications

Ecological contingency in the effects of climatic warming on forest herb communities

Ecological contingency in the effects of climatic warming on forest herb communities

Long-term outcome of precommercial thinning on floristic diversity in north western New Brunswick, Canada

Geomorphic changes of headwater systems 3–23 years after forest harvesting by clearcutting

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