The Impacts of Clearcutting on Understory Plants and Culturally Significant Species In Coastal Western Hemlock Forests of Vancouver Island ...
The goal of the study is to understand successional changes in an understory plant community after clear-cut timber harvesting. The forest ecosystem is within the Southern Very Wet Hypermaritime biogeoclimatic subzone in the broader Coastal Western Hemlock zone along the west coast of Vancouver Isla...
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Graduate Studies
2024
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/prism/42951 https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/118107 |
| Summary: | The goal of the study is to understand successional changes in an understory plant community after clear-cut timber harvesting. The forest ecosystem is within the Southern Very Wet Hypermaritime biogeoclimatic subzone in the broader Coastal Western Hemlock zone along the west coast of Vancouver Island. The ecosystem is located in Huu-ay-aht First Nations traditional territory, and the subzone falls within various Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations traditional territories. A chronosequence was used to categorize various stages of forest growth in five successional stages: Regeneration, Immature, Thinning, Mature, and Old-growth. Forests censused ranged in age from 1 to 354 years old with old-growth stages described as stands over 250 years. The leaf cover and stem density of understory plant species were recorded within 83 subplots. These metrics were evaluated with regard to environmental variables (slope aspect, elevation, canopy openness, soil pH, A horizon depth, soil profile depth, tree basal area, tree stem ... |
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