Pollen cone production in jack pine: spatial and temporal patterns subject to natural disturbance by the jack pine budworm

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josie S. Hughes ◽  
Marie-Josée Fortin ◽  
Vince Nealis ◽  
Jacques Régnière

Patterns of jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lambert) pollen cone production are of interest because they may help explain jack pine budworm (Choristoneura pinus pinus Freeman) outbreak patterns. We used generalized linear mixed models to analyze pollen cone production in 180 permanent plots in Ontario, Canada between 1992 and 2008. Pollen cone production increased with stand age, and large trees in sparsely-populated stands produced more pollen cones. Defoliation decreased the propensity of trees to produce pollen cones for at least two years. We also identified important patterns that are not explained by defoliation and stand characteristics. Pollen cone production is spatially synchronized among years, trees in central Ontario produced more pollen cones than trees in northwestern Ontario, and background cone production increased over time in the central region but not in more northwestern plots. Synchronized reproduction is common among tree species, but has not previously been noted for jack pine pollen cones. Increasing cone production in central Ontario may be evidence of changing forest and (or) climatic conditions and deserves further investigation. Our model can be used to quantitatively predict pollen cone production and assess the risk of jack pine budworm defoliation.

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley E Conway ◽  
Larry A Leefers ◽  
Deborah G McCullough

Stand-level merchantable volume and financial losses resulting from a 1991-1993 jack pine budworm (Choristoneura pinus pinus Freeman) outbreak were quantified for 99 jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) stands in the Raco Plains area of the Hiawatha National Forest. Associations between standing value loss and stand inventory variables were evaluated. Stands were stratified into management groups based on age, site index, and stocking. Differences in standing value loss among groups were examined. Total standing merchantable volume loss and gross value loss were estimated to be 19 500 m3 and $289 800, respectively, for the 1480-ha sample area. Standing merchantable volume loss averaged 13.3 m3/ha or 14% of standing volume. Standing value loss within stands averaged $194/ha. Losses were concentrated in only a few stands with eight stands accounting for over half the total standing value loss. Standing value loss was positively associated with stand age and basal area and negatively associated with the proportion of open-grown, full-canopied "wolf" trees in the stand. A significant interaction in standing value loss was observed between age-class and site index class. No significant differences in standing value loss were observed among stocking classes. Results confirm overstocked stands over 50 years of age should be prioritized for harvest.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1318-1323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan G. L. Innes ◽  
James F. Bendell

In late June 1985, both operational and experimental aerial spraying was conducted against an outbreak of jack pine budworm (Choristoneura pinus) in northern Ontario. We report the effects of the insecticides Bacillus thuringiensis, fenitrothion, and Matacil® on populations of rodents and shrews in young (20 years) and medium-aged (40 years) jack pine (Pinus banksiana) plantations. Live, snap, and pitfall traps were used to monitor small-mammal populations from early June to late August on four sprayed plots and two control plots. We found no statistically significant differences in abundances that could be attributed to an insecticide. However, pitfall trapping suggested that the abundance of shrews was altered by the fenitrothion spray. Both the pattern and magnitude of shrew captures was different relative to a control and two other treatment plots. This difference may have resulted from the lack of available prey (arthropods) on the fenitrothion plot. With the exception of fenitrothion, our results agree with other studies which suggest that standard applications of insecticides to control forest insects have no detectable or only limited impact on small mammals.


1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly F Wallin ◽  
Kenneth F Raffa

The possibility that uneven within-tree feeding patterns by jack pine budworm (Choristoneura pinus pinus Freeman) larvae could be related to underlying variation in host jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) foliar water, nutrient, and monoterpene contents was considered. Choristoneura pinus pinus feeds disproportionately in the upper portion of the canopy and almost exclusively on the basal portions of needles. Within needles, the distribution of water, several nutrients, and monoterpenes varied significantly between the distal and basal sections. Water, nitrogen, sulfur, manganese, and zinc levels occurred in higher concentrations in the distal section of the needle, which would not be predicted based on C. pinus pinus feeding patterns. Phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron, and copper were significantly higher in the basal section. Although the latter differences might be predicted based on C. pinus pinus feeding patterns, they were not strong (ranging from 7.8% to 36.4% relative differences, as compared with 10.7%-50.0% relative differences in the former group). By contrast, concentrations of foliar monoterpenes were more strongly associated with known feeding patterns of C. pinus pinus. These relative differences ranged from myrcene (26.8%) to limonene (44.79%). Thus, foliar differences affecting within-needle feeding selection appear more associated with allelochemicals than nutrients or water. In contrast with the within-needle associations between larval feeding and foliar chemistry, no associations between upper and lower canopy foliage were observed. Water, nutrients, and monoterpenes were evenly distributed across the upper and lower canopy locations. Thus, differential feeding between canopy locations cannot be explained by foliar constituents. Rather, it is more likely explained by other environmental factors, such as proximity to and density of reproductive and vegetative shoots.


1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 2629-2636 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Carleton

Understorey composition, diversity, and interquadrat heterogeneity are examined among a series of 23 jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) dominated stands in northeastern Ontario. Information on the soils, density, and age structure of the trees was available for each site studied. Composition in both vegetation and soils data sets was explored using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), an efficient trend seeking ordination technique. Following a rotation to congruence of vegetation axes upon those for soil, variation in the soils data accounted for a maximum of 40–50% variance in the first two axes of the vegetation analysis. Examination of a residual ordination, after soil effects were removed, indicated a primary gradient related to both canopy type and frequency of disturbance by surface fire. Diversity measures, including richness and N2, showed no relationship to stand age, disturbance frequency, or canopy type. Some indefinite patterns appeared with bryophyte diversity. Interquadrat heterogeneity showed no relationship to stand age, canopy type, or disturbance regime as more than one source of spatial pattern was evident among the stands. These results are discussed in relation to the study of succession by indirect methods.


2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trent G. Thompson ◽  
David E. Rothstein

Abstract Because of the long time periods involved, empirical data on the effects of preceding stand age on nutrient availability in the succeeding stand are scarce. We took advantage of a unique management situation in the jack pine forests of northern Lower Michigan to assess the effects of preceding stand age (24‐76 years) on postharvest soil nutrient availability. We found that potentially mineralizable nitrogen (N) and extractable phosphorus (P) increased with increasing age of the preceding stand. In contrast, we observed no response of total organic carbon (C) and N or extractable base cations to preceding stand age. Together, our results demonstrate that harvesting these forests at younger ages results in decreased availability of N and P immediately following harvest.


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.


2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 1607-1615 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Charron ◽  
D F Greene

We studied the post-wildfire establishment of jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP), and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) in the southern mixedwood boreal forest of Saskatchewan, Canada. The major objective of the study was to determine the influence of post-wildfire seedbed types on the juvenile survivorship of trees. Through a combination of permanent plots and sowing experiments, we demonstrated that mineral soil, thin Polytrichum Hedw. moss, and humus are much more favorable than the organic fermentation (Of) and litter seedbeds. We also show that differences among seedbeds are significantly more important than differences among species. In addition, the first year of a cohort has the highest rate of mortality, about 85% on mineral and humus seedbeds and 98% on Of seedbeds; differences in age-specific survivorship between seedbeds become muted by the end of the second year, and survivorship rates approach 1 by the end of the third summer. Finally, age structures showed that germination rates of black spruce and jack pine were very low the initial summer of the fire; that there was a peak in recruitment in the first post-fire summer; and that by the fourth year the recruitment declined to nearly zero.


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