by Marie-Claude Boileau | 10 April 2020
Published in Can. J. For. Res. 48(12): 1470-1481. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2018-0080
There is a growing interest in using logging residues as feedstock in the bioeconomy. Quantifying the amount of this resource over large areas has been difficult due to the lack of availability of and consistency in forest inventory data across jurisdictions and the lack of a clear definition of what constitutes logging residues. The goal of this study was to develop an approach to spatially estimate the amounts of logging residues that would potentially be available in the near future for public lands across the Canadian managed forest using remote sensing maps and to compare these estimates with field assessments. Remote sensing estimates of branch and foliage biomass, although only a fraction of total postharvest residual biomass, were generally comparable with estimates from field assessments of recoverable residues after harvesting at the forest management unit (FMU) scale or at the 100 km2 scale. However, they tended to not capture the strong variability between sites and to underestimate observed field values in regions that have very high biomass density. On average, the national logging residue density is estimated to be 26 ± 16 oven-dry tonnes (ODT)·ha−1, and annual national availability is estimated to be 21 M ODT·year−1.
by Claire Morin | 10 April 2020
Published in Sci. Rep. 8(1): 4623. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23050-w
The Northern Biodiversity Paradox predicts that, despite its globally negative effects on biodiversity, climate change will increase biodiversity in northern regions where many species are limited by low temperatures. We assessed the potential impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of a northern network of 1,749 protected areas spread over >600,000 km2 in Quebec, Canada. Using ecological niche modeling, we calculated potential changes in the probability of occurrence of 529 species to evaluate the potential impacts of climate change on (1) species gain, loss, turnover, and richness in protected areas, (2) representativity of protected areas, and (3) extent of species ranges located in protected areas. We predict a major species turnover over time, with 49% of total protected land area potentially experiencing a species turnover >80%. We also predict increases in regional species richness, representativity of protected areas, and species protection provided by protected areas. Although we did not model the likelihood of species colonising habitats that become suitable as a result of climate change, northern protected areas should ultimately become important refuges for species tracking climate northward. This is the first study to examine in such details the potential effects of climate change on a northern protected area network.
by Audrey Verreault | 10 April 2020
Published in Global Change Biology 24(6): 2339-2351. doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14096
Projected changes in temperature and drought regime are likely to reduce carbon (C) storage in forests, thereby amplifying rates of climate change. While such reductions are often presumed to be greatest in semi-arid forests that experience widespread tree mortality, the consequences of drought may also be important in temperate mesic forests of Eastern North America (ENA) if tree growth is significantly curtailed by drought. Investigations of the environmental conditions that determine drought sensitivity are critically needed to accurately predict ecosystem feedbacks to climate change. We matched site factors with the growth responses to drought of 10,753 trees across mesic forests of ENA, representing 24 species and 346 stands, to determine the broad-scale drivers of drought sensitivity for the dominant trees in ENA. Here we show that two factors—the timing of drought, and the atmospheric demand for water (i.e., local potential evapotranspiration; PET)—are stronger drivers of drought sensitivity than soil and stand characteristics. Droughtinduced reductions in tree growth were greatest when the droughts occurred during early-season peaks in radial growth, especially for trees growing in the warmest, driest regions (i.e., highest PET). Further, mean species trait values (rooting depth and w50) were poor predictors of drought sensitivity, as intraspecific variation in sensitivity was equal to or greater than interspecific variation in 17 of 24 species. From a general circulation model ensemble, we find that future increases in earlyseason PET may exacerbate these effects, and potentially offset gains in C uptake and storage in ENA owing to other global change factors.
by Marie-Claude Boileau | 10 April 2020
Published in Plant Ecology 219(4): 381-390. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-018-0802-x
We carried out a study to determine if bark type could reflect the growth potential of yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) at the northern limit of their range in Québec, Canada (47°N, 75°W). We measured a large sample of 266 trees that ranged in size from 95 to 712 mm in diameter at breast height, on two independent study sites. Our results suggest that trees with smooth bark type had mean 5-year diameter increment 8 and 11 mm higher than trees with rough bark type, depending upon the study site. Differences in growth of 8 and 11 mm represented 85% of the overall rough bark type increment in the first site and 78% of the overall rough bark type increment in the second site. The rapid identification of a tree’s growth potential using bark type could be of great use to practitioners because it avoids the need to bore trees to collect increment cores, which injures trees and may serve as an entry point for disease. Moreover, the proposed method helps protect or release the smallest trees with high growth potential and remove trees with low growth potential. While the proposed method is valuable to practitioners operating in uneven-aged forests, its applicability still needs to be tested in even-aged forests.
by Audrey Verreault | 10 April 2020
Published in Botany 96(7): 437-448. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjb-2017-0182
Today, scattered disjunct stands of two temperate species, yellow birch and white pine, are present north of their continuous distributional range in southern Quebec (Canada) at topographical locations that offer protection from severe fires. This study tested whether these species had populations more numerous and widespread millennia ago when the climate was presumably warmer. Specifically, this research involved the analyses of pollen, plant macrofossils, and charcoal fragments of two sites within the western part of Quebec’s balsam fir – paper birch bioclimatic domain: a forest humus deposit from a yellow birch stand (local scale), and a peatland (regional scale). Fossil data suggest that white pine was more abundant regionally between 7500 and 5000 cal. BP, before coming rare under subsequent cooler conditions. Likewise, yellow birch was more abundant regionally between 7700 and 1500 cal BP. Its subsequent decline and the local disappearance of white pine by 200 cal. BP may both be explained by the severe fires that occurred in recent centuries, as well as the rarity of suitable habitats for these species. The sustained presence of temperate species in mixed boreal forests is the result of the combined action of climate, natural disturbances and habitat characteristics.
