Effect of clear-cutting, prescribed burning and scarification on litter decomposition in an Eastern Ontario jack pine (Pinus banksiana) ecosystem

1999 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc C. Duchesne ◽  
Suzanne Wetzel

Mass losses of litter bags containing leaf litter of Pinus banksiana Lamb., Quercus rubra L., Pteridium aquilium (L.) Kuhn, and Populus tremuloides Mchx. were compared in a jack pine ecosystem after clear-cutting, clear-cutting plus prescribed burning, and clear-cutting plus disk trenching scarification. Controls consisted of litterbags left in undisturbed plots. Mass losses were significantly affected by treatment types and litter types. The greatest differences among treatments were observed after 1 year of field incubation whereas there were considerably fewer differences among treatments after 3 years of incubation in the field. Initial decomposition of P. tremuloides and Q. rubra litter was greatest in the control plots. Scarified plots showed the slowest decomposition rates. Mass losses were not significant among treatments and litter types after 3 years incubation except for P. aquilinum litter on clear-cut and scarified plots.

1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 1447-1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah G. McCullough ◽  
Herbert M. Kulman

Effects of nitrogen fertilization on growth, foliar nitrogen concentration, and monoterpenes were determined on 7- to 11-year-old jack pine (Pinusbanksiana Lamb.) on two sites in northwestern Wisconsin. One site established after wildfire; the other after clear-cutting. Jack pine budworm (Choristoneurapinuspinus Free.) larvae were caged on fertilized and unfertilized trees on each site. Relations among foliar nitrogen, monoterpenes, larval survival, and adult budworm weight were examined. Foliar nitrogen concentration, needle weight, shoot and diameter growth, and monoterpene production were lower on wildfire site trees than on clear-cut site trees, and were significantly increased on both sites by fertilization. Fertilization increased production of staminate cones on the wildfire site. Height growth differed between sites but was unaffected by fertilization. Contrary to expectations based on the resource availability theory, foliar nitrogen and monoterpene levels were positively related. Survival of jack pine budworm larvae was greater on clear-cut than on wildfire site trees, but was not significantly affected by fertilization. Larvae on low-nitrogen trees on the wildfire site clipped more foliage than those on the clear-cut site, suggesting compensatory feeding. Adult female weight was higher for larvae on wildfire than clear-cut site trees. Two monoterpene compounds and site-related differences were the best predictors of adult female weight based on regression.


1997 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 711-714
Author(s):  
Luc C. Duchesne ◽  
Renée Tellier

The nutrient (N, P, K, Mg, and Ca) content of the aboveground living non-crop vegetation of a jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) clear-cut in eastern Ontario was investigated for two years after site preparation, which consisted of prescribed burning under different fire intensities and disk trencher scarification. Total plant nutrient content generally followed biomass accumulation with higher levels of plant N, P, Ca, and K in clear-cuts and scarified sites than in burned-over sites. In the first growing season, concentrations of N, P, and K were higher in the vegetation of burned-over plots than in scarified and clear-cut plots. Mg concentrations were greater in burned-over and scarified plots than in the clear-cut plots. Ca concentrations did not differ among the treatments. Concentration of P and K and the total amount of N, P and K in aboveground non-crop vegetation were correlated well with fire intensity at the end of the first growing season whereas only K concentration and quantities were correlated to fire intensity within two years after treatment. Key words: prescribed burning; disk trenching scarification; fire; Pinus banksiana; nutrients


2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Klos ◽  
G. Geoff Wang ◽  
Qing-Lai Dang ◽  
Ed W. East

Abstract Kozak's variable exponent taper equation was fitted for balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.), trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss), black spruce (Picea mariana [Mill.] B.S.P.), and jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) in Manitoba. Stem taper variability between two ecozones (i.e., Boreal Shield and Boreal Plains) were tested using the F-test. Regional differences were observed for trembling aspen, white spruce, and jack pine, and for those species, separate ecozone-specific taper equations were developed. However, the gross total volume estimates using the ecozone-specific equations were different from those of the provincial equations by only 2 percent. Although the regional difference in stem form was marginal within a province, a difference of approximately 7 percent of gross total volume estimation was found when our provincial taper equations were compared with those developed in Alberta and Saskatchewan. These results suggest that stem form variation increases with spatial scale and that a single taper equation for each species may be sufficient for each province.


Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 682
Author(s):  
Feng Xu ◽  
Maryamsadat Vaziriyeganeh ◽  
Janusz J. Zwiazek

Responses of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), jack pine (Pinus banksiana), and white spruce (Picea glauca) seedlings to root zone pH ranging from 5 to 9 were studied in sand culture in the presence of two mineral nutrition levels. After eight weeks of treatments, effects of pH on plant dry weights varied between the plant species and were relatively minor in white spruce. Higher nutrient supply significantly increased dry weights only in trembling aspen subjected to pH 5 treatment. There was little effect of pH and nutrition level on net photosynthesis and transpiration rates in white spruce and jack pine, but net photosynthesis markedly declined in aspen at high pH. Chlorophyll concentrations in young foliage decreased the most in trembling aspen and jack pine. The effects of high pH treatments on the concentrations of Mg, P, Ca, Mn, Zn, and Fe in young foliage varied between the plant species with no significant decreases of Fe and Zn recorded in trembling aspen and white spruce, respectively. This was in contrast to earlier reports from the studies carried out in hydroponic culture. The sand culture system that we developed could be a more suitable alternative to hydroponics to study plant responses to pH in the root zone. Plant responses to high pH appear to involve complex events with a likely contribution of nutritional effects and altered water transport processes.


1988 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Chrosciewicz

An experimental burn in conjunction with a seed-tree system was successful in regenerating jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) on a fresh to somewhat moist upland, loamy till, cutover site in central Saskatchewan. About 20 well-formed, uniformly spaced seed trees per hectare were left standing during timber harvest. The ignition of logging slash was carried out under preselected weather and fuel conditions so that favorable seedbeds and adequate seed dispersal from the seed trees were produced. Four growing seasons after burning, jack pine stocking by 4-m2 quadrats was 90% with 12 195 seedlings/ha. Aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), to a lesser degree black spruce (Picea mariana [Mill.] B.S.P.), and other companion tree species also regenerated with the pine. Various seedbed and regeneration characteristics as well as height growth rates are discussed. Key words: Pinus banksiana, slash burning, seed-tree system, forest regeneration, growth rates, central Saskatchewan.


2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Cavard ◽  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Han Y.H. Chen ◽  
David Paré

This study investigates the potential of mixed forest stands as better aboveground carbon sinks than pure stands. According to the facilitation and niche complementarity hypotheses, we predict higher carbon sequestration in mature boreal mixedwoods. Aboveground carbon contents of black spruce ( Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns, Poggenb.) and trembling aspen ( Populus tremuloides Michx.) mixtures were investigated in the eastern boreal forest, whereas jack pine ( Pinus banksiana Lamb.) and trembling aspen were used in the central boreal forest. No carbon gain was found in species mixtures; nearly pure trembling aspen stands contained the greatest amount of aboveground carbon, black spruce stands had the least, and mixtures were intermediate with amounts that could generally be predicted by linear interpolation with stem proportions. These results suggest that for aspen, the potentially detrimental effect of spruce on soils observed in other studies may be offset by greater light availability in mixtures. On the other hand, for black spruce, the potentially beneficial effects of aspen on soils could be offset by greater competition by aspen for nutrients and light. The mixture of jack pine and trembling aspen did not benefit any of these species while inducing a loss in trembling aspen carbon at the stand level.


2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 986-995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L Martin ◽  
Stith T Gower

Mixedwood forests are an ecologically and economically important ecosystem in the boreal forest of northern Canada. The objectives of this study were to (i) compare the age–height relationships for dominant tree species growing on two contrasting soil types and originating from different disturbances (logging versus wildfire), and (ii) determine the influence of competition on tree growth. Eight stands were selected that encompassed two age-classes replicated on two soil types (clay loam and sand) in a split-plot design. Four of the eight stands originated from logging (21–26 years old), and <F"Times">the four others originated from wildfires (80 years old). Nonlinear age–height analyses were used to compare annual height and radial increment growth of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP), jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.). Species, soil type, and size class explained significant amounts of the measured variation in the age–height models. Aspen, black spruce, and jack pine were 16%, 27%, and 19% taller, respectively, on clay soils than on sandy soils at the burned stand. Tree heights did not differ significantly among species or between soil types in logged stands. Diameter growth decreased as competition increased for black spruce and jack pine in the burned stands. The results for these three important boreal tree species are discussed in the context of sustainable forestry for boreal mixedwood forests.


1984 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 283-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Sutton

One manual and two chemical (mist-blown foliar spray of glyphosate and hexazinone) methods of vegetation control were applied in two 17.1 m × 17.1 m plots per treatment in a 1969 boreal cutover in Forest Section B7 where natural jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) regeneration, mostly about 1 m tall, was overtopped by post-harvest deciduous growth, including sapling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.). Season of application(fall = September 1976; summer = July 1977) and, for the chemical treatments, rate of application (0. 1, 2, and 4 kg ai/ha) were evaluated for their effect on (a) deciduous competition, (b) natural jack pine regeneration, and (c) white spruce (picea glauca [Moench] Voss) outplanted as bare-root 2 + 2 stock in June 1978. Annual or more frequent assessments were made through 1983. With (a), manual treatment was more effective in summer than in fall but did not effect sustained control. Of the fall-applied herbicide treatments, only glyphosate at 2 and 4 kg ai/ha was efficacious. Sustained control over several years was obtained with summer-applied glyphosate and, to a lesser degree, hexazinone. With (b), jack pine was not benefited by any treatment. With (c), frost and browsing obscured treatment effects, but the "best" control of deciduous vegetation was probably silviculturally detrimental to the spruce.


2019 ◽  
pp. 297-307
Author(s):  
Yuqing Yang ◽  
Shongming Huang ◽  
Robert Vassov ◽  
Brad Pinno ◽  
Sophan Chhin

Climate-sensitive height–age models were developed for top height trees of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) in natural and reclaimed oil sands stands. We used stem analysis data collected from the Athabasca oil sands region in northern Alberta, Canada, and climate data generated by the ClimateWNA model. Height–age trajectories differed between top height trees in natural and reclaimed stands for jack pine and white spruce, but not for trembling aspen. At a given age, white spruce top height trees were taller and jack pine top height trees were shorter in reclaimed stands than those in natural stands, suggesting that it is easier to achieve similar forest productivity for oil sands sites reclaimed with white spruce stands than for sites reclaimed with jack pine stands. The principal climate variables were growing season (May to September) precipitation averaged over the previous 10 years for trembling aspen and jack pine and summer (June to August) precipitation averaged over the previous 10 years for white spruce. These variables had positive effects on the height–age trajectories.


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