scholarly journals Modelling Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) lek sites distribution and their limiting factors in a central Norwegian managed forest landscape

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Gustav Thingstad ◽  
Marc Daverdin ◽  
James D. M. Speed
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Tetrao Urogallus ◽  
Forest Landscape ◽  
Managed Forest ◽  
Distribution Modelling ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
Mature Stands

Forest management has substantially altered Fennoscandian forests through clear-cutting practices started during the 1950s. Impacts on the natural biodiversity in mature boreal forest have been inevitable. The Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is often regarded as an indicator species for natural old growth forest, displaying on traditional lek sites during spring. In a heterogeneous forest landscape of two adjoining municipalities in central Norway we studied whether forest management or other environmental factors can have influenced the lek distribution. We identified 15 active leks and 12 recently abandoned leks. The maximum entropy distribution modelling (MaxEnt) was used to investigate factors associated with lek distribution at two different scales, where the scale reflecting the lek site areas gave the most adequate result. Active leks were predominantly associated with mature stands of forest. In 65% of the study area the habitat suitability for lekking was most influenced by forest management. Furthermore, the recently abandoned leks were found less frequently in low productive and mature forests than the still active ones, implying that previous leks in productive forest stands may have been lost through logging. Based on our data we have developed models for the predicted distribution and the current limiting factors, showing that altered forest management could improve lek site suitability in large parts of this boreal forest.

scholarly journals Impacts of Clear-Cutting of a Boreal Forest on Carbon Dioxide, Methane and Nitrous Oxide Fluxes

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 961
Author(s):  
Patrik Vestin ◽  
Meelis Mölder ◽  
Natascha Kljun ◽  
Zhanzhang Cai ◽  
Abdulghani Hasan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
N2o Fluxes ◽  
Ch4 And N2o ◽  
Ghg Fluxes

The 2015 Paris Agreement encourages stakeholders to implement sustainable forest management policies to mitigate anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). The net effects of forest management on the climate and the environment are, however, still not completely understood, partially as a result of a lack of long-term measurements of GHG fluxes in managed forests. During the period 2010–2013, we simultaneously measured carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes using the flux-gradient technique at two clear-cut plots of different degrees of wetness, located in central Sweden. The measurements started approx. one year after clear-cutting, directly following soil scarification and planting. The study focused on robust inter-plot comparisons, spatial and temporal dynamics of GHG fluxes, and the determination of the global warming potential of a clear-cut boreal forest. The clear-cutting resulted in significant emissions of GHGs at both the wet and the dry plot. The degree of wetness determined, directly or indirectly, the relative contribution of each GHG to the total budgets. Faster establishment of vegetation on the wet plot reduced total emissions of CO2 as compared to the dry plot but this was partially offset by higher CH4 emissions. Waterlogging following clear-cutting likely caused both plots to switch from sinks to sources of CH4. In addition, there were periods with N2O uptake at the wet plot, although both plots were net sources of N2O on an annual basis. We observed clear diel patters in CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes during the growing season at both plots, with the exception of CH4 at the dry plot. The total three-year carbon budgets were 4107 gCO2-equivalent m−2 and 5274 gCO2-equivalent m−2 at the wet and the dry plots, respectively. CO2 contributed 91.8% to the total carbon budget at the wet plot and 98.2% at the dry plot. For the only full year with N2O measurements, the total GHG budgets were 1069.9 gCO2-eqvivalents m−2 and 1695.7 gCO2-eqvivalents m−2 at the wet and dry plot, respectively. At the wet plot, CH4 contributed 3.7%, while N2O contributed 7.3%. At the dry plot, CH4 and N2O contributed 1.5% and 7.6%, respectively. Our results emphasize the importance of considering the effects of the three GHGs on the climate for any forest management policy aiming at enhancing the mitigation potential of forests.

An alternative to clear-cutting in the boreal forest of Alaska: a 27-year study of regeneration after shelterwood harvesting

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 999-1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
T L Wurtz ◽  
J C Zasada
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Picea Glauca ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
White Spruce ◽  
Seed Crop ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Calamagrostis Canadensis ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
All Treatment

We present 27-year results from a comparison of clear-cutting and shelterwood harvesting in the boreal forest of Alaska. Three patch clear-cut and three shelterwood units were harvested in 1972; about 100 dispersed white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) leave trees per hectare were retained in the shelterwoods. Units were mechanically scarified and an exceptionally large seed-crop was dispersed that year. Shelterwood trees were removed after 15 years. After 27 years, overstory treatment had no effect on the density or growth of the species we studied, while scarification had highly significant effects. In 1999, scarified areas were densely populated with white spruce seedlings and saplings (118 000 – 129 000 stems/ha, with spruce in 100% of plots). Unscarified areas had far fewer spruce stems but were nevertheless well stocked (11 000 – 15 000 stems/ha, with 87% frequency). Initially, spruce grew best on scarified surfaces, but by 27 years, growth of the tallest spruce saplings was significantly greater on unscarified than scarified surfaces. By 27 years, cover of the grass Calamagrostis canadensis (Michx.) Nutt. had returned to preharvest levels in all treatment types. Because criteria for evaluating forest management practices have changed since this study was begun, partial overstory retention systems for the management of Alaska's boreal forest deserve further study.

Les communautés d'oiseaux des vieilles forêts de la pessière à mousses de la ceinture d'argile : Problèmes et solutions face à l'aménagement forestier

2003 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Drapeau ◽  
Alain Leduc ◽  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
Jean-Pierre Savard
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Bird Communities ◽  
Natural Disturbances ◽  
Managed Forest ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
The Impact

In Canada, there are still extensive tracts of boreal forest consisting of stands that have resulted from natural disturbances. The country's forests are a mosaic made up to a large extent of old-growth forest that is beyond commercial harvesting age, especially in the boreal forest of eastern Canada. As areas of boreal forest under management steadily expand, as demand for forest products continues to grow and as rotation periods become shorter in response to silvicultural practices, the forest cover will inevitably become younger, causing changes to the structure and composition of the mosaic of forest stands that will affect the aspect of entire landscapes. These changes may have an adverse impact on biological diversity. Forest birds are one group of living organisms that may respond quickly to the advent of younger forest landscapes, thereby acting as a biological indicator. In this paper, we discuss some of the problems that birds face as a result of the truncation of the age-class distribution of managed forest landscapes in eastern Canada's coniferous boreal forest, using data obtained from our research in the Clay Belt region of Quebec and Ontario. More specifically, we look at how birds respond to changes in forest structure and composition in terms of time since natural disturbances, and to variation in dead trees availability. We then consider the impact of the prospective rejuvenation of the forest cover in managed forest landscapes, and possible solutions aimed at mitigating that impact through new management strategies based on the maintenance of forest ecosystem diversity. The ability of these new management strategies to maintain the ecological integrity of bird communities provides an indication of their potential as tools for contributing to the maintenance of biological diversity in a broader sense. Key words: bird communities, old black spruce forests, natural landscape age structure, stand structure, dead wood, multicohort management

scholarly journals Incorporating Insect and Wind Disturbances in a Natural Disturbance-Based Management Framework for the Boreal Forest

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis De Grandpré ◽  
Kaysandra Waldron ◽  
Mathieu Bouchard ◽  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
Marilou Beaudet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Growth Stages ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
Salvage Logging ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
Biological Legacies

Natural disturbances are fundamental to forest ecosystem dynamics and have been used for two decades to improve forest management, notably in the boreal forest. Initially based on fire regimes, there is now a need to extend the concept to include other types of disturbances as they can greatly contribute to forest dynamics in some regions of the boreal zone. Here we review the main descriptors—that is, the severity, specificity, spatial and temporal descriptors and legacies, of windthrow and spruce bud worm outbreak disturbance regimes in boreal forests—in order to facilitate incorporating them into a natural disturbance-based forest management framework. We also describe the biological legacies that are generated by these disturbances. Temporal and spatial descriptors characterising both disturbance types are generally variable in time and space. This makes them difficult to reproduce in an ecosystem management framework. However, severity and specificity descriptors may provide a template upon which policies for maintaining post harvesting and salvage logging biological legacies can be based. In a context in which management mainly targets mature and old-growth stages, integrating insect and wind disturbances in a management framework is an important goal, as these disturbances contribute to creating heterogeneity in mature and old-growth forest characteristics.

scholarly journals Ecology of the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and forest management in relation to its protection in the West Carpathians

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (No. 5) ◽  
pp. 229-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Saniga
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Tree Density ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Tetrao Urogallus ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
Key Points ◽  
West Carpathians ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Mean

Ecology of capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) was studied in the mountains of Central Slovakia (West Carpathians) in 1981–2003. In the studied area, the capercaillie population inhabited especially old natural forests (100–250 years old) in the spruce-beech-fir (850–1,270 m a.s.l.) and spruce (1,250–1,530 m a.s.l.) vegetation zones. The overstorey stand age ranged between 80 and 250 years with the mean of 128 years. The understorey stand age ranged from 10 to 60 years. The overstorey tree density ranged between 200 and 1,050 stems per ha (mean 725). The understorey tree density ranged from 5 to 650 trees per ha (mean 290). Both males and females preferred old forests throughout the year. The results demonstrate a marked decrease (> 50%) in the numbers of cocks and hens on twelve monitored leks (28%) and a slight decrease (< 50%) on ten display grounds (24%). During the study period, capercaillie cocks became extinct on seven (16%) leks and in their surroundings. More or less constant numbers were found on twelve leks only (28%) and a slight increase occurred on two leks only (4%). A statistically highly significant correlation was found between the area of old-growth forest and the number of cocks attending a lek. In addition to forest deterioration predation appeared to be of major importance in limiting the numbers of capercaillies. Key points for forest management in relation to capercaillie protection are suggested.

scholarly journals Land Use Spatial Optimization for Sustainable Wood Utilization at the Regional Level: A Case Study from Vietnam

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Nguyen Dang Cuong ◽  
Köhl Michael ◽  
Mues Volker
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Forest Plantations ◽  
Land Resource ◽  
Forest Landscape ◽  
Timber Supply ◽  
Landscape Restoration ◽  
Forest Landscape Restoration ◽  
Wood Utilization

Forest landscape restoration is a widely accepted approach to sustainable forest management. In addition to revitalizing degraded sites, forest landscape restoration can increase the supply of sustainable timber and thereby reduce logging in natural forests. The current study presents a spatial land use optimization model and utilizes a linear programming algorithm that integrates timber production and timber processing chains to meet timber demand trade-offs and timber supply. The objective is to maximize yield and profit from forest plantations under volatile timber demands. The model was parameterized for a case study in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam, where most forest plantations grow Acacia mangium (A. mangium). Data were obtained from field surveys on tree growth, as well as from questionnaires to collect social-economic information and determine the timber demand of local wood processing mills. The integration of land use and wood utilization approaches reduces the amount of land needed to maintain a sustainable timber supply and simultaneously leads to higher yields and profits from forest plantations. This forest management solution combines economic and timber yield aspects and promotes measures focused on economic sustainability and land resource efficiency.

scholarly journals Synthesizing published knowledge of boreal forest cover change for large-scale landscape dynamics modelling

2003 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Yemshanov ◽  
Ajith H Perera
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Forest Succession ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Discrete State

We reviewed the published knowledge on forest succession in the North American boreal biome for its applicability in modelling forest cover change over large extents. At broader scales, forest succession can be viewed as forest cover change over time. Quantitative case studies of forest succession in peer-reviewed literature are reliable sources of information about changes in forest canopy composition. We reviewed the following aspects of forest succession in literature: disturbances; pathways of post-disturbance forest cover change; timing of successional steps; probabilities of post-disturbance forest cover change, and effects of geographic location and ecological site conditions on forest cover change. The results from studies in the literature, which were mostly based on sample plot observations, appeared to be sufficient to describe boreal forest cover change as a generalized discrete-state transition process, with the discrete states denoted by tree species dominance. In this paper, we outline an approach for incorporating published knowledge on forest succession into stochastic simulation models of boreal forest cover change in a standardized manner. We found that the lack of details in the literature on long-term forest succession, particularly on the influence of pre-disturbance forest cover composition, may be limiting factors in parameterizing simulation models. We suggest that the simulation models based on published information can provide a good foundation as null models, which can be further calibrated as detailed quantitative information on forest cover change becomes available. Key words: probabilistic model, transition matrix, boreal biome, landscape ecology

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