Twenty years of ecosystem response after clearcutting and slashburning in conifer forests of central British Columbia, Canada.

ABSTRACT: Forests are being clearcut over extensive areas of western North America, but plant community response to harvesting and slashburning under varying climatic conditions in central British Columbia, Canada is still largely unknown. Evaluation of resilience is hampered by the short history of logging, lack of long-term experiments and methodological limitations. To test the effect of clearcut logging, prescribed burning and reforestation on forest resilience, we recorded vascular plant cover repeatedly after treatment between 1981 and 2008 in 16 permanent research installations in three biogeoclimatic zones: Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fir, Interior Cedar-Hemlock and Sub-Boreal Spruce. We created a plant-trait dataset for the 181 recorded species to define plant functional types representing g

SUBMITTER: Chandler JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5325286 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature