Forest management influences the effects of streamside wet areas on stream ecosystems.

Autor: Erdozain M; Canadian Rivers Institute and Biology Department, University of New Brunswick, 100 Tucker Park Road, Saint John, New Brunswick, E2L 4L5, Canada., Emilson CE; Canadian Forest Service, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, 1219 Queen Street East, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, P6A 2E5, Canada., Kreutzweiser DP; Canadian Forest Service, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, 1219 Queen Street East, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, P6A 2E5, Canada., Kidd KA; Canadian Rivers Institute and Biology Department, University of New Brunswick, 100 Tucker Park Road, Saint John, New Brunswick, E2L 4L5, Canada.; Department of Biology and School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4K1, Canada., Mykytczuk N; Vale Living with Lakes Centre, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, Ontario, P3E 2C6, Canada., Sibley PK; School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America [Ecol Appl] 2020 Jun; Vol. 30 (4), pp. e02077. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Feb 21.
DOI: 10.1002/eap.2077
Abstrakt: Riparian zones contain areas of strong hydrological connectivity between land and stream, referred to as variable source areas (VSAs), and are considered biogeochemical control points. However, little is known about whether VSAs influence stream communities and whether this connectivity is affected by forest management. To address this, we used multiple biotic and abiotic indicators to (1) examine the influence of VSAs on riparian vegetation and stream ecosystems by comparing VSA and non-VSA reaches and (2) explore how forest management may affect the influence of VSAs on stream ecosystems. We detected some significant differences between VSA and non-VSA reaches in the riparian vegetation (greater understory and lower tree density) and stream ecosystem indicators (greater dissolved organic matter aromaticity, microbial biomass, peroxidase activity and collector-gatherer density, and lower dissolved organic carbon concentrations, algal biomass, and predatory macroinvertebrate density), which suggests that VSAs may create a more heterotrophic ecosystem locally. However, we show some evidence that forest management activities (specifically, road density) can alter the influence of VSAs and eliminate the differences observed at lower forest management intensities, and that the most hydrologically connected areas seem more sensitive to disturbance. Therefore, we suggest that the heterogeneity in hydrological connectivity along riparian zones should be considered when planning forest harvesting operations and road building (e.g., wider riparian buffers around VSAs).
(© 2020 by the Ecological Society of America.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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