Comparative Analysis of Boreal Forest Landscape Processes Using SELES: Russian Versus Finnish Karelia

• Main Authors: Charles Burnett, Andrew Fall, Yves Martens, Risto Kalliola
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; karelia*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.575.7992; http://plone.itc.nl/agile_old/Conference/2000-helsinki/31.pdf

The border between Finland and Russia is characterized by a sharp and distinctive change in the structure and age composition of the resident boreal forest. The abundance of large areas of relatively intact old-growth forests on the Russian side adjacent to an area of intense management on the Finnish side provides a unique reference area for comparative forest ecological investigations. In this paper, an analysis of the landscape processes active in these two management areas is initiated through the prototyping and refinement of a cell-based dynamic landscape model. Through development of this model, we seek to explore the effects of various management plans on the biodiversity of the region. Inputs to this landscape ecological planning model are 1) raster GIS layers and 2) process models. The GIS layers are derived from classified satellite (Landsat TM and Spot) imagery, digital elevation models, and vegetation and logging prescription maps. Process models (e.g. logging, succession) are taken from the literature. The landscape modeling tool used in the research, called SELES, was developed at Simon Fraser University, Canada. 1. Background Recently, the ecological consequences of intensive forest use for fibre extraction have been strongly