Chapter 9- Forests Flashcards
How many forests does is make to make up a forest?
enough trees with overlapping crowns forming 60% to 100% cover
-one tree does not=a forest
crowns
tops of trees
crown fire
at the top of trees
Functions of Forests
- non-wood forest products
- biodiversity and habitat preservation
- carbon storage
- agricultural land
- human settlements
- fuelwood and charcol
- industrial wood for lumber, paper, and packaging
- ecotourism and recreation
- watershed, protection, and erosion control
Continent that does not have forest
-antarctica
tropical forest
lost almost 80% in some countries=huge biodiversity loss
-thousands of different types of trees
Canada’s Forest
- 10% of world’s forests are in Canada
- compromise ~1/2 of the land area of Canada
- over 1/2 of Canada’s forests are undisturbed
- approximately 66% of canada’s 140,000 species live in forests
- forests are a really good habitat, good biodiversity
insects
most biodiverse group (lots in forest)
Forest Regions of Canada
- Boreal forest
- Subalpine
- Montane
- Coast
- Colombian
- Deciduous
- Great Lakes- St. Lawrence
- Acadian
Ecozone
an area of the earth’s surface that represents a large ecological zone and has characteristic landforms and climate
-distinguished by plants wildlife, climate,landforms, and human activities.
Boreal Forest
-circumpolar
-covers 22% of Canada’s land mass
-22% of canada’s freshwater surface area (lakes rivers streams)
-support commercial wetland activities (logging, pulp and paper, timber)
-lungs of the country massive part of Canada
14% of world’s forests
Boreal Species
lodgepole pine, woodland caribou, white spruce, black bear, trembling aspen, lynx and snowshoe hare, tamarack
Stresses on Boreal Forest
- Logging
- Mining- land clearing, pollution, jobs
- Hydroelectric Development- 85% of drainage basins altered by hydroelectric
- Climate change- ^ forest fire and pests
- Acid Precipitation- S and N20 in atmosphere
Harvesting Methods
selective cutting- dangerous for people cutting
- shelterwood cutting
- clear-cutting (most common&popular)
- patch cutting (rotating clear cuts (allows movement corridors)
Subalpine Species
-englemann spruce, alpine fir, lodgepole pin, mountainous uplands
Montane
valley bottoms, douglas fir, lodgepole pine, trembling aspen
What creates difference between subalpine and montane?
-temperature
Coast
western red cedar western hemlock sitka spruce douglas fir almost exclusively coniferous
Columbian
western red cedar Douglas fir western hemlock merges coast, montane, and subalpine regions -high biodiversity, interior of BC
Deciduous/Carolinian
- beech, maple, black walnut, oak, hickory, northern limits for some deciduous trees, rare forest type
- very impacted by agriculture
Great Lakes- St. Lawrence
red pine eastern pine eastern hemlock yellow birch maple oak -lots of maple syrup comes from here
Acadian
red spruce
balsam fir
maple
yellow birch
-related to Great lakes, St. Lawrence and Boreal regions
NB, NS, PEI, interface with hardwoods as well
Forest helps protect
-freshwater
Forests are what % of Canada’s Land mass?
20% & 22% of freshwater surface area
Clear cutting causes
lots of evaporation
Biodiversity and Habitat
- over 20% of world’s water originates in Canada’s forests
- 80% of the world’s terrestrial species found in global forests
Deforestation rate in Madagascar and Brazil
-parts are almost totally deforested
Where are nutrients stored?
Temperate forest store nutrients in soil
Tropical forest store nutrients in biomass (leaf litter trees etc)
Role of Biodiversity
- ecosystem connectivity
- photosynthesis & Respiration
- nutrient cycling
- keys to diversity
ex) tree growing on another log, fallen log decomposes and other plants start growing on it
Komodi Bears
-flagship species (spirit bear, lives in BC, very rare)
Flagship species
a species that people will care about and want to save its habitat or the animal, usually cute
Economy and non-wood forest products
-442 million/yr for economy
wild rice, mushrooms, animal products, maple syrup, agriculture benefits as well
Canada’s Forests
10% of world’s total forest
-45% of land base
How do we manage forests?
need to identify what is being managed in the first place
-define ownership/jurisdiction (who owns it/who has control)
Forest Tenure
conditions that govern forest ownership and use
Forest Tenure in Canada
94% of forests are publicly owned then the province leases the land to private companies who then cut within guidelines
-6% private ownership
Forest Industry
Annual harvest=175 million m3/yr
1/5th of global supply
exports- lumber, paper, newsprint, pulp
350 dependent communities
How many people are employed in timber industry?
over 80,000
94 billion$ to Canadian economy
Forest Harvesting effects on Ecosystem
- Biodiversity- reduced natural variability, early successional species, more monocultures, loss of species, fragmentation of habitat, plant in straight rows=little structural diversity)
- Productivity- biomass taken away from sight, seasonal differences
- Soils- nutrients gone, erosion, leeching, over saturated nutrients gone from soil
- Water cycle- less evapotranspiration
Forest Fragmentation
due to logging mines
limits pathways for animals to walk and travel places
bare patches in forest
Advantages of Clear Cutting
- money
- safer for people cutting
- fewer roads
- lots of jobs
- good when al pine trees are dead due to pine beetle to reduce risk of fire
Advantages of Forest Fire
- recycled nutrients
- biomass still on site
- don’t need roads
- part of natural cycle
- regenerate species
Disadvantages of Forest Fire
- dangerous near human community
- can get out of control quickly with dead trees and climate change
- animals need forest to live
Compare fire vs. clear cut
Openings- irregular, regular Boundaries- gradual , abrupt Vegetation- left standing, removed Pathogens- most killed, most survive Nutrients- released back into soil, removed Soil- build up with nutrients, compacted and eroded N-fixers- growth, reduced Species- succession, reduced
Silviculture
theory and practice of controlling establishment, composition, growth, and quality of forest stands
- like agriculture but with forest
- straight line trees
- clean forest floors
- can replant and leave shelter wood behind
Methods of silviculture
- reforestation replant
- monocultures (one type of tree)
- NSR- not sufficiently restocked
Biocides
kill living things
Forest sustainability solutions
- alternatives
- value-added-build furniture here, adds value to the trees
- renewable practices- rotating cuts
- precautionary principle- wait until we know what we are doing
- protected areas
- research
- hollistic view
