Succession and resilience in boreal mixedwood plant communities 15–16 years after silvicultural site preparation

Haeussler, Sybille; Bartemucci, Paula; Bedford, Lorne

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2004.05.052

Cited by 48 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In the young age class, we had expected responses relative to level of impact, ranging from untreated, through planted, to the more heavily treated stands that had also been scarified. Instead, we observed similarity among all treated stands for most variables, which was similar to results from other studies in boreal forests (Haeussler et al 2002(Haeussler et al , 2004Bell and Newmaster 2002). One purpose of scarification is to facilitate planting by reducing downed woody material and felling dangerous snags, and so we had expected volume of coarse woody material to differ between basic 1 and basic 2 stands.…”

Section: Stand Vegetationsupporting

confidence: 88%

Effects of post-harvest silviculture on use of boreal forest stands by amphibians and marten in Ontario

Thompson¹,

Baker²,

Jastrebski³

et al. 2008

The Forestry Chronicle

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Much of the southern boreal forest is composed of second-growth stands that have been subjected to a variety of silvicultural treatments ranging from cut and leave to scarification, planting, and tending with herbicides. We have limited understanding of the effects that these treatments may have on wildlife species, as a result of changes to forest structures and species composition. Forest amphibians, generally, and the American marten (Martes americana) are species for which there has been long-standing concern about the effects of forest management. We examined the long-term effects at stand and landscape scales of a range of silviculture intensities on these species by comparing the relative abundances of some amphibians and habitat use by marten in forests that were about 32 to 50 years old. American toads (Bufo americanus) appeared to be unaffected by long-term changes in habitat structure and composition owing to silvicultural techniques. We observed lower relative abundance of wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) in treated stands 20 to 30 years old than in all other stands including uncut old forests. However, abundance in treated stands more than 32 years old did not differ from untreated or uncut stands. This effect may have resulted from lower moisture levels in treated young stands. Marten seemed to positively respond to post-harvest planting and tending treatments, suggesting that basic silviculture provided habitat attributes, notably a higher conifer content, which was favourable to marten.Key words: post-harvest silviculture, marten, wood frog, American toad, herbicide, boreal, woody debris, Ontario RÉSUMÉLa majeure partie du sud de la forêt boréale est composée de peuplements de seconde venue qui ont connu plusieurs traitements sylvicoles allant de la coupe à blanc au scarifiage, suivi de plantation et entretien au moyen d'herbicides. Nous comprenons en partie les effets que ces traitements pourraient entraîner sur les espèces fauniques, suite à des modifications de la structure et de la composition des peuplements. Les amphibiens du milieu forestier, de façon générale, et la martre d' Amérique (Martes americana) constituent des espèces pour lesquelles des études ont été entreprises depuis longtemps sur les effets de l'aménagement forestier. Nous avons étudié les effets à long terme au niveau du peuplement et de l' écosystème de l'intensité des travaux sylvicoles sur ces espèces en comparant l'abondance relative de certains amphibiens et de l'habitat utilisé par la martre dans des peuplements âgés de 32 à 50 ans. Le crapaud d' Amérique (Bufo americanus) a semblé ne pas être affecté par les changements à long terme de la structure et de la composition de l'habitat suite aux travaux sylvicoles. Nous avons observé une abondance relative plus faible chez la grenouille des bois dans les peuplements traités de 20 à 30 ans par rapport aux autres peuplements incluant les vieilles forêts non exploitées. Cependant, l'abondance dans les peuplements de plus de 32 ans n' était pas différente de celle des peu...

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Section: Stand Vegetationsupporting

confidence: 88%

Effects of post-harvest silviculture on use of boreal forest stands by amphibians and marten in Ontario

Thompson¹,

Baker²,

Jastrebski³

et al. 2008

The Forestry Chronicle

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“…While short-term reductions in total vegetation cover are typically observed following herbicide treatments, several studies show that a single application of glyphosate in boreal spruce plantations can either increase or have no effect on plant community diversity [8][9][10][11][12][13]. However, these studies generally report decreases in woody cover and increases in herbaceous cover following herbicide treatments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these studies generally report decreases in woody cover and increases in herbaceous cover following herbicide treatments. This trend has generally been attributed to the initial reduction in abundance of the dominant competitive species, such as bluejoint reedgrass and trembling aspen [12,13], which provides the other species on site a period with low levels of competition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Community Diversity and Tree Growth Following Single and Repeated Glyphosate Herbicide Applications to a White Spruce Plantation

Comeau¹,

Fraser²

2018

Forests

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Glyphosate herbicide is widely used to control bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis (Michx.) Beauv.), trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), and other competing species in regenerating white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) plantations in Alberta, Canada. In 2004, we initiated a study to examine the effects of the aerial application of glyphosate herbicide on plant community diversity and tree growth near Calling Lake, Alberta. Four treatments were applied: (a) no treatment (control); (b) herbicide application in the first growing season after harvesting; (c) herbicide application in the third growing season after harvesting; and (d) herbicide application in the second and fourth growing seasons after harvesting (two treatments). After 11 growing seasons, species richness was not significantly affected by treatment, while Shannon and Simpson index values were highest in areas treated with herbicide in the first growing season. Herbicide treatment did not have a significant effect on the cover of bluejoint reedgrass after 11 growing seasons, but did significantly reduce trembling aspen and paper birch cover and height. Application of glyphosate in the second and fourth growing seasons resulted in the greatest reductions to aspen cover and height, as well as significant increases in spruce diameter at age 11. Simulations with the Mixedwood Growth Model indicate that all tested herbicide treatments will reduce aspen volume while increasing spruce volume at age 90, with the largest impacts evident where two treatments were applied.

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“…The greatest impact of these treatments is on the availability of dead organic matter-cavity trees, snags, coarse woody debris, and the organic horizon of the forest floor (Freedman et al 1993(Freedman et al , 1996-and minimizing intensive site preparation will help maintain coarse woody debris and thus biodiversity (Carey and Johnson 1995). Plant species diversity is not at all or somewhat positively affected by ploughing or tilling (Haeussler et al 2002(Haeussler et al , 2004, but moderate treatments may be necessary to prevent site colonization by ruderal plants (Soo et al 2009) and other early colonizers, many of which could be invaders.…”

Section: Stand-scale Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative or positive effects of plantation and intensive forestry on biodiversity: A matter of scale and perspective

Hartmann

Daoust²,

Bigué³

et al. 2010

The Forestry Chronicle

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Terrestrial biodiversity is closely linked to forest ecosystems but anthropogenic reductions in forest cover and changes in forest structure and composition jeopardize their biodiversity. Several forest species are threatened because of reduced habitat quality and fragmentation or even habitat loss as a result of forest management activities. In response to this threat, integrated forest management (IFM) was developed in the early 1990s and has been applied over large spatial scales ever since. While IFM seeks to satisfy both human resource demands and ecosystem integrity, the whole forest matrix is affected and this may also have negative impacts on biodiversity. The concept of forest zoning (e.g., Triad) avoids these issues by physically separating land uses from each other. The zoning approach has been developed in the same period as IFM, but there are still very few examples of large-scale applications. This may be because its distinctiveness from IFM may not always seem clear and because forest zoning is not easily implemented. Here we explain these differences and show that IFM and the zoning approach are indeed different management paradigms. We advocate the use of high-yield plantations within the zoning paradigm as a means for biodiversity conservation and review the literature (with an emphasis on the northern hemisphere and on plantation forestry within a land-zoning approach) on impacts of forest management activities on biodiversity. Furthermore, we give advice on issues that require consideration when implementing forest zoning at both the stand and the landscape levels. We recommend several small changes in design and management of forest plantations as a means to significantly increase their biodiversity value. We conclude that while forest zoning seems an adequate strategy for the Canadian forestry sector, a shift in paradigm must carry over to policy-makers and legislation if this approach is to succeed.Key words: biodiversity, landbase zoning, forest management, intensive silviculture, plantation forests RÉSUMÉ La biodiversité terrestre est étroitement liée aux écosystèmes forestiers, mais la réduction du couvert forestier par des activités humaines et des changements dans la structure et la composition forestière constituent une menace pour la biodiversité. Plusieurs espèces forestières sont menacées par la dégradation, la fragmentation ou même la perte totale de leur habitat occasionnées par l'aménagement forestier. Pour y remédier, l'aménagement intégré des ressources forestières (AIRF) a été développé et appliqué à grande échelle depuis le début des années 1990. Quoique l' AIRF vise à la fois à satisfaire la demande de produits et services forestiers et à protéger l'intégrité des écosystèmes forestiers, cette approche engendre une pénétration presque totale de la matrice forestière et pose ainsi des risques pour la biodiversité. Par contre, le zonage forestier (ex. Triade) vise à réduire la pénétration du territoire forestier par une séparation spatiale des objectifs d'aménagement....

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Succession and resilience in boreal mixedwood plant communities 15–16 years after silvicultural site preparation

Cited by 48 publications

References 35 publications

Effects of post-harvest silviculture on use of boreal forest stands by amphibians and marten in Ontario

Effects of post-harvest silviculture on use of boreal forest stands by amphibians and marten in Ontario

Plant Community Diversity and Tree Growth Following Single and Repeated Glyphosate Herbicide Applications to a White Spruce Plantation

Negative or positive effects of plantation and intensive forestry on biodiversity: A matter of scale and perspective

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