Managing Forest Ecosystems in a changing environment: the need of a paradigm shift

Transcription

1 Managing Forest Ecosystems in a changing environment: the need of a paradigm shift 1 Prof. Christian Messier, University of Québec in Montréal, Director of Center for Forest Research

2 Overview of talk 2 Forestry and foresters old traditions The situation in the wood today Ecological realities New avenues

3 Overview of talk 3 Forestry and foresters old traditions The situation in the wood today Ecological realities New avenues

4 Brief history of Forestry 4 Develop somewhere in Europe due to a shortage of wood: There would be... no forest science without deficiency in wood supplies. This science is only a child of necessity or need 1816 Heinrich Cotta Forestry is the child of the industrial revolution Was introduced almost everywhere in the world by German foresters Natural forests were perceived as messy and unproductive that needed human intervention Forests have a known steady-state state The Stand is the basic management unit. It is defined as a homogenous vegetation unit or group of trees... that foresters can effectively manage

5 What are the problems? 5 A 300 year-old profession that has not renewed itself very well: Deeply rooted in the old German philosophy of neatness and order where timber production is king! A static, simplified and wood oriented-view of the forest ecosystem: Managing a forest is like managing a garden! Foresters that are "prisoner" of their employers (industry and government): How can the public trust a forester paid by a forest company to manage a public forest for the common good? An increasing disconnect between current realities and long-held forester views: Increasingly forests need to be managed for self-adaptability, resiliency and various ecological services!

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8 Overview of talk 8 Forestry and forester old traditions The situation in the wood today Ecological realities New avenues

9 Primary forests are disappearing! 9-4 billions hectares of forest are left in the world (from( 8 billions) of which 1.5 billions are still relatively pristine! - 43 countries have more than 50% of their lands forested Tectona grandis - Canada, Russia, Brasil,, China and the USA have 50% of the world forests

10 Primary forests are disappearing! 10-70% of the primary forests left are in Canada, Russia and Brasil - We lose 13 millions ha of forest every year,, but half of that is reforested, mainly as monoculture - Primary forests are being replaced by much simplier forests

11 Forests are being greatly simplified! 11

12 but things are changing rapidly! 12 Disturbance patterns and stressors are changing (increasing?) Climate change Invasive species Ability to intervene intensively are decreasing due to: Economical constraints Social constraints Environmental constraints

13 Overview of talk 13 Forestry and forester old traditions The situation in the wood today Ecological realities New avenues

14 14 Biodiversity, Complexity, Resiliency, etc

15 Complex adaptive systems 15 Complexity science has benefited progress in economics, transportation systems, etc. Forest ecosystem are prime examples of complex adaptive systems

16 What is a complex forest ecosystem? 16

17 Resiliency 17 Resiliency is the capacity of an ecosystem to tolerate disturbance without collapsing into a qualitatively different state that is controlled by a different set of processes Scheffer et al resalliance.org Drever, CR, Peterson, G, Messier, C, Bergeron, Y & Flannigan, M Can forest management based on natural disturbances maintain ecological resilience? Can. J. For. Res. 36:

18 Disturbance, biological legacies 18 and adaptive complex ecosystem

19 Overview of talk 19 Forestry and foresters old traditions The situation in the wood today Ecological realities New avenues Managing for adaptive complex ecosystem Scaling up and down our management Concentrating our intensive forestry: functional zoning Managing polyculture

20 Overview of talk 20 Forestry and foresters old traditions The situation in the wood today Ecological realities New avenues Managing for adaptive complex ecosystem Scaling up and down our management Concentrating our intensive forestry: functional zoning Managing polyculture

21 Managing for complex adaptive systems 21 Resiliency management objective Ecosystem characteristics Disturbance or cut (initial conditions) Planned silvicultural interventions C A B Traditional management objective TIME (years) Putmann, K, Coates, D. and Messier, C A critique of silviculture: managing for complexity. Island Press, Washington. 200 p.

22 Overview of talk 22 Forestry and foresters old traditions The situation in the wood today Ecological realities New avenues Managing for adaptive complex ecosystem Scaling up and down our management Concentrating our intensive forestry: functional zoning Managing polyculture

23 Scaling up and down our 23 management: incorporating more complexity Plant level processes PROCESSES Population Community Current forest Management Ecosystem. Tree neighborhood Stand-average Landscape level SCALES Increasing spatial complexity

24 Use various models to evaluate complexity at various scales Sturtevant et al A toolkit modeling approach for sustainable forest management planning: Achieving balance between science and local needs. Ecology & Society, 12: art 7. PROCESSES Ecosystem Community Population Plant processes modeling Approach - Spatially-explicit, individual tree - Species-specific growth, mortality, dispersal SORTIE- ND type models. Forest Management Scale down SCALES Scale up LANDIS/ SELES type models when stand model needs knowledge of outside pattern e.g., LDD, fire, insect Neighborhood Stand Landscape to capture range of variation from neighborhood interactions modeling Approach - Cell based - Age cohort present/absent 24 - Shade tolerance rankings Less tolerant species cannot establish if more tolerant species present

25 Overview of talk 25 Forestry and foresters old traditions The situation in the wood today Ecological realities New avenues Managing for adaptive complex ecosystem Scaling up and down our management Concentrating our intensive forestry: functional zoning Managing polyculture

26 Concentrating our intensive forestry: functional zoning Ecosystem management (60 to 80%) Emulating natural disturbance (maintain complexity) Reduction in wood harvested Longer rotation and more diverse types of cut Maintenance of biological legacies (retention) Management at the landscape scale The zoning Super intensive (1 to 5%) Hybrid larch and poplar Protected areas (at least 12%) Large superficies Including all ecosystems Necessary control 26 Traditional intensive forestry (5 to 20%) Indigeneous species Traditional sylvicultural treatments

27 Messier, C., et al Implementation of the TRIAD zoning concept on a large forest management unit in central Quebec. For. Chron. (in press) 27 Côté et al. Long-term effects of six different functional zoning (TRIAD) and current-practice management scenarios on the boreal mixedwood forest. In press (For. Ecol. and Manag.) Territoire de 9000 km 2 Conservation in yellow: 10% Intensive traditional forestry in orange and pink: 23.5% Fast-growing plantation in red: 2.5% Ecosystem management in green: 64%

28 Some TRIAD simulations 28 % Ecosystem management Protected area 10% 20% 64% 60% 74% 2% 8% Intensive management 11% 25% 20% 20% 12% 14% OLD- GROWTH? Status Quo New regulation Messier LaTuque Conservation Natural Age Class

29 Overview of talk 29 Forestry and foresters old traditions The situation in the wood today Ecological realities New avenues Managing for adaptive complex ecosystem Scaling up and down our management Concentrating our intensive forestry: functional zoning Managing polyculture

30 Mixed plantation in Panama Hura crepitans Tabebuia rosea Under planting in Québec Poplar plantation 30 with unmanaged understory in France Agroforestry: poplar, hardwood in Québec White spruce under hybrid poplar in Québec BIOTREE Aubin, I, Messier, C & Bouchard, A. Can plantations develop understory biological and physical attributes of naturally regenerated forests? Biol. Conservation (In press) Paquette, A & Messier, C The role of plantations in managing the world s forests in the Anthropocene. Frontier in Ecol and the Env. doi: /080116

31 Conclusion 31 Our view and understanding of what is a forest has changed Our abilities to intervene in the forest are declining while external disturbances are increasing We need to endorse a dynamic, complex and resilience view of the forest We are now required to manage the whole ECOSYSTEM and all of its SERVICES, not just wood, views, bear, moose, berries, etc

32 Moving toward managing for resiliency, biodiversity and complexity 32 Unmanaged Seral stands Old-growth Decreasing level of management Heavily managed Single tree plantation Paquette, A & Messier, C. The role of plantations in managing the world s forests in the Anthropocene. Frontier in Ecol and the Env. (In press) Clearcutting Variable retention Simple. Partial cutting Selective cutting Multiple tree plantation Complex Increasing compositional and structural complexity Bauhus, J, Puettmann, K & Messier, C. Silviculture for old-growthness. For. Ecol. & Manage., (Accepted)

33 Steady-state forestry Ecosystem management 33 Resilience- based management - Single equilibrium - Multiple states - Dynamic and unpredictable - Reduced variability - Historical variability - Foster variability - Prevent disturbance - Disturbance-based - Accept and Foster disturbance - Maximize sustained - Balance between - Maximize flexibility, yield wood production & future options & biodiversity services

34 34 Thanks/ Merci Polyculture in Costa Rica (Brinkman( & Associates Reforestation)