RT Journal Article
T1 Complex regeneration responses of eight tree species to partial harvest in mixedwood forests of northeastern North America
A1 Bose, Arun K.
A1 Alcalá Pajares, Martín
A1 Kern, Christel C.
A1 Montoro Girona, Miguel
A1 Thiffault, Nelson
AB Ecosystem-based forest management associated with partial harvesting (PH) is intended to balance ecologicaland economic values of sustainable forest management. The potential for delayed growth response and elevatedmortality of advance regeneration following PH remains a critical concern, and may present a barrier to morewidespread implementation of this approach. We used 835 permanent continuous forest inventory plots toexamine the rate and time course of species-specific regeneration growth and mortality of eight tree species inthe first fifteen years following operational partial harvests in the mixed-species forests of Maine, United States.We aimed to provide a quantitative understanding on how regeneration of different species responded to PH interms of growth and mortality. In addition, we evaluated how the patterns and magnitudes of growth andmortality responses developed over time, if these responses occur gradually or suddenly, and if the patterns of theresponses were persistent. We found that the response magnitude, temporal trajectories of responses, and thelength of initial lag-period largely varied across species, PH treatments, and the variables examined. For saplingdiameter growth, paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marshall) and red maple (Acer rubrum L.) showed immediateresponses to high-intensity PH, while a five-year lag-period was observed in balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.),American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.), red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis(L.) Carri`ere) and a 10-year lag period in northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis L.). The initial increase insapling mortality was observed in balsam fir, American beech, red maple and northern white-cedar, but not inother species. Sapling survival reached a stable state irrespective of species after the initial five-years followingharvests. In partially harvested stands, identifying preharvest conditions related to postharvest density, growth,and mortality was complex and interacted with time since harvest. Our results suggest that broad application ofPH only results in species-specific gains, losses, and delays in regeneration responses within mixed-speciesstands. Future research should consider PH in combination with other treatments to initiate immediate responsesto a wider range of species.
PB Elsevier
SN 0378-1127
SN 1872-7042 (electrónico)
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22303
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22303
LA eng
NO Bose, A. K., Alcalá-Pajares, M., Kern, C. C., Montoro-Girona, M., & Thiffault, N. (2023). Complex regeneration responses of eight tree species to partial harvest in mixedwood forests of northeastern North America. In Forest Ecology and Management (Vol. 529, p. 120672). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120672
NO We thank to US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)for access to the long-term database. Funding was provided by theUnited States National ScienceFoundation’s Center for AdvancedForestry Systems (#1915078) and R-II Track-2 FEC (#1920908) andfrom NSRC Alliance (ALLRP 557166 - 20).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 30 may 2026