1. Transformations de la composition forestière dans les forêts boréales mixtes soumises à une forte influence humaine : une analyse de la région de Rouyn-Noranda de 1910 à 2020 (Québec, Canada).
- Author
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Egande, Nathan, Danneyrolles, Victor, Arsenault, Dominique, Sigouin, Marie-Eve, and Bergeron, Yves
- Subjects
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FOREST management , *FOREST surveys , *FOREST ecology , *POPULUS tremuloides , *MIXED forests - Abstract
The characteristics of pre-industrial forests provide reference states for forest restoration and sustainable management. This historical approach is particularly relevant in highly human-impacted regions where natural forests that could serve as references are scarce. This is the case in the Rouyn-Noranda region, located in western Quebec. In this study, we used available survey archives to reconstruct the pre-industrial composition of the mixed boreal forests in the Rouyn-Noranda region, located in western Quebec. With a new database comprising 3621 observations on historical forest composition (1909–1940), we provide an overview of the pre-industrial forests and subsequent changes in the region. In the pre-industrial era, spruces represented the most abundant species: they were present in 85.5% of the observations and were identified as dominant (i.e., the most abundant locally) in 63.9% of the observations. Spruces tended to be abundant across the entire territory and surface deposit types. Our results show an increase in the frequency of early successional deciduous species, primarily trembling aspen (+28%), between the pre-industrial and modern eras (1980–2020). These composition changes appear to be attributable to a combination of natural disturbances (fires) and human activities (logging, agriculture, etc.). We finally discuss the implications of our results for sustainable forest management strategies in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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