The Partnership Co-Design Lab: Co-constructing a Patient Advisor Programme to increase adherence to rehabilitation after upper extremity replantation

A five-phase Patient Advisor Programme created by the Partnership Co-Design Lab led to higher rates of adherence to rehabilitation interventions for patients followed at the main rehabilitation centre compared to patients transferred to other, more remote, rehabilitation facilities

An early forest inventory indicates high accuracy of forest composition data in pre‐settlement land survey records

Questions : Do early land survey records of the "line description" type allow accurate reconstructions of pre‐settlement forest composition? Did surveyors record all tree taxa in forest stands encountered along the surveyed lines? Were taxa ranked according to their relative importance in forest stands? What criteria did surveyors used to rank taxa in stands? Location : Northern range limit of northern hardwoods, Lower St. Lawrence region, eastern Québec, Canada. Methods : Validation of 1695 taxon lists recorded by surveyors in the 19th century through comparison of the number of stems by tree species and stem diameter classes recorded in 2790 old‐growth plots over the same two regions during a 1930 forest inventory. Results : Taxon prevalence and dominance (i.e. proportion of observations for which each taxon is dominant) are highly correlated between the pre‐settlement surveys and the 1930 forest inventory data sets. Surveyors ranked taxa in decreasing order of relative importance, using criteria directly equivalent to basal area of stems in modern forest inventory plots. Taxon prevalence is more accurately reconstructed using relative metrics (i.e. ranks of taxon prevalence in a region), whereas taxon dominance is more accurately reconstructed using absolute metrics (percentage of dominant stands across landscapes). The early land surveys allow spatial patterns of forest composition to be reconstructed by computing relative taxon prevalence in cells of 3 km × 3 km. Prevalence of balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and white birch (Betula papyrifera) are underestimated in survey data, probably reflecting their low economic value in the 19th century. Conclusions : Taxon lists of early surveyors can accurately reconstruct pre‐settlement forest composition and spatial patterns using metrics of taxon prevalence and dominance across landscapes. Relative prevalence is a more comprehensive description of forest composition than dominance, but tends to underestimate some taxa. Absolute taxon dominance is a more robust metric than prevalence, but only reports on the abundance of the most dominant taxa. -- Keywords : Early land survey records ; Historical forest ecology ; Line descriptions ; Northern hardwoods ; Pre-settlement forest composition ; Taxon dominance ; Taxon prevalence

Reorganization of tree assemblages over the last century in the northern hardwoods of eastern Canada

Question : How has European settlement of Eastern North America modified tree species assemblages? Location : The northern temperate forests of the Lower St. Lawrence region (Quebec, Canada). Methods : Changes in relative prevalence of tree taxa were reconstructed with early land survey records (1821–1900) and modern forest inventories (1980–2010). Forest composition reconstructions were then used to analyse changes in tree taxa assemblages at the landscape scale and test for potential landscape homogenization. Results : Our results show important maple (Acer saccharum and A. rubrum) and poplar (Populus tremuloides and P. balsamifera) encroachment, shifting from the 6th to the 2nd position of relative prevalence and from the 7th to the 5th position, respectively, resulting in a significant shift in tree assemblage. Maple has spread throughout the whole landscape and tended to become the most abundant taxon in communities where they were already present in pre‐settlement times. Poplar also widely spread throughout the landscape but rarely became the most abundant taxon. Accordingly, deciduous encroachment clearly engendered a spatial homogenization of composition at the landscape scale. Conclusion : Considering that both red maple and trembling aspen are opportunist early‐successional species, the increased relative prevalence of both species, as well as the consequent reorganization of tree taxon assemblages and landscape homogenization, probably resulted from the regional convergence toward an early‐successional state. Along with the restoration of long‐lived shade‐tolerant conifer populations, land and forest managers should aim to increase the heterogeneity of forest stand composition to improve forests resilience to future global changes. -- Keywords: conifer decline ; early land survey records ; eastern Canadian temperate forest ; encroachment of deciduous species ; landscape homogenization ; post‐settlement forest composition ; relative taxa prevalence

Effects of 20th‐Century Settlement Fires on Landscape Structure and Forest Composition in Eastern Quebec, Canada

Questions Which role did historical anthropogenic disturbances play in modifying the natural fire regime? To what extent have they shaped current forest? Do those disturbances have lingering impacts in the present‐day landscape? Are certain tree species related to former land use? Location eastern Quebec, Canada. Methods Spatial data on landscape structure, burnt areas, settlements, and forest patches were vectorized on an archival map dating back to 1938. For each landscape class, the total area, the number of polygons, and the proportion of the total landscape occupied by the largest polygon were analyzed according to elevation and to the Euclidean distance from the settlement polygons. An index of the spatial link between the landscape classes was calculated, based on the proportions of the perimeter of the polygons of each class shared with each of the other classes. A Kolmogorov–Smirnov test for pooled data was used to obtain the frequency distributions of landscape classes as a function of distance. The association between settlement fires and present‐day vegetation, and more specifically Populus and Betula stands, was tested by superimposing the most recent ecoforest map on the 1938 land‐use map. Distance bands on either side of the 1938 settlement front were delineated to calculate the proportion of each distance class occupied by present‐day aspen and birch stands. Results Anthropogenic fires generated a recognizable landscape pattern of land use. Burnt areas were mostly located within 2 km from a settlement. Most burnings observed on the 1938 map were human‐induced, based on their spatial connection with the settled areas. Lingering impacts of these 20th‐century fires on present‐day forests were identified using the peculiar spatial distribution of tree species. The presence and spatial distribution of aspen in the present‐day landscape is tightly associated with previously burnt areas. Conclusions Past land‐use strongly altered the natural fires regime and associated tree species. Current land‐use could potentially lead to increased degraded forest landscapes in the near future

An early forest inventory indicates high accuracy of forest composition data in pre-settlement land survey records

Questions: Do early land survey records of the 'line description' type allow accurate reconstructions of pre-settlement forest composition? Did surveyors record all tree taxa in forest stands encountered along the surveyed lines? Were taxa ranked according to their relative importance in forest stands? What criteria did surveyors used to rank taxa in stands? Location: Northern range limit of northern hardwoods, Lower St. Lawrence region, eastern Québec, Canada. Methods: Validation of 1695 taxon lists recorded by surveyors in the 19th century through comparison of the number of stems by tree species and stem diameter classes recorded in 2790 old-growth plots over the same two regions during a 1930 forest inventory. Results: Taxon prevalence and dominance (i.e. proportion of observations for which each taxon is dominant) are highly correlated between the pre-settlement surveys and the 1930 forest inventory data sets. Surveyors ranked taxa in decreasing order of relative importance, using criteria directly equivalent to basal area of stems in modern forest inventory plots. Taxon prevalence is more accurately reconstructed using relative metrics (i.e. ranks of taxon prevalence in a region), whereas taxon dominance is more accurately reconstructed using absolute metrics (percentage of dominant stands across landscapes). The early land surveys allow spatial patterns of forest composition to be reconstructed by computing relative taxon prevalence in cells of 3 km × 3 km. Prevalence of balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and white birch (Betula papyrifera) are underestimated in survey data, probably reflecting their low economic value in the 19th century. Conclusions: Taxon lists of early surveyors can accurately reconstruct pre-settlement forest composition and spatial patterns using metrics of taxon prevalence and dominance across landscapes. Relative prevalence is a more comprehensive description of forest composition than dominance, but tends to underestimate some taxa. Absolute taxon dominance is a more robust metric than prevalence, but only reports on the abundance of the most dominant taxa

An early forest inventory indicates high accuracy of forest composition data in pre-settlement land survey records

Questions: Do early land survey records of the 'line description' type allow accurate reconstructions of pre-settlement forest composition? Did surveyors record all tree taxa in forest stands encountered along the surveyed lines? Were taxa ranked according to their relative importance in forest stands? What criteria did surveyors used to rank taxa in stands? Location: Northern range limit of northern hardwoods, Lower St. Lawrence region, eastern Québec, Canada. Methods: Validation of 1695 taxon lists recorded by surveyors in the 19th century through comparison of the number of stems by tree species and stem diameter classes recorded in 2790 old-growth plots over the same two regions during a 1930 forest inventory. Results: Taxon prevalence and dominance (i.e. proportion of observations for which each taxon is dominant) are highly correlated between the pre-settlement surveys and the 1930 forest inventory data sets. Surveyors ranked taxa in decreasing order of relative importance, using criteria directly equivalent to basal area of stems in modern forest inventory plots. Taxon prevalence is more accurately reconstructed using relative metrics (i.e. ranks of taxon prevalence in a region), whereas taxon dominance is more accurately reconstructed using absolute metrics (percentage of dominant stands across landscapes). The early land surveys allow spatial patterns of forest composition to be reconstructed by computing relative taxon prevalence in cells of 3 km × 3 km. Prevalence of balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and white birch (Betula papyrifera) are underestimated in survey data, probably reflecting their low economic value in the 19th century. Conclusions: Taxon lists of early surveyors can accurately reconstruct pre-settlement forest composition and spatial patterns using metrics of taxon prevalence and dominance across landscapes. Relative prevalence is a more comprehensive description of forest composition than dominance, but tends to underestimate some taxa. Absolute taxon dominance is a more robust metric than prevalence, but only reports on the abundance of the most dominant taxa