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Stem vigour and growth of tolerant hardwoods

AN 4
Hub: Haliburton, ON
Year: 2022-2024
Guillaume Moreau, PDF

Key to ensure the growth response of tolerant hardwood stands to partial cut is to carefully select the unacceptable growing stock, and thus leave the most vigorous trees standing. However, it remains unclear how vigour evolves over time, and whether the stem defect criteria used in operational tree marking guidelines are good predictors of tree vigour. A PDF will take advantage of unique historic longitudinal datasets available at the HA and NS Hub sites with the objective to determine how various types of defects affect tree growth and stand dynamics over time. The PDF will first identify the factors (including species, defect types and climatic stress events, etc.) leading to a loss of vigour over time, and then devise partial cutting guidelines to maximise resilience and growth. Outcome: A set of trees marking guidelines to promote stand vigour in northern hardwoods.

Guillaume Moreau, PDF at University of Toronto
Main Partner: Haliburton Forest (Ontario)
Professor John Caspersen
Collaborator Alexis Achim

Leduc, F., Chagnon, C., Moreau, G., Dumont, S., St-Jean, É., Achim, A. (2023) American beech outgrows sugar maple at the sapling stage regardless of partial harvest intensity in northern hardwood forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 533: 121630, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121630.

Moreau, G., Chagnon, C., Cecil-Cockwell, MFL, Pothier, D., Achim, A., Bédard, S., Guillemette, F., Caspersen, J. (2023)
Simplified tree marking guidelines enhance value recovery as well as stand vigour in northern hardwood forests under selection management. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research; cpad045. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpad045

Chagnon C, Moreau G, D’Orangeville L, Caspersen J, Labrecque-Foy J-P and Achim A (2023) Strong latitudinal gradient in temperature-growth coupling near the treeline of the Canadian subarctic forest. Front. For. Glob. Change 6:1181653. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2023.1181653

Moreau, G., Cecil-Cockwell, M.J.L., Achim, A., Bédard, S., Guillemette, F., Caspersen, J. (2023). Quantifying the Probability of Decline in Quality: Implications for Selection Management in Northern Hardwood Forests. Forests; 14(2):280. https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020280

Moreau, G., Cecil-Cockwell, M.J.L., Pothier, D. Achim, A., Bédard, S., Guillemette, ., Caspersen, J. (2023) Visual assessment of tree vigour in Canadian northern hardwood forests: The need for a simplified system. Forest Ecology and Management, 529: 120720

Moreau, G., Chagnon, C., Achim, A., et al. (2022). Opportunities and limitations of thinning to increase resistance and resilience of trees and forests to global change. Forestry, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpac010.

Chagnon, C., Moreau, G., Bombardier-Cauffopé, C., Barrette, J., Havreljuk, F., Achim, A. (2022). Broad-scale wood degradation dynamics in the face of climate change: A meta-analysis. GCB-Bioenergy, 14(8): 941-958. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12951

Achim, A., Moreau, G., Coops, N., et al. (2021) The changing culture of silviculture. Forestry, 95(2):143-152. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpab047.

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