MODERATE SEVERITY DISTURBANCE HAS SIMILAR EFFECTS ON THE PRODUCTION OF THREE FORESTS NESTED WITHIN THE UPPER GREAT LAKES LANDSCAPE

Moderate severity disturbances, which only kill a subset of canopy trees (e.g., via insects, pathogens, and windthrow), are increasingly widespread, and can alter forest structure and production. Whether moderate severity disturbance similarly affects the net primary production (NPP) of different forest stands within inherently heterogeneous landscapes, however, is unknown. We experimentally disturbed three, 2-ha stands varying in forest structure and primary production, reducing stand basal area 38 to 66 % by stem girdling all mature early successional aspen (Populus) and birch (Betula). For nearly a decade, we examined how the forest stands restructured and recovered, and linked post-recovery physical and biological structure with light absorption and wood NPP. Disturbance significantly altered the structure of all stands and prompted a similar decade-long pattern of primary production decline and recovery. All stands exhibited an initial reduction in wood NPP, recovering to, or exceeded pre-disturbance levels within eight years. Following the recovery of wood NPP, more biologically diverse forest canopies with higher leaf area indexes captured more light, and, subsequently, had higher rates of wood NPP. We provide limited support that disturbance may enhance long-term primary production through its effects on canopy structural reorganization. We conclude that, while the forests examined responded similarly to disturbance, improved understanding of different forest ecosystems’ response to disturbance remains critical to informing carbon management decisions across diverse landscape mosaics

Provisions for Trade Remedy Measures (Anti-dumping, Countervailing and Safeguard Measures) in Preferential Trade Agreements

TPreferential trade agreements that complement the multilateral trade regime under the WTO have recently been actively utilized. Making use of the opportunities of forming preferential trade agreements, abolishing, or tightening the imposition requirements of trade remedy measures, such as anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures has been increasingly made available within these agreements. These new approaches also often entail harmonization of competition policies and strengthening the disciplines of subsidies as substitutes for trade remedy measures. In this paper, the details of provisions for anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures, as well as competition policy and subsidy policy in the existing preferential trade agreements are examined. The discussions at the Committee of Regional Trade Agreements of the WTO and the critical issues raised in the related dispute settlement cases are analyzed. In conclusion, a proposal for desirable forms of trade remedy measures in preferential trade agreements is explained.

Sensitivity Analysis of Stationary States in Optimal Growth : a Differentiable Approach

Optimal growth, Stationary state, Genericity, Regularity