Aftermath of Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak in British Columbia: Stand Dynamics, Management Response and Ecosystem Resilience
department or school: Other UBC
department or school: Non UBC
data provider: DSpace
identifier citation: Forests 7 (8): 171 (2016)
contributor: University of British Columbia. BRAES Institute
creator: Dhar, Amalesh
creator: Parrott, Lael
creator: Hawkins, Christopher D.B.
issued: 2019-05-27T16:25:02Z
issued: 2016-08-05
description: The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) (MPB) has infested and killed millions of hectares of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm) forests in British Columbia, Canada, over the past decade. It is now spreading out of its native range into the Canadian boreal forest, with unknown social, economic and ecological consequences. This review explores the ramifications of the MPB epidemic with respect to mid-term timber supply, forest growth, structure and composition, vegetation diversity, forest fire, climate change, and ecosystem resilience. Research confirms that, in British Columbia, all of these variables are more significantly impacted when salvage logging is used as management response to the outbreak. We conclude that appropriate management in response to MPB is essential to ensuring ecologically resilient future forests and reliable mid-term timber supplies for affected human communities. We highlight knowledge gaps and avenues for research to advance our understanding in support of sustainable post-disturbance forest management policies in British Columbia and elsewhere.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/70341
note: ReviewAftermath of Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak inBritish Columbia: Stand Dynamics, ManagementResponse and Ecosystem ResilienceAmalesh Dhar 1,*,†, Lael Parrott 1 and Christopher D.B. Hawkins 21 Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystem Services (BRAES), University of BritishColumbia, Okanagan Campus, 1177 Research Road, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada; lael.parrott@ubc.ca2 Yukon Research Centre, Whitehorse, YK Y1A 5K4, Canada; chawkins@yukoncollege.yk.ca* Correspondence: amalesh@ualberta.ca; Tel.: +1-780-492-6538; Fax: +1-780-492-4323† Present address: Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 847 General Services Bldg,Edmonton, AB T6G 2H1, Canada.Academic Editors: Jarmo K. Holopainen and Timothy A. MartinReceived: 9 June 2016; Accepted: 2 August 2016; Published: 5 August 2016Abstract: The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) (MPB) has infested andkilled millions of hectares of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm) forests in BritishColumbia, Canada, over the past decade. It is now spreading out of its native range into theCanadian boreal forest, with unknown social, economic and ecological consequences. This reviewexplores the ramifications of the MPB epidemic with respect to mid-term timber supply, forest growth,structure and composition, vegetation diversity, forest fire, climate change, and ecosystem resilience.Research confirms that, in British Columbia, all of these variables are more significantly impactedwhen salvage logging is used as management response to the outbreak. We conclude that appropriatemanagement in response to MPB is essential to ensuring ecologically resilient future forests andreliable mid-term timber supplies for affected human communities. We highlight knowledge gapsand avenues for research to advance our understanding in support of sustainable post-disturbanceforest management policies in British Columbia and elsewhere.Keywords: climate change; forest disturbance; forest …
has type: Article
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0379021
language: eng
peer review status: Reviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publisher DOI: 10.3390/f7080171
rights: CC BY 4.0
rights URI: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
scholar level: Faculty
subject: Climate change
subject: Forest disturbance
subject: Forest resilience
subject: Mid-term timber supply
subject: Stand dynamics
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/70341