Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Northward migrating trees establish in treefall gaps at the northern limit of the temperate–boreal ecotone, Ontario, Canada

  • Global change ecology - Original Paper
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Climate change is expected to promote migration of species. In ecotones, areas of ecological tension, disturbances may provide opportunities for some migrating species to establish in otherwise competitive environments. The size of and time since disturbance may determine the establishment ability of these species. We investigated gap dynamics of an old-growth red pine (Pinus resinosa Sol. ex Aiton) forest in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence forest in northern Ontario, Canada, a transition zone between temperate and boreal forest. We investigated the effects of gaps of different sizes and ages on tree species abundance and basal area. Our results show that tree species from the temperate forest further south, such as red maple (Acer rubrum L.), red oak (Quercus rubra L.), and white pine (Pinus strobus L.), establish more often in large, old gaps; however, tree species that have more northern distributions, such as black spruce (Picea mariana Mill.), paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.), and red pine show no difference in establishment ability with gap size or age. These differences in composition could not be attributed to autogenic succession. We conclude that treefall gaps in this forest facilitate the establishment of northward migrating species, potentially providing a pathway for future forest migration in response to recent changes in climate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abrams MD (1992) Fire and the development of oak forests. Bioscience 42:346–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abrams MD (1998) The red maple paradox. Bioscience 48:355–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abrams MD, Orwig DA, Demeo TE (1995) Dendroecological analysis of successional dynamics for a presettlement- origin white-pine-mixed-oak forest in the southern Appalachians, USA. J Ecol 83:123–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker FS (1949) A revised tolerance table. J For 47:179–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Banzie JW, Blum BM (1989) Silviculture of northeastern conifers. In: Burns RM (ed) The scientific basis for silvicultural and management decisions in the National Forest System. General technical report WO-55: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, DC, pp 18–30

  • Beckage B, Osborne B, Gavin DG, Pucko C, Siccama T, Perkins T (2008) A rapid upward shift of a forest ecotone during 40 years of warming in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:4197–4202

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bergeron Y, Brisson J (1990) Fire regime in red pine stands at the northern limit of the species’ range. Ecology 71:1352–1364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergeron Y, Leduc A, Ting-Xian L (1997) Explaining the distribution of Pinus spp in a Canadian boreal insular landscape. J Veg Sci 8:37–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonan GB, Pollard D, Thompson SL (1992) Effects of boreal forest vegetation on global climate. Nature 359:716–718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breusch TS, Pagan AR (1979) Simple test for heteroscedasticity and random coefficient variation. Econometrica 47:1287–1294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brokaw NVL (1982) The definition of treefall gap and its effect on measures of forest dynamics. Biotropica 14:158–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bugmann HKM, Yan X, Sykes MT, Martin P, Lindner M, Desanker PV, Cumming SG (1996) A comparison of forest gap models: model structure and behaviour. Clim Change 34:289–313

    Google Scholar 

  • Busse MD (1994) Downed bole-wood decomposition in lodgepole pine forests of Central Oregon. Soil Sci Soc Am J 58:221–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canham CD, Denslow JS, Platt WJ, Runkle JR, Spies TA, White PS (1990) Light regimes beneath closed canopies and tree-fall gaps in temperate and tropical forests. Can J For Res 20:620–631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caplat P, Anand M, Bauch C (2008) Interactions between climate change, competition, dispersal, and disturbances in a tree migration model. Theor Ecol 1:209–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carcaillet C, Richard PJH (2000) Holocene changes in seasonal precipitation highlighted by fire incidence in eastern Canada. Clim Dyn 16:549–559

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carleton TJ, Maycock PF, Arnup R, Gordon AM (1996) In situ regeneration of Pinus strobus and P resinosa in the Great Lakes forest communities of Canada. J Veg Sci 7:431–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho DS, Boerner REJ (1995) Dendrochronological analysis of the canopy history of two Ohio old-growth forests. Vegetatio 120:173–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS (1989) Ecological disturbance as a renewal process: theory and application to fire history. Oikos 56:17–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS (1998) Why trees migrate so fast: confronting theory with dispersal biology and the paleorecord. Am Nat 152:204–224

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS, Lewis MA, McLachlan JS, HilleRisLambers J (2003) Estimating population spread: what can we forecast and how well? Ecology 84:1979–1988

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford ER, Young DR (1998) Comparison of gaps and intact shrub thickets on an Atlantic coast barrier island. Am Midl Nat 140:68–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crow TR (1988) Reproductive mode and mechanisms for self-replacement of northern red oak (Quercus rubra)—a review. For Sci 34:19–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis MB (1981) Quaternary history and the stability of forest communities. In: West DC, Shugart HH, Botkin DB (eds) Forest succession: concepts and applications. Springer, New York, pp 134–153

    Google Scholar 

  • de Römer AH, Kneeshaw DD, Bergeron Y (2007) Small gap dynamics in the southern boreal forest of eastern Canada: do canopy gaps influence stand development? J Veg Sci 18:815–826

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delcourt P, Delcourt H (1987) Long-term forest dynamics of the temperate zone. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Denslow JS (1980) Gap partitioning among tropical rainforest trees. Biotropica 12:47–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denslow JS, Ellison AM, Sanford RE (1998) Treefall gap size effects on above- and below-ground processes in a tropical wet forest. J Ecol 86:597–609

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drever CR, Messier C, Bergeron Y, Doyon F (2006) Fire and canopy species composition in the Great Lakes—St. Lawrence forest of Témiscamingue, Québec. For Ecol Manag 231:27–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dynesius M, Jonsson BG (1991) Dating uprooted trees: comparison and application of eight methods in a boreal forest. Can J For Res 21:655–665

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eyre FH (1980) Forest cover types of the United States and Canada. Washington, DC

  • Fetcher N, Oberbauer SF, Strain BR (1985) Vegetation effects on microclimate in lowland tropical forest in Costa Rica. Int J Biometeor 29:145–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fraver S, White AS (2005) Identifying growth release in dendrochronological studies of forest disturbance. Can J For Res 35:1648–1656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frelich LE, Reich PB (1995a) Spatial patterns and succession in a Minnestoa southern-boreal forest. Ecol Monogr 65:325–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frelich LE, Reich PB (1995b) Neighborhood effects, disturbance, and succession in forests of the western Great Lakes Region. Ecoscience 2:148–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldblum D, Rigg LS (2005) Tree growth response to climate change at the deciduous—boreal forest ecotone, Ontario, Canada. Can J For Res 35:2709–2718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harmon ME, Woodall CW, Fasth B, Sexton J (2008) Woody detritus density and density reduction factors for tree species in the United States: a synthesis. Northern research station general technical report NRS-29, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service

  • Hart JL, Grissino-Mayer HD (2009) Gap-scale disturbance processes in secondary hardwood stands on the Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee, USA. Plant Ecol 201:131–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He HS, Mladenoff DJ, Gustafson EJ (2002) Study of landscape change under forest harvesting and climate warming-induced fire disturbance. For Ecol Manag 155:257–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hibbs DE (1982) Gap dynamics in a hemlock-hardwood forest. Can J For Res 12:522–527

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higgins SI, Richardson DM (1999) Predicting plant migration rates in a changing world: the role of long-distance dispersal. Am Nat 153:464–475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill SB, Mallik AU, Chen HYH (2005) Canopy gap disturbance and succession in trembling aspen dominated boreal forests in northeastern Ontario. Can J For Res 35:1942–1951

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ibáñez I, Clark JS, Dietze MC (2009) Estimating colonization potential of migrant tree species. Glob Change Biol 15:1173–1188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iles N (1990) Reconnaissance inventory to locate old white and/or red pine stands in site region 4E of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Northeastern Regional Office, Sudbury, Ontario

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, New York

  • JMP Version 7 (1989–2007) SAS Institute, Cary, NC

  • Johnson JE, Haag CL, Bockheim JG, Erdmann GG (1987) Soil-site relationships and soil characteristics associated with even-aged red maple (Acer rubrum) stands in Wisconsin and Michigan. For Ecol Manag 21:75–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellman M (2004) Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) establishment in boreal forest: results of a transplantation experiment. J Biogeogr 31:1515–1522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellner JR, Asner GP (2009) Convergent structural responses of tropical forests to diverse disturbance regimes. Ecol Lett 12:887–897

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kneeshaw DD, Bergeron Y (1998) Canopy gap characteristics and tree replacement in the southeastern boreal forest. Ecology 79:783–794

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leak WB (1965) The J-shaped probability distribution. For Sci 11:405–409

    Google Scholar 

  • Little EL Jr (1971) Atlas of United States trees, volume 1: conifers and important hardwoods. US Department of Agriculture, Miscellaneous Publication

  • Lorimer CG (1984) Development of the red maple understory in northeastern oak forests. For Sci 30:3–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorimer CG, Krug AG (1983) Diameter distributions in even-aged stands of shade-tolerant and midtolerant tree species. Am Midl Nat 109:331–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malcolm JR (1998) A model of conductive heat flow in forest edges and fragmented landscapes. Clim Change 39:487–502

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maycock PF, Curtis JT (1960) The phytosociology of boreal conifer-hardwood forests of the Great Lakes region. Ecol Monogr 30:1–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClure JW, Lee TD (1993) Small-scale disturbance in a northern hardwoods forest: effects on tree species abundance and distribution. Can J For Res 23:1347–1360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCollough HA (1948) Plant succession on fallen logs in a virgin spruce-fir forest. Ecology 29:508–513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moorcroft PR, Pacala SW, Lewis MA (2006) Potential role of natural enemies during tree range expansions following climate change. J Theor Biol 241:601–616

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morin X, Viner D, Chuine I (2008) Tree species range shifts at a continental scale: new predictive insights from a process-based model. J Ecol 96:784–794

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naaf T, Wulf M (2007) Effects of gap size, light and herbivory on the herb layer vegetation in European beech forest gaps. For Ecol Manag 244:141–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowacki GJ, Abrams MD (1992) Community, edaphic, and historical analysis of mixed oak forest of the Ridge and Valley Province in central Pennsylvania. Can J For Res 22:790–800

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Overpeck JT, Rind D, Goldberg R (1990) Climate-induced changes in forest disturbance and vegetation. Nature 343:51–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Overpeck JT, Bartlen PJ, Webb T III (1991) Potential magnitude of future vegetation change in eastern North America: comparisons with the past. Science 254:692–695

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Petraitis PS, Latham RE, Niesenbaum RA (1989) The maintenance of species diversity by disturbance. Q Rev Biol 64:393–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinto F (1989) White and red pine (121 + years) stand data for Ontario. Ministry of Natural Resources, Central Ontario Forest Technology Development Unit, North Bay, Ontario

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinto F, Romaniuk S, Ferguson M (2008) Changes to preindustrial forest tree composition in central and northeastern Ontario, Canada. Can J For Res 38:1842–1854

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinby PA (1991) Self-replacement in old-growth white pine forests of Temagami, Ontario. For Ecol Manag 41:95–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ritter E, Dalsgaard L, Einhorn KS (2005) Light, temperature and soil moisture regimes following gap formation in a semi-natural beech-dominated forest in Denmark. For Ecol Manag 206:15–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runkle JR (1981) Gap regeneration in some old-growth forests of the eastern United States. Ecology 62:1041–1051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runkle JR (1985) Comparison of methods for determining fraction of land area in treefall gaps. For Sci 31:15–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Runkle JR (1989) Synchrony of regeneration, gaps, and latitudinal differences in tree species diversity. Ecology 70:546–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runkle JR (1992) Guidelines and sample protocol for sampling forest gaps. USDA, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, GTR 283, Portland, Oregon

  • Scheller RM, Mladenoff DJ (2005) A spatially interactive simulation of climate change, harvesting, wind, and tree species migration and projected changes to forest composition and biomass in northern Wisconsin, USA. Glob Change Biol 11:307–321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shorohova E, Kapitsa E, Vanha-Majamaa I (2008) Decomposition of stumps in a chronosequence after clear-felling vs clear-felling with prescribed burning in a southern boreal forest in Finland. For Ecol Manag 255:3606–3612

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Söderström L (1988) Sequence of bryophytes and lichens in relation to substrate variables of decaying coniferous wood in northern Sweden. Nord J Bot 8:89–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sollins P (1982) Input and decay of coarse woody debris in coniferous stands in western Oregon and Washington. Can J For Res 12:18–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sykes MT, Prentice IC (1996) Climate change, tree species distributions and forest dynamics: a case study in the mixed conifer/northern hardwoods zone of northern Europe. Clim Change 34:161–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandenberghe C, Freléchoux F, Gadallah F, Buttler A (2006) Competitive effects of herbaceous vegetation on tree seedling emergence, growth and survival: does gap size matter? J Veg Sci 17:481–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webb T III (1987) The appearance and disappearance of major vegetational assemblages: long-term vegetational dynamics in eastern North America. Vegetatio 69:177–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams JW, Shuman BN, Webb T III (2001) Dissimilarity analyses of late-quaternary vegetation and climate in Eastern North America. Ecology 82:3346–3362

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodall CW, Oswalt CM, Westfall JA, Perry CH, Nelson MD, Finley AO (2009) An indicator of tree migration in forests of the eastern United States. For Ecol Manag 257:1434–1444

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Paul Caplat for discussion of treefall gap disturbance and forest migration and Julie Anderson and Fernando Joner for aid with data collection. We also thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Canada Research Chairs program and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research for funding for M.A. We declare that the experiments performed in this study comply with the current laws of Canada.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Global Ecological Change (GEC) Laboratory, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Mark D. Leithead, Madhur Anand & Lucas C. R. Silva

Authors
  1. Mark D. Leithead
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Madhur Anand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lucas C. R. Silva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Madhur Anand.

Additional information

Communicated by John Silander.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOC 104 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Leithead, M.D., Anand, M. & Silva, L.C.R. Northward migrating trees establish in treefall gaps at the northern limit of the temperate–boreal ecotone, Ontario, Canada. Oecologia 164, 1095–1106 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-010-1769-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-010-1769-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation