scholarly journals Natural disturbance regimes as templates for the response of bird species assemblages to contemporary forest management

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Drapeau ◽  
Marc-André Villard ◽  
Alain Leduc ◽  
Susan J. Hannon
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Disturbance Regimes

Birds as indicators of sustainable forest management

2004 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa A Venier ◽  
Jennie L Pearce
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Biological Indicators ◽  
Population Modelling ◽  
Habitat Modelling ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
Disturbance Regimes

This paper discusses the potential of birds as indicators of sustainable forest management. Several reviews have been critical of birds as indicators of environmental change, and we discuss the major criticisms in the context of forest management. We address these criticisms by suggesting alternative approaches for an indicator research program including the use of focussed studies to identify cause-and-effect relationships, habitat modelling to act as a surrogate to extensive monitoring of populations, and spatially-explicit population modelling (1) to conduct exploratory sensitivity analysis to identify the most important parameters; (2) to incorporate the spatial configuration of habitat into consideration of the impacts of management; (3) to anticipate future impacts as an alternative to measuring past impacts; (4) and, as a means of evaluating alternative management scenarios including natural disturbance regimes. Birds are unlikely to be able to act as a precise tool for the measurement of some forest condition, but they could be useful indicators of sustainable forest management as part of an iterative research program. Key words: sustainable forest management, biological indicators, forest birds, habitat modelling, population modelling, natural disturbance regimes

scholarly journals Avian Community Response to Midrotation Herbicide Release and Prescribed Burning in Conservation Reserve Program Plantations

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Sladek ◽  
L. Burger ◽  
Ian Munn
Keyword(s):  
Loblolly Pine ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Conservation Reserve Program ◽  
Volume Growth ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Avian Community ◽  
Disturbance Regimes ◽  
Pinus Spp

Abstract Former agricultural lands converted to pine (Pinus spp.) plantations in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) have potential to provide early successional (ES) habitat for many regionally declining pine/grassland and shrub-successional bird species if actively managed with appropriate disturbance regimes. One such regime is use of the selective herbicide Imazapyr (Arsenal Applicators Concentrate) and prescribed burning, which is permitted on CRP lands and cost share payments are available. This study quantified combined effects of Imazapyr and prescribed fire on the breeding season avian community characteristics and pine volume growth in thinned, midrotation afforested loblolly pine (Pinus taedaL.) plantations in Mississippi. Herbicide treatments were applied in fall of 2002 and winter burns were conducted during winter and early spring of 2002–2003. ES bird species richness was significantly greater in the treated plots compared with controls for both 2003 and 2004. Ten individual species exhibited treatment effects. These responses by ES bird species indicate that midrotation CRPplantations can provide needed ES habitat if treated with appropriate disturbance regimes.

scholarly journals Do Review Papers on Bird–Vegetation Relationships Provide Actionable Information to Forest Managers in the Eastern United States?

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 990
Author(s):  
Casey A. Lott ◽  
Michael E. Akresh ◽  
Bridgett E. Costanzo ◽  
Anthony W. D’Amato ◽  
Shengwu Duan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Desired Future Conditions ◽  
Forest Managers

Forest management planning requires the specification of measurable objectives as desired future conditions at spatial extents ranging from stands to landscapes and temporal extents ranging from a single growing season to several centuries. Effective implementation of forest management requires understanding current conditions and constraints well enough to apply the appropriate silvicultural strategies to produce desired future conditions, often for multiple objectives, at varying spatial and temporal extents. We administered an online survey to forest managers in the eastern US to better understand how wildlife scientists could best provide information to help meet wildlife-related habitat objectives. We then examined more than 1000 review papers on bird–vegetation relationships in the eastern US compiled during a systematic review of the primary literature to see how well this evidence-base meets the information needs of forest managers. We identified two main areas where wildlife scientists could increase the relevance and applicability of their research. First, forest managers want descriptions of wildlife species–vegetation relationships using the operational metrics of forest management (forest type, tree species composition, basal area, tree density, stocking rates, etc.) summarized at the operational spatial units of forest management (stands, compartments, and forests). Second, forest managers want information about how to provide wildlife habitats for many different species with varied habitat needs across temporal extents related to the ecological processes of succession after harvest or natural disturbance (1–2 decades) or even longer periods of stand development. We provide examples of review papers that meet these information needs of forest managers and topic-specific bibliographies of additional review papers that may contain actionable information for foresters who wish to meet wildlife management objectives. We suggest that wildlife scientists become more familiar with the extensive grey literature on forest bird–vegetation relationships and forest management that is available in natural resource management agency reports. We also suggest that wildlife scientists could reconsider everything from the questions they ask, the metrics they report on, and the way they allocate samples in time and space, to provide more relevant and actionable information to forest managers.

Bird species assemblages differ, while functional richness is maintained across an urban landscape

2021 ◽  
Vol 212 ◽  
pp. 104094
Author(s):  
Monicah Mbiba ◽  
Cynthia Mazhude ◽  
Christo Fabricius ◽  
Hervé Fritz ◽  
Justice Muvengwi
Keyword(s):  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Functional Richness

scholarly journals Simulating the Effects of Intensifying Silviculture on Desired Species Yields across a Broad Environmental Gradient

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 755
Author(s):  
Eric B. Searle ◽  
F. Wayne Bell ◽  
Guy R. Larocque ◽  
Mathieu Fortin ◽  
Jennifer Dacosta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Mechanistic Model ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Mechanistic Models ◽  
Paradigm Shifts ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Forest Modelling

In the past two decades, forest management has undergone major paradigm shifts that are challenging the current forest modelling architecture. New silvicultural systems, guidelines for natural disturbance emulation, a desire to enhance structural complexity, major advances in successional theory, and climate change have all highlighted the limitations of current empirical models in covering this range of conditions. Mechanistic models, which focus on modelling underlying ecological processes rather than specific forest conditions, have the potential to meet these new paradigm shifts in a consistent framework, thereby streamlining the planning process. Here we use the NEBIE (a silvicultural intervention scale that classifies management intensities as natural, extensive, basic, intensive, and elite) plot network, from across Ontario, Canada, to examine the applicability of a mechanistic model, ZELIG-CFS (a version of the ZELIG tree growth model developed by the Canadian Forest Service), to simulate yields and species compositions. As silvicultural intensity increased, overall yield generally increased. Species compositions met the desired outcomes when specific silvicultural treatments were implemented and otherwise generally moved from more shade-intolerant to more shade-tolerant species through time. Our results indicated that a mechanistic model can simulate complex stands across a range of forest types and silvicultural systems while accounting for climate change. Finally, we highlight the need to improve the modelling of regeneration processes in ZELIG-CFS to better represent regeneration dynamics in plantations. While fine-tuning is needed, mechanistic models present an option to incorporate adaptive complexity into modelling forest management outcomes.

scholarly journals Impacts of Alternative Harvesting and Natural Disturbance Scenarios on Forest Biomass in the Superior National Forest, USA

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Russell ◽  
Stephanie Patton ◽  
David Wilson ◽  
Grant Domke ◽  
Katie Frerker
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Forest Biomass ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Timber Harvest ◽  
Timber Harvesting ◽  
Volume Control ◽  
National Forest ◽  
Total Biomass ◽  
Natural Disturbances ◽  
Project Area

The amount of biomass stored in forest ecosystems is a result of past natural disturbances, forest management activities, and current structure and composition such as age class distributions. Although natural disturbances are projected to increase in their frequency and severity on a global scale in the future, forest management and timber harvesting decisions continue to be made at local scales, e.g., the ownership or stand level. This study simulated potential changes in natural disturbance regimes and their interaction with timber harvest goals across the Superior National Forest (SNF) in northeastern Minnesota, USA. Forest biomass stocks and stock changes were simulated for 120 years under three natural disturbance and four harvest scenarios. A volume control approach was used to estimate biomass availability across the SNF and a smaller project area within the SNF (Jeanette Project Area; JPA). Results indicate that under current harvest rates and assuming disturbances were twice that of normal levels resulted in reductions of 2.62 to 10.38% of forest biomass across the four primary forest types in the SNF and JPA, respectively. Under this scenario, total biomass stocks remained consistent after 50 years at current and 50% disturbance rates, but biomass continued to decrease under a 200%-disturbance scenario through 120 years. In comparison, scenarios that assumed both harvest and disturbance were twice that of normal levels and resulted in reductions ranging from 14.18 to 29.85% of forest biomass. These results suggest that both natural disturbances and timber harvesting should be considered to understand their impacts to future forest structure and composition. The implications from simulations like these can provide managers with strategic approaches to determine the economic and ecological outcomes associated with timber harvesting and disturbances.

Is the END (emulation of natural disturbance) a new beginning? A critical analysis of the use of fire regimes as the basis of forest ecosystem management with examples from the Canadian western Cordillera

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Stockdale ◽  
Mike Flannigan ◽  
Ellen Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Disturbance Regime ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Management Actions

As our view of disturbances such as wildfire has shifted from prevention to recognizing their ecological necessity, so too forest management has evolved from timber-focused even-aged management to more holistic paradigms like ecosystem-based management. Emulation of natural disturbance (END) is a variant of ecosystem management that recognizes the importance of disturbance for maintaining ecological integrity. For END to be a successful model for forest management we need to describe disturbance regimes and implement management actions that emulate them, in turn achieving our objectives for forest structure and function. We review the different components of fire regimes (cause, frequency, extent, timing, and magnitude), we describe low-, mixed-, and high-severity fire regimes, and we discuss key issues related to describing these regimes. When characterizing fire regimes, different methods and spatial and temporal extents result in wide variation of estimates for different fire regime components. Comparing studies is difficult as few measure the same components; some methods are based on the assumption of a high-severity fire regime and are not suited to detecting mixed- or low-severity regimes, which are critical to END management, as this would affect retention in harvested areas. We outline some difficulties with using fire regimes as coarse filters for forest management, including (i) not fully understanding the interactions between fire and other disturbance agents, (ii) assuming that fire is strictly an exogenous disturbance agent that exerts top-down control of forest structure while ignoring numerous endogenous and bottom-up feedbacks on fire effects, and (iii) assuming by only replicating natural disturbance patterns we preserve ecological processes and vital ecosystem components. Even with a good understanding of a fire regime, we would still be challenged with choosing the temporal and spatial scope for the disturbance regime we are trying to emulate. We cannot yet define forest conditions that will arise from variations in disturbance regime; this then limits our ability to implement management actions that will achieve those conditions. We end by highlighting some important knowledge gaps about fire regimes and how the END model could be strengthened to achieve a more sustainable form of forest management.

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