Red-Listed Ecosystem Status of Interior Wetbelt and Inland Temperate Rainforest of British Columbia, Canada

The Interior Wetbelt (IWB) of British Columbia, which includes the globally rare Inland Temperate Rainforest (ITR), contains primary forests poorly attributed and neglected in conservation planning. We evaluated the IWB and ITR using four IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Criteria: geographic distribution, environmental degradation (abiotic and biotic factors), and likelihood of ecosystem collapse. Clearcut logging (3.2M ha) represented 57% of all anthropogenic disturbances, reducing potential primary forest by 2.7 million ha (28%) for the IWB and 524,003 ha (39%) for the ITR. Decadal logging rates nearly doubled from 5.3% to 10.2% from 1970s–2000s. Core areas (buffered by 100-m from roads and developments) declined by 70% to 95% for the IWB and ITR, respectively. Vulnerable was assigned to karst, the only abiotic factor assessed, because it was associated with rare plants. For biotic factors, Old-Growth Birds were Vulnerable, Southern Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) habitat and Sensitive Fish were Endangered, and Old-Growth Lichens habitat was Critical. Overall, the IWB was ranked as Endangered and the ITR as Critical with core area collapse possible within 9 to 18 years for the ITR, considered one of the world’s most imperiled temperate rainforests.

Early Holocene bark-stripping damages as an indicator of large herbivores: Evidence from a submerged Mesolithic landscape in the Haväng area, southern Baltic basin

A unique assemblage consisting of 113 pine samples collected from a submerged Mesolithic landscape in the Haväng area, southern Sweden, was examined to assess the presence of large herbivores, as well as changes in wild-game population density and composition. Bark-stripping damages on prehistoric trees is an extremely underutilized source of information about past game-population dynamics, yet our analyzes of wood samples – dated to around 10 500 cal. yr. BP – shows that such material can be successfully used to study the presence and activities of large herbivores, most likely ungulates. To evaluate our results, comparisons have been made with subfossil peatland trees that grew around 6000 years ago, as well as trees from two present day clearcut logging sites in southern Sweden. Furthermore, studies in a wild-game reserve were performed to recognize and understand different types of damages on trees caused by ungulates. Bark-stripping indicate the presence of ungulates, and the rate of damage is commonly associated with the density of the wild game. Bark-stripping was most frequently observed in the submerged wood material from the early Holocene, where damages were detected in 15% of the trees. In comparisons, 11% of the mid-Holocene trees show bark-stripping damages, whereas marks could be detected in the range between 0% and 6% of the trees from the two present-day clearcut logging sites. Our results show that tree-ring analyzes of prehistoric wood can generate information about wild-game dynamics of the past, and thereby being a valuable complement to more commonly used paleoecological and zooarcheological records.

The maintenance of understory residual flora with even-aged forest management: A review of temperate forests in northeastern North America

This study reviews the effects of even-aged forest management (primarily clearcut logging) on the dynamics, structure, and composition of understory vascular plant communities in remnant late-successional (old-growth and old re-growth) forests of northeastern North America. Less than 1% of forested land in the region has never been cleared and remnant patches of primary woodland (i.e., continuously forested since European colonization; ~350 BP) are few, small and isolated within a second-growth landscape that is increasingly managed in open and immature forest age-classes. The historical loss and fragmentation of pre-settlement forested habitat has generated considerable scientific and public debate about whether additional declines in late-successional woodland, as a result of contemporary land uses (e.g., clearcut logging), threaten species that are associated with old forest conditions. We focused particular attention on residual plants (i.e., flora associated with late-successional forests) that may be dependent upon older stand conditions for maximal growth or that are less common within intensively managed landscapes. Despite a general community-wide resiliency to clearcutting, we found that a number of residual plants in northeastern forests are typically eliminated or have a reduced presence in recovering stands after logging (e.g., Oxalis montana (L.), Aralia nudicaulis (L.), Taxus candensis (Marsh.)). The most sensitive species to clearcutting include mycotrophs, taxa with limited seed dispersal and (or) low rates of clonal expansion (<10 cm/year), and species reliant on specific seedbed conditions associated with older forests (e.g., decayed logs). These results suggest that the preservation of remnant late-successional forests (both old-growth and old re-growth) may be necessary for the maintenance of some residual plant populations in highly disturbed and fragmented forest landscapes in the northeastern North America.