Naturalness Assessment of Forest Management Scenarios in Abies balsamea–Betula papyrifera Forests
| Autor: | Manuele Margni, Louis Bélanger, Evelyne Thiffault, Sylvie Côté, Robert Beauregard |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
forest management intensity media_common.quotation_subject Forest management 010501 environmental sciences 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Naturalness Forest ecology Quality (business) Ecosystem boreal forest Regeneration (ecology) 0105 earth and related environmental sciences media_common business.industry Taiga Environmental resource management Forestry lcsh:QK900-989 Reference data quality of ecosystems land use intensity lcsh:Plant ecology Environmental science naturalness business |
| Zdroj: | Forests, Vol 11, Iss 601, p 601 (2020) Forests Volume 11 Issue 5 |
| ISSN: | 1999-4907 |
| Popis: | Research Highlights: This research provides an application of a model assessing the naturalness of the forest ecosystem to demonstrate its capacity to assess either the deterioration or the rehabilitation of the ecosystem through different forest management scenarios. Background and Objectives: The model allows the assessment of the quality of ecosystems at the landscape level based on the condition of the forest and the proportion of different forest management practices to precisely characterize a given strategy. The present work aims to: (1) verify the capacity of the Naturalness Assessment Model to perform bi-directional assessments, allowing not only the evaluation of the deterioration of naturalness characteristics, but also its improvement related to enhanced ecological management or restoration strategies (2) identify forest management strategies prone to improving ecosystem quality (3) analyze the model&rsquo s capacity to summarize the effect of different practices along a single alteration gradient. Materials and Methods: The Naturalness Assessment Model was adapted to the Abies balsamea&ndash Betula papyrifera forest of Quebec (Canada), and a naturalness assessment of two sectors with different historical management strategies was performed. Fictive forest management scenarios were evaluated using different mixes of forestry practices. The sensitivity of the reference data set used for the naturalness assessment has been evaluated by comparing the results using data from old management plans with those based on Quebec&rsquo s reference state registry. Results: The model makes it possible to identify forest management strategies capable of improving ecosystem quality compared to the current situation. The model&rsquo s most sensitive variables are regeneration process, dead wood, closed forest and cover type. Conclusions: In the Abies balsamea&ndash Betula papyrifera forest, scenarios with enhanced protection and inclusion of irregular shelterwood cuttings could play an important role in improving ecosystem quality. Conversely, scenarios with short rotation (50 years) could lead to further degradation of the ecosystem quality. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|