Simulated effects of forest management alternatives on landscape structure and habitat suitability in the Midwestern United States

Abstract

Understanding the cumulative effects and resource trade-offs associated with forest management requires the ability to predict, analyze, and communicate information about how forest landscapes (1000s to >100,000 ha in extent) respond to silviculture and other disturbances. We applied a spatially explicit landscape simulation model, LANDIS, and compared the outcomes of seven forest management alternatives including intensive and extensive even-aged and uneven-aged management, singly and in combination, as well as no harvest. We also simulated concomitant effects of wildfire and windthrow. We compared outcomes in terms of spatial patterns of forest vegetation by age/size class, edge density, core area, volume of coarse wood debris, timber harvest, standing crop, and tree species composition over a 200-year simulation horizon. We also used habitat suitability models to assess habitat quality for four species with diverse habitat requirements: ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla), prairie warbler (Dendroica discolor), hooded warbler (Wilsonia citrina), and gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Management alternatives with similar levels of disturbance had similar landscape composition but different landscape patterns. The no-harvest scenario resulted in a tree size class distribution that was similar to scenarios that harvested 5% of the landscape per decade; this suggests that gap phase replacement of senescent trees in combination with wind and fire disturbance may produce a disturbance regime similar to that associated with a 200-year timber rotation. Greater harvest levels (10% per decade) resulted in more uniform structure of small or large patches, for uneven-or even-aged management, respectively, than lesser levels of harvest (5% or no harvest); apparently reducing the effects of natural disturbances. Consequently, the even-aged management at the 10% level had the greatest core area and least amount of edge. Habitat suitability was greater, on average, for species dependent on characteristics of mature forests (ovenbird, gray squirrel) than those dependent on disturbance (prairie warbler, hooded warbler) and habitat suitability for disturbance dependent species was more sensitive to the management alternatives. The approach was data-rich and provided opportunities to contrast the large-scale, long-term consequences for management practices from many different perspectives. Crown

Relating landscape structure, environment and management to biodiversity indicators estimated from forest inventory data in Catalonia (NE Spain)

“…However, the effect of management on biodiversity patterns at the landscape scale has been comparatively less analysed as a factor also promoting heterogeneity. Shifley et al (2006) simulated the effects of management on landscape structure in the Midwestern United States, concluding that management alternatives with similar levels of disturbances produced similar landscape composition but different landscape pattern, with potential relevant implications for the associated forest biodiversity. Gustafson et al (2007) also remarked the important effect of management on landscape structure, as evaluated through certain landscape configuration metrics.…”

“…Gustafson et al (2007) also remarked the important effect of management on landscape structure, as evaluated through certain landscape configuration metrics. This kind of analyses and approaches can benefit a more comprehensive forest planning by deepening the understanding of the effect of silvicultural alternatives on biodiversity at broader scales (Rescia et al, 1994;Shifley et al, 2006;. Likewise, they could be useful as additional information to interpret the state and trends in biodiversity conservation in a certain forested region (Lindenmayer et al, 2000), considering these relationships between management and biodiversity indicators at large scales.…”

Forest landscape ecology and global change: an introduction

“…The effect of management-caused changes in structure on landscape functioning has been addressed through modeling and simulation for wildlife habitat suitability (Hansen et al 1992, Larson et al 2004, H.B. Li et al 2000, Shifley et al 2006, plant succession and disturbance (He et al 2002, Kurz et al 2000, metapopulation dynamics (Akcakaya et al 2004), and hydrological processes (Azevedo et al 2005).…”

An innovative computer design for modeling forest landscape change in very large spatial extents with fine resolutions

“…There were five species groups tracked in the simulations: white oak (assembly of white oak and post oak), black oak (assembly of black oak and scarlet oak), shortleaf pine, sugar maple (assembly of red maple, sugar maple and associated mesic tree species), and a generic grass species on associated pastures and other open land. Life history attributes for each species group (Table 2) were parameterized in previous studies (Shifley et al, , 2006Shang et al, 2007;Yang et al, 2008).…”