Snag abundance 20, 30, and 40 years following fire and harvesting in boreal forests

Abstract

The retention of standing dead trees (snags) has become an important conservation concem, especially when forest management efforts attempt to emulate natural disturbance. We investigate the abundance of snags within Ontario's boreal forest following 10-20, 21-30, and 31-40 years of both fire and forest harvest disturbance over a 24 000-km2 area. Fire frequency varied considerably, with 90% of the fires in the study area occurring in the 1970s. We did not detect differences in basal area of snags (m2/km2) between burned and harvested stands. However, differences occurred in dead-stem density (number/km2); the burned stands produced more snags in the 21- to 30-year post-disturbance class and the harvested stands produced more snags in the 31- to 40-year post-disturbance class. Similarly, the distribution of diameter classes of snags differed between the burned and harvested stands. In size classes greater than 32 cm (diameter at breast height), we found more snags in the harvested forests 21-40 years following disturbance. We did not find differences in the basal area of snags between disturbance types, whether they were hardwood or softwood. However, hardwood snags occurred in greater abundance in the larger diameter classes. Our findings are limited by the changing timber harvest treatments (selective harvest, clearcut, and ecological cut), the small number of disturbance events, and the variety of stand compositions. More research is required on the ecological factors influencing snag abundance to improve development of local forest management plans and to design landscapes that conserve forest structure and biodiversity.