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Configuration dynamics of boreal forest landscapes under recent fire and harvesting regimes in western Canada

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Abstract

Harvesting and forest fire change the spatial configurations of forest habitat. We used multivariate statistical models to evaluate the individual and cumulative effects of these two disturbances on habitat configuration in managed boreal forest landscapes in western Canada. We evaluated three aspects of configuration (core area, inter-patch distance and shape) using indices normalized for total habitat abundance. The two disturbances types had different effects on the three configuration metrics in terms of both the magnitude and direction of change. We found that the magnitudes of harvesting effects were larger than for fire. The direction of change was the same for core area and shape, but opposite for inter-patch distance which decreased slightly after fire. The combined effects of the two disturbances are distinct from the effects of either disturbance alone, and the effects are not always additive or compensatory for all metrics. Pre-treatment configuration was a significant covariate in all models, and total habitat abundance was significant in 4/9 models, but these were often not the most important covariates. In the cumulative disturbance model, covariates for the number or size of cut-blocks were significant.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Boreal Ecology and Economics Synthesis Team, under a grant from the Sustainable Forest Management Network. We thank Drs. Xinsheng Hu, Petro Bakak, Dan Mazerolle, and Andreas Hamann of the Department of Renewable Resources, Drs. Vic Adamowicz and Grant Hauer of the Department of Rural Economy, University of Alberta for their valuable suggestions and discussions; Trish Fontaine for her GIS assistance; Dr. Rob D’Eon for editorial assistance; Alberta Pacific Forest Industries Inc. for provision of digital inventory data; and two anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly improved the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 751 General Service Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H1, Canada

    Xianli Wang

  2. Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Faculté de foresterie et de géomatique, Université Laval, 2405, rue de la Terrasse, Pavillon Abitibi-Price, bureau 0160-T1, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Steve G. Cumming

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Correspondence to Xianli Wang.

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Wang, X., Cumming, S.G. Configuration dynamics of boreal forest landscapes under recent fire and harvesting regimes in western Canada. Landscape Ecol 25, 1419–1432 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-010-9517-7

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