scholarly journals Database of Forest Understory Vegetation, British Columbia – vascular plants and bryophytes in old-growth and clear-cut forests, Vancouver Island

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 431-431
Author(s):  
Judith Toms
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Clear Cut

Macrofungi from six habitats over five years in Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (10) ◽  
pp. 1518-1538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Roberts ◽  
Oluna Ceska ◽  
Paul Kroeger ◽  
Bryce Kendrick
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Rare Species ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
The Other ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Second Growth ◽  
Clayoquot Sound

Over 5 years, macrofungi from six habitats in Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, were documented. Habitats were categorized as dune, spruce fringe, old-growth rainforest, second-growth forest, bog, or estuarine. All but the second-growth forest are natural ecosystems. A total of 551 taxa of macrofungi were recorded. Between 17% and 36% of the species in any one habitat were found only in that habitat. The most frequently encountered and ubiquitous species was Craterellus tubaeformis (Fr.) Quel., found in all years, habitats, and sites. Of the 551 taxa, only 28 were found every year, and 308 were found in only 1 year. Rare species that were recorded include Cordyceps ravenelii Berkeley & Curtis, Hygrophorus inocybiformis Smith, and Tricholoma apium Schaeffer in the dunes and Stereopsis humphreyi (Burt) Redhead in the spruce fringe. Similarities between habitats based on taxa in common showed that bog and estuarine habitats had only 9%–17% in common with each other and the other habitats, whereas dune, spruce fringe, and the two forest types shared 21%–31% of their species. Old-growth rainforest yielded approximately 4 times as many species as bog and estuarine habitats, and approximately 1.5 times as many as the other three habitats.Key words: Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island, macrofungi, habitats, biodiversity.

Cultural Forests in Cross Section: Clear-Cuts Reveal 1,100 Years of Bark Harvesting on Vancouver Island, British Columbia

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 516-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob K. Earnshaw
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Growth Ring ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Contact Period ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Ancient Forest ◽  
Post Impact ◽  
Bark Peeling

Culturally modified trees (CMTs) provide tangible evidence of long-term forest use by Indigenous peoples. In Northwest Coast cedar forests, this record rarely spans beyond the last three centuries because older bark-harvest scars have been obscured through taphonomic processes such as natural healing and decay. Thus, archaeological visibility and identification are hindered. Here, I recover chronologies of ancient forest harvesting using a post-impact assessment methodology of targeting old-growth clear-cuts in southern Nuu-chah-nulth territories on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Bark-peeling scars are identified and dated in cross section by growth-ring patterns of recently logged trees. Approximately half of all bark-peeling scars are “embedded” inside healing lobes, suggesting at least half of all such CMTs are effectively invisible in standing forests. Features in these post-impact surveys predated those discovered in conventional archaeological impact assessments by a mean of almost a century. Additionally, one of the oldest continually used cultural forests ever recorded, dating to AD 908, is found in the Toquaht Nation traditional territory. These findings uncover measurable frequencies of cedar-bark harvesting generations prior to the contact period and reveal the inadequacy of heritage protections for old-growth cedar stands.

Colonization and decomposition of salal (Gaultheria shallon) leaf litter by saprobic fungi in successional forests on coastal British Columbia

2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 427-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Osono ◽  
Susumu Iwamoto ◽  
John A. Trofymow
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Fungal Colonization ◽  
Gaultheria Shallon ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Saprobic Fungi ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Recalcitrant Compounds

The colonization of leaf litter by saprobic fungi was studied in old-growth and post-harvest successional Douglas-fir forests on southeast Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This study focused on leaf litter of salal ( Gaultheria shallon Pursh.), a dominant understory shrub in all stands. Salal litter is characterized by the occurrence of bleached portions attributable to fungal colonization of the litter and to the variable decomposition of recalcitrant compounds, such as lignin. Analyses of proximate chemical fractions, fungal assemblages on the bleached leaf area, and pure culture decomposition assays indicated that Marasmius sp. and Coccomyces sp. were responsible for rapid decomposition and bleaching of salal leaf litter. The bleached area accounted for 17%–22% of total area of salal leaf litter collected in immature (40–60 years old), mature (85–105 years old), and old-growth (more than 290 years old) stands, but for only 2% in regeneration (5–15 years old) stands. The reduction of bleached leaf area occupied by Marasmius sp. and Coccomyces sp. in regeneration stands could be due to the changes in microenvironmental conditions on the forest floor, in litter quality, or in food-web structure in soils. The decrease of fungi able to decay recalcitrant compounds may lead to a reduction of salal decomposition rates in clear-cut sites that would persist until canopy closure occurs.

Some aspects of the vegetation ecology of the Nanoose–Bonell estuary, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil K. Dawe ◽  
Eric R. White
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Distichlis Spicata ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Salicornia Virginica ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Triglochin Maritimum ◽  
Water Elevation

A study of the vegetation of the Nanoose – Bonell salt marsh, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, was conducted during the period of May – September 1978. A total of 49 species of vascular plants was identified, 10 of which dominated the flora of the estuarine marsh. Six of those dominant species (Distichlis spicata, Glaux maritima, Salicornia virginica, Triglochin maritimum, Plantago maritima, and Atriplex patula) are tolerant of high salinities. Eight plant communities were identified and mapped within the study area. Aerial biomass was dominated by that of the Carex – channel edge community with a peak aboveground biomass of 1259 g dry weight/m2. Major factors affecting the occurrence and distribution of species within the marsh were salinity of the inundating water, elevation of the marsh platform, and soil texture.

Variation of the understory composition and diversity along a gradient of productivity in Populus tremuloides stands of northern British Columbia, Canada

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (9) ◽  
pp. 1314-1323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han YH Chen ◽  
Sonia Légaré ◽  
Yves Bergeron
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Populus Tremuloides ◽  
Diversity Index ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Site Index ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Vegetation Composition ◽  
Productivity Gradient

Although various conceptual models exist to explain the pattern of diversity along a productivity gradient, studies of forest understory vegetation along a natural gradient of productivity are often confounded with changes in overstory cover types. We investigated how understory vegetation composition, cover, structure, and diversity change along a productivity gradient in 60 monodominant Populus stands in northeastern British Columbia. A partial canonical correspondence analysis indicated that understory vegetation composition was significantly related to aspen site index – dominant aspen tree height at breast-height age 50 years and several climate and soil variables, but not to stand basal area, density, or aboveground biomass, values that served as an index of light availability to forest understory. Indicator species analysis showed that Cornus sericea, Galium trifidum, and Equisetum pratense were associated with the higher productivity class, while Geocaulon lividum, Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Vaccinium myrtilloides, and bryophytes like Polytrichum juniperinum and Pleurozium schreberi occurred only on poor sites. Total cover of all understory plants, woody plants, and herbaceous species did not vary, but that of bryophytes and lichens decreased from poor to intermediate sites, and diversity indices of total, woody, and herbaceous plants increased significantly with the site index. The greater diversity on more productive sites may be associated with greater spatial and resource heterogeneity.Key words: trembling aspen, forest productivity, site index, understory vegetation, species composition, diversity index.

Understory plant assemblages present distinct short-term responses to the clear-cutting of an old-growth spruce forest near an alpine timberline

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 562-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Liu ◽  
W.K. Bao
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Grass Cover ◽  
Spruce Forest ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Environmental Alteration ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
Understory Plant

Forest clear-cutting is a prominent disturbance influencing understory plant communities. We implemented a before–after, control–impact (BACI) designed experiment in a high-elevation, old-growth spruce forest in the eastern Tibetan Plateau to understand the response in cover and species richness of the understory plant community and its assemblages, as well as the driving roles of environmental alteration (e.g., radiation, temperature, humidity, and nutrients), physical disturbance (e.g., direct damage by trampling and tree-felling), and interplay effects (e.g., shading or burial from logging residue) during a 2-year period. The decrease in cover for the understory vegetation was predominantly due to a decrease in bryophytes; the grass cover, however, increased. While bryophyte species richness decreased, the total number of understory and vascular plants changed minimally. Furthermore, the environmental alteration drove the increase in grass cover, as well as the cover and species richness decline for bryophytes and its two species groups. It was also found that physical disturbances and interplay effects caused the decrease in cover for bryophytes. The total effects influenced the understory community and bryophytes in terms of cover, but not in terms of species richness. We conclude that the short-term responses of understory vegetation to clear-cutting are distinct across different assemblages due to various mechanisms. Bryophytes are more sensitive than vascular plants, and cover percentage responded more swiftly than species richness to clear-cutting.

The Early Cretaceous Apple Bay flora of Vancouver Island: a hotspot of fossil bryophyte diversity

Botany ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 94 (9) ◽  
pp. 683-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandru M.F. Tomescu
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Significant Fraction ◽  
Plant Fossil ◽  
Rock Record ◽  
Preservation Potential ◽  
Better Than

The pre-Cenozoic bryophyte fossil record is significantly sparser than that of vascular plants or Cenozoic bryophytes. This situation has been traditionally attributed to a hypothesized low preservation potential of the plants. However, instances of excellent pre-Cenozoic bryophyte preservation and the results of experiments simulating fossilization contradict this traditional interpretation, suggesting that bryophytes have good preservation potential. Studies of an anatomically preserved Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) plant fossil assemblage on Vancouver Island (British Columbia), at Apple Bay, focusing on the cryptogamic flora, have revealed an abundant bryophyte component. The Apple Bay flora hosts one of the most diverse bryophyte assemblages worldwide, with at least nine distinct moss types (polytrichaceous, leucobryaceous, tricostate), one complex thalloid liverwort, and two other thalloid plants (representing bryophyte or pteridophyte gametophytes), which contribute a significant fraction of biodiversity to the pre-Cenozoic fossil record of bryophytes. These results (i) corroborate previous observations and studies, indicating that the preservation potential of bryophytes is much better than traditionally thought; (ii) indicate that the bryophyte fossil record is incompletely explored and many more bryophyte fossils are hidden in the rock record, awaiting discovery; and (iii) suggest that the paucity of the pre-Cenozoic bryophyte fossil record is primarily a reflection of inadequate paleobryological capacity.

Long-term response of understory plant species to thinning and fertilization in a Douglas-fir plantation on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 566-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangliang He ◽  
Hugh J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
N Fertilization ◽  
Douglas Fir ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Marginal Effect ◽  
Specific Substrate ◽  
Significant Treatment ◽  
Commercial Thinning ◽  
Canopy Trees

The 27-year response of understory vegetation in a 51-year-old Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) forest to thinning and N fertilization treatments was examined in a silviculture experiment at Shawnigan Lake on southern Vancouver Island of British Columbia. The experiment was a two-way factorial design with three levels for each of thinning and N fertilization. No significant treatment effects on the number of either vascular or nonvascular species were detected. This was also true for the covers of the majority of understory species except salal (Gaultheria shallon Pursh) and Oregon beaked moss (Kindbergia oregana (Sull.) Ochyra). Heavy thinning led to high salal and Oregon beaked moss cover, whereas heavy fertilization resulted in lower cover of salal but had no effect on the cover of Oregon beaked moss. Although thinning had a marginal effect on the cover of canopy trees 27 years after treatment, the cover of the canopy trees had only minimal effects on understory vegetation. Conversely, no adverse effect of understory vegetation on canopy trees was found. This study suggested that after 27 years thinning and fertilization had little effect on understory vegetation whether in terms of species richness or vegetation cover. An effective way to conserve species diversity is to protect specific substrate types, e.g., tree trunks, stumps, and coarse woody debris. A commercial thinning was recommended to reduce the time of stem exclusion in similar type of forests.

Distribution and Abundance ofPseudocyphellaria rainierensis(Old-Growth Specklebelly Lichen) on Vancouver Island and a Portion of the Central Mainland Coast of British Columbia

Evansia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 136-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Beese ◽  
Jeff Sandford ◽  
Margaret Symon ◽  
Stephanie Major
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Old Growth
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document