Impacts of summer versus winter logging on understory vegetation in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

Wolf, Amy; Parker, Linda; Fewless, Gary; Corio, Kathryn; Sundance, Juniper; Howe, Robert W.; Gentry, Heather

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2007.07.024

Cited by 31 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…For instance, road verges were by far the richest forestry artefact type: 12 plots held 63 species whereas all other forestry artefacts only reached 24 to 34 species for the same number of plots. This is consistent with Buckley et al (2003), Watkins et al (2003) and Wolf et al (2008) who found that overall species richness and species diversity were significantly higher on road sides than in the forest interior. However, the grid design showed that road verges were also one of the less frequently encountered artefact types in the forest (0.4% of the total area-four plots) compared to other artefacts, especially tractor ruts (3.2% of the total area-29 plots).…”

Section: Each Artefact Type Contributes Specifically To Forest Plant supporting

confidence: 90%

Contribution of forest management artefacts to plant diversity at a forest scale

Baltzinger¹,

Archaux²,

Gosselin³

et al. 2011

Annals of Forest Science

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& Introduction Most temperate forests are managed for wood production, and some forestry practices generate typical environmental features such as roads, paths, ditches and tractor ruts, which are likely to affect forest species distribution. & Methods We studied the influence of forestry artefacts on the overall forest-understory plant diversity in an ancient oak-dominated French forest with a long history of management. Two designs (grid design and paired design) were built in order to record the occurrence frequency of artefacts and to estimate the originality of the plant assemblage that they host. & Results We recorded 897 plots on the grid design: 68.3% of the plots were more than 4 m away from any artefact, 23.3% were within 4 m of an artefact and 8.4% were located on an artefact. The artefact contribution to total floristic richness would lie between 8.0% and 22.6%, depending on whether the artefact surroundings were included or not in the artefact contribution. Road verges were the least frequent artefacts but provided the richest contribution to overall plant diversity (82%), whereas paths were the poorest (with only a 42% contribution). Thirteen species appeared to prefer artefacts over control plots: six forest species, five non-forest species and two generalist species. & Discussion We show that forestry artefacts are key components of the floristic diversity in managed forests; therefore, forest management should take them into consideration.

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Section: Each Artefact Type Contributes Specifically To Forest Plant supporting

confidence: 90%

Contribution of forest management artefacts to plant diversity at a forest scale

Baltzinger¹,

Archaux²,

Gosselin³

et al. 2011

Annals of Forest Science

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“…Although we record higher mean species richness within the salvaged area, much of the difference is due to substantially higher frequencies of a few species common to both areas, including A. filix-femina, H. virginianum, L. canadensis, and species in the genera Poa, Solidago, and Viola. Extending the results of other studies of logging disturbance in the region, which show that increases in understory richness and cover are primarily due to the response of already common species (Crow et al, 2002;Wolf et al, 2008), we suggest that the impact of the combined disturbances of windthrow and logging on understory communities may not be very different than the impact of logging alone. Although undisturbed controls were not present in our study, others report much higher levels of plant community diversity in windthrown forest in comparison to adjacent, undisturbed forest (Palmer et al, 2000;Cooper-Ellis et al, 1999;Elliott et al, 2002;Rumbaitis del Rio, 2006).…”

Section: Salvage Logging Effects On Understory Response To Microtopogsupporting

confidence: 77%

Windthrow and salvage logging in an old-growth hemlock-northern hardwoods forest

Lang

Schulte

Guntenspergen

2009

Forest Ecology and Management

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Although the initial response to salvage (also known as, post-disturbance or sanitary) logging is known to vary among system components, little is known about longer term forest recovery. We examine forest overstory, understory, soil, and microtopographic response 25 years after a 1977 severe wind disturbance on the Flambeau River State Forest in Wisconsin, USA, a portion of which was salvage logged. Within this former old-growth hemlock-northern hardwoods forest, tree dominance has shifted from Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) to broad-leaf deciduous species (Ulmus americana, Acer saccharum, Tilia americana,Populus tremuloides, and Betula alleghaniensis) in both the salvaged and unsalvaged areas. While the biological legacies of pre-disturbance seedlings, saplings, and mature trees were initially more abundant in the unsalvaged area, regeneration through root suckers and stump sprouts was common in both areas. After 25 years, tree basal area, sapling density, shrub layer density, and seedling cover had converged between unsalvaged and salvaged areas. In contrast, understory herb communities differed between salvaged and unsalvaged forest, with salvaged forest containing significantly higher understory herb richness and cover, and greater dominance of species benefiting from disturbance, especially Solidago species. Soil bulk density, pH, organic carbon content, and organic nitrogen content were also significantly higher in the salvaged area. The structural legacy of tip-up microtopography remains more pronounced in the unsalvaged area, with significantly taller tip-up mounds and deeper pits. Mosses and some forest herbs, includingAthyrium filix-femina and Hydrophyllum virginianum, showed strong positive responses to this tip-up microrelief, highlighting the importance of these structural legacies for understory biodiversity. In sum, although the pathways of recovery differed, this forest appeared to be as resilient to the compound disturbances of windthrow plus salvage logging as to wind disturbance alone, by most vegetative measures.

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“…Presence or absence of these indicator species might be valuable for identifying areas of high regional conservation value. We chose healthy forest stands dominated by A. saccharum, a late-successional tree species, which is associated with a rich assemblage of understory plants and is economically important to the region for the production of timber and maple syrup (Kassulke and Esposito, 2005;Wolf et al, 2008). Sugar maple forests in northeastern Wisconsin might also be at greater risk than other forest types because the nitrogen and calcium rich leaves of sugar maples can sustain dense populations of earthworms (Walters and Reich, 1997;Bohlen et al, 2004;Reich et al, 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exotic earthworms of great lakes forests: A search for indicator plant species in maple forests

Corio

Wolf

Draney

et al. 2009

Forest Ecology and Management

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Impacts of summer versus winter logging on understory vegetation in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

Cited by 31 publications

References 20 publications

Contribution of forest management artefacts to plant diversity at a forest scale

Contribution of forest management artefacts to plant diversity at a forest scale

Windthrow and salvage logging in an old-growth hemlock-northern hardwoods forest

Exotic earthworms of great lakes forests: A search for indicator plant species in maple forests

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