Regeneration and growth of Lodgepole Pine stands Following Mountain Pi

Regeneration and growth of Lodgepole Pine stands Following Mountain Pine Beetle Attack in Central British Columbia : 

1 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program University of Northern British Columbia, BC Regeneration and growth of Lodgepole Pine stands Following Mountain Pine Beetle Attack in Central British Columbia

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2 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Introduction The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) (MPB) the most damaging biotic disturbance agent in mature lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm.) in BC. The MPB typically attacks - larger trees with diameter at breast height > 20 cm and trees above 60 years old - but younger tree (age even < 20 years) also attack if mature trees are not available The current infestation of lodgepole pine by the MPB in BC: - over 9.0 million hectares - around 635 million m3 of mature pine killed in BC to the end of 2007 - predicted more than 800 million m3 mature pine will be killed by the end of 2013

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3 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 MPB infestation in BC : 2003-2013 Routledge 2004

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4 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Loss of mature pine in BC during the year of 1999 to 2013 Hawkins 2006 Mountain pine beetle infestation and projection (Hawkins 2010) Projected: 80%/ 70% of mature pine killed by 2013/2017

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5 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Change in the landscape

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6 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Reasons for regeneration study Regeneration and rates of growth (release) in MPB attacked stands are important because: - forecasting the long-term prospects of these stands - selecting stands for silvicultural treatments to improve yield - forecasting impacts to hydrology, habitat, and vegetation types

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7 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Factors affecting regeneration Factors affecting the growth and development of regeneration after MPB outbreak: - overstory structure - moisture content of the soil - availability of seedbed substrates - dominancy of mosses on forest floor - proximity and abundance of parent seed trees NB:further investigations on factors influencing the establishment of regeneration are required as different research findings found different results (Dhar and Hawkins , submitted)

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8 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Regenerative species composition in MPB attack stands The most common shade tolerant species The most common shade intolerant species 1) Lodgepole pine ((Pinus contorta Dougl. Ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm.) 2) Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), or 3) Paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh) 1) Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirbel] Franco), 2) Hybrid spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss x P. englemanii Parry) 3) Subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa [Hook.] Nutt.)

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9 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Regeneration density and distribution Recent investigations on regeneration and their basic attributes for MPB attacked stands in BC

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10 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Regeneration density in different investigations St-1= Burton and Brooks (2007); St-2= Coates et al. (2006); St-3= Nigh et al. (2008); St-4= Balliet et al. (submitted); St-5= Vyse et al. (2009); St-6= Burton (2006) Regeneration n/h Investigations Abundance of regeneration reported in different investigation

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11 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Regeneration distribution in different investigations

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12 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Health of regeneration The health of regeneration mostly influenced by: Abiotic: soil moisture content falling branches and stems Biotic: browsing by animals mistletoe infestation Regeneration health in MPB attacked stands Health of advanced regeneration in Pantage Creek and Takysie Lake were of good to medium quality (Statland 2008) 50 % of advanced regeneration was healthy following MPB attack in the SBSdk (Rakochy 2005) Regeneration in central British Columbia was healthy and vigorous at the time of assessment (Balliet and Hawkins, submitted)

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13 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Change of MPB attacked forest in 25 years time Hawkes 2008

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14 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Models

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15 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Knowledge gap There are a number of important gaps in our knowledge relating to factors affecting advanced regeneration and residual trees of MPB attacked stands. Secondary stand structure - Predict ecological degradation Predict factors which directly influence the survival ability - Predict substrate and abiotic conditions favourable for germination Compare the germination and growth amongst different biogeoclimatic subzones Predict the release response of competing, non crop tree vegetation Management Set priorities for which stands to target for management activities Determine the economic health of secondary stand structure Develop the most cost efficient management activities Determine the management strategy to reduce the risk of future MPB outbreaks

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16 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Knowledge gap e) Knowledge management - Determine the effective processes of knowledge transfer from one region to another - Describe the influence of human intervention on the current MPB outbreak c) Modeling - Incorporate forest health issues into stand level modeling - Identify limitations of models and modify them for more accurate prediction - Incorporate the impact of climate change into models for better prediction d) Climate change - Forecast the impact of climate change on stand development - Determine the impact of climate change on current preferred and acceptable species Establish permanent sample plots to track changes over of forest Collect different climatic factors to predict MPB dispersal more accurately Determine the impact of global warming on MPB survival, virulence, and distribution

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17 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Acknowledgements For financial support: FSP project G095048 The authors would like to thanks all participants, who shared their presentations during the workshop, and the field tour discussion groups Amalesh Dhar, Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program University of Northern British Columbia 3333 University Way Prince George, BC, Canada V2N 4Z9 Email: dhar@unbc.ca Phone: +1-250-960-5778

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18 Mixedwood Ecology and Management Program (UNBC) | Amalesh Dhar, Nicole Balliet, Chris Hawkins 7/23/2010 Thank you