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Understory plant community responses to widespread spruce mortality in a subalpine forest / Trevor A. Carter in Journal of vegetation science, vol 33 n° 1 (January 2022)  

Public [article]  inJournal of vegetation science > vol 33 n° 1 (January 2022) . - 15 p. Titre : Understory plant community responses to widespread spruce mortality in a subalpine forest Type de document : Article/Communication Auteurs : Trevor A. Carter, Auteur ; Paula J. Fornwalt, Auteur ; Katleen A. Dwire, Auteur ; et al., Auteur Année de publication : 2022 Article en page(s) : 15 p. Note générale : bibliographie Langues : Anglais (eng) Descripteur : [Termes IGN] Abies alba [Termes IGN] forêt subalpine [Termes IGN] insecte nuisible [Termes IGN] Leaf Area Index [Termes IGN] maladie phytosanitaire [Termes IGN] mortalité [Termes IGN] Picea abies [Termes IGN] régression linéaire [Termes IGN] semis (sylviculture) [Termes IGN] sous-étage [Termes IGN] Wyoming (Etats-Unis) [Vedettes matières IGN] Foresterie Résumé : (auteur) Aims: Spruce beetles (Dendroctonus rufipennis) are causing widespread spruce (Picea spp.) mortality in subalpine forests in western North America. Spruce beetles are changing forest structure and composition by killing a dominant overstory species, but we know little about how the understory community responds to the increase in resource availability brought about by spruce mortality, what mechanisms drive its response, or how its response affects other forest properties and processes. Location: Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiments Site, Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming, USA. Methods: We measured understory community cover and richness in 75 permanent plots during and 10 years after an epidemic spruce beetle outbreak, and measured trait values for 46 common understory species. We used linear regression to determine how the understory community has changed over time and along a gradient of spruce mortality, and to evaluate the relative support for two mechanisms contributing to species responses. Results: Understory cover nearly doubled between sampling periods and increased the most where spruce mortality was most severe. Understory richness doubled and showed a weak positive trend with spruce mortality. Understory species with the largest increases in cover were the most frequent across the landscape before the disturbance, were the tallest at maturity and had the lowest leaf turgor loss points. Fir seedling density decreased over time, with decreases lessening with increases in understory cover. Changes in spruce seedling density were not predicted by changes in understory cover. Conclusions: Our findings highlight some of the diverse ways in which understory communities can be altered by spruce beetle outbreaks, and how the direction and magnitude of change can depend on the amount of spruce mortality as well as on priority effects and traits of pre-disturbance species. Our findings also highlight how understory community changes can have implications for other forest properties and processes, such as tree regeneration and forest recovery. Numéro de notice : A2022-173 Affiliation des auteurs : non IGN Thématique : FORET Nature : Article DOI : 10.1111/jvs.13109 Date de publication en ligne : 14/12/2021 En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.13109 Format de la ressource électronique : URL article Permalink : https://documentation.ensg.eu/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=99809 [article]