Immediate tree uprooting after retention-felling in a coniferous boreal forest in Fennoscandia

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (12) ◽  
pp. 3167-3172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harri Hautala ◽  
Ilkka Vanha-Majamaa

We studied the immediate effects of retention-felling on the occurrence of tree uprooting in two different types of boreal spruce forest in Finland to determine whether susceptibility to uprooting is dependent on the biotope. During the first post-treatment year, 7.1% of the trees in the paludified forest type and 1.8% in the upland forest type were uprooted. During the 2 following post-treatment years, uprooting percentages increased considerably (39.3% in the paludified type and 11.5% in the upland type in year 2; 48.3% in the paludified type and 15.2% in the upland type in year 3). Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), the dominant species in both forest types, was the species most susceptible to uprooting. The high uprooting rate in the paludified groups was probably caused by an interaction between the rocky ground and moist overlying peat layer with the shallow root system of P. abies. As paludified forest biotopes are generally recognized to have high biodiversity, the use of green-tree retention in these biotypes may enhance the continuum and survival of sensitive species. Moreover, because of the high level of uprooting, green-tree retention in paludified forest types can quickly and more naturally help restore levels of coarse woody debris.

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (01) ◽  
pp. 9-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingbing Chen ◽  
John A. Kershaw ◽  
Yung-Han Hsu ◽  
Ting-Ru Yang

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanning has been increasingly applied in forest ecosystem surveys. Data from LiDAR describe forest structure and provide attribute information for forest inventory. These attributes can potentially aid in the estimation of biomass and carbon by providing sampling covariates. Therefore, this study explored the accuracy of estimating carbon storage by calibrating LiDAR attributes using list sampling with a ratio estimator. Standing tree carbon and down woody debris carbon were estimated across 10 broad forest types. LiDAR-derived gross total volume was used as a listing factor and big BAF samples to collect field data. Gross total volumes were “corrected” using a ratio estimator. The results show that standing tree carbon was 58.5 Mg C × ha-1 (± 2.9% SE), and dead woody debris carbon 1.8 Mg C × ha-1 (± 7.2% SE). With the exception of one forest type, these estimates were comparable to those derived from the carbon budget model of the Canadian forest sector (CBM-CFS3).


2020 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-131
Author(s):  
Zoltan Domahidi ◽  
Scott E. Nielsen ◽  
Erin M. Bayne ◽  
John R. Spence

During the 2016 breeding season we monitored 169 nest boxes suitable for Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus) and Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) in high-latitude (>55°N) boreal forests of northwestern Alberta affected by partial logging. Despite the large number of boxes deployed, the number of boxes used by Boreal and Northern Saw-whet Owls was small. Boreal Owls used nest boxes (n = 4) in conifer-dominated stands with three being in uncut blocks and the other in a 50% green tree retention cut-block. In contrast, Northern Saw-whet Owls used boxes (n = 4) in a broader range of cover types, breeding in boxes placed in stands with at least 20% post-harvest tree retention. Although both species successfully bred in the same landscape, Boreal Owls produced fewer eggs (mean = 2.5) and raised fewer young (mean = 0.5) than Northern Saw-whet Owls (5 and 2.25, respectively). Furthermore, our observed Boreal Owl egg production was lower than has been found for the same species nesting in nest boxes in different regions or forest types. In contrast, breeding parameters of Northern Saw-whet Owls were similar to that found in nest boxes in the eastern boreal region of Canada and in the southern part of its range.


1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1052-1059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney J. Keenan ◽  
Cindy E. Prescott ◽  
J.P. Hamish Kimmins

Biomass and C, N, P, and K contents of woody debris and the forest floor were surveyed in adjacent stands of old-growth western red cedar (Thujaplicata Donn)–western hemlock (Tsugaheterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) (CH type), and 85-year-old, windstorm-derived, second-growth western hemlock–amabilis fir (Abiesamabilis (Dougl.) Forbes) (HA type) at three sites on northern Vancouver Island. Carbon concentrations were relatively constant across all detrital categories (mean = 556.8 mg/g); concentrations of N and P generally increased, and K generally decreased, with increasing degree of decomposition. The mean mass of woody debris was 363 Mg/ha in the CH and 226 Mg/ha in the HA type. The mean forest floor mass was 280 Mg/ha in the CH and 211 Mg/ha in the HA stands. Approximately 60% of the forest floor mass in each forest type was decaying wood. Dead woody material above and within the forest floor represented a significant store of biomass and nutrients in both forest types, containing 82% of the aboveground detrital biomass, 51–59% of the N, and 58–61% of the detrital P. Forest floors in the CH and HA types contained similar total quantities of N, suggesting that the lower N availability in CH forests is not caused by greater immobilization in detritus. The large accumulation of forest floor and woody debris in this region is attributed to slow decomposition in the cool, wet climate, high rates of detrital input following windstorms, and the large size and decay resistance of western red cedar boles.


2001 ◽  
Vol 16 (sup003) ◽  
pp. 79-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilkka Vanha-Majamaa ◽  
Jyrki Jalonen

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 20033-20055
Author(s):  
Naveen Babu Kanda ◽  
Kurian Ayushi ◽  
Vincy K. Wilson ◽  
Narayanan Ayyappan ◽  
Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy

Documenting the biodiversity of protected areas and reserve forests is important to researchers, academicians and forest departments in their efforts to establish policies to protect regional biodiversity. Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) is an important protected area located in the central Western Ghats of Karnataka state known for its diverse flora and fauna with distinct ecological features. For the last four decades the sanctuary has witnessed the loss of forest cover, yet the vegetation in few locations is relatively undisturbed. The current inventory was undertaken during 2019–2020 to provide a checklist of woody species from SWS under-researched earlier. The list comprises 269 species of trees, lianas and shrubs distributed in 207 genera and 68 families. The most diverse families are Fabaceae, Moraceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Lauraceae, Apocynaceae, Meliaceae, Malvaceae, Phyllanthaceae, and Anacardiaceae, representing 48% of total woody flora. The sanctuary shelters 263 native and six exotic plant species. Thirty-nine species were endemic to the Western Ghats, five species to peninsular India and one species to the Western Ghats and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Four forest types, i.e., dry deciduous, moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, and evergreen forests, are represented in the sanctuary. Of the total species, only seven occurred in all forest types, while 111 species are exclusive to a single forest type. One-hundred-and-four taxa were assessed for the International Union for Conservation of Nature & Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List. Ten species that fall under Near Threatened, Vulnerable, and Endangered categories were encountered occasionally. The baseline data generated on plant diversity will be useful in highlighting the importance of these forests for species conservation and forest management. Such data form a cornerstone for further research. For instance, to understand the effect of invasive species and human impacts on the diversity of the region. 


1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
AF Bennett ◽  
LF Lumsden ◽  
JSA Alexander ◽  
PE Duncan ◽  
PG Johnson ◽  
...  

A total of 1487 observations of nine species of arboreal mammal, Acrobates pygmaeus, Phascolarctos cinereus, Petauroides volans, Petaurus australis, P. breviceps, P. norfolcensis, Pseudocheirusperegrinus, Trichosurus caninus and T. vulpecula, were made during surveys of the vertebrate fauna of northeastern Victoria. Habitat use by each species was examined in relation to eight forest types that occur along an environmental gradient ranging from sites at high elevation with a high annual rainfall, to sites on the dry inland and riverine plains. Arboreal mammals were not evenly distributed between forest types. Three species (P. australis, P. volans and T. caninus) were mainly associated with moist tall forests; two species (P. norfolcensis and T. vulpecula) were primarily associated with drier forests and woodlands of the foothills; the remaining three species (A. pygmaeus, P. breviceps and P. peregrinus) occurred widely throughout the forests. The composition of the arboreal mammal assemblage changed along the environmental gradient, but species displayed gradual changes in abundance with forest type rather than marked discontinuities in distributional pattern. The highest overall frequencies of occurrence of arboreal mammals were in forests typically dominated by a mixture of eucalypt species. The position at first sighting of an animal, and the relative height in the forest stratum, were used to describe the micro-habitats utilised. In general, the microhabitats occupied by each species are consistent with the distribution of their known food resources.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie L Beeles ◽  
Jordon C Tourville ◽  
Martin Dovciak

Abstract Canopy openness is an important forest characteristic related to understory light environment and productivity. Although many methods exist to estimate canopy openness, comparisons of their performance tend to focus on relatively narrow ranges of canopy conditions and forest types. To address this gap, we compared two popular approaches for estimating canopy openness, traditional spherical densiometer and modern smartphone hemispherical photography, across a large range of canopy conditions (from closed canopy to large gaps) and forest types (from low-elevation broadleaf to high-elevation conifer forests) across four states in the northeastern United States. We took 988 field canopy openness measurements (494 per instrument) and compared them across canopy conditions using linear regression and t-tests. The extensive replication allowed us to quantify differences between the methods that may otherwise go unnoticed. Relative to the densiometer, smartphone photography overestimated low canopy openness (<10%) but it underestimated higher canopy openness (>10%), regardless of forest type. Study Implications We compared two popular ways of measuring canopy openness (smartphone hemispherical photography and spherical densiometer) across a large range of forest structures encountered in the northeastern United States. We found that, when carefully applied, the traditional spherical densiometer can characterize canopy openness across diverse canopy conditions (including closed canopies) as effectively as modern smartphone canopy photography. Although smartphone photography reduced field measurement time and complexity, it was more susceptible to weather than the densiometer. Although selection of the right method depends on study objectives, we provide a calibration for these two popular methods across diverse canopies.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document