Boreal Forests and Global Change: Peer-reviewed manuscripts selected from the International Boreal Forest Research Association Conference, held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, September 25–30, 1994

565 Pages·1995·30.854 MB·English

by  P. Angelstam, P. Majewski, S. Bondrup-Nielsen (auth.), Michael J. Apps, David T. Price, Joe Wisniewski (eds.)

BOREAL FORESTS AND GLOBAL CHANGE
Boreal Forests and
Global Change
Peer-reviewed manuscripts selected from the
International Boreal Forest Research Association Conference,
held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada,
September 25-30, 1994
Edited by
MICHAEL J. APPS and DAVID T. PRICE
Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service,
Northwest Region, Northern Forestry Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
and
JOE WISNIEWSKI
Wisniewski & Associates, Inc., Falls Church, VA, USA
Reprinted from Water, Air and Soil Pollution 82 (1-2), 1995
....
"
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 978-90-481-4605-5 ISBN 978-94-017-0942-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-0942-2
Printed an acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1995
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 1995
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
inc1uding photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permis sion from the copyright owner.
WATER, AIR AND SOIL POLLUTION I Volume 82 Nos. 112 May 1995
FOREWORD ix
PREFACE xiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv
PART I
FOREST MANAGEMENT AND THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT
West-East cooperation in Europe for sustainable boreal forests
P. Angelstam, P. Majewski, and S. Bondrup-Nielsen 3
Problems of forest management in Russia
G. Korovin 13
Conserving the boreal forest by shifting the emphasis of management action from vegetation
to the atmosphere
M.J. Fitzsimmons 25
Forest operations and environmental protection
A.M. Furuberg Gjedtjernet 35
Application of a bioeconomic strategic planning model to an industrial forest in Saskatchewan
R.R. Stewart and M. Martel 43
Emergence of a biodiversity concept in Swedish forest policy
T. U!.mAs and C. Fries 57
Criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management in Canada
L.F. Riley 67
Forestry and the boreal forest: maintaining inherent landscape patterns
S. Bondrup-Nielsen 71
Forest health monitoring in Canada: how healthy is the boreal fore~t?
J.P. Hall 77
Bioproductivity of spruce stands in northern European Russia
G.A. Chibisov 87
Long-term experiments in selectively cut Norway spruce (Picea abies) forest
K. Andreassen 97
Reforestation trials in the Khabarovsk Territory, Russia
R. Lowery and E. Zabubenin 107
Artificial regeneration of spruce on cold, wet soil: 10 years along
C. Hawkins, T. Letchford and M. Krasowski 115
Structure and biomass of larch stands regenerating naturally after clear-cut logging
I. Danilin 125
Desiccation of white spruce seedlings planted in the southern boreal forest of British Columbia
M.J. Krasowski, T. Letchford, A. Caputa, and W.A. Bergerud 133
Jack pine (Pinus banksiana) seedling emergence is affected by organic horizon removal,
ashes, soil, water and shade
D.G. Herr and L.C. Duchesne 147
Modelling forest regeneration processes in clear-cut and burned areas in Angara Region
V. Sokolov, S. Farber and I. Danilin 155
Using fuel characteristics to estimate plant ignitability for fire hazard reduction
J.C. Hogenbirk and C.L. Sarrazin-Delay 161
Simulation of mixedwood management of aspen and white spruce in northeastern British
Columbia
J.R. Wang, P. Comeau and J.P. Kimmins 171
Application of science to environmental imRact assessment in boreal forest management:
the Saskatchewan example
H~E~ 1N
PART II
NUTRIENT AND CARBON CYCLING
Nitrogen mineralization in boreal forest stands of Isle Royale, northern Michigan
R. Stottlemyer, B. Travis, and D. Toczydlowski 191
The Boreal Forest Transect Case Study: global change effects on ecosystem processes and
carbon dynamics in boreal Canada
D.T. Price and M.J. Apps 203
Litter quality and its potential effect on decay rates of materials from Canadian forests
JA Trofymow, C.M. Preston, and C.E. Prescott 215
Dynamics of the dead wood carbon pool in northwestern Russian boreal forests
O.N. Krankina and M.E. Harmon 227
Carbon pools and fluxes of 25-year old coniferous and deciduous stands in middle Siberia
E.F. Vedrova 239
Carbon stock and deposition in phytomass of the Russian forests
A. Isaev, G. Korovin, D. Zamolodchikov, A. Utkin, and A. Pryaznikov 247
A survey of the forest site characteristics in a transect through the central Canadian boreal
forest
D.H. Halliwell, M.J. Apps and D.T. Price 257
Carbon in vegetation of Russian forests: methods to estimate storage and geographical
distribution
V. Alexeyev, R. Birdsey, V. Stakanov, and I. Korotkov 271
Simulating carbon dynamics of the boreal forest in Pukaskwa National Park
I.A. Nalder and H.G. Merriam 283
Simulating carbon storage in forests of eastern Russia
P. Bradley, G. Gaston, T. Kolchugina and T.S. Vinson 299
Simulation of forest and wood product carbon budget under a changing climate in Finland
T. Karjalainen and S. Kellomilki 309
An analysis of future carbon budgets of Canadian boreal forests
W.A. Kurz and M.J. Apps 321
A system for evaluatien of growth and mortality in Russian forests
A. Shvidenko, S. Venevsky, G. Raile and S. Nilsson 333
PART III
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES AND THE IMPACTS OF GLOBAL CHANGE
Boreal forest catchments: research sites for global change at high latitudes
C.W. Slaughter, V.Y.E. Glotov, L.A. Viereck, and V.M. MikhaiJov 351
The Nashwaak Exeerimental Watershed Project: analysing effects of clearcutting on soil
temperature, SOil moisture, snowpack, snowmelt and stream flow
F.-A. Meng, C.P.-A. Bourque, K. Jewett, D. Daugharty and PA Arp 363
Temporal and spatial variations of terrestrial biomes and carbon storage since 13 000 yr BP
in Europe: reconstruction from pollen data and statistical models
C.H. Peng, J. Guiot, E. Van Campo and A. Cheddadi 375
The aspen parkland in western Canada: a dry-climate analogue for the future boreal forest?
E.H. Hogg and P.A. Hurdle 391
Potential effects of climatic change on some western Canadian forests, based on phenological
enhancements to a patch model of forest succession
P.J. Burton and S.G. Cumming 401
Boreal forest futures: modelling the controls on tree species range limits and transient
responses to climate change
M.T. Sykes and I.C. Prentice 415
Disturbance impacts on forest temporal dynamics
C. Li and M.J. Apps 429
Predicting the effects of climate change on fire frequency in the southeastern Canadian boreal
forest
Y. Bergeron and M.D. Flannigan 437
Effects of climate change on insect defoliator population processes in Canadas boreal forest:
some plausible scenarios
R.A. Fleming and W.JA Volney 445
Global carbon dynamics of higher latitude forests during an anticipated climate change:
ecophysiologlcal versus biome-migration view
G.H. Kohlmaier, Ch. Hilger, A. Nadler, G. Wurth and M.K.B. Ludeke 455
Pattern and change of a boreal forest landscape in northeastern China
H. Tian, H. Xu and CAS. Hall 465
Description of the Canadian Regional Climate Model
D. Caya, R. Laprise, M. Giguere, G. Bergeron, J.P. Blanchet, B.J. Stocks, G.J. Boer and
NA McFarlane 477
Aspen bark photosynthesis and its significance to remote sensing and carbon budget esti-
mates in the boreal ecosystem
V.I. Kharouk, E.M. Middleton, S.L. Spencer, B.N. Rock and D.L. Williams 483
Using aerial photography and satellite imagery to monitor forest cover in western Siberia
V.N. Sedykh 499
Monitoring primary production from Earth observing satellites
S.D. Prince, S.J. Goetz and S.N. Goward 509
EPILOGUE 523
First Nations perspective on the boreal forest
D'Arcy Linklater 525
LIST OF CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS 529
LIST OF REVIEWERS 541
AUTHOR INDEX 543
SUBJECT INDEX 545
IBFRA: International Boreal
Forest Research Association
BOREAL FORESTS
AND GLOBAL CHANGE
The members of the IBFRA '94 Conference Committee and the Editors of this volume
wish to acknowledge the support provided by these, and other, sponsoring agencies:
~
~
La Programme Canadien des
Weyerhaeuser Canada The Royal Society of Canada Changements A I'~chelle du Globe Prince Albert Model Forest
La Soci~16 Royale du Canada The Canadian Global Change Program Association Inc
Canada
II
Saskatchewan
FOREWORD
STEPHEN H. SCHNEIDER
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5020, USA
Considerable controversy surrounds the possibility that increasing numbers of people
demanding higher standards of living and using technologies to achieve those standards
of living might inadvertently cause substantial changes to the world's climate. First,
projections for future population range from as low as six or seven billion people in the
middle of the 21st century to as high as 15 billion or more by 2100. The standards of
living of this population and whether it will· use carbon-based fuels such as coal, or
much less polluting energy supply sources of a renewable nature, also engender debate.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), accounting both for these
uncertainties, and for those associated with the physical and biological responses to
emissions of carbon dioxide and other radiatively active substances into the
atmosphere, concluded that global warming ranging anywhere from as low as a degree
to perhaps as high as 5 °C are plausible by the end of the 21st century. The possibility
that sulphur-dioxide-produced atmospheric aerosols could both offset some of that
warming on a regional basis and generate further regional climatic disruptions has been
highlighted by the most recent IPCC summary. At the same time, human disruptions
through nitrogen and sulphur biogeochemical cycles also affect the deposition of
sulphuric and nitric acids on to the ecosystems al)d lakes of the Northern Hemisphere,
with potential direct effects on a number of regions and also potential indirect effects
of nitrate fertilization on the growth rate of forests. There is a wide range of plausible
future scenarios, ranging from mild to potentially catastrophic alterations to the
planetary environment. This has engendered an even more contentious debate over
whether current information is adequate to slow down the rate at which humans modify
the system or whether further scientific information should be gathered in advance of
global-scale policy actions. Of course, whether any reaction to a range of probabilities
and consequences is justified is never a scientific question per se but a value judgment
that weighs the potential costs of abatement versus the potential costs of environmental
disruption occurring unabated. Finally, most projections suggest that the largest
climatic and ecological changes are likely to be in the land areas of the northern half of
the Northern Hemisphere, in particular, the boreal forest zones.
Despite all the controversy surrounding anthropogenic climate change and. its
potential consequences, one clear connection between climate change and boreal
forests is undisputed: that the roughly 5 °C global average warming that took place
between about 15 000 and 5 000 years ago, when the l~t ice age gave way to the
present inter-glacial, created a dramatic alteration to the landscape in the current boreal
zone. Boreal species now present across Canada, Northern Europe and Siberia were
found far to the south in what is now mixed hardwood areas and prime agricultural
lands. As the ice receded, these species "chased the ice cap north", although recent
analyses of the fossil pollen during the most rapid time of transition suggests that the
structure of ecological communities was severely disrupted and that many species
moved individualistically. The natural rate of climate change to which this ecological
x s. H. SCHNEIDER
drama unfolded was for global average sustained rates of surface temperature change
on the order of 1 °C per thousand years, whereas even the low estimates from the IPCC
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1995). are on the order of 1 °C change
per century. Thus, foresters and ecologists have long been concerned that the potential
rates of anthropogenic climate change would be a factor of ten or more faster than the
rates that current ecosystems had experienced as they settled into current
configurations. This has led to a serious concern that not only might species have to
respond by migration to climatic changes at much faster than accustomed rates, but
they need to migrate through a landscape dramatically altered by human land use. The
forests of the 21st century will have to contend with factories, farms and freeways in
their migration paths in addition to the potential for rapid rates of climate change.
While no responsible scientist can provide a confident scenario of climatic or
ecological change in the 21st century, neither can a responsible scientist deny the
substantial probability of such change. Therefore, in order to estimate the potential
consequences of human activities, or to suggest adaptation strategies to deal with such
consequences, it is essential that the scientific community provide increasingly reliable
estimates of both the magnitudes of climate change and ecological responses. Since
the boreal forests are such an important component of this interaction, both being
influenced dramatically by climate change and at the same time feeding back on
climate change through effects on surface albedo and nutrient cycling, enhanced
capacity to understand and ultimately forecast the interactions of boreal forests and
climate is essential. While it is true that tropical forests have a higher degree of
biological diversity and more endemic species, suggesting that these may be the venue
for potential losses of bio-diversity under a variety of global change scenarios, the
boreal forests seem to exhibit the potential for the largest magnitude of change and to
have the greatest possible feedback on the climate. For these reasons it is important
that both systems can be studied and better understood, not as competitors for research
effort, but as complementary efforts aimed at understanding earth systems.
The papers in this volume are attempts both to summarize the state-of-the-art of our
understanding of boreal forests and their interaction with the climate, and also to
provide many suggestions for enhancing our capability in the years ahead. One of the
principal problems that needs to be addressed is the fact that climatic information on a
regional scale is often provided for areas many thousands of square kilometres in size,
whereas ecological understanding and field experimentation take place in study areas
on the order of tens to hundreds of meters. Methods to bridge the scale gap across
climatology and ecology are problematic (Root and Schneider, 1993), but some papers
in this volume demonstrate that techniques already exist for this purpose and that
additional ones can yet be developed. Validation of models also requires adequate data
sets, another issue considered in this volume.
Finally, in the quest for tools for "sustainable development," management strategies
must recognize the potential implications of global climatic and other global changes
on forests, while at the same time converting those global scale disturbances into the
local context. In view of the large uncertainties, and also the potential for serious
change, management strategies that emphasize flexibility and the capacity to respond
to changing scientific and economic conditions should be a priority. While not all
important uncertainties are likely to be resolved before the earth systems themselves
"perform the experiment" of telling us precisely what will happen, enough is known
FOREWORD xi
already to outline a wide-range of potential consequences and their subjective
probabilities. At a minimum, increased progress in the scientific study of boreal forests
and their interactions with climate will help to place decision-making at all scales on a
firmer scientific basis. That is the obligation the authors of this study offer to the
society that supports our work.
References
IPCC Working Group I: 1995, Second Scientific Assessment, 1995. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
UK. (In preparation).
Root, T. L. and Schneider, S. H.: 1993, Can large scale climatic models be linked with multi-scale ecological
studies? Conservation Biology, 7(2), 256-279