Is the water footprint an appropriate tool for forestry and forest products: The Fennoscandian case

The water footprint by the Water Footprint Network (WF) is an ambitious tool for measuring human appropriation and promoting sustainable use of fresh water. Using recent case studies and examples from water-abundant Fennoscandia, we consider whether it is an appropriate tool for evaluating the water use of forestry and forest-based products. We show that aggregating catchment level water consumption over a product life cycle does not consider fresh water as a renewable resource and is inconsistent with the principles of the hydrologic cycle. Currently, the WF assumes that all evapotranspiration (ET) from forests is a human appropriation of water although ET from managed forests in Fennoscandia is indistinguishable from that of unmanaged forests. We suggest that ET should not be included in the water footprint of rain-fed forestry and forest-based products. Tools for sustainable water management should always contextualize water use and water impacts with local water availability and environmental sensitivity

An update of the Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) on systemic insecticides. Part 2: impacts on organisms and ecosystems

New information on the lethal and sublethal effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on organisms is presented in this review, complementing the previous WIA in 2015. The high toxicity of these systemic insecticides to invertebrates has been confirmed and expanded to include more species and compounds. Most of the recent research has focused on bees and the sublethal and ecological impacts these insecticides have on pollinators. Toxic effects on other invertebrate taxa also covered predatory and parasitoid natural enemies and aquatic arthropods. Little, while not much new information has been gathered on soil organisms. The impact on marine coastal ecosystems is still largely uncharted. The chronic lethality of neonicotinoids to insects and crustaceans, and the strengthened evidence that these chemicals also impair the immune system and reproduction, highlights the dangers of this particular insecticidal classneonicotinoids and fipronil. , withContinued large scale – mostly prophylactic – use of these persistent organochlorine pesticides has the potential to greatly decreasecompletely eliminate populations of arthropods in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Sublethal effects on fish, reptiles, frogs, birds and mammals are also reported, showing a better understanding of the mechanisms of toxicity of these insecticides in vertebrates, and their deleterious impacts on growth, reproduction and neurobehaviour of most of the species tested. This review concludes with a summary of impacts on the ecosystem services and functioning, particularly on pollination, soil biota and aquatic invertebrate communities, thus reinforcing the previous WIA conclusions (van der Sluijs et al. 2015)

Loss of ash trees in riparian forests from emerald ash borer infestations has implications for aquatic invertebrate leaf-litter consumers (CJFR-2018-0259)

Rapid loss of ash trees in riparian forests from the invasive insect, emerald ash borer (EAB), could pose risk of altering organic matter inputs to water bodies that underpin many aquatic ecosystem processes. We measured the composition of riparian forests and their leaf litter contributions to headwater streams and determined the relative palatability of ash leaves and three other common riparian trees to aquatic invertebrate leaf-litter consumers (the stonefly, Pteronarcys sp., and the cranefly, Tipula sp.) in laboratory microcosms and whole invertebrate communities in forest streams. Ash trees contributed on average 24% to riparian tree density and 20% to total litterfall. Among the four common stream-side trees accounting for 65% of total litterfall, ash was the first or second most preferred food source for consumers. Leaf packs without ash decomposed at slower rates than packs containing 25-100% ash leaves. Preferential feeding on ash leaves infers a high quality food source selected by consumers, and this concurred with comparatively high N content and low C/N ratio of ash leaves. Aquatic invertebrate communities on leaf packs in streams differed among leaf mixtures with or without ash, although community dissimilarity was low. The loss of ash in riparian forests represents an EAB-induced reduction in a high-quality resource subsidy to organic matter consumers in streams. We discuss how this has implications for risk predictions and management response strategies.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Managing forests for water in the anthropocene—The best kept secret services of forest ecosystems

Water and forests are inextricably linked. Pressures on forests from population growth and climate change are increasing risks to forests and their aquatic ecosystem services (AES). There is a need to incorporate AES in forest management but there is considerable uncertainty about how to do so. Approaches that manage forest ecosystem services such as fiber, water and carbon sequestration independently ignore the inherent complexities of ecosystem services and their responses to management actions, with the potential for unintended consequences that are difficult to predict. The ISO 31000 Risk Management Standard is a standardized framework to assess risks to forest AES and to prioritize management strategies to manage risks within tolerable ranges. The framework consists of five steps: establishing the management context, identifying, analyzing, evaluating and treating the risks. Challenges to implementing the framework include the need for novel models and indicators to assess forest change and resilience, quantification of linkages between forest practice and AES, and the need for an integrated systems approach to assess cumulative effects and stressors on forest ecosystems and AES. In the face of recent international agreements to protect forests, there are emerging opportunities for international leadership to address these challenges in order to protect both forests and AE

Riparian Partial Harvesting and Upland Clear Cutting Alter Bird Communities in a Boreal Mixedwood Forest

Forested buffer strips are typically prescribed around water bodies during forest harvesting operations to minimize effects on aquatic communities and to maintain fish and wildlife habitat. It has been argued that the systematic application of these buffer strips in the boreal forest results in the creation of an unnatural distribution of linear patterns of older-growth forest which is not consistent with the current emulating natural disturbance paradigm. We conducted a multi-year, temporally and spatially controlled, manipulative experiment to investigate the short-term impacts of an alternative practice of riparian partial harvesting and upland clear cutting on breeding and migrating forest birds. Effects on breeding bird community composition were assessed using a modified point counting method. Effects of harvesting on habitat utilization during fall migration were assessed by mist-netting. Breeding bird communities changed significantly post-harvest, but riparian communities diverged less from the pre-harvest condition than upland communities. Populations of early successional/edge species increased post-harvest and forest dependent species declined. Population declines tended to be smaller in the riparian partial cuts than in the upland clear cuts. Capture rates and movement patterns of fall migrants were unaffected by riparian partial harvesting, but catches of Tennessee Warbler (Oreothlypis peregrina), Nashville Warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla), Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum) and Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) increased in upland clear cuts. Our results suggest that partial harvesting in riparian reserves may be a viable management option that accommodates the needs of forest dependent birds

Forest regeneration in gaps seven years after partial harvesting in riparian buffers of boreal mixedwood streams

Partial harvesting in boreal forest riparian buffers has been proposed as a management tool to emulate natural disturbance (END) along streams and lakes to increase shoreline habitat complexity through ensuing forest regeneration. We investigated the effect of partial harvesting in stream-side riparian buffers on regeneration of canopy species (Abies balsamea, Betula papyrifera, Picea glauca, Picea mariana andPopulus tremuloides) by testing the hypothesis that juvenile trees would be more abundant, species-rich, and larger in gaps than in non-harvested buffers, and that those differences would be proportional to gap size. Our main objective was to determine what gaps sizes are conducive to promote tree and woody shrub regeneration in stream-side riparian areas of boreal mixedwood forests. We compared woody plant regeneration among harvest gaps varying in size (small, 10–20 m2; medium, 21–100 m2; and large, \u3e100 m2), and contrasted with regeneration under closed canopy in unharvested buffers and undisturbed reference forests. We found that woody plant communities in partial harvesting gaps were denser and more diverse than unharvested buffers. They were more so in medium to large gaps and consisted of shade-intolerant and early successional species. Favorable light and soil temperature in the large gaps appear to be responsible for this. We concluded that intentional shoreline disturbance aiming to achieve increased riparian habitat complexity and early successional forest community is possible by partial harvesting at up to 50% basal area removal. However, as END principles are increasingly applied to riparian forest management, it will be necessary to test and monitor the effectiveness and longer-term ecological responses of riparian communities to such management at catchment and landscape levels