The forests and woodlands of Labrador, Canada: ecology, distribution and future management

Abstract

Labrador, Canada is the last relatively undeveloped landmass of Boreal and subarctic Canada. Its land area is over 288,000 km 2 , with less than 1% developed, and a human population of below 30,000. Labrador is greater than 60% forest-and woodlandcovered and over 30% tundra, soil and rock barrens. We review the ecology and distribution of forests, woodlands, and related vegetation of Labrador within the context of climate, forest site index, landform, soils, and disturbance. Recent ecosystem management through a public planning process with emphasis on past and future comanagement and development with traditional and western scientific principles is currently underway. Plant-animal interactions, traditional uses by aboriginal groups, and early history are also reviewed.

Environmental Impact of Flooding in the Main (Smallwood) Reservoir of the Churchill Falls Power Plant, Labrador, Canada. I. Background and Descriptions of Flooded Conditions Related to Vegetation and Land Cover Types

“…Later a bio-physical land classification system (Lacate [18]) was applied to describe the occurrence of various vegetation types in the Lake Melville area (Bajzak [19,20]). This land classification system evolved into the Canadian "Ecological Land Classification" system (ELC) and became the framework for environmental impact analysis and in resource management planning especially in forestry (Bajzak and Roberts [21,22], Roberts et al [23][24][25] and Vanderveer [26]). Unpublished works of Bajzak, Bruneau, and Roberts for the Churchill Falls region (Newfoundland and Labrador Forest Management District 22) is currently being evaluated (Roberts and Deering [27]).…”

Characteristics and fate of isolated permafrost patches in coastal Labrador, Canada

“…1a). Regional vegetation cover in this ecozone is sparse forest-and-shrub-tundra on exposed outer coasts but includes dense Black Spruce, Tamarack and White Spruce forests in sheltered areas and farther inland (Roberts et al, 2006). Peat deposits and wetlands are present throughout the region with plateau string bogs clustered in the interior and raised bogs in the coastal zone (Foster et al, 1988;Foster and Glaser, 1986;Glaser, 1992).…”

“…Palsas and other periglacial features have been described at a reconnaissance level in early work and more recently (e.g. Brown, 1979Brown, , 1975Dionne, 1984;Dionne and Gérardin, 1988;Dionne and Richard, 2006;Hustich, 1939;Roberts et al, 2006), but systematic measurement or analysis of peatland permafrost has been undertaken only near Blanc Sablon (Dionne, 1984;Dionne and Richard, 2006). 25…”

“…Financial support for the research was provided by NSERC, the Northern Scientific Training Program, and peatland landforms mapped in various studies, and (b) surficial materials (Fulton, 1995). The inset map in (a) shows the study location in eastern Canada and the boundary 5 of the coastal barrens ecozone (Roberts et al, 2006) is shown as an orange line. Labrador Inuit lands and the proposed Mealy Mountains National Park are outlined in (b).…”

Multisensor NDVI-Based Monitoring of the Tundra-Taiga Interface (Mealy Mountains, Labrador, Canada)

“…The Mealy Mountains is part of the most southerly representation of the High Subarctic Tundra ecoregion [45]. A combination of factors such as low to moderate amounts of annual precipitation, a short growing season, cold temperatures throughout the year and acidic soils control this isolated portion of the ecoregion.…”