Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Marenholtz, Eckehart Horst Gunther

Titel

Evaporative demand and needle loss in white spruce understory protection partial-cut harvests

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2009

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• White spruce experience slow release for several years after understory-protection partial harvesting of deciduous-dominated boreal forest mixedwoods. This may be due to needle loss caused by crown harvest injury and a drier microclimate. Overstory aspen was retained as wind buffer in concentrated- and distributed-harvest patterns at five operational-scale trials in northern Alberta. Measurements made with simple evaporimeters found that atmospheric evaporation in the partial harvests was lower than in clearcuts but higher than in un-harvested forest. Atmospheric evaporation was negatively related to basal area. The lower-crown branches of trees on the edges of machine-travel corridors suffered the most needle loss and reduction in terminal-bud flushing. Lower-crown recession was not detected over two growing seasons after harvest, but more older needles were lost in the first growing season but not in the second. Lateral-twig growth was less in both the first and the second growing season after harvest.