Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Akasha Faist
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Environmental Science and Sustainability
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Timber harvest is a global practice that provides jobs, industry materials, energy, and more, and contributes billions to the global economy. However, it can have long-lasting effects on the ecosystems being harvested. Where most work has focused on the responses of trees, the understanding of post-timber harvest effects on the understory community is an area with much opportunity for understanding how these communities shift over time. The majority of knowledge on how understory vegetation responds and changes post-harvest extends to only a decade or two. In order to paint a better picture of how understory species and communities change after timber harvest, we have utilized a dataset of over 200 vegetation transects in the Northwestern Montana area ranging across a timeline of 1-year post-harvest to over 40-years post-harvest. Within this framework, we examined three primary topics: 1.) how understory species richness and dominance will change over time, 2.) how functional groups will change over time, and 3.) how these shifts in the communities differ between mesic and xeric forests. To achieve this, we used randomly generated transects ranging in forest type and time since harvest. Each transect ran 40 meters parallel with the topography of the location and included five 1m2 plots. For each plot, all understory vegetation was identified to the species level, received an estimated percent of cover, and was classified as one of three functional groups: grasses, forbs, and shrubs. Utilizing the data collected from these plots, we can build on our understanding of understory dynamics across a 40 year, or greater, timeline. This time series study allows for the substitution of time with space, allowing for a more comprehensive study on the long-lasting effects of a disturbance like timber harvest to be quantified. The results will illustrate important community shifts that occur over a timeline that would typically require an entire career.
Category
Life Sciences
Effects of timber harvest on understory vegetation succession: a time series study
UC South Ballroom
Timber harvest is a global practice that provides jobs, industry materials, energy, and more, and contributes billions to the global economy. However, it can have long-lasting effects on the ecosystems being harvested. Where most work has focused on the responses of trees, the understanding of post-timber harvest effects on the understory community is an area with much opportunity for understanding how these communities shift over time. The majority of knowledge on how understory vegetation responds and changes post-harvest extends to only a decade or two. In order to paint a better picture of how understory species and communities change after timber harvest, we have utilized a dataset of over 200 vegetation transects in the Northwestern Montana area ranging across a timeline of 1-year post-harvest to over 40-years post-harvest. Within this framework, we examined three primary topics: 1.) how understory species richness and dominance will change over time, 2.) how functional groups will change over time, and 3.) how these shifts in the communities differ between mesic and xeric forests. To achieve this, we used randomly generated transects ranging in forest type and time since harvest. Each transect ran 40 meters parallel with the topography of the location and included five 1m2 plots. For each plot, all understory vegetation was identified to the species level, received an estimated percent of cover, and was classified as one of three functional groups: grasses, forbs, and shrubs. Utilizing the data collected from these plots, we can build on our understanding of understory dynamics across a 40 year, or greater, timeline. This time series study allows for the substitution of time with space, allowing for a more comprehensive study on the long-lasting effects of a disturbance like timber harvest to be quantified. The results will illustrate important community shifts that occur over a timeline that would typically require an entire career.