Decline of Red Spruce in the Green Mountains of Vermont

Siccama, Thomas G.; Bliss, Margaret; Vogelmann, H. W.

doi:10.2307/2996256

Cited by 175 publications

(60 citation statements)

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“…Disturbance agents such as microburst windstorms, ice storms and pathogen or insect irruptions cause mortality and injury intermediate in magnitude between those caused by catastrophic large-scale disturbances and single tree mortality. Recent examples include the decline of red spruce in the upper elevation zone of the northern hardwood forest (Siccama et al 1982;Hamburg and Cogbill 1988;Battles and Fahey 1996), the severe ice storm of 1998 (Rhoads et al 2002), and microburst windstorms that occasionally knock down groups of canopy trees (Canham et al 2001). Vegetation responses to these disturbances are qualitatively and quantitatively different from large-scale catastrophic disturbances.…”

Section: Disturbance and Carbon Dynamics In The Shifting-mosaic Steamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biogeochemistry of Carbon at Hubbard Brook

et al. 2005

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Abstract. The biogeochemical behavior of carbon in the forested watersheds of the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) was analyzed in long-term studies. The largest pools of C in the reference watershed (W6) reside in mineral soil organic matter (43% of total ecosystem C) and living biomass (40.5%), with the remainder in surface detritus (14.5%). Repeated sampling indicated that none of these pools was changing significantly in the late-1990s, although high spatial variability precluded the detection of small changes in the soil organic matter pools, which are large; hence, net ecosystem productivity (NEP) in this 2nd growth forest was near zero (± about 20 g C/m 2 -yr) and probably similar in magnitude to fluvial export of organic C. Aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) of the forest declined by 24% between the late-1950s (462 g C/m 2 -yr) and the late-1990s (354 g C/m 2 -yr), illustrating age-related decline in forest NPP, effects of multiple stresses and unusual tree mortality, or both. Application of the simulation model PnET-II predicted 14% higher ANPP than was observed for 1996-1997, probably reflecting some unknown stresses. Fine litterfall flux (171 g C/m 2 -yr) has not changed much since the late-1960s. Because of high annual variation, C flux in woody litterfall (including tree mortality) was not tightly constrained but averaged about 90 g C/m 2 -yr. Carbon flux to soil organic matter in root turnover (128 g C/m 2 -yr) was only about half as large as aboveground detritus. Balancing the soil C budget requires that large amounts of C (80 g C/m 2 -yr) were transported from roots to rhizosphere carbon flux. Total soil respiration (TSR) ranged from 540 to 800 g C/m 2 -yr across eight stands and decreased with increasing elevation within the northern hardwood forest near W6. The watershedwide TSR was estimated as 660 g C/m 2 -yr. Empirical measurements indicated that 58% of TSR occurred in the surface organic horizons and that root respiration comprised about 40% of TSR, most of the rest being microbial. Carbon flux directly associated with other heterotrophs in the HBEF was minor; for example, we estimated respiration of soil microarthropods, rodents, birds and moose at about 3, 5, 1 and 0.8 g C/m 2 -yr, respectively, or in total less than 2% of NPP. Hence, the effects of other heterotrophs on C flux were primarily indirect, with the exception of occasional 2 -yr) were small, larger quantities of C were transported within the ecosystem and a more substantial fraction of dissolved C was transported from the soil as inorganic C and evaded from the stream as CO 2 (4.0 g C/m 2 -yr). Carbon pools and fluxes change rapidly in response to catastrophic disturbances such as forest harvest or major windthrow events. These changes are dominated by living vegetation and dead wood pools, including roots. If biomass removal does not accompany large-scale disturbance, the ecosystem is a large net source of C to the atmosphere (500-1200 g C/m 2 -yr) for about a decade following disturbance and becomes a net si...

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Section: Disturbance and Carbon Dynamics In The Shifting-mosaic Steamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biogeochemistry of Carbon at Hubbard Brook

et al. 2005

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“…Clearcutting of spruce-fir and mixedwood stands during the last 200 years eliminated advance regeneration, favoured shade-intolerant competitive species and removed seed sources. This resulted in a drastic reduction in the amount of red spruce in its natural range (Frank and Blum 1978, Pielke 1981, Siccama et al 1982, Scott et al 1984, Gordon 1994, Smith and Nicholas 1999, Fortin et al 2003a, Loo and Ives 2003, Schwarz et al 2003. Exceptionally, in the eastern part of Nova Scotia, red spruce regenerates successfully in clearcuts.…”

Section: Clearcuttingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management for red spruce conservation in Québec: The importance of some physiological and ecological characteristics – A review

Dumais¹,

Prévost²

2007

The Forestry Chronicle

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The physiological and ecological characteristics of red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) are reviewed and integrated into ecosystem management options. Red spruce is a shade-tolerant, late-successional conifer species found in the temperate forests of northeastern North America. Its wood, being of excellent quality, is prized by the forest industry. Unfortunately, this high-value species has been in decline throughout its entire range for the past 50 years. At high elevations, in northeastern United States, crown dieback caused by the combined effect of atmospheric pollution and climate is largely responsible of this decline. In other areas, such as Québec (Canada), the scarcity of red spruce is mainly caused by forest management practices that are poorly adapted to the species' ecophysiology. Many physiological studies have shown that the species is sensitive to full sunlight (at juvenile and advance growth stages), high temperatures and frost. It also has particular microsite requirements for seed germination and early seedling establishment, such as the presence of large decaying woody debris. Hence, a management strategy adapted for red spruce should favour the use of partial cutting, maintaining some overstory and dead wood. This will emulate the natural dynamics of small canopy gaps and minimize the physiological stresses to regeneration. The ecophysiological aspects of natural and artificial regeneration of red spruce should be examined with respect to the increased use of partial cutting techniques.Keys words: advance regeneration, balsam fir (Abies balsamea L.), ecophysiology, ecosystem management, frost susceptibility, light response, microenvironment, red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.), seedling establishment, shade tolerance, silvicultural systems, thermosensitivity RÉSUMÉ Les caractéristiques physiologiques et écologiques de l'épinette rouge (Picea rubens Sarg.) sont révisées et intégrées dans des options d'aménagement écosystémique. L'épinette rouge est un conifère tolérant à l'ombre et de fin de succession que l'on retrouve dans les forêts tempérées du nord-est de l'Amérique du Nord. Son bois, d'excellente qualité, est recherché par l'industrie forestière. Depuis 50 ans, cette essence de grande valeur a malheureusement connu un déclin sur l'ensemble de son aire de répartition. En haute altitude, dans le nord-est des États-Unis, le dépérissement de la cime causé par l'effet combiné de la pollution atmosphérique et du climat est en grande partie responsable de ce déclin. En d'autres endroits, comme au Québec (Canada), la raréfaction de l'épinette rouge est surtout attribuable à des pratiques d'aménagement forestier peu adaptées à son écophysiologie. Plusieurs études physiologiques ont montré que cette espèce est sensible à la pleine lumière (aux stades juvénile et de régénération préétablie), aux températures élevées et au gel. Elle requiert aussi des microsites particuliers, comme les gros débris ligneux en décomposition, pour la germination des graines et l'établissement initial des semis. Ainsi, ...

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“…In northeastern North America, montane forests exhibit distinct elevational zonation, with species' elevational ranges analogous to latitudinal range limits (22)(23)(24). The transition from northern hardwoods at lower elevations to boreal forest at upper elevations occurs across a narrow elevational zone [northern hardwood-boreal ecotone (NBE)], where there is a near-complete turnover from northern hardwoods [99.2% of the current basal area below 730 m above sea level (a.s.l.)]…”

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confidence: 99%

A rapid upward shift of a forest ecotone during 40 years of warming in the Green Mountains of Vermont

Beckage

Osborne

Gavin

et al. 2008

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

407

325

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Detecting latitudinal range shifts of forest trees in response to recent climate change is difficult because of slow demographic rates and limited dispersal but may be facilitated by spatially compressed climatic zones along elevation gradients in montane environments. We resurveyed forest plots established in 1964 along elevation transects in the Green Mountains (Vermont) to examine whether a shift had occurred in the location of the northern hardwood-boreal forest ecotone (NBE) from 1964 to 2004. We found a 19% increase in dominance of northern hardwoods from 70% in 1964 to 89% in 2004 in the lower half of the NBE. This shift was driven by a decrease (up to 76%) in boreal and increase (up to 16%) in northern hardwood basal area within the lower portions of the ecotone. We used aerial photographs and satellite imagery to estimate a 91-to 119-m upslope shift in the upper limits of the NBE from 1962 to 2005. The upward shift is consistent with regional climatic change during the same period; interpolating climate data to the NBE showed a 1.1°C increase in annual temperature, which would predict a 208-m upslope movement of the ecotone, along with a 34% increase in precipitation. The rapid upward movement of the NBE indicates little inertia to climatically induced range shifts in montane forests; the upslope shift may have been accelerated by high turnover in canopy trees that provided opportunities for ingrowth of lower elevation species. Our results indicate that high-elevation forests may be jeopardized by climate change sooner than anticipated.climate change ͉ range shift G lobal climate is currently warming at an unprecedented rate with potentially profound and widespread effects on the distributions of ecological communities. Mean global temperature rose by 0.6°C over the past century, the rate of warming since 1976 has been greater than any other period during the last 1,000 years, and the decade 1990-1999 was the hottest in recorded history (1, 2). Recent climate change has been driven primarily by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), and warming is likely to continue at the same or an accelerated rate for the foreseeable future (3-6): global temperatures are predicted to rise by another 1.4-5.8°C by the year 2100 (7). Climate is an important determinant of species' ranges, and rising temperatures associated with GHG emissions are predicted to lead to species' migrations poleward or upward in elevation (8-10). Climate-linked range shifts have already been observed in some taxa (11,12). Although forest composition and geographic distributions of canopy trees are expected to shift with global warming, it is not clear what level of inertia, or time lag, forests will display to climatic forcing nor how strong the relationship will be between warming and tree line rise (13-15). Historical reconstructions and models of forest response to climate change suggest that the natural pace of tree recruitment and canopy turnover result in century-scale responses of ecotones to climate change, which could ma...

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Decline of Red Spruce in the Green Mountains of Vermont

Cited by 175 publications

References 5 publications

The Biogeochemistry of Carbon at Hubbard Brook

The Biogeochemistry of Carbon at Hubbard Brook

Management for red spruce conservation in Québec: The importance of some physiological and ecological characteristics – A review

A rapid upward shift of a forest ecotone during 40 years of warming in the Green Mountains of Vermont

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