Sustainability and Resilience in Boreal Regions: Sources and Consequences of Variability

Pastor, John; Light, S.S.; Sovell, Laurie A.

doi:10.5751/es-00062-020216

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Our results suggest that these aquatic bird species might be resilient to major disturbances of the forest cover in their breeding grounds. This conclusion is in agreement with other studies on boreal terrestrial birds that have shown these species to be resilient to disturbances (Schmiegelow et al 1997), and that their abundances and densities are highly variable (Niemi et al 1998), perhaps as a result of the variability of the boreal environment itself (Pastor et al 1998). Moreover, the ground-nesting bird species that we studied have a very large distribution range, and they are adapted to a wide variety of nesting covers and habitats (Baldassarre and Bolen 2006).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

Local, Short-term Effects of Forest Harvesting on Breeding Waterfowl and Common Loon in Forest-Dominated Landscapes of Quebec

Lemelin¹,

Imbeau²,

Darveau³

et al. 2007

ACE

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ABSTRACT. Northern forests are major breeding habitats for several waterfowl and other waterbird species. In Quebec, as in many other areas within the boreal region, clear-cut logging is an important human activity, and it is likely to affect ground-and cavity-nesting species differently. We used Black Duck Joint Venture/Canadian Wildlife Service aerial survey data, together with Quebec digital forest maps, to investigate local, i.e., within 2 km of clear-cut areas, short-term (~ 4 yr) effects of forest harvesting on waterfowl and Common Loon. Our predictions were that clear-cut logging would not affect ground nesters, but would negatively affect pair settling patterns in cavity nesters through nesting habitat disturbance. Our study spanned a 540,000-km² territory in which we considered over 30,000 ha of clear-cut areas that were dispersed into 42 different locations. We controlled for interannual variation in population size by comparing the pre-and post-harvest percentages of potentially hospitable nesting cover disturbed by timber harvesting within a 1-km radius of indicated breeding pairs. Our results suggest that timber harvesting positively influenced local populations of Canada Goose and American Green-winged Teal. No other ground-nesting species showed a significant response. For the cavity-nesting guild and species, we detected no local, shortterm effect of clear-cutting. This result was unexpected because many previous studies of nest-box provisioning reported increased breeding pair densities, indicating that availability of natural holes may limit cavity-nesting duck populations. Moreover, because cavity-nesting ducks are considered among the most vulnerable bird species to forest management, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that boreal bird populations exhibit some resilience to disturbance. This conclusion follows from a study in landscapes where forests were mostly first-growth. It is not evident that it will remain valid following subsequent clear-cutting episodes and long-term forestry.RÉSUMÉ. Les forêts nordiques sont des habitats essentiels pour plusieurs espèces de sauvagine et d'autres oiseaux aquatiques. Au Québec comme dans beaucoup d'autres territoires forestiers boréaux, l'exploitation forestière est une activité humaine importante susceptible d'influencer les espèces de sauvagine nichant au sol différemment de celles nichant en cavité. À partir des données de l'inventaire aérien du Plan conjoint sur le Canard noir-Service canadien de la faune et des cartes écoforestières numériques du Québec, nous avons étudié les effets locaux (à moins de 2 km des aires de coupe) et à court terme (environ 4 ans) de la récolte forestière sur les populations de sauvagine et de Plongeon huard en période de nidification. Nos prédictions étaient que la récolte n'influencerait pas le patron de répartition des couples d'espèces nichant au sol, mais affecterait négativement celui des nicheurs en cavité par une altération de l'habitat de nidification. Notre étude s'est étendue sur un territoire de...

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

Local, Short-term Effects of Forest Harvesting on Breeding Waterfowl and Common Loon in Forest-Dominated Landscapes of Quebec

Lemelin¹,

Imbeau²,

Darveau³

et al. 2007

ACE

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“…Today, the resilience of BF to changes in fire frequency is poorly known and a greater understanding is required because these forests are to be sustainably managed (Pastor et al 1998;Chapin et al 2004). Indeed, the resilience of boreal ecosystems remains a major societal question in light of global current and future changes in fire frequency, let alone for harvesting practices, as this biome stores a third of global terrestrial carbon (Apps et al 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience of the boreal forest in response to Holocene fire-frequency changes assessed by pollen diversity and population dynamics

Carcaillet

Richard

Bergeron

et al. 2010

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Abstract. The hypothesis that changes in fire frequency control the long-term dynamics of boreal forests is tested on the basis of paleodata. Sites with different wildfire histories at the regional scale should exhibit different vegetation trajectories. Mean fire intervals and vegetation reconstructions are based respectively on sedimentary charcoal and pollen from two small lakes, one in the Mixedwood boreal forests and the second in the Coniferous boreal forests. The pollen-inferred vegetation exhibits different trajectories of boreal forest dynamics after afforestation, whereas mean fire intervals have no significant or a delayed impact on the pollen data, either in terms of diversity or trajectories. These boreal forests appear resilient to changes in fire regimes, although subtle modifications can be highlighted. Vegetation compositions have converged during the last 1200 years with the decrease in mean fire intervals, owing to an increasing abundance of boreal species at the southern site (Mixedwood), whereas changes are less pronounced at the northern site (Coniferous). Although wildfire is a natural property of boreal ecosystems, this study does not support the hypothesis that changes in mean fire intervals are the key process controlling long-term vegetation transformation. Fluctuations in mean fire intervals alone do not explain the historical and current distribution of vegetation, but they may have accelerated the climatic process of borealisation, likely resulting from orbital forcing.

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“…This success is typically the result of a "command and control" strategy that seeks to standardize or minimize the natural variability of key ecosystem processes such as fire or regeneration (Pastor et al 1998). Unfortunately, initial management successes have the simultaneous consequences of (i) encouraging people to become dependent on the continuation of the management regime and (ii) eroding the ecological resilience of the desired ecosystem state by slowly changing other parts of the ecosystem and reducing ecosystem variability in time and space (Holling 1986).…”

Section: Traditional Forest Management Biodiversity and Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Can forest management based on natural disturbances maintain ecological resilience?

Drever¹,

Peterson²,

Messier³

et al. 2006

Can. J. For. Res.

309

192

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Given the increasingly global stresses on forests, many ecologists argue that managers must maintain ecological resilience: the capacity of ecosystems to absorb disturbances without undergoing fundamental change. In this review we ask: Can the emerging paradigm of natural-disturbance-based management (NDBM) maintain ecological resilience in managed forests? Applying resilience theory requires careful articulation of the ecosystem state under consideration, the disturbances and stresses that affect the persistence of possible alternative states, and the spatial and temporal scales of management relevance. Implementing NDBM while maintaining resilience means recognizing that (i) biodiversity is important for long-term ecosystem persistence, (ii) natural disturbances play a critical role as a generator of structural and compositional heterogeneity at multiple scales, and (iii) traditional management tends to produce forests more homogeneous than those disturbed naturally and increases the likelihood of unexpected catastrophic change by constraining variation of key environmental processes. NDBM may maintain resilience if silvicultural strategies retain the structures and processes that perpetuate desired states while reducing those that enhance resilience of undesirable states. Such strategies require an understanding of harvesting impacts on slow ecosystem processes, such as seed-bank or nutrient dynamics, which in the long term can lead to ecological surprises by altering the forest's capacity to reorganize after disturbance.Résumé : Étant donné l'augmentation globale des stress dans les forêts, plusieurs écologistes croient que les gestionnaires doivent maintenir la résilience écologique, c'est-à-dire la capacité des écosystèmes à absorber les perturbations sans subir de changements importants. Dans cette revue, nous nous demandons si le nouveau paradigme de l'aménagement basé sur les perturbations naturelles peut maintenir la résilience écologique dans les forêts aménagées? L'application de la théorie de la résilience exige une articulation minutieuse de l'état de l'écosystème considéré, des perturbations et des stress qui affectent la persistance d'états alternatifs potentiels ainsi que les échelles spatiales et temporelles de la pertinence de l'aménagement. L'application de l'aménagement basé sur les perturbations naturelles, tout en maintenant la résilience, oblige à reconnaître que (i) la biodiversité est importante pour la persistance à long terme de l'écosystème, (ii) les perturbations naturelles jouent un rôle crucial dans la genèse de l'hétérogénéité de la structure et de la composition à de multiples échelles et (iii) l'aménagement traditionnel tend à rendre les forêts plus homogènes que celles qui sont naturellement perturbées et à augmenter les chances de changements catastrophiques inattendus en réduisant la variation de processus environnementaux clés. L'aménagement basé sur les perturbations naturelles peut maintenir la résilience si les stratégies sylvicoles permettent de conserver les ...

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Sustainability and Resilience in Boreal Regions: Sources and Consequences of Variability

Cited by 16 publications

References 14 publications

Local, Short-term Effects of Forest Harvesting on Breeding Waterfowl and Common Loon in Forest-Dominated Landscapes of Quebec

Local, Short-term Effects of Forest Harvesting on Breeding Waterfowl and Common Loon in Forest-Dominated Landscapes of Quebec

Resilience of the boreal forest in response to Holocene fire-frequency changes assessed by pollen diversity and population dynamics

Can forest management based on natural disturbances maintain ecological resilience?

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