Old-Growth Forests

Diversity and regeneration of woody species were investigated in two ecological niches viz. gap and intact vegetation in old-growth seasonally dry Shorea robusta (Gaertn. f.) forests in Nepal. We also related varieties of diversity measures and regeneration attributes to gap characteristics. Stem density of tree and shrub components is higher in the gap than in the intact vegetation. Seedling densities of S. robusta and Terminalia alata (B. Heyne ex Roth.) are higher in the gap than in the intact vegetation, while contrary result is observed for T. bellirica (Gaertn. ex Roxb.) and Syzigium cumini (L. Skeels) in term of seedling density. The complement of Simpson index, Evenness index, and species-individual ratio in the seedling layer are lower in the gap than the intact vegetation. Gap size can explain species richness and species establishment rate. Gaps created by multiple tree falls in different years have higher seedling density of S. robusta than gaps created by single and/or multiple tree falls in the same year. In conclusion, gaps maintain species diversity by increasing seedling density, and favor regeneration of Sal forests. In addition to gap size, other gap attributes also affect species diversity and regeneration.

The regeneration process ofCryptomeria japonica forests was studied from surveys of age and initial growth of the coniferous stumps in plots of 2.66 ha in total on Yakushima Island, south Japan. The conifers germinated during particular regeneration periods each of which was shorter than 100 years. The periods repeated themselves several times in each plot, and conifers of each period formed patches. Both tree cutting and natural gap formation of the canopies initiated the regenerations. The saplings that were thought to have germinated before the initiation of the regeneration grew slowly. After the initiation, the saplings that germinated earlier grew more quickly. For the three codominant conifers:Cryptomeria japonica, Tsuga sieboldii, andAbies firma, the shade tolerance was inversely correlated with maximum age. Even the most shade-tolerantA. firma was a gap-dependent species in regeneration periods, and there were no species differences in the colonizing times during the regeneration period. Shade-intolerant long-lived species and shade-tolerant short-lived species coexisted as climax species, not as alternate species in the sere of succession.

This is the fifth and final module in a series on ancient woodland restoration. This practical guide focuses on the third phase of restoration management: maximising ecological integrity.
The guide is of use to anyone involved in the management of ancient woodland sites and provides details on:
- How to accumulate more old-growth characteristics like old trees and decaying wood.
- Better space and dynamism in wooded ecosystems, the role of animals and near-to-nature forestry.
- Considering natural processes and management interventions at landscape, site, stand, and individual tree scale.
- Better physical health, water and air quality.
- Appropriate reintroductions and translocations.
- The importance of the wider landscape to the integrity of an individual ancient woodland.

Este trabajo trata de difundir cuestiones relevantes que tienen que ver con la conservación de los bosques de laurisilva canaria. No es posible conservar nuestro patrimonio natural sin una plena comprensión de los ecosistemas que lo conforman. Nuestra experiencia nos indica que hay un profundo desconocimiento de nuestra naturaleza y que en esta ignorancia radica buena parte de sus males mayores. En los conflictos y controversias relacionados con la conservación ambiental, los ciudadanos, los periodistas y, por supuesto, los políticos, fácilmente se decantan y toman partido sin tener ni idea al respecto. Mitos, creencias, ideas, a veces simples sentimientos, con limitada o nula conexión con la realidad, se han convertido en lugares comunes, que a base de ser repetidos y oídos, son tomadas a priori como verdades absolutas, movilizando la opinión pública y determinando las decisiones. Incluso, en ocasiones los supuestos expertos, técnicos y científicos que planifican, gestionan y estudian, se encuentran confundidos, con lamentables consecuencias. Con el progreso del conocimiento y la experiencia adquirida en la gestión de los bosques de laurisiva, disponemos de las claves para una gestión sensata de nuestros bosques y también para experimentarlos con plena conciencia de su valor. Se hace, pues, muy necesario, hacer llegar estos conocimientos a la población y en especial a los jóvenes que se convertirán en los futuros responsables de nuestra naturaleza.

This report for Rainforest Foundation Norway provides an overview and analysis of recent research on the viability of socio-environmentally sustainable logging for commercial purposes in tropical rainforests.
Key questions we wanted to explore in this study included: What are the environmental effects of so-called “sustainable” industrial logging in intact rainforest areas, and to what extent is it possible to extract timber from primary rainforests without significantly disturbing and over time degrading the forest ecosystem regarding biodiversity, climate resilience and carbon storage?
This report examines what is known regarding the impacts of “status quo” industrial logging, including on biodiversity, biomass/carbon, ecosystem resiliency, and timber yield. It then turns to examine whether reduced impact logging (RIL) and forest certification improve outcomes for these same values. Based on these findings, an overall determination is made regarding what constitutes “sustainable forest management” (SFM) in the tropics.
The report finds that industrial logging, even though it is done “selectively” due to the low density of commercially viable trees, results in a large impact to the remaining forest. While some of this occurs immediately during logging and construction of related infrastructure, there are also secondary impacts that can be even more significant. Decreased ecosystem resilience and removal of moisture-retaining canopy results in disruption of ecosystem processes and increased incidence of fire.

Boreal forest carbon (C) storage and sequestration is a critical element for global C management and is largely disturbance driven. The disturbance regime can be natural or anthropogenic with varying intensity and frequency that differ temporally and spatially the boreal forest. The objective of this review was to synthesize the literature on C dynamics of North American boreal forests after most common disturbances, stand replacing wildfire and clearcut logging. Forest ecosystem C is stored in four major pools: live biomass, dead biomass, organic soil horizons, and mineral soil. Carbon cycling among these pools is inter-related and largely determined by disturbance type and time since disturbance. Following a stand replacing disturbance, (1) live biomass increases rapidly leading to the maximal biomass stage, then stabilizes or slightly declines at old-growth or gap dynamics stage at which late-successional tree species dominate the stand; (2) dead woody material carbon generally follows a U-shaped pattern during succession; (3) forest floor carbon increases throughout stand development; and (4) mineral soil carbon appears to be more or less stable throughout stand development. Wildfire and harvesting differ in many ways, fire being more of a chemical and harvesting a mechanical disturbance. Fire consumes forest floor and small live vegetation and foliage, whereas logging removes large stems. Overall, the effects of the two disturbances on C dynamics in boreal forest are poorly understood. There is also a scarcity of literature dealing with C dynamics of plant coarse and fine roots, understory vegetation, small-sized and buried dead material, forest floor, and mineral soil.

The paper discusses the case of old-growth forest preservation in the context of the conservation policies of Catalonia, its current challenges and opportunities. It is based on a relevant case study, the fir forest of Riu, located within the Natural Park Cadí-Moixeró, in the Pyrenees Mountains. (only in Catalan language)

Old growth in the frequent-fire conifer forests of the western United States, such as those containing ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), Jeffrey pine ( P. jeffreyi), giant sequoia (Sequioa giganteum) and other species, has undergone major changes since Euro-American settlement. Understanding past changes and anticipating future changes under different potential management scenarios are fundamental to developing ecologically based fuel reduction or

Sacred natural sites (SNS) are instances of biocultural landscapes protected for spiritual motives. These sites frequently host important biological values in areas of Asia and Africa, where traditional resource management is still upheld by local communities. In contrast, the biodiversity value of SNS has hardly been quantitatively tested in Western contexts, where customs and traditions have relatively lost importance due to modernization and secularization. To assess whether SNS in Western contexts retain value for biodiversity, we studied plant species composition at 30 SNS in Central Italy and compared them with a paired set of similar but not sacred reference sites. We demonstrate that SNS are important for conserving stands of large trees and habitat heterogeneity across different land-cover types. Further, SNS harbor higher plant species richness and a more valuable plant species pool, and significantly contribute to diversity at the landscape scale. We suggest that these patterns are related not only to pre-existent features, but also to traditional management. Conservation of SNS should take into account these specificities, and their cultural as well as biological values, by supporting the continuation of traditional management practices.

The first dendrochronological network of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) from eastern limit of its distribution was established covering the species’ altitudinal range (210–1160 m a.s.l.) and three eco-regions. Statistical analysis revealed spatial trends among the 14 chronologies, with increasing tree-ring variability and synchronicity towards the east, particularly expressed by rBAR (mean interseries correlation). By means of HCA (Hierarchical Cluster Analysis) and PCA (Principal Component Analysis), the chronologies were divided into three main groups: a Mountain, Plateau and Eastern class. These correspond to the Alpine South, Continental and Pannonian bioclimatological zones. Dendroclimatological analysis revealed a general climate response pattern, with summer temperatures, April–May precipitation and April–June drought being the main limiting factors in the study area. The intensity of the correlations increases towards the eastern distribution limits and decreases towards the upper treeline of European beech. Similarly, the length of the climate-sensitive period changes, with the precipitation window increasing from April in the Mountains region to March–May in the East region and the scPDSI (self-calibrated Palmer drought severity index) window increasing from April–June in the Mountains to the previous July to the current September in the East. The western and uppermost site shows signs of being limited by low July temperatures. This chronology network represents a sensitive monitoring instrument to quantify the impact and adaptability of European beech to actual and future climatic change.

The Wind River old-growth forest, in the southern Cascade Range of Washington State, is a cool (average annual temperature, 8.7°C), moist (average annual precipitation, 2223 mm), 500-year-old Douglas-fir–western hemlock forest of moderate to low productivity at 371-m elevation on a less than 10% slope. There is a seasonal snowpack (November–March), and rain-on-snow and freezing-rain events are common in winter. Local geology is characterized by volcanic rocks and deposits of Micocene/Oligocene Micocene-Oligocene (mixed) Micocene and Quaternary age, as well as intrusive rocks of Miocene age. Soils are medial, mesic, Entic Vitrands that are deep (2–3 m), well drained, loams and silt loams, generally stone free, and derived from volcanic tephra. The vegetation is transitional, between the Western Hemlock Zone and the Pacific Silver Fir Zone, and the understory is dominated by vine maple, salal, and Oregon grape. Stand structural parameters have been measured on a 4-ha plot. There are eight species of conifers, with a stand density of 427 trees ha−1 and basal area of 82.9 m2 ha−1. Dominant conifers include Douglas-fir (35 trees ha−1), western hemlock (224 trees ha−1), Pacific yew (86 trees ha−1), western red cedar (30 trees ha−1), and Pacific silver fir (47 trees ha−1). The average height of Douglas-fir is 52.0 m (tallest tree, 64.6 m), whereas western hemlock averages 19.0 m (tallest tree, 55.7 m). The regional disturbance regime is dominated by high-severity to moderate-severity fire, from which this forest is thought to have originated. There is no evidence that fire has occurred in the forest after establishment. Primary agents of stand disturbance, which act at the individual to small groups of trees scale, are wind, snow loads, and drought, in combination and interacting with root-rot and butt-rot fungi, heart-rot fungi, dwarf mistletoe, and bark beetles. The forest composition is slowly shifting from dominance by Douglas-fir, a shade-intolerant species, to western hemlock, western red cedar, Pacific yew, and Pacific silver fir, all shade-tolerant species. The Wind River old-growth forest fits the regional definition of Douglas-fir “old growth” on western hemlock sites.

John J. Battles1, Juan J. Armesto2, David R. Vann3, Daniel J. Zarin4, Juan Carlos Aravena2, Cecilia Pérez2 & Arthur H. Johnson3 1University of California, Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, 151 Hilgard Hall, Berkeley, CA ...

This is the first comprehensive camera trap study to examine hollow usage by wildlife in the canopy of trees. Eighty cameras directed at tree hollows were deployed across eight sites in nine species of eucalypt in northeast New South Wales. In total, 38 species (including 21 birds, 9 mammals and 8 reptiles) were recorded at hollow entrances over a three-month period. There was a significant difference between wildlife hollow usage associated with site disturbance and tree growth stage (ANOSIM, P. 0.05); however, there was no significant difference associated with tree hollow diameter (ANOSIM, P. 0.05). The level of anthropogenic disturbance at each site, including vegetation modification of the understorey, was a significant predictor of species presence. Despite the limitations of using camera traps in the canopy of trees this study demonstrates the potential to garner useful insights into the ecology and behaviour of arboreal wildlife.