Journal ArticleDOI
An introduction to Canada’s boreal zone: ecosystem processes, health, sustainability, and environmental issues
TLDR
The region presently occupied by Canada's boreal zone has experienced dramatic changes during the past 3 million years as the climate cooled and repeated glaciations affected both the biota and the landscape as discussed by the authors.Abstract:
The boreal zone and its ecosystems provide numerous provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. Because of its resources and its hydroelectric potential, Canada’s boreal zone is important to the country’s resource-based economy. The region presently occupied by Canada’s boreal zone has experienced dramatic changes during the past 3 million years as the climate cooled and repeated glaciations affected both the biota and the landscape. For about the past 7000 years, climate, fire, insects, diseases, and their interactions have been the most important natural drivers of boreal ecosystem dynamics, including rejuvenation, biogeochemical cycling, maintenance of productivity, and landscape variability. Layered upon natural drivers are changes increasingly caused by people and development and those related to human-caused climate change. Effects of these agents vary spatially and temporally, and, as global population increases, the demands and impacts on ecosystems will likely increase. Understanding how humans directly affect terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Canada’s boreal zone and how these effects and actions interact with natural disturbance agents is a prerequisite for informed and adaptive decisions about management of natural resources, while maintaining the economy and environment upon which humans depend. This paper reports on the genesis and present condition of the boreal zone and its ecosystems and sets the context for a detailed scientific investigation in subsequent papers published in this journal on several key aspects: carbon in boreal forests; climate change consequences, adaptation, and mitigation; nutrient and elemental cycling; protected areas; status, impacts, and risks of non-native species; factors affecting sustainable timber harvest levels; terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity; and water and wetland resources.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Allometric Equations for Estimating Biomass and Carbon Stocks in Afforested Open Woodlands with Black Spruce and Jack Pine, in the Eastern Canadian Boreal Forest
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed ad hoc allometric equations based on three power models including diameter at breast height (DBH) alone or in combination with tree height (H) as allometric variables.
Journal ArticleDOI
TRIPLEX-Mortality model for simulating drought-induced tree mortality in boreal forests: Model development and evaluation
Qiuyu Liu,Changhui Peng,Changhui Peng,Robert Schneider,Dominic Cyr,Zelin Liu,Xiaolu Zhou,Daniel Kneeshaw +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a new TRIPLEX-Mortality submodule for the Canadian boreal forests at the stand level, that for the first time successfully incorporates two advanced drought-induced physiological mortality mechanisms (i.e., hydraulic failure and carbon starvation).
Journal ArticleDOI
Issues and perspectives on the use of exotic species in the sustainable management of Canadian forests
TL;DR: The use of exotic tree species is compatible with sustainable forest management criteria used in Canada, but forest managers must take into account several issues related to their use and maintain a social license to be entitled to plant them as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
A conservation assessment of Canada's boreal forest incorporating alternate climate change scenarios
Ryan P. Powers,Nicholas C. Coops,Vivitskaia J. D. Tulloch,Sarah E. Gergel,Trisalyn A. Nelson,Michael A. Wulder +5 more
TL;DR: In this article, a boreal conservation assessment using both a conventional (Marxan) and a new probabilistic site-selection approach was presented, with projected 2080 vegetation variability probability (VVP) for least change (B1), business as usual (A1B) and most extreme change (A2) climate scenarios.
Journal ArticleDOI
Temperature-induced growing season drought threatens survival and height growth of white spruce in southern Ontario, Canada
TL;DR: The results suggest that with projected increases in temperature and frequency/severity of growing season drought by the end of this century, white spruce is likely to experience maladaptation over a larger portion of its range in Ontario and gradually retract from its current southern range edge.
References
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Related Papers (5)
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A Large and Persistent Carbon Sink in the World’s Forests
Yude Pan,Richard Birdsey,Jingyun Fang,Jingyun Fang,Richard A. Houghton,Pekka E. Kauppi,Werner A. Kurz,Oliver L. Phillips,Anatoly Shvidenko,Simon L. Lewis,Josep G. Canadell,Philippe Ciais,Robert B. Jackson,Stephen W. Pacala,A. David McGuire,Shilong Piao,Aapo Rautiainen,Stephen Sitch,Daniel J. Hayes +18 more