Forest dynamics following spruce budworm outbreaks in the northern and southern mixedwoods of central Quebec

The effects of 20th century spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.)) outbreaks on forest dynamics was examined in the southern and northern parts of the mixedwood forest zone in central Quebec, Canada. In each region, three study areas were placed in unmanaged stands that had not burned for more than 200 years. Disturbance impacts and forest succession were evaluated using aerial photographs and dendrochronology. Spruce budworm outbreaks occurred around 1910, 1950, and 1980 in both regions. The 1910 outbreak seemed to have limited impact in both regions, and the 1950 outbreak caused heavy mortality in conifer stands (mostly of balsam fir, Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) in the southern region. The 1980 outbreak caused major mortality in the northern region, but had little impact in the southern region. Successive spruce budworm outbreaks led to a massive invasion by hardwood species in the last century in the southern region but not in the northern region. The reason for such contrasting dynamics between regions is unknown, but we hypothesize that differences in disturbance intensities, influenced by climate, played a major role. Results from this study emphasize that generalizations about the effect of spruce budworm outbreaks on forest dynamics cannot be derived from observations made during a single outbreak or at a single location

Large-scale synchrony of gap dynamics and the distribution of understory tree species in maple-beech forests

Large-scale synchronous variations in community dynamics are well documented for a vast array of organisms, but are considerably less understood for forest trees. Because of temporal variations in canopy gap dynamics, forest communities—even old-growth ones—are never at equilibrium at the stand scale. This paucity of equilibrium may also be true at the regional scale. Our objectives were to determine (1) if nonequilibrium dynamics caused by temporal variations in the formation of canopy gaps are regionally synchronized, and (2) if spatiotemporal variations in canopy gap formation aVect the relative abundance of tree species in the understory. We examined these questions by analyzing variations in the suppression and release history of Acer saccharum Marsh. and Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. from 481 growth series of understory saplings taken from 34 mature stands. We observed that (1) the proportion of stems in release as a function of time exhibited a U-shaped pattern over the last 35 years, with the lowest levels occurring during 1975–1985, and that (2) the response to this in terms of species composition was that A. saccharum became more abundant at sites that had the highest proportion of stems in release during 1975–1985. We concluded that the understory dynamics, typically thought of as a stand-scale process, may be regionally synchronized

Sustainable Forest Management Preferences of Interest Groups in Three Regions with Different Levels of Industrial Forestry: An Exploratory Attribute-Based Choice Experiment

The challenge of sustainable forest management is to integrate diverse and sometimes conflicting management objectives. In order to achieve this goal, we need a better understanding of the aspects influencing the preferences of diverse groups and how these groups make trade-offs between different attributes of SFM. We compare the SFM preferences of interest groups in regions with different forest use histories based on the reasoning that the condition of the forest reflects the forest use history of the area. The condition of the forest also shapes an individual’s forest values and attitudes. These held values and attitudes are thought to influence SFM preferences. We tested whether the SFM preferences vary amongst the different interest groups within and across regions. We collected data from 252 persons using a choice experiment approach, where participants chose multiple times among different options described by a combination of attributes that are assigned different levels. The novelty of our approach was the use of choice experiments in the assessment of regional preference differences. Given the complexity of interregional comparison and the small sample size, this was an exploratory study based on a purposive rather than random sample. Nevertheless, our results suggest that the aggregation of preferences of all individuals within a region does not reveal all information necessary for forest management planning since opposing viewpoints could cancel each other out and lead to an interpretation that does not reflect possibly polarised views. Although based on a small\ud sample size, the preferences of interest groups within a region are generally statistically significantly different from each other; however preferences of interest groups across regions are also significantly different. This illustrates the potential importance of assessing heterogeneity by region and by group

Temporal, spatial, and structural patterns of adult trembling aspen and white spruce mortality in Quebec's boreal forest

Temporal, spatial, and structural patterns of adult trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) mortality were studied in intact 150-year-old stands in the southwestern boreal forest of Quebec. For both species, mortality decreases (number of dead trees/total number of trees) with distance from the lake edge until 100-150 m, from which point it slightly increases. Strong peaks in mortality were found for 40- to 60-year-old aspen mainly between 1974 and 1992. Such mortality in relatively young aspen is likely related to competition for light from the dominant canopy trees. Also, the recruitment of this young aspen cohort is presumably the result of a stand breakup that occurred when the initial aspen-dominated stand was between 90 and 110 years old. For spruce, strong peaks in mortality were found in 110- to 150-year-old trees and they occurred mainly after 1980. No clear explanation could be found for these peaks, but we suggest that they may be related to senescence or weakening of the trees following the last spruce budworm outbreak. Suppressed and codominant aspen had a much higher mortality ratio than spruce in the same height class, while more surprisingly, no difference in mortality rate was found between dominant trees of the two species. Most spruce trees were found as standing dead, which leads us to reject the hypothesis that windthrow is an important cause of mortality for spruce in our forests

Overstory influences on light attenuation patterns and understory plant community diversity and composition in southern boreal forests of Quebec

We have characterized overstory light transmission, understory light levels, and plant communities in mixedwood boreal forests of northwestern Quebec with the objective of understanding how overstory light transmission interacts with composition and time since disturbance to influence the diversity and composition of understory vegetation, and, in turn, the further attenuation of light to the forest floor by the understory. Overstory light transmission differed among three forest types (aspen, mixed deciduous-conifer, and old cedar-dominated), with old forests having higher proportions of high light levels than aspen and mixed forests, which were characterized by intermediate light levels. The composition of the understory plant communities in old forests showed the weakest correlation to overstory light transmission, although those forests had the largest range of light transmission. The strongest correlation between characteristics of overstory light transmission and understory communities was found in aspen forests. Species diversity indices were consistently higher in aspen forests but showed weak relationships with overstory light transmission. Light attenuation by the understory vegetation and total height of the understory vegetation were strongly and positively related to overstory light transmission but not forest type. Therefore, light transmission through the overstory influenced the structure and function of understory plants more than their diversity and composition. This is likely due to the strong effect of the upper understory layers, which tend to homogenize light levels at the forest floor regardless of forest type. The understory plant community acts as a filter, thereby reducing light levels at the forest floor to uniformly low levels

Structural changes and potential vertebrate responses following simulated partial harvesting of boreal mixedwood stands

Partial harvesting, where different numbers and arrangements of live trees are retained in forest stands, has been proposed for maintaining late-successional structure and associated vertebrate species within managed boreal forests. Using the stand dynamics model SORTIE-ND, we examined 80-year patterns of structural change in response to different intensities (30–70% basal area removal) and spatial patterns (22–273m2 mean patch size) of harvesting. We also applied habitat models for seven late-successional vertebrates to the structural conditions present after harvesting to assess potential species responses. Partial harvesting increased understory and downed woody debris (DWD) cover and decreased overstory structure for the first 25 years after harvest, in comparison to unharvested stands, with this effect subsequently reversing as harvest-induced regeneration reached the canopy. Although harvesting enhanced long-term structural development in this regard, large trees, large snags, and largeDWDall remained below unharvested levels throughout the simulation period. Harvesting also produced transient increases in early-decayDWDand ground exposure. Most changes in structural attributes increased in proportion to harvest intensity, but structural differencesamongharvest patterns were generally small. Dispersed harvesting induced somewhat less pronounced decreases in vertical structure, and produced more post-harvest slash, than aggregated harvesting. All seven vertebrate species decreased in abundance as harvest intensity increased from 30 to 70%. In comparison to their pre-harvest abundances in old stands, vertebrates associated with DWD (redback salamander, marten, red-backed vole) showed neutral or positive responses at one or more harvest intensities, whereas those associated with large trees and snags (brown creeper, flying squirrel) consistently exhibited substantial adverse impacts

MRI compared to conventional diagnostic work-up in the detection and evaluation of invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast: a review of existing literature

Item does not contain fulltextPURPOSE: The clinical diagnosis and management of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) of the breast presents difficulties. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been proposed as the imaging modality of choice for the evaluation of ILC. Small studies addressing different aspects of MRI in ILC have been presented but no large series to date. To address the usefulness of MRI in the work-up of ILC, we performed a review of the currently published literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a literature search using the query "lobular AND (MRI OR MR OR MRT OR magnetic)" in the Cochrane library, PubMed and scholar.google.com, to retrieve all articles that dealt with the use of MRI in patients with ILC. We addressed sensitivity, morphologic appearance, correlation with pathology, detection of additional lesions, and impact of MRI on surgery as different endpoints. Whenever possible we performed meta-analysis of the pooled data. RESULTS: Sensitivity is 93.3% and equal to overall sensitivity of MRI for malignancy in the breast. Morphologic appearance is highly heterogeneous and probably heavily influenced by interreader variability. Correlation with pathology ranges from 0.81 to 0.97; overestimation of lesion size occurs but is rare. In 32% of patients, additional ipsilateral lesions are detected and in 7% contralateral lesions are only detected by MRI. Consequently, MRI induces change in surgical management in 28.3% of cases. CONCLUSION: This analysis indicates MRI to be valuable in the work-up of ILC. It provides additional knowledge that cannot be obtained by conventional imaging modalities which can be helpful in patient treatment

Early above- and below-ground responses of subboreal conifer seedlings to various levels of deciduous canopy removal

We examined the growth of understory conifers, following partial or complete deciduous canopy removal, in a field study established in two regions in Canada. In central British Columbia, we studied the responses of three species (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco, Picea glauca (Moench) Voss x Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm., and Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.), and in northwestern Quebec, we studied one species (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.). Stem and root diameter and height growth were measured 5 years before and 3 years after harvesting. Both root and stem diameter growth increased sharply following release but seedlings showed greater root growth, suggesting that in the short term, improvement in soil resource capture and transport, and presumably stability, may be more important than an increase in stem diameter and height growth. Response was strongly size dependent, which appears to reflect greater demand for soil resources as well as higher light levels and greater tree vigour before release for taller individuals. Growth ratios could not explain the faster response generally attributed to true fir species or the unusual swift response of spruces. Good prerelease vigour of spruces, presumably favoured by deciduous canopies, could explain their rapid response to release