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
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Boreal forest health and global change
TL;DR: The boreal forest, one of the largest biomes on Earth, provides ecosystem services that benefit society at levels ranging from local to global, but economic incentives and a greater focus in international fora are needed to support further adaptation and mitigation actions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Anticipating the consequences of climate change for Canada’s boreal forest ecosystems1
TL;DR: The boreal woodlands and forests cover approximately 3.09 × 106 km2 in Canada and are characterized by cool summers and long cold winters as discussed by the authors, and have been warm since the 1850s.
Journal ArticleDOI
Carbon in Canada’s boreal forest — A synthesis1
TL;DR: The authors found that Canada's managed boreal forest, 54% of the nation's total boreal forests area, stores 28 Pg carbon (C) in biomass, dead organic matter, and soil pools.
Journal ArticleDOI
Regional detection, characterization, and attribution of annual forest change from 1984 to 2012 using Landsat-derived time-series metrics
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply spectral trend analysis of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and enhanced thematic mapper plus (ETM+) data from 1984 to 2012 to detect, characterize, and attribute forest changes in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.
References
More filters
Prehistory of the Western Subarctic
TL;DR: For instance, in this article, a prominent scholar of Eskimo prehistory described the archaeology of the forested interior of Alaska as "one of bits and patches" and dismissed it in a paragraph.
Journal ArticleDOI
Extreme cold temperatures and survival of overwintering and germinated Arceuthobium americanum seeds
TL;DR: The results may explain the absence of dwarf mistletoe in jack pine forests in the colder, more northerly areas, which are free of the pathogen, which is limited by low temperature.
Journal ArticleDOI
Estimated Rates of Deforestation in Two Boreal Landscapes in Central Saskatchewan, Canada
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors quantified the changes in the superficie of the province of Saskatchewan over a period of more than three decades by using a systeme d'information geographique.
Related Papers (5)
Anticipating the consequences of climate change for Canada’s boreal forest ecosystems1
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