Canadian Forest Service Publications
Incorporating insect and wind disturbances in a natural disturbance-based management framework for the boreal forest. 2018. De Grandpre, L.; Waldron, K.; Bouchard, M.; Gauthier, S.; Beaudet, M.; Ruel, J.-C.; Hébert, C.; Kneeshaw, D.D. Forests 9(8), 471.
Year: 2018
Issued by: Laurentian Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 39235
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Abstract
Natural disturbances are fundamental to forest ecosystem dynamics and have been used for two decades to improve forest management, notably in the boreal forest. Initially based on fire regimes, there is now a need to extend the concept to include other types of disturbances as they can greatly contribute to forest dynamics in some regions of the boreal zone. Here we review the main descriptors—that is, the severity, specificity, spatial and temporal descriptors and legacies, of windthrow and spruce bud worm outbreak disturbance regimes in boreal forests—in order to facilitate incorporating them into a natural disturbance-based forest management framework. We also describe the biological legacies that are generated by these disturbances. Temporal and spatial descriptors characterising both disturbance types are generally variable in time and space. This makes them difficult to reproduce in an ecosystem management framework. However, severity and specificity descriptors may provide a template upon which policies for maintaining post harvesting and salvage logging biological legacies can be based. In a context in which management mainly targets mature and old-growth stages, integrating insect and wind disturbances in a management framework is an important goal, as these disturbances contribute to creating heterogeneity in mature and old-growth forest characteristics.
Plain Language Summary
In this article, the researchers present a review of the main characteristics of windthrow and spruce budworm outbreak disturbance patterns in boreal forests in order to incorporate them into a natural disturbance-based forest management framework. They also describe the biological legacies generated by these disturbances.
In the context of forest management aimed at mature and old-growth forests, integrating natural disturbances caused by insect outbreaks and windthrow is an important objective, as these disturbances contribute to maintaining forest heterogeneity.
