Constellation, le dépôt institutionnel de l'Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

Logging pattern and landscape changes over the last century at the boreal and deciduous forest transition in Eastern Canada

Boucher Yan, Arseneault Dominique, Sirois Luc et Blais Louis. (2009). Logging pattern and landscape changes over the last century at the boreal and deciduous forest transition in Eastern Canada. Landscape Ecology, 24, p. 171-184.

[thumbnail of Boucher_et_al_2009_LandscapeEcol.pdf] PDF - Version publiée
Administrateurs seulement

797kB

URL officielle: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1007/s10980-008-9294-8

Résumé

Forestry practices associated with the industrial era (since ~1900) have altered the natural disturbance regimes and greatly impacted the world's forests. We quantified twentieth century logging patterns and regional scale consequences in three sub-boreal forest landscapes of Eastern Canada (117,000, 49,400 and 92,300 ha), comparing forestry maps depicting age and forest cover types for early industrial (1930) and present-day (2000) conditions. Results were similar for the three landscapes, indicating large-scale forest change during the twentieth century. In 1930, previous logging activities had been concentrated in the lowlands and along the main hydrographical network, as compared to a more even distribution over the landscapes in 2000, reflecting a decreasing influence of the environmental constraints on forest harvesting. In 1930, old-aged forests (>100 years) accounted for more than 75% of the unlogged areas of the three landscapes, as compared to less than 15% for the present-day conditions. Logging practices have thus inverted the stand age distribution of the landscapes that are currently dominated by young and regenerating stands. The 1930 forest cover types showed a clear relationship with elevation, with conifers located in the lowlands and mixed and deciduous stands restricted to the upper slopes. Between 1930 and 2000, 58-64% of the conifer areas transformed to mixed and deciduous forests, such that no clear altitudinal relationships remained in 2000. We conclude that twentieth century logging practices have strongly altered the preindustrial vegetation patterns in our study area, to the point that ecosystem-based management strategies should be developed to restore conifer dominance, altitudinal gradients, as well as the irregular structure inspired from old forest stands.

Type de document:Article publié dans une revue avec comité d'évaluation
ISSN:0921-2973
Volume:24
Pages:p. 171-184
Version évaluée par les pairs:Oui
Date:2009
Identifiant unique:10.1007/s10980-008-9294-8
Sujets:Sciences naturelles et génie > Sciences appliquées > Foresterie et sciences du bois
Département, module, service et unité de recherche:Départements et modules > Département des sciences fondamentales
Mots-clés:Balsam fir, Abies balsamea, ecosystem-based management, historical forestry maps, land cover change, logging constraint, physical environment, preindustrial forest, reference conditions, timber floating
Déposé le:20 déc. 2022 15:55
Dernière modification:20 déc. 2022 15:55
Afficher les statistiques de telechargements

Éditer le document (administrateurs uniquement)

Creative Commons LicenseSauf indication contraire, les documents archivés dans Constellation sont rendus disponibles selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons "Paternité, pas d'utilisation commerciale, pas de modification" 2.5 Canada.

Bibliothèque Paul-Émile-Boulet, UQAC
555, boulevard de l'Université
Chicoutimi (Québec)  CANADA G7H 2B1
418 545-5011, poste 5630