Past-century decline in forest regeneration potential across a latitudinal and elevational gradient in Canada

Erickson, Adam; Nitschke, Craig R.; Coops, Nicholas C.; Cumming, Steven G.; Stenhouse, Gordon B.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.06.027

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 62 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…So far, there is no definitive knowledge concerning the effects of post-disturbance management, including both wood logging and tree planting on development as well as on the properties of the consecutive forests, especially from a long-term perspective. We believe that post-disturbance management should be related not only to natural conditions (e.g., forest regeneration potential [33,34]), but mainly to specific demands of local people for forest roles-especially if considering protected versus commercial forests [35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Regeneration Patterns Differ Considerably between Sites with and without Windthrow Wood Logging in the High Tatra Mountains

Konôpka

Šebeň

Merganičová

2021

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Our research focused on the impact of post-disturbance management on the subsequent forest stands in the territory of the High Tatra Mts. situated in the northern part of Slovakia. The field work was carried out within the post-disturbance area in 2019, i.e., 15 years after the windstorm. In total, we used data from 80 monitoring plots (MP): 40 plots situated inside the managed part and 40 in the unmanaged areas. Post-disturbance management specifically consisted of logging of wind-thrown wood; therefore, the main difference between the two areas (salvaged versus unsalvaged) was the amount of coarse woody debris (CWD) left on site. We focused on the characteristics of newly regenerated forest stands: the number of trees and tree species per MP, tree height and browsing (mostly by red deer, Cervus elaphus) were recorded as was their growth substrate, i.e., soil or CWD. Higher tree densities, larger trees as well as higher tree species richness were found at salvaged plots. In addition, more evident dominance of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L) Karst.) was recorded at unsalvaged plots. Common rowans (Sorbus aucuparia L.) were frequent at both plot types. Birch trees (Betula sp.) were very frequent at salvaged plots, while only a few birch individuals were recorded at unsalvaged ones. The proportion of trees growing on CWD was 15% at unsalvaged and 3% at salvaged plots. Trees growing on the soil contained nearly double the aboveground biomass than those on CWD. Red deer browsing was approximately two times more frequent at salvaged than unsalvaged plots. While rowan was extremely prone to browsing, spruce was damaged negligibly. These main findings could have two contradictory conclusions, the positive one being that differentiated post-disturbance management within a certain area can combine both forestry and nature conservation interests. Moreover, it can generate parallel forests with different properties that might positively influence the future stability of forest ecosystems as a whole. The negative side might be that contrasting post-disturbance management can cause an uneven distribution of red deer population and intensive browsing in areas favourable for game.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Regeneration Patterns Differ Considerably between Sites with and without Windthrow Wood Logging in the High Tatra Mountains

Konôpka

Šebeň

Merganičová

2021

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The southern range limit of white spruce in western Canada is believed to be controlled by the effects of moisture limitation on regeneration success (Hogg and Schwarz 1997). Future increase in temperatures will produce greater water deficits in this region and have the potential to affect the regional occurrence of this widely distributed species (Erickson et al 2015). These inferences, however, are largely based on ecophysiological modeling and data from planted spruce in farmyards and other cleared areas (Hogg 1994, Erickson et al 2015), and do not account for the effects of competition in forested environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Future increase in temperatures will produce greater water deficits in this region and have the potential to affect the regional occurrence of this widely distributed species (Erickson et al 2015). These inferences, however, are largely based on ecophysiological modeling and data from planted spruce in farmyards and other cleared areas (Hogg 1994, Erickson et al 2015), and do not account for the effects of competition in forested environments. Our results show that competition from neighboring plants can negatively affect the performance of white spruce seedlings during summer drought.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boreal conifer seedling responses to experimental competition removal during summer drought

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The southern range limit of white spruce (Picea glauca) in western Canada is believed to arise from effects of moisture limitation on seedling recruitment. Within stands near white spruce’s range limit, the adverse effects of water limitation on seedling growth and survival may be compounded by competition from neighboring understory plants and trees. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a competition removal experiment on white spruce seedlings in the Cypress Hills, an isolated forest landscape within the Canadian Prairies. We measured the height and diameter at root collar of 371 natural seedlings, and then we manually cleared all vegetation within a 75‐cm radius of 83 seedlings to remove local competition from neighboring plants. In addition to removal of neighboring plants, we excavated a 75‐cm radius trench around another 46 of these seedlings to remove competition for belowground resources. We took hemispherical photographs above each seedling to calculate canopy openness (a proxy for light availability) and re‐measured height and diameter over two years to calculate pre‐ and post‐treatment growth. There was a pronounced difference in precipitation between the two years of our experiment, with spring–summer precipitation 58% higher than average in the pre‐treatment year and 62% lower than average in the post‐treatment year. The diameter growth and survival of seedlings growing without competition showed smaller decreases in the dry post‐treatment year than control seedlings. Removing competition by trenching increased the height growth of seedlings located under an open canopy, but not of those growing under heavy shade. These interactions suggest that white spruce regeneration in water‐limited areas is sensitive to both light availability and local competition. Competition exacerbated drought effects on seedlings, which suggests that frequent droughts could have greater negative impacts on boreal tree seedlings that are growing under a closed canopy.

show abstract

“…The importance of fire ecology [7], structural complexity [8], trophic interactions [9], and their relation to climate, soil, and ecosystem functioning was soon uncovered. Research on climate impacts on regeneration [10,11] further showed that species compositional changes are likely under current climate trajectories, requiring proactive strategies to sustain yields from extant forests.…”

Section: A Brief History Of Forest Ecosystem Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Forest Model Intercomparison Framework and Application at Two Temperate Forests Along the East Coast of the United States

Erickson

Strigul

2019

Forests

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

State-of-the-art forest models are often complex, analytically intractable, and computationally expensive, due to the explicit representation of detailed biogeochemical and ecological processes. Different models often produce distinct results while predictions from the same model vary with parameter values. In this project, we developed a rigorous quantitative approach for conducting model intercomparisons and assessing model performance. We have applied our original methodology to compare two forest biogeochemistry models, the Perfect Plasticity Approximation with Simple Biogeochemistry (PPA-SiBGC) and Landscape Disturbance and Succession with Net Ecosystem Carbon and Nitrogen (LANDIS-II NECN). We simulated past-decade conditions at flux tower sites located within Harvard Forest, MA, USA (HF-EMS) and Jones Ecological Research Center, GA, USA (JERC-RD). We mined field data available from both sites to perform model parameterization, validation, and intercomparison. We assessed model performance using the following time-series metrics: Net ecosystem exchange, aboveground net primary production, aboveground biomass, C, and N, belowground biomass, C, and N, soil respiration, and species total biomass and relative abundance. We also assessed static observations of soil organic C and N, and concluded with an assessment of general model usability, performance, and transferability. Despite substantial differences in design, both models achieved good accuracy across the range of pool metrics. While LANDIS-II NECN showed better fidelity to interannual NEE fluxes, PPA-SiBGC indicated better overall performance for both sites across the 11 temporal and two static metrics tested (HF-EMS R 2 ¯ = 0.73 , + 0.07 , R M S E ¯ = 4.68 , − 9.96 ; JERC-RD R 2 ¯ = 0.73 , + 0.01 , R M S E ¯ = 2.18 , − 1.64 ). To facilitate further testing of forest models at the two sites, we provide pre-processed datasets and original software written in the R language of statistical computing. In addition to model intercomparisons, our approach may be employed to test modifications to forest models and their sensitivity to different parameterizations.

show abstract

Past-century decline in forest regeneration potential across a latitudinal and elevational gradient in Canada

Cited by 10 publications

References 62 publications

Forest Regeneration Patterns Differ Considerably between Sites with and without Windthrow Wood Logging in the High Tatra Mountains

Forest Regeneration Patterns Differ Considerably between Sites with and without Windthrow Wood Logging in the High Tatra Mountains

Boreal conifer seedling responses to experimental competition removal during summer drought

A Forest Model Intercomparison Framework and Application at Two Temperate Forests Along the East Coast of the United States

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About