Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change through Harvesting and Planting in Boreal Forests of Northeastern China

The ecological resilience of boreal forests is an important element of measuring forest ecosystem capacity recovered from a disturbance, and is sensitive to broad-scale factors (e.g., climate change, fire disturbance and human related impacts). Therefore, quantifying the effects of these factors is increasingly important for forest ecosystem management. In this study, we investigated the impacts of climate change, climate-induced fire regimes, and forest management schemes on forest ecological resilience using a forest landscape model in the boreal forests of the Great Xing’an Mountains, Northeastern China. First, we simulated the effects of the three studied variables on forest aboveground biomass, growing space occupied, age cohort structure, and the proportion of mid and late-seral species indicators by using the LANDIS PRO model. Second, we calculated ecological resilience based on these four selected indicators. We designed five simulated scenarios: Current fire only scenario, increased fire occurrence only scenario, climate change only scenario, climate-induced fire regime scenario, and climate-fire-management scenario. We analyzed ecological resilience over the five scenarios from 2000 to 2300. The results indicated that the initialized stand density and basal area information from the year 2000 adequately represented the real forest landscape of that year, and no significant difference was found between the simulated landscape of year 2010 and the forest inventory data of that year at the landscape scale. The simulated fire disturbance results were consistent with field inventory data in burned areas. Compared to the current fire regime scenario, forests where fire occurrence increased by 30% had an increase in ecological resilience of 12.4–43.2% at the landscape scale, whereas increasing fire occurrence by 200% would decrease the ecological resilience by 2.5–34.3% in all simulated periods. Under the low climate-induced fire regime scenario, the ecological resilience was 12.3–26.7% higher than that in the reference scenario across all simulated periods. Under the high climate-induced fire regime scenario, the ecological resilience decreased significantly by 30.3% and 53.1% in the short- and medium-terms at landscape scale, while increasing slightly by 3.8% in the long-term period compared to the reference scenario. Compared to no forest management scenario, ecological resilience was decreased by 5.8–32.4% under all harvesting and planting strategies for the low climate-induced fire regime scenario, and only the medium and high planting intensity scenarios visibly increased the ecological resilience (1.7–15.8%) under the high climate-induced fire regime scenario at the landscape scale. Results from our research provided insight into the future forest management and have implications for improving boreal forest sustainability.

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Scaling from stand to landscape scale of climate change mitigation by afforestation and forest management: a modeling approach

Climatic Change ◽

10.1007/s10584-007-9297-5 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 86 (3-4) ◽

pp. 397-424 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Juan F. García-Quijano ◽

Gaby Deckmyn ◽

Reinhart Ceulemans ◽

Jos van Orshoven ◽

Bart Muys

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Forest Management ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Landscape Scale ◽

Modeling Approach ◽

Change Mitigation

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Positive feedback from climate warming to carbon sequestration in boreal forests

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-12784 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Pekka Kauppi ◽

Tomas Lundmark ◽

Annika Nordin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Carbon Sequestration ◽

Forest Management ◽

Climate Warming ◽

Positive Feedback ◽

Boreal Forests ◽

Carbon Sink ◽

Bud Burst ◽

Average Temperature ◽

Cloudy Weather

EGU Abstract, 3-8 May, Vienna 2020 Session BG3.19&#160; Climate change and adaptive forest management: Effects, Methods, and ObjectivesPositive feedback from climate warming to carbon sequestration in boreal forests Pekka Kauppi1,2, Tomas Lundmark2 and Annika Nordin2 1University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, POBOX 27, Fin-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland 2 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Dpt Forest Ecology and Management, 90183 Ume&#229;, Sweden [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]'Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, dar&#252;ber mu&#223; man schweigen.' (&#8220;Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.&#8221;). This quote of Ludwig Wittgenstein is thought-provoking regarding beneficial effects of climate change. Logically, climate warming must provoke favorable environmental effects in some regions and over certain periods of time despite the prospects of dramatic detrimental effects of global warming on the environment in the long term. Our focus is on boreal forests in recent past. Devastating effects of climate warming on terrestrial ecosystems have been recorded in many parts of the world. Heat waves have enhanced wildfires. In Australia alone, wildfires disturbed more than six million hectares of land in 2019-2020. Will climate warming undermine the contribution of land use management to climate change mitigation? - Most surprisingly, we report here a reverse relationship from north Europe. Climate warming has amplified the favorable impacts of land management on carbon sequestration. This is a forest-climate paradox, maybe temporary and anecdotal but persistent and firmly documented in Finland, Norway and Sweden since 1990. Springtime is the most interesting season for forest biota in north Europe. During spring in north Europe, soil is rich in moisture from the snow melt. Days are long as of the beginning of April. Cloudy weather is unusual in the springtime. When spring comes early, there is plenty of solar radiation and water available for photosynthesis and growth. Warm spring evokes an early bud burst. Conversely, cold spring delays the onset of the growing season. April and May temperatures were exceptionally high during the period 1990-2013 (Figs. 1a and 1b) . Similar patterns of climate warming were observed in Norway and Sweden. &#8195; &#160; Figure 1a. Average temperature in Finland in April during 1847-2013 (degrees centigrade). &#160; &#160; Figure 1b. Average temperature in Finland in May during 1847-2013 (degrees centigrade). Especially during 1990-2019 the growing seasons in north Europe turned out to be long. The Net Primary Production and forest carbon sink improved. Forest increment in north Europe approximately doubled from 1970 to 2010 responding to multiple drivers . A combination of successful forest management and environmental change created an interesting paradox promoting forest ecosystem services. Carbon sink improved concomitantly with increasing harvests for the forest industries, an important economic sector in the region. In so far, climate warming specifically in north Europe has contributed significantly to the evolution and persistence of the carbon sink and to fossil fuel substitution. Future research is needed to monitor this feedback from climate warming to carbon sequestration.&#160;

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Local‐ and landscape‐scale impacts of clear‐cuts and climate change on surface water dissolved organic carbon in boreal forests

Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences ◽

10.1002/2015jg003190 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 120 (11) ◽

pp. 2402-2426 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Stephen K. Oni ◽

Tejshree Tiwari ◽

José L. J. Ledesma ◽

Anneli M. Ågren ◽

Claudia Teutschbein ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Surface Water ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Dissolved Organic Carbon ◽

Boreal Forests ◽

Landscape Scale

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Empirical models of albedo transitions in managed boreal forests: analysis of performance and transportability

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/cjfr-2014-0132 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

pp. 195-206 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Ryan M. Bright ◽

Clara Antón-Fernández ◽

Rasmus Astrup ◽

Anders H. Strømman

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Forest Management ◽

Boreal Forests ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Carbon Sink ◽

Empirical Models ◽

Management Decisions ◽

Full Spectrum ◽

Climate Services ◽

Change Mitigation

Managing boreal forests for effective climate change mitigation requires comprehension of the full spectrum of climate regulation services that they provide, which includes both the storage of carbon and exchanges of heat and moisture with the atmosphere. It is increasingly recognized that surface albedo is the most important biogeophysical mechanism by which the boreal forest directly influences the global energy balance. Forest management decisions that influence age class and species distributions affect not only the carbon sink capacity, but also the albedo (and hence climate services) of the forested landscape. Disregarding albedo and how it is influenced by management decisions can have profound implications for the effectiveness of any climate change mitigation policy involving active forest management. Here, we explore, analyze, and compare the albedo predicted by simple empirical models with in situ and remotely sensed albedo observations in regions outside the region in which the models were originally developed (southeastern Norway), including boreal Canada and Europe. We find that the models are robust in their ability to predict the longer term interannual trends in the mean winter–summer albedo amplitude, the rapid albedo evolution in young stands, and the timing of seasonal transitions and weak with respect to capturing interannual albedo changes linked to seasonal climate variability and phenology.

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Climate change, fire return intervals and the growing risk of permanent forest loss in boreal Eurasia

10.31223/x5d339 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Arden Burrell ◽

Qiaoqi Sun ◽

Robert Baxter ◽

Elena Kukavskaya ◽

Sergey Zhila ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Boreal Forests ◽

Fire Regime ◽

Global Climate ◽

Field Studies ◽

Forest Loss ◽

Burnt Area ◽

Recruitment Failure ◽

Extreme Risk ◽

In Fire

Climate change has driven an increase in the frequency and severity of fires in Eurasian boreal forests. A growing number of field studies have linked the change in fire regime to post-fire recruitment failure and permanent forest loss. In this study we used four burnt area and two forest loss datasets to calculate the landscape-scale fire return interval (FRI) and associated risk of permanent forest loss. We then used machine learning to predict how the FRI will change under a high emissions scenario (SSP3-7.0) by the end of the century. We found that there is currently 133 000 km2 at high, or extreme, risk of fire-induced forest loss, with a further 3 M km2 at risk by the end of the century. This has the potential to degrade or destroy some of the largest remaining intact forests in the world, negatively impact the health and economic wellbeing of people living in the region, as well as accelerate global climate change.

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Forest fire occurrence and climate change in Canada

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf09002 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 253 ◽

Cited By ~ 226

Author(s):

B. M. Wotton ◽

C. A. Nock ◽

M. D. Flannigan

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Boreal Forest ◽

Forest Fire ◽

Forest Fires ◽

General Circulation ◽

Fire Regime ◽

General Circulation Models ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Fire Activity ◽

In Fire

The structure and function of the boreal forest are significantly influenced by forest fires. The ignition and growth of fires depend quite strongly on weather; thus, climate change can be expected to have a considerable impact on forest fire activity and hence the structure of the boreal forest. Forest fire occurrence is an extremely important element of fire activity as it defines the load on suppression resources a fire management agency will face. We used two general circulation models (GCMs) to develop projections of future fire occurrence across Canada. While fire numbers are projected to increase across all forested regions studied, the relative increase in number of fires varies regionally. Overall across Canada, our results from the Canadian Climate Centre GCM scenarios suggest an increase in fire occurrence of 25% by 2030 and 75% by the end of the 21st century. Results projected from fire climate scenarios derived from the Hadley Centre GCM suggest fire occurrence will increase by 140% by the end of this century. These general increases in fire occurrence across Canada agree with other regional and national studies of the impacts of climate change on fire activity. Thus, in the absence of large changes to current climatic trends, significant fire regime induced changes in the boreal forest ecosystem are likely.

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Does postharvest silviculture improve convergence of avian communities in managed and old-growth boreal forests?

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/cjfr-2013-0104 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 43 (11) ◽

pp. 1050-1062 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ian D. Thompson ◽

David A. Kirk ◽

Christopher Jastrebski

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Boreal Forests ◽

Landscape Scale ◽

Managed Forests ◽

Forest Types ◽

Forest Species ◽

Second Growth ◽

Brown Creeper ◽

Animal Communities ◽

Avian Assemblages

Habitat change following forest management may reduce biodiversity in boreal forests, as it has done globally in many forest types. Postharvest silviculture (PHS) is implemented to improve the yield of commercial tree species and has been applied to large areas of boreal forests. PHS may also influence animal communities and so we assessed songbird responses to these treatments in stands 20–52 years old in Ontario, Canada. We expected that several old-forest species would respond positively to PHS, that avian assemblages in treated forests would be distinct from those in untreated managed forests regardless of age, and that assemblages in our oldest treated stands would begin to converge with those of mature unmanaged forests. PHS stands had higher conifer density than naturally regenerating managed stands. The avian assemblage differed between treated and untreated stands at 20–30 years but not at 31–52 years. Convergence with old-forest assemblages was incomplete at 31–52 years after harvesting, although abundances of seven of 13 old-forest species did not differ from those in unmanaged forests. Of 10 old-forest species with competitive models, only Bay-breasted Warbler (Setophaga castanea (Wilson, 1810)) responded positively to PHS at the stand level, whereas two species responded positively at the landscape scale. Brown Creeper (Certhia americana Bonaparte, 1838), Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus Forster, 1772), and Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca (Müller, 1776)) were absent from most managed stands and so require specific attention in planning for forest management, including retention of old-forest and delaying harvest of second-growth stands to ensure their occurrence and persistence.

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Wald und Klimawandel in der inneralpinen Trockenregion Visp

Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen ◽

10.3188/szf.2012.0481 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 163 (12) ◽

pp. 481-492

Author(s):

Andreas Rigling ◽

Ché Elkin ◽

Matthias Dobbertin ◽

Britta Eilmann ◽

Arnaud Giuggiola ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Forest Management ◽

Forest Ecosystem ◽

Bark Beetles ◽

Forest Ecosystems ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Forest Monitoring ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Forest Ecosystem Services

Forest and climate change in the inner-Alpine dry region of Visp Over the past decades, observed increases in temperature have been particularly pronounced in mountain regions. If this trend should continue in the 21st Century, frequency and intensity of droughts will increase, and will pose major challenges for forest management. Under current conditions drought-related tree mortality is already an important factor of forest ecosystems in dry inner-Alpine valleys. Here we assess the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to climate change and evaluate alternative forest management strategies in the Visp region. We integrate data from forest monitoring plots, field experiments and dynamic forests models to evaluate how the forest ecosystem services timber production, protection against natural hazards, carbon storage and biodiver-sity will be impacted. Our results suggest that at dry low elevation sites the drought tolerance of native tree species will be exceeded so that in the longer term a transition to more drought-adapted species should be considered. At medium elevations, drought and insect disturbances as by bark beetles are projected to be important for forest development, while at high elevations forests are projected to expand and grow better. All of the ecosystem services that we considered are projected to be impacted by changing forest conditions, with the specific impacts often being elevation-dependent. In the medium term, forest management that aims to increase the resilience of forests to drought can help maintain forest ecosystem services temporarily. However, our results suggest that relatively rigid management interventions are required to achieve significant effects. By using a combination of environmental monitoring, field experiments and modeling, we are able to gain insight into how forest ecosystem, and the services they provide, will respond to future changes.

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