Short-term effects of three commercial thinning treatments on diversity of understory vascular plants in white spruce plantations of northern New Brunswick

Haughian, Sean R.; Frego, Katherine A.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2016.03.055

Cited by 15 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…The partial harvesting of overstorey trees increases understorey light availability, thereby enhancing the abundance and diversity of vascular plants [33,128,131]; however, reducing the availability of soil moisture exerts a negative influence on non-vascular plants, which have a preference for moist environments [123]. In the meantime, partial harvesting alters the quality of the substrate, particularly the CWD inputs with varying decay classes and tree species [94,132].…”

Section: The Effects Of Forest Management Practices (Clearcutting Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Wang

Huang

et al. 2019

Forests

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Understorey vegetation comprises a major portion of plant diversity and contributes greatly to nutrient cycling and energy flow. This review examines the mechanisms involved in the response of understorey vegetation to stand development and the overstorey canopy following disturbances. The overall abundance and diversity of the understorey is enhanced with the availability and heterogeneity of light, soil nutrients, soil moisture, and substrates. Vascular plants are positively impacted by the availability and heterogeneity of light and soil nutrients, whereas non-vascular vegetation is more strongly influenced by colonization time, soil moisture, and substrates, and is decreased with a higher proportion of broadleaf overstorey. The availability of resources is a prominent driver toward the abundance and diversity of understorey vegetation, from the stand initiation to stem exclusion stage under a single-species dominated overstorey. However, resource heterogeneity dominates at the later stages of succession under a mixed overstorey. Climate and site conditions modify resource availability and heterogeneity in the understorey layer, but the extent of their influences requires more investigation. Forest management practices (clearcutting and partial harvesting) tend to increase light availability and heterogeneity, which facilitates the abundance and diversity of understorey vascular plants; however, these factors reduce the occurrence of non-vascular plants. Nevertheless, in the landscape context, anthropogenic disturbances homogenize environmental conditions and reduce beta-diversity, as well, the long-term effects of anthropogenic disturbances on understorey vegetation remain unclear, particularly compared with those in primary forests.

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Section: The Effects Of Forest Management Practices (Clearcutting Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Wang

Huang

et al. 2019

Forests

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“…New herb species start to appear in the forest less than 2 years after the forest's disturbance. The spreading of such species depends on the long-term persistent seed bank or efficient wind dispersal (Pykälä, 2004;Haughian and Frego, 2016). We considered that the spreading of disturbed habitat species was also stimulated by seed dispersal type, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initial impact of clear-cut logging on dynamics of understory vascular plants and pollinators in Scots pine-dominated forests in Lithuania

Česonienė¹,

Daubaras²,

Kaškonas³

et al. 2018

Turk J Agric For

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The development of understory plants and attendant changes of pollinators immediately after clear-cut logging were studied in boreal Scots pine forests. Experiments were carried out in Vacciniosa and Vaccinio-myrtillosa forest types. Considerable decline of the dwarf shrub layer confirmed the negative reaction of this dominated understory life form; however, the frequency dynamics of different vascular plants demonstrated species-specific response to changing environmental conditions. Because of rapid changes of light as well as damage of rhizomes by soil disturbances, the values of mean cover and frequency of the studied Ericaceae species decreased. We detected the most sensitive understory species to be Lycopodium annotinum, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, and Goodyera repens; consequently, their preservation is possible only under sustainable forest resources exploitation. On the other hand, arrival of new light-demanding species caused increased pollinator visitation to focal ericaceous shrubs.

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“…The effects of thinning on light and nutrient availability are highly dependent on the thinning intensity and the time after thinning. Much more attention has been paid to the effects of thinning intensity in previous studies [22,26,27]. However, the light availability (canopy openness) may obviously decrease over time after thinning due to the rapid growth of residual and regenerated trees or shrubs [28][29][30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal Effects of Thinning on the Leaf C:N:P Stoichiometry of Regenerated Broadleaved Trees in Larch Plantations

Xie

Yan

Yuan

et al. 2020

Forests

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The shift from natural mixed broadleaved forests to pure coniferous plantations results in soil degradation and the unsustainable development of plantations due to the simple stand structure and low species diversity. Thinning can practically sustain the forest structure and promote the regeneration and growth of broadleaved trees in these pure coniferous plantations. The growth of regenerated broadleaved trees is closely related to leaf ecological stoichiometry, which is strongly restricted by environmental factors such as light, soil moisture, and nutrients after thinning. However, the temporal effects of thinning on leaf C:N:P stoichiometry are still not well understood, which constrains our understanding of implementing thinning in coniferous plantations to promote the regeneration and growth of broadleaved species, and further forming the mixed larch-broadleaf forests. Here, we compared canopy openness (i.e., light availability) and the soil and leaf stoichiometry for regenerated broadleaved trees in larch (Larix keampferi) plantations in short-term (1–3 years), medium-term (4–9 years), and long-term (≥10 years) periods after thinning, taking natural mixed broadleaved forests as a control in Northeast China. The results showed that the temporal effects of thinning were not significant with respect to soil C concentrations, but significant with respect to soil C:P and N:P ratios. The regenerated broadleaved trees adjusted their leaf N concentrations and C:N ratios in response to the changed environmental conditions after thinning over time. The responses of soil and leaf stoichiometry to thinning and their significant correlation indicated a strong interaction between the soil and understory regeneration following thinning. Thus, thinning affects the soil and leaf stoichiometry of regenerated trees over time. These findings provide new insights into the conversion of pure coniferous plantations into mixed larch-broadleaf forests by controlling thinning intervals.

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Short-term effects of three commercial thinning treatments on diversity of understory vascular plants in white spruce plantations of northern New Brunswick

Cited by 15 publications

References 61 publications

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

Initial impact of clear-cut logging on dynamics of understory vascular plants and pollinators in Scots pine-dominated forests in Lithuania

Temporal Effects of Thinning on the Leaf C:N:P Stoichiometry of Regenerated Broadleaved Trees in Larch Plantations

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