Forest harvesting impacts on soil properties and vegetation communities in the Northwest Territories

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 713-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D Bock ◽  
Ken CJ Van Rees
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Vegetation Community ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Mixedwood Forests ◽  
Crown Cover ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
Harvesting Systems

Management of boreal mixedwood forests in Canada has traditionally relied almost exclusively on the clear-cut silvicultural system. In recent years, greater utilization of the hardwood component of boreal mixedwoods and increased societal concerns over maintenance of the integrity and sustainability of these ecosystems has provided impetus for forest managers to consider alternative silvicultural practices in boreal mixedwood forests. Little is currently known, however, concerning the response of soils and vegetation to forest harvesting systems in the mixedwood forests of the Liard River valley, Northwest Territories (NWT). Therefore, the objective of this study was to quantify the effects of patch clear-cut, strip clear-cut, and clear-cut harvesting systems on soil properties and understory vegetation composition and structure. Treatment sites with 3 or 4 years of recovery since harvesting and adjacent uncut forest sites were sampled using transect methodology. Soil samples were collected and understory vegetation community species composition and percent crown cover were assessed in 1-m2 quadrats. Compared with the range of conditions present in the uncut forest, increases in mineral soil bulk density (2%), exchangeable calcium (7%), LFH horizon thickness (13%), pH (0.2 units), and total organic carbon (5%) and decreases in LFH horizon total nitrogen (6%) and exchangeable potassium (22%) were observed following harvesting. Harvesting resulted in the reduction in crown cover of feathermoss species and increased abundance of shrub and herb species and minimal changes to species composition. Multivariate analysis of the data indicated that the method of harvesting did not result in significant differences in species composition and structure of the understory vegetation community. Overall, winter harvesting of these boreal mixedwood sites did not have a major impact on the majority of soil properties evaluated or on the species composition of the understory vegetation community.

Harvesting impacts on soil and understory vegetation: the influence of season of harvest and within-site disturbance patterns on clear-cut aspen stands in Minnesota

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 2159-2168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaina L Berger ◽  
Klaus J Puettmann ◽  
George E Host
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Vegetation Composition ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Variable Species ◽  
Understory Plant ◽  
Understory Plant Communities ◽  
Remnant Forest

We investigated impacts of harvesting on soil disturbance and vegetation in the aspen cover type of northern Minnesota, United States. The soil disturbance (resistance to penetration) and understory vegetation were characterized for 19 sites on five 60-m2 plots placed along a disturbance gradient: landings (high harvesting traffic), skid trails (intermediate harvesting traffic), and areas off skid trails (low to no harvesting traffic). Penetration levels were quite variable, but they still indicated that within-site responses to disturbance patterns created by clear-cut harvesting were not uniform. In general, soil disturbance and understory species composition within landings were similar to those with skid trails. The soil disturbance and vegetation composition of these two levels differed from those of the low-disturbance plots (off skid trails), indicating that removing trees alone did not affect vegetation composition as much as creating an established skid trail, regardless of harvest timing. However, sites with more variable species composition (winter-harvested sites) and lower disturbance levels were less altered than sites with likely lower initial diversity (summer-harvested sites). The results suggest that it is important for recovery of understory plant communities to not only limit the amount and level of disturbances but also consider the spatial layout of harvesting, thus maintaining a spatially connected network of remnant forest patches large enough to contain interior forest species.

Long-term dynamics and destruction of marsh vegetation in the Kolokolkova Bay of the Barents Sea

2012 ◽  
pp. 66-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. A. Lavrinenko ◽  
O. V. Lavrinenko ◽  
D. V. Dobrynin
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Barents Sea ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Marsh Vegetation ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Species Composition And Structure

The satellite images show that the area of marshes in the Kolokolkova bay was notstable during the period from 1973 up to 2011. Until 2010 it varied from 357 to 636 ha. After a severe storm happened on July 24–25, 2010 the total area of marshes was reduced up to 43–50 ha. The mean value of NDVI for studied marshes, reflecting the green biomass, varied from 0.13 to 0.32 before the storm in 2010, after the storm the NDVI decreased to 0.10, in 2011 — 0.03. A comparative analysis of species composition and structure of plant communities described in 2002 and 2011, allowed to evaluate the vegetation changes of marshes of the different topographic levels. They are fol­lowing: a total destruction of plant communities of the ass. Puccinellietum phryganodis and ass. Caricetum subspathaceae on low and middle marches; increasing role of halophytic species in plant communities of the ass. Caricetum glareosae vic. Calamagrostis deschampsioides subass. typicum on middle marches; some changes in species composition and structure of plant communities of the ass. Caricetum glareosae vic. Calamagrostis deschampsioides subass. festucetosum rubrae on high marches and ass. Parnassio palustris–Salicetum reptantis in transition zone between marches and tundra without changes of their syntaxonomy; a death of moss cover in plant communities of the ass. Caricetum mackenziei var. Warnstorfia exannulata on brackish coastal bogs. The possible reasons of dramatic vegetation dynamics are discussed. The dating of the storm makes it possible to observe the directions and rates of the succession of marches vegetation.

Effects of forest plantation management on herbaceous-layer composition and diversity

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 378-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Herbaceous Layer ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Forest Habitat ◽  
Total Species Richness ◽  
Plantation Age ◽  
Intensively Managed ◽  
Natural Stands

I compared the species composition and diversity of vascular plants in the herbaceous layer from a chronosequence of intensively managed spruce (Picea) plantations in three age-classes (5–7, 10–12, 14–16 years) with natural, mature stands (ca. 90 years) in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. Total species richness (stand level) averaged 81–84 species in the three plantation age-classes compared with 64 species in the natural stands; richness of forest habitat species alone was 33–36 in the plantations and 37 in the natural stands. More fertile sites had significantly higher values for Hill's diversity indices (N0, N1, N2). Mean N0, N1, and N2 (subplot level) did not differ among stand types for all species, but N1 and N2 were significantly greater in the natural stands than in one or two plantation age-classes for forest habitat species alone. The two younger age-classes of plantations differed significantly in composition from the natural stands and the plantations became slightly more similar (Sørensen's index) to the natural stands with increasing age. One forest habitat species was lost and 24 others decreased in cover in the plantations. Tracking of plantations over a longer time period will be needed to determine whether these forest habitat species eventually regain their former abundance.Key words: chronosequence, forest harvesting, herbaceous layer, plantations, species diversity, species composition.

scholarly journals Species composition and structure of parasites component communities of tugun Coregonus tugun (Pallas, 1814) from the Khatanga and Yenisei Rivers

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-80
Author(s):  
Kseniya Viktorovna Polyaeva ◽  
Gennady Nikolaevich Dorovskikh ◽  
Yuliya Konstantinovna Chugunova
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Parasite Community ◽  
Shannon Index ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Generalist Species ◽  
Parasite Communities ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
Number Of Individuals ◽  
Species Composition And Structure

Tugun Coregonus tugun (Pallas, 1814) is an endemic of Siberia. Information about the species composition and structure of tugun parasite community on the stage of spawning migration is described in this paper. We carried out ichtioparasitologic studies in the Yenisey and the Khatanga Rivers in 2011-2014. Tugun parasite complex from the Khatanga River remains statistically identical in species composition, number of individuals and biomass and differs from those of the Yeniseis tugun over the entire study period. Apparently two different stocks of tugun were investigated in the Yenisei River. One of them lives in the Yeniseis streambed, the other one lives in the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. The composition of the parasitic fauna of tugun from two rivers is formed by generalist species. Tugun parasites component communities from all material collection stations have high values of the Shannon index and two dominant species (by numbers of parasites and by biomass). We found out that the species biomasses differ significantly on the graphic community structure. The description of tugun parasite communities corresponds to characteristic of a climax community on the stage of destruction except the graphic structure. In the analyzed parasitic communities the processes of egg laying and larval appearance, the death of parasites of previous year generation and infection with this year parasites occur simultaneously. The stages of formation and destruction of the community overlap. The described state of tugun parasites communities has an adaptive value. The load on the host body is reduced which ensures the long-term existence of parasites.

scholarly journals The Impacts of Land Use and Forest Activities on Tree Species Composition and Structure on the Edges of Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Godfrey Agea ◽  
Clement Akais Okia ◽  
Refaat Atalla Ahmed Abohassan ◽  
James Munga Kimondo ◽  
Susan B. Tumwebaze ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Forest Reserve ◽  
Tree Species Composition ◽  
Budongo Forest Reserve ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
Budongo Forest ◽  
Species Composition And Structure ◽  
Forest Activities

Composition and structure algal сommunity of the Сát Tiên National Park, Southern Vietnam (first data)

2021 ◽  
pp. 78-85
Author(s):  
Elena M. Kezlya ◽  
Anton M. Glushchenko ◽  
Yevhen I. Maltsev ◽  
Svetlana Y. Maltseva ◽  
Evgeniy S. Gusev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Vertical Distribution ◽  
Forest Soils ◽  
National Park ◽  
Soil Horizons ◽  
Southern Vietnam ◽  
South Vietnam ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
Cat Tien National Park

The report presents the results of a study of algae in forest soils in the Cat Tien National Park (South Vietnam) using 7 model sites as an example. The species composition of algae and their vertical distribution in the soil horizons have been characterized.

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