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Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics

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A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 August 2017) | Viewed by 64502

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Prof. Dr. Emanuele Lingua

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Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry (TESAF), University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
Interests: forest ecology and management; natural disturbances; RS for forestry; spatial analysis
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Dear Colleagues,

Natural disturbances have been shaping species composition and the spatial pattern of vegetation cover in forest ecosystems for millennia, being among the main drivers of stand dynamics and forest succession. However, many stands are of anthropogenic origin or have been deeply affected by forest management, and the impact of high severity disturbances can lead to undesirable successional pathways. Furthermore, in many regions, disturbance regimes have already undergone considerable changes, in particular through an increase in frequency, size, and severity, strictly related to climate and land use changes.

Emerging critical issues related to current and foreseen alterations in disturbance regimes call for a better understanding of both regeneration dynamics following intermediate or high severity events and the impact of post-disturbance management practices on forest recovery. This advance in knowledge will prove fundamental prior to choosing between the need to actively undertake forest restoration or a passive management approach.

We encourage studies from all fields, including experimental and multidisciplinary investigations, focusing on post-disturbance regeneration dynamics, and management interventions, to contribute to this Special Issue in order to promote knowledge on forest ecosystems affected by natural disturbances, and to implement sustainable forest management, aiming at increasing forest resilience and securing their fundamental ecosystem services and inherent biodiversity.

Prof. Dr. Emanuele Lingua
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Natural Disturbances
Succession
Forest restoration
Regeneration dynamics
Forest Management
Facilitation mechanisms
Deadwood management
Post-disturbance management
Resilience

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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3375 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tree Regeneration Spatial Patterns in Ponderosa Pine Forests Following Stand-Replacing Fire: Influence of Topography and Neighbors

by Justin P. Ziegler, Chad M. Hoffman, Paula J. Fornwalt, Carolyn H. Sieg, Mike A. Battaglia, Marin E. Chambers and Jose M. Iniguez

Forests 2017, 8(10), 391; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8100391 - 14 Oct 2017

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 6839

Abstract

Shifting fire regimes alter forest structure assembly in ponderosa pine forests and may produce structural heterogeneity following stand-replacing fire due, in part, to fine-scale variability in growing environments. We mapped tree regeneration in eighteen plots 11 to 15 years after stand-replacing fire in Colorado and South Dakota, USA. We used point pattern analyses to examine the spatial pattern of tree locations and heights as well as the influence of tree interactions and topography on tree patterns. In these sparse, early-seral forests, we found that all species were spatially aggregated, partly attributable to the influence of (1) aspect and slope on conifers; (2) topographic position on quaking aspen; and (3) interspecific attraction between ponderosa pine and other species. Specifically, tree interactions were related to finer-scale patterns whereas topographic effects influenced coarse-scale patterns. Spatial structures of heights revealed conspecific size hierarchies with taller trees in denser neighborhoods. Topography and heterospecific tree interactions had nominal effect on tree height spatial structure. Our results demonstrate how stand-replacing fires create heterogeneous forest structures and suggest that scale-dependent, and often facilitatory, rather than competitive, processes act on regenerating trees. These early-seral processes will establish potential pathways of stand development, affecting future forest dynamics and management options. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics)

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4739 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Challenges for Uneven-Aged Silviculture in Restoration of Post-Disturbance Forests in Central Europe: A Synthesis

by Jurij Diaci, Dusan Rozenbergar, Gal Fidej and Thomas A. Nagel

Forests 2017, 8(10), 378; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8100378 - 4 Oct 2017

Cited by 31 | Viewed by 7384

Abstract

Forest managers are often required to restore forest stands following natural disturbances, a situation that may become more common and more challenging under global change. In parts of Central Europe, particularly in mountain regions dominated by mixed temperate forests, the use of relatively low intensity, uneven-aged silviculture is a common management approach. Because this type of management is based on mimicking less intense disturbances, the restoration of more severe disturbance patches within forested landscapes has received little attention. The goal of this paper is to synthesize research on the restoration of forests damaged by disturbances in temperate forests of Slovenia and neighbouring regions of Central Europe, where uneven-aged silviculture is practiced. Research indicates that active management aimed at favouring mixed uneven-aged forest reduces the risk of disturbance and improves the resilience of stands. Salvage logging may have positive or negative effects on regeneration, much of which is due to the method applied and the quality of work. The most prominent factors that negatively affect restoration are: lack of advanced regeneration and decomposed woody debris, high altitude, steep slopes, dense ground vegetation, and overbrowsing. Planting or sowing should be applied in post-disturbance forests where many negative factors interact and where a high demand for sustainability of forest ecosystem services is present. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics)

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2984 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Post-Fire Salvage Logging Imposes a New Disturbance that Retards Succession: The Case of Bryophyte Communities in a Macaronesian Laurel Forest

by Raquel Hernández-Hernández, Jorge Castro, Marcelino Del Arco-Aguilar, Ángel Fernández-López and Juana María González-Mancebo

Forests 2017, 8(7), 252; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8070252 - 15 Jul 2017

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5292

Abstract

Post-fire salvage logging (SL) is a common management action that involves the harvesting of burnt trees. As a consequence, a large amount of biological legacies in the form of logs and other coarse woody debris are removed from the post-fire habitat, creating a more simplified landscape. Therefore, SL could act as an additional disturbance over that produced by fire. In this study, we seek to determine the effect of SL on the regeneration of the bryophyte community of a laurel forest from the Canary Islands (Spain). We hypothesized that SL will act as an additional disturbance and, consequently, salvaged areas will have a higher difference in community composition with respect to a reference ecosystem (RE). Mosses and liverworts were sampled 22 months after the salvage operations in salvaged plots, non-salvaged, and in an RE represented by areas of the original forest. Species richness did not differ between salvage and non-salvaged treatments. However, multivariate analysis and species-indicator analysis showed that non-salvaged plots had a composition closer to that of the RE, with a higher proportion of closed-canopy, perennial, and long-lived species, as well as some epiphytes. By contrast, salvaged plots were dominated by early-successional terrestrial species and species preferring open habitats. We conclude that post-fire SL represents an additional disturbance that further delays succession, a result that is consistent with previous studies using other taxonomic groups. SL should therefore be avoided or, if implemented, the possibility of leaving part of the post-fire biological legacies in situ should be considered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics)

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2593 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fifty-Six Years of Forest Development Following the 1938 Hurricane in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, USA

by Bruce P. Allen and Ingeborg V. Seaboyer

Forests 2017, 8(7), 225; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8070225 - 27 Jun 2017

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4295

Abstract

Forest development patterns following the 1938 hurricane were evaluated in 45 continuous forest inventory (CFI) plots monitored from 1955 to 2011 at the Caroline A. Fox Research and Demonstration Forest (Fox), in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. Long-term plot data provide a record of landscape-level changes in a managed forest setting. Changes in density, basal area, mortality, removal, and recruitment demonstrate the effects of forest management on growth and forest structure through time. Tree density peaked in 2001 at 716.1 trees/hectare, but the basal area continued to increase from 18.8 m²/ha in 1955 to 44.7 m²/ha 2011 despite forest management activities. Hemlock and red maple dominate stem recruitment. Tree mortality rates have increased from 0.26%/year 1955–1965 to 1.03%/year 2001–2011, while removal rates have dropped from 1.04%/year to 0.44%/year. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics)

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7307 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fire Severity and Regeneration Strategy Influence Shrub Patch Size and Structure Following Disturbance

by Jesse Minor, Donald A. Falk and Greg A. Barron-Gafford

Forests 2017, 8(7), 221; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8070221 - 22 Jun 2017

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5851

Abstract

Climate change is increasing the frequency and extent of high-severity disturbance, with potential to alter vegetation community composition and structure in environments sensitive to tipping points between alternative states. Shrub species display a range of characteristics that promote resistance and resilience to disturbance, and which yield differential post-disturbance outcomes. We investigated differences in shrub patch size and stem density in response to variations in fire severity, vegetation community, and post-disturbance reproductive strategies in Sky Island forested ecosystems in the southwestern United States. Patterns in shrub structure reflect the effects of fire severity as well as differences among species with alternate post-fire reproductive strategies. Increased fire severity correlates with larger patch sizes and greater stem densities; these patterns are observed across multiple fire events, indicating that disturbance legacies can persist for decades. High severity fire produces the largest shrub patches, and variance in shrub patch size increases with severity. High severity fire is likely to promote expansion of shrub species on the landscape, with implications for future community structure. Resprouting species have the greatest variability in patch structure, while seeding species show a strong response to disturbance: resprouting species dominate at low disturbance severities, and obligate seeders dominate high severity areas. Differential post-fire reproductive strategies are likely to generate distinct patterns of vegetation distribution following disturbance, with implications for community composition at various scales. Shrub species demonstrate flexible responses to wildfire disturbance severity that are reflected in shrub patch dynamics at small and intermediate scales. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics)

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1608 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Boreal Well Site Reclamation Practices on Long-Term Planted Spruce and Deciduous Tree Regeneration

by Laurie A. Frerichs, Edward W. Bork, Terrance J. Osko and M. Anne Naeth

Forests 2017, 8(6), 201; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8060201 - 8 Jun 2017

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5592

Abstract

Well site development associated with oil sands exploration is common in boreal mixedwood forests of northern Alberta, Canada, and necessitates reforestation to accommodate other land uses. Little is known about the impact of soil and debris handling strategies during well site construction on long-term forest regeneration. This study addresses the impact of soil disturbance intensity, debris treatment, soil storage, and planting on the reforestation of 33 well sites reclaimed prior to 2006. Data on the survival and growth of planted white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) and the regeneration density of deciduous trees, including trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx), are presented from 2014 to 2015. The survival of planted spruce increased from 81% to 88% at well sites with a high relative to low soil disturbance. The total tree densities were lower in most treatments (≤2.69 stems m⁻²) than those in clear cuts (5.17 stems m⁻²), with the exception of root salvage areas where clear cuts had greater balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.) densities (2.05 stems m⁻² vs. <0.71 stems m⁻² on all other treatments). Aspen densities were up to five times greater at well sites with low disturbance when compared to those with high disturbance, and this was further aided by shallow mulch at low disturbance sites. Spruce growth did not respond to well site treatments. Aspen growth (diameter and height) remained similar between well site disturbance regimes; aspen exposed to high disturbance underperformed relative to low disturbance well sites and clear cut controls. With high disturbance, progressive soil piling led to increases in the density of aspen and birch (Betula papyrifera Marshall). Few long-term changes in soil were found due to well site development, with a greater soil pH in high disturbance sites compared to low disturbance sites. Overall, these results indicate that the nature of well site construction, including the extent of soil removal, soil piling, and debris treatment, may collectively alter forest re-establishment, with associated implications for forest management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics)

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2617 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Climate Drives Episodic Conifer Establishment after Fire in Dry Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Colorado Front Range, USA

by Monica T. Rother and Thomas T. Veblen

Forests 2017, 8(5), 159; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8050159 - 8 May 2017

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 7136

Abstract

In recent years, warming climate and increased fire activity have raised concern about post-fire recovery of western U.S. forests. We assessed relationships between climate variability and tree establishment after fire in dry ponderosa pine forests of the Colorado Front Range. We harvested and aged over 400 post-fire juvenile ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) trees using an improved tree-ring based approach that yielded annually-resolved dates and then assessed relationships between climate variability and pulses of tree establishment. We found that tree establishment was largely concentrated in years of above-average moisture availability in the growing season, including higher amounts of precipitation and more positive values of the Palmer Drought Severity Index. Under continued climate change, drier conditions associated with warming temperatures may limit forest recovery after fire, which could result in lower stand densities or shifts to non-forested vegetation in some areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics)

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2923 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Salvage-Logging after Windstorm Leads to Structural and Functional Homogenization of Understory Layer and Delayed Spruce Tree Recovery in Tatra Mts., Slovakia

by Zuzana Michalová, Robert C. Morrissey, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Radek Bače, Peter Fleischer and Miroslav Svoboda

Forests 2017, 8(3), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8030088 - 17 Mar 2017

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 7765

Abstract

Stand-replacing disturbance and post-disturbance salvage-logging influence forest succession in different ways; however, limited knowledge regarding how salvage-logging affects vegetation patterns compared to natural development of forest ecosystems is still lacking. In this study, we described the diversity pattern of understory vegetation and tree regeneration in mountain spruce forest of Tatra Mountains, northern Slovakia, where a high severity windstorm affecting over 10,000 ha occurred in 2004. The area was consequently subjected to salvage-logging. We asked how the species composition, vegetation diversity, and its spatial heterogeneity were modified by severe salvage-logging. Vascular plants, deadwood coverage, and tree species densities were monitored on non-intervention (NI; n = 108) and salvage-logged (SL; n = 95) experimental plots (spatially nested design, sample plot area 3.14 m²) six and seven years after disturbance, respectively. The NI sites were structurally more diverse with post-windstorms legacies such as deadwood and pit and mound topography being recorded. The NI plots contained more late-successional plant and moss species that are commonly found in the pre-disturbance forest. The NI plots were also more diverse in terms of alpha- and beta-diversity with abundant natural regeneration of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst). The structure of SL site was more homogeneous and its species composition shifted towards being dominated by grasses, although the site accommodated a higher number of plant species due to newly established pioneer plant- and tree species. The retreat of late-successional species in favour of grasses can lead to structural and functional homogenization of habitat and to delayed succession towards establishment of spruce forest. We conclude that the removal of wind-disturbance legacies significantly diverts natural successional pathways. We recommend avoiding salvage-logging in protected areas since large-scale application of salvage-logging reduces beta-diversity of the landscape. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics)

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Review

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1594 KiB

Open AccessReview

Regeneration Dynamics of Coast Redwood, a Sprouting Conifer Species: A Review with Implications for Management and Restoration

by Kevin L. O’Hara, Lauren E. Cox, Sasha Nikolaeva, Julian J. Bauer and Rachelle Hedges

Forests 2017, 8(5), 144; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8050144 - 27 Apr 2017

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 13207

Abstract

Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (Lamb. ex. D. Don) Endl.) is unique among conifer species because of its longevity, the great sizes of individual trees, and its propensity to reproduce through sprouts. Timber harvesting in the native redwood range along the coast of the western United States has necessitated restoration aimed to promote old forest structures to increase the total amount of old forest, the connectivity between old forests, and to enhance the resiliency of these ecosystems. After disturbance or harvest, healthy redwood stumps sprout vigorously, often producing dozens of sprouts within two years of disturbance. These sprouts form highly aggregated spatial patterns because they are clustered around stumps that may number less than 50 ha⁻¹. Thinning of sprouts can accelerate individual tree growth, providing an effective restoration strategy to accelerate formation of large trees and old forest structures or increase stand growth for timber production. However, management, including restoration activities, is a contentious issue throughout the native range of redwood because of the history of overexploitation of this resource and perceptions that overexploitation is continuing. This paper reviews the science of early stand dynamics in coast redwood and their implications for restoration and other silvicultural strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Disturbance Forest Management and Regeneration Dynamics)

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