by Marie-Claude Boileau | 30 January 2019
Published in New Forests 50(4): 677-698 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-018-9690-0
Vast areas of hardwood and mixedwood forests of eastern North America have been high-graded in the past and need silvicultural treatments to increase their value and productivity. To rehabilitate a high-graded temperate mixedwood stand, in Quebec, Canada, we used a split–split-split plot design with three replicates to assess different seed-tree and strip cutting systems, in combination with scarification and planting. The experiment consisted of three regeneration cuts in main plots: 10 seed-trees/ha, 40 seed-trees/ha and a 40-m wide strip clearcut (0 seed-tree/ha) with 60 seed-trees/ha in leave strips, thereby resulting in four levels of tree retention, and all included understory brushing. We applied two types of scarification (patch scarification or disk-trenching) to subplots, two regeneration modes (natural regeneration or planting with white spruce [Picea glauca]) to sub-subplots and two mechanical release treatments (softwood or mixedwood production) to planted sub–sub-subplots. Density of seed-trees did not affect the natural regeneration dynamics after 5 years, but disk-trenching was more efficient for the establishment of yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum). Few seed-trees of desirable white spruce were present and most died standing, confirming the importance of supplemental planting. Height growth of planted seedlings was 15% higher in the 0 and 10 (26–27 cm/year) than in the 40 and 60 (23 cm/year) seed-trees/ha treatments, and release doubled mean height growth (33.1 vs. 16.6 cm/year). Despite intensive site preparation, pre-established beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta) and mountain maple (Acer spicatum) were present at high densities in the regeneration stratum. Controlling this recalcitrant layer might be the greatest challenge for rehabilitating degraded stands of the mixedwood forest, especially since the use of herbicides is prohibited on Quebec’s public lands.
by Claire Morin | 30 January 2019
Published in Biological Conservation 195: 187-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.12.029
For a given species, reducing the extent, connectivity and health status of source populations will diminish the probability of colonizing suitable habitats. In this study, we evaluated if metapopulation size helped predict species presence in suitable habitats, by using boreal understory plants and epiphytic lichens as case studies. We sampled a network of 792 vegetation plots located across a 240,000-km2 section of pristine boreal forests. Landscape-level species abundance (LLSA), a proxy for metapopulation size, was quantified in a 50 km radius surrounding each plot. The effects of local environmental factors and LLSA on species presence were modelled with general linear models (GLMs). Forty-eight vascular plant species and 8 pendulous epiphytic lichens were abundant enough to be considered in the statistical analyses. Habitat variables explained the presence of 30 vascular plants and 4 lichen species to a relatively strong degree (Tjur’s R2 > 0.15). Among these species, 16 vascular plants and 4 lichens were significantly influenced by LLSA, independently of local habitat characteristics. Vascular plant species whose presence was significantly affected by LLSA did not exhibit particular morphological traits or habitat preferences compared with those that were not affected. By contrast, the 4 epiphytic lichen species that were affected by LLSA were all associated with older forests. No species exhibited obvious metapopulation size thresholds below which the probability of species presence in suitable habitats dropped drastically. In terms of conservation, these results suggest that coarse-filter approaches are probably more robust and easy to implement than species-specific threshold approaches in this kind of ecosystem.
by Audrey Verreault | 30 January 2019
Published in Canadian Journal of Forest Research 45(5): 553-565. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2014-0125
As fire is a major disturbance in boreal forests, it is now recognized that it has to be taken into account in forest management planning. Moreover, as the time of exposure to fire is related to stand productivity, combining information on productivity and fire should help in assessing the potential to sustainably manage forests. We present a method to assess potential vulnerability to the risk of fire and illustrate it in the boreal coniferous forest of Quebec. This method takes into account some sources of uncertainty related to the estimation of productivity and fire risk. Spatialization of stand productivity from growth and yield curves allowed us to compute the area comprised of productive stands of each district with or without considering fire risk. Results showed that productive area is generally decreasing with decreasing degree-days, increasing elevation, or in relation to surficial geology. Furthermore, districts with moderate to good productivity were found to be vulnerable to fire when burn rates were greater than 0.333%·year–1. Our innovative approach allowed us to assess the vulnerability of the districts to fire and could be helpful in many regions in the context of a projected increase in future area burned under climate change.
by Claire Morin | 30 January 2019
Published in Canadian Journal of Forest Research 45: 579-593. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2014-0273
Interest in northern forests is increasing worldwide for both timber production and climate change mitigation. Studies exploring forest productivity at an early age after fire and its determining factors are greatly needed. We studied forest productivity, defined as the combined quality of stocking and growth, of 116 10- to 30-year-old postfire sites. The sites were spread over a 90 000 km2 area north of the Quebec commercial forestry limit and were dominated by Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P. and Pinus banksiana Lamb. Seventy-two percent of our sites were classified as unproductive, mainly because of poor growth. Because growth was mostly determined by climatic factors, afforestation alone may not be sufficient to increase stand productivity in our study area. In addition, our results suggest that P. banksiana on dry sites may be less resilient to fire than previously thought, presumably because of poor site quality and climate. Overall, this is one of the first studies to explore productivity issues at an early age in natural northern forests, and the analysis scheme that defines forest productivity as the result of growth and stocking could provide a useful tool to identify similar issues elsewhere.
by Claire Morin | 30 January 2019
Published in Canadian Journal of Forest Research 45: 541-552. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2014-0124
The capacity of a forest stand to produce timber is related to the interactions that exist between its regeneration capacity, physical site characteristics (climate, surficial deposit, drainage), and disturbances. Minimally, to be sustainably managed, a forest needs to be sufficiently productive and able to regenerate after a disturbance so that its productive capacity is maintained or enhanced. To this effect, we evaluated timber productivity over a large area (175 000 km2) covering the latitudinal extent of closed-canopy black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P) forest. Site index and relative density index were used to identify stands that cannot reach a minimum volume of trees of minimum size over one rotation. A nonparametric method was used to estimate their values for all stands within the study area. This imputation used either physical site attributes alone to assess potential productivity independent of stand history or physical and vegetation site attributes to assess current productivity. The proportion of productive stands was then estimated at the scale of landscapes ranging from 39 to 2491 km2. Physical site factors alone explain 84% of the variability in the percentage of potentially productive stands (78% for currently productive stands); their combination resulted in an abrupt transition in productivity over the study area. However, burn rate alone also explains 63% of variation in the proportion of currently productive stands and 41% of the relative difference between percentages of potentially or currently productive stands. These results have implications for strategic forest management planning at land classification stage, as timber production area is assumed to remain stable through time, whereas it is apparently related to the disturbance rate.
