Canadian Forest Service Publications
Modeling natural regeneration following mountain pine beetle attacks in the southern and central interior of British Columbia. 2007. LeMay, V.M.; Lee, T.; Sattler, D.; Marshall, P.; Robinson, D.; Zumrawi, A.A. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Pacific and Yukon Region, Victoria, BC. Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative Working Paper 2007-16. 51 p.
Year: 2007
Issued by: Pacific Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 28111
Language: English
Series: Mountain Pine Beetle Working Paper (PFC - Victoria)
Availability: PDF (download)
Abstract
Under the federal Mountain Pine Beetle Program, research is being implemented to study the economic and ecological characteristics of mountain pine beetle-damaged stands in British Columbia and Alberta. Stand development projections following beetle attack will depend upon the ability to accurately project natural regeneration following attack. In this study, stand structure measured on affected stands shortly after attack was used to estimate the abundance and composition of natural regeneration a number of years following attack. Based on plot data previously gathered by the Canadian Forestry Service and additional data gathered under separate BC Forest Science Program funding, the average amount of regeneration per hectare was quite high, and included predominantly pine and deciduous species, with few other conifers. Only three of the 326 plots had no regeneration. Fourteen overstorey variables were selected for estimating regeneration by species and size classes using multivariate nearest-neighbour imputation: elevation; stems and basal area per hectare for all live trees by three species groups; crown competition factor and quadratic mean diameter (QMD) for all live trees; stems per hectare, basal area per hectare, and QMD for pine snags; years since disturbance; and site series. There was wide variability in estimated versus observed regeneration at the plot level. However, the average estimated regeneration by species and size class was very similar to the average measured regeneration, except within the smallest size class. A prototype to incorporate this estimation procedure into PrognosisBC was developed to project stands following beetle attack, using overstorey measures shortly after attack.