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Current Context Global change –Increased climatic variation –Shifts in disturbance regimes –Invasive species –Increasing herbivore populations Concerns over decreasing biodiversity
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Silviculture in the Face of Global Change: Overview of UMN
Silviculture Program
Tony D’AmatoDept. of Forest Resources
University of Minnesota
Overview• Context for research
• Core focus of research program
• Silviculture in the face of uncertainty
• Summary
Current Context• Global change
– Increased climatic variation– Shifts in disturbance regimes– Invasive species– Increasing herbivore populations
• Concerns over decreasing biodiversity
Current Context• Changing ownership patterns
– Implications to silvicultural practices
• Changing land use and markets– Biofuels, carbon, etc.
Main Focus Areas• Retrospective studies of forest stand dynamics
using dendroecological approaches and long-term data collections from natural and managed stands, including long-term silvicultural experiments
• Large-scale manipulative studies examining the response of forest systems to emerging issues including bioenergy production and invasive species
Main Focus Areas
Silviculture in uncertain times
• View of forests and forest management within the context of global change largely focuses on two approaches:– Mitigation strategies: enhance forests ability to
reduce human effects on climate by sequestering CO2 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions
– Adaptation strategies: improve forest resilience/resistance to changes
Carbon and climate change
Age-class diversity
Species/functional diversity
Photo: J. Bradford, USGS
• Have different management regimes and stand types been more resilient to past climactic and biotic perturbations?– Experimental Forest Monitoring Project
• Cooperators: J. Bradford, J. Brissette, S. Fraver, L. Kenefic, B. Palik (USFS)
Looking back to inform the future
Examine inter-annual variability in growth across 5 long-term silviculture experiments
Trade-offs in achieving emerging objectives
Looking back to inform the future
Looking back to inform the future
• Aspen mixedwood productivity and dynamicsLooking back to inform the future
What factors have led to compositionally complex aspen systems in MN?
Collaborators: M. Reinikainen (UMN), J. Almendinger (MN DNR), S. Fraver (USFS)
Looking back to inform the future
• Suggest opportunity for early stand entries to foster increases in compositional complexity• Later gap-phase dynamics suggest alternative to purely even-aged approaches
Looking back to inform the future
FTC
FTC/SBW
•Productivity implicationsLooking back to inform the future
Heading forward…..
• Anticipating and mitigating EAB impacts on lowland black ash systems in northern MN
Black ash project
•How will loss of black ash affect vegetation communities and site hydrology?•Can we mitigate these impacts?
• Large-scale study on Chippewa NF• 4 treatments:
1)EAB mortality (girdle ash), 2) Pre-emptive harvest (clearcutting), 3) Group selection, 4) Unharvested control
– Each treatment is 4 acres and is replicated 4 times– Project team: B. Palik,G. Swanson, R. Venette (USFS); K.
Brooks, A. Ek, C. Lenhart, P. Reich (UMN); R. Slesak, (MFRC)
Black ash project
• Evaluating strategies to mitigate impacts– Planting non-host species within each treatment:
• 11 species, including northern white cedar, American elm, yellow birch, tamarack, Manchurian ash, and swamp white oak
– Can sites remain in forested wetland condition following ash mortality?
Black ash project
Biomass harvesting impacts• Assessing the environmental sustainability of biomass
harvesting within the northern Lake States
Project team: J. Bradford, S. Fraver, D. Linder, R. Kolka, M. Ostry, B. Palik (USFS); C.Blinn (UMN), R. Slesak (MFRC), J. Forrester and D. Mladenoff (UW), F. Aguilar (UMO)
Biomass harvesting impacts• Examine impacts of varying levels of biomass removal
on:• Biodiversity (vascular plants, wood-inhabiting fungi,
amphibians)• Long-term productivity
• Nutrient and carbon cycling, forest regeneration
Summary• Goal is to develop applied solutions to emerging and
core objectives related to forest management and conservation
• Reliance on retrospective approaches provides long-term insight into questions that may not be answered with short-term studies
• Use of large-scale experiments can address emerging issues within an operational context
ConclusionsThanks!
http://silviculture.forestry.umn.edu