Record Details

Identifying the determinants of windthrow damage in wildlife tree patches in the Boreal White and Black Spruce biogeoclimatic zone of northeastern British Columbia

Journal of Ecosystems and Management

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title Identifying the determinants of windthrow damage in wildlife tree patches in the Boreal White and Black Spruce biogeoclimatic zone of northeastern British Columbia
 
Creator Maxwell, Scott
Green, D. Scott
Zhang, William
 
Subject Boreal White and Black Spruce (BWBS); northeastern British Columbia; wildlife tree patch; windthrow
 
Description Leaving wildlife tree patches (WTPs) has become a common strategy employed to maintain biodiversity among managed forest ecosystems in British Columbia. High levels of wind damage have been observed in many of these reserves owing to the increased wind loading after harvesting. The ensuing damage disrupts forest management plans and reduces the value of WTPs. The objective of this study was to identify the primary determinants of windthrow in WTPs in the boreal forest of northeastern British Columbia andto suggest management strategies to minimize wind-related damage. Line transects oriented parallel and perpendicular to prevailing and dominant winds across 13 WTP reserves were used to quantify wind-related damage and factors that may contribute to windthrow incidence. The occurrence of windthrow corresponded with the exposure of WTP edges to high velocity winds; common, but lower-velocity winds resulted in little windthrow damage. Edaphic, site, and forest-stand factors appeared to have little influence on the incidence of windthrow in this study as compared to exposure to strong winds. The study suggests that forest managers can reduce the incidence of windthrow in WTPs in the boreal forests of northeastern British Columbia by:(1) creating patches that are elliptically shaped with the long axis in the direction of the dominant winds;(2) reducing wind exposure of susceptible edges; and (3) increasing the size of WTPs.
 
Publisher Canadian Institute for Studies in Publishing Press
 
Contributor —
 
Date 2010-03-31
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Peer-reviewed Article
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://jem-online.org/index.php/jem/article/view/5
 
Source Journal of Ecosystems and Management; Vol 10, No 3 (2010)
 
Language eng
 
Relation http://jem-online.org/index.php/jem/article/view/5/2