Development of an inventory practice for rare lichen species within Thousand Islands National Park

Urbanization, forest fragmentation and climate change have been accelerating the decline of many lichen species populations, especially those which are most sensitive to subtle environmental changes that disrupt ecosystem equilibrium. Due to the many specific habitat requirements of these lichens, they have shown promise as bioindicators for niche habitat areas with unique site characteristics likely important for a variety of red list species. Locating species at risk and bioindicator lichens may therefore in turn reveal areas of high ecological importance where conservation efforts should be increased. Species at risk (SAR) lichen searches are organized by Environment Canada, however efforts have been mainly limited to those with more expertise in lichenology due to the difficulty with lichen field identification as well as limitations with lichen habitat suitability models. It is proposed that the establishment of a rare lichen inventory practice in Canadian national parks would increase the search efforts for lichen species at risk as well as bioindicator species which have high potential for identifying important habitat areas for conservation and ecological integrity monitoring. A rare lichen inventory practice for Thousand Islands National Park (TINP) Resource Conservation staff was developed, focussing on rare lichen species with distribution ranges that envelope the park boundaries. Usnea sp., Lobaria pulmonaria, Physconia subpallida, Leptogium rivulare, Leptogium corticola, Teloschistes chrysophthalmus, and Heterodermia hypoleuca were selected based on their SAR status in Ontario, bioindicator potential and ease of field identification. A lichen guide was compiled, highlighting distinguishing characteristics, significant habitat features, notable Ecological Land Classifications (ELCs), chemical tests, and search tips for each selected lichen species. Calcareous soil, moist deciduous forest and older growth trees were found to be common habitat requirements for many of the selected lichen species and predictive mapping was prepared for Hill Island and Grenadier Island (two locations frequented by TINP Resource Conservation staff) to show how these features could be combined to highlight priority search areas. Hill Island and Grenadier Island were found to contain the majority of the calcareous ELC plots within the TINP boundary and therefore would make excellent preliminary inventory search areas. It is highly recommended that TINP Resource Conservation staff use the enclosed lichen guide to increase familiarity with the selected lichen species and their potential habitat areas at the beginning of each monitoring season. Periodic inventory searches should be conducted in high priority regions and any encounters with the select lichen species should be documented (species name, substrate, date, general location, GPS coordinate, photo). It is highly recommended that other national parks adopt a similar rare lichen inventory practise using customized sets of SAR and bioindicator species relevant to each region to increase overall search efforts of rare lichens, to indicate habitat areas of special interest and to contribute to the global database of rare lichen population distributions

Variation of White Spruce Carbon Content with Age, Height, Social Classes and Silvicultural Management

The accuracy and precision with which carbon amounts have been accounted for in forests have been questioned. As countries seek to comply with agreements to reduce global warming and industries seek to maximize bioenergy potential, this matter has increased international concern. White spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) stand density management trials in the Petawawa Research Forest, Ontario, Canada, were sampled to evaluate carbon concentration variation within trees and plots of differing stand density. Sample-drying methodologies were also tested to compare freeze-dried carbon (FDC) and oven-dried carbon (ODC) measurements. The average FDC was 51.80 ± 1.19%, and the corrected freeze-dried carbon content (FDCCOR) was 51.76 ± 1.33%. The average ODC was 49.10 ± 0.92%, and the average volatile carbon fraction (Cvol) was 2.67 ± 1.71%. FDC was higher than ODC (mean of the differences = 2.52) and generally more variable. ODC significantly decreased radially and longitudinally. FDC was significantly affected by thinning, where heavy treatments resulted in the highest FDC amounts compared to medium, light, and control treatments. In addition to reducing carbon content (CC), drying influences wood CC in many ways that are still to be elucidated. The results of this study suggest that ODC should continue to be used within the bioenergy industry, while FDC must become the preferred standard for carbon accounting protocols

Variation of White Spruce Carbon Content with Age, Height, Social Classes and Silvicultural Management

The accuracy and precision with which carbon amounts have been accounted for in forests have been questioned. As countries seek to comply with agreements to reduce global warming and industries seek to maximize bioenergy potential, this matter has increased international concern. White spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) stand density management trials in the Petawawa Research Forest, Ontario, Canada, were sampled to evaluate carbon concentration variation within trees and plots of differing stand density. Sample-drying methodologies were also tested to compare freeze-dried carbon (FDC) and oven-dried carbon (ODC) measurements. The average FDC was 51.80 ± 1.19%, and the corrected freeze-dried carbon content (FDCCOR) was 51.76 ± 1.33%. The average ODC was 49.10 ± 0.92%, and the average volatile carbon fraction (Cvol) was 2.67 ± 1.71%. FDC was higher than ODC (mean of the differences = 2.52) and generally more variable. ODC significantly decreased radially and longitudinally. FDC was significantly affected by thinning, where heavy treatments resulted in the highest FDC amounts compared to medium, light, and control treatments. In addition to reducing carbon content (CC), drying influences wood CC in many ways that are still to be elucidated. The results of this study suggest that ODC should continue to be used within the bioenergy industry, while FDC must become the preferred standard for carbon accounting protocols

Recent Health and Safety Incident Trends Related to the Storage of Woody Biomass: A Need for Improved Monitoring Strategies

Self-heating fires, dust explosions and off-gassing during biomass storage are serious hazards which can have devastating consequences, resulting in worker fatalities and health impacts, as well as bioenergy plant destruction and complete loss of production. A compilation of incident reports involving biomass storage from 2000–2018 has revealed that these potential hazards continue to be a major concern in the bioenergy sector. Higher occurrence rates were found for incidents categorized as self-heating fires and fires of uncertain causes in recent years through our study of online reports. This paper highlights a critical need for improved safety protocols for bioenergy plant workers, detailed incident documentation and enhanced biomass monitoring strategies to drastically reduce the occurrence of threats associated with the storage of woody biomass. In order to manage the high risks associated with self-heating, a system for real-time monitoring of internal pile temperature was investigated. A monitoring system supplied by Braingrid Corporation was verified using embedded Tinytag thermologgers indicating that this methodology shows potential for preventing spontaneous combustion events by providing real time temperature data for superior pile management