Using a tree seedling mortality budget as an indicator of landscape-scale forest regeneration security

Vickers, Lance A.; McWilliams, William H.; Knapp, Benjamin O.; D’Amato, Anthony W.; Saunders, Michael R.; Shifley, Stephen R.; Kabrick, John M.; Dey, Daniel C.; Larsen, David R.; Westfall, James A.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.06.028

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Determining better thresholds of regeneration abundance required to maintain forest cover in different forest types, or alternative measures (e.g. Vickers et al., ), would also be valuable for assessing the severity of regeneration debt and inferring forest adaptive capacity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compounding human stressors cause major regeneration debt in over half of eastern US forests

Miller

McGill

2019

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. The future of temperate forests in the face of global change and anthropogenic stressors remains uncertain. The regeneration stage, which is a critical bottleneck for many organisms, is a key indicator of forest health, future canopy composition and forest adaptive capacity.2. In trees, seemingly healthy forests can be at long-term risk due to insufficient juveniles to replace them (regeneration failure), or compositional differences between juveniles and adults (regeneration mismatch). We propose 'regeneration debt' to collectively describe regeneration failure and mismatch in analogy to extinction debt. To demonstrate this concept, we conducted a macroecological analysis of regeneration debt and anthropogenic stressors in eastern US forests.3. Using U.S. Forest Service-Forest Inventory and Analysis data, we quantified regeneration debt in 18 states from Maine to South Carolina, and evaluated the influence of site, anthropogenic stressors and climate drivers in the most affected regions.4. We identified three distinct regions, with little debt in the north, moderate debt in the south and severe regeneration debt in the central, mid-Atlantic region. In this region, multiple anthropogenic stressors (invasive plants, deer overabundance and land use) were associated with both low-regeneration abundance and the prevalence of disease-prone and/or suboptimal species. Synthesis and applications.Without management intervention, the severe regeneration debt in the mid-Atlantic region will likely lead to long-term declines in forest cover, with cascading negative effects on forest-dependent taxa and ecosystem services. Moreover, the location of the regeneration debt, which is at the northern edge of and involves many of the tree species that are predicted to gain suitable habitat in the Northeastern US, has consequences that extend far beyond its current geographic extent. In fact, this regeneration debt may already be functioning as a barrier to poleward tree migration. Our results demonstrate the value of regeneration debt as an indicator of ecosystem health and forest adaptive capacity. K E Y W O R D Santhropogenic stressors, forest adaptive capacity, forest inventory and analysis, mesophication, regeneration debt, temperate forests, tree migration, tree regeneration

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compounding human stressors cause major regeneration debt in over half of eastern US forests

Miller

McGill

2019

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…For example, declining shade-tolerant sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) sapling recruitment has been observed in northern hardwood regions with high white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman) populations [7], while heightened competition from shrubs and Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica Lam.) may further inhibit seedling survival or recruitment of sugar maple into the sapling size class [6,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Strip Clearcuts, Deer Exclusion and Herbicide on Initial Sapling Recruitment in Northern Hardwood Forests

Hupperts

Webster

Froese

et al. 2022

Forests

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Sapling recruitment in hardwood forests is often suppressed by overstory shade, interspecific competition, and browsing pressure from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman). In some northern hardwood stands, these three interacting factors may cause persistent recruitment failure of the dominant canopy species, sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.), into the sapling size class. In this study, we compared initial (two-year) sugar maple and hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana ((Mill.) K. Koch) seedling and sapling recruitment in strip clearcuts to strip selection cuts, with combinations of herbicide and deer exclosures, in a northern hardwood forest with limited sugar maple sapling recruitment. We found that sugar maple sapling recruitment was higher in exclosures, particularly in strip clearcuts. Moreover, mixed models predicted that exclosures in strip clearcuts with herbicide tended to benefit sugar maple sapling recruitment, especially when the pre-treatment density was less than ~1500 stems ha−1. Sapling density of hophornbeam was also promoted in exclosure plots but was negatively affected by herbicide. Graminoid and Rubus spp. cover was also limited by herbicide following harvest, potentially alleviating constraints on future sugar maple sapling recruitment. Our findings indicate that sugar maple sapling recruitment in strip clearcuts is similar to strip selection cuts unless browsing pressure and interspecific competition are also alleviated.

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“…A new technique was developed to use the RI seedling tally to approximate highly complex early-stand dynamics that determine composition and structure of the future forest (Vickers et al 2018). The three-step approach evaluates the security of regeneration by taxonomic group and ecological province.…”

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confidence: 99%

New York Forests 2017

Morin

Butler

Crocker

et al. 2020

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This report constitutes the third full report of annualized inventory on New York forest land and summarizes field data collected from 2011 through 2017. New York has 18.7 million acres of forest land on which 94 tree species and 55 forest types were identified. Net cubic-foot, growing-stock, and sawtimber volumes continued to increase, as did the area occupied by large diameter stands. The net growth-to-harvest removals ratio increased from 2.3:1 in 2012 to 2.8:1 in 2017. Substantial forest health challenges, including invasive insect pests and invasive plant species, continue to impact the forest resources of the State. Additional information on land-use change, fragmentation, ownership, forest composition, structure, age, carbon stocks, reserved land, and regeneration of New York forests

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Using a tree seedling mortality budget as an indicator of landscape-scale forest regeneration security

Cited by 12 publications

References 59 publications

Compounding human stressors cause major regeneration debt in over half of eastern US forests

Compounding human stressors cause major regeneration debt in over half of eastern US forests

Influence of Strip Clearcuts, Deer Exclusion and Herbicide on Initial Sapling Recruitment in Northern Hardwood Forests

New York Forests 2017

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