Vegetation response to harvesting, harvesting and prescribed-burning and wildfire in Northwestern Ontario : patterns of reproductive strategies and nutrient accumulation

Abstract

Initial species composition was investigated on a group of boreal mixedwood sites that had experienced various forms of disturbance. The hypothesis explored was that environmental changes caused by different disturbances would be reflected in patterns of revegetation. The disturbance types were as follows: (1) Harvest, winter, full tree logged cutovers, delimbed at the road side; (2) Prescribed-bum, cutovers burned in early spring; (3) Reburn, cutovers which were Prescribed-burned and subsequently experienced a wildfire; (4) Wildfire, a low severity crown fire in mature forest; (5) Control, 70 year old forest with a species composition of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench)Voss), black spruce (Picea mariana (Miller) Britton), balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Miller) and white birch (Betula papyrifera Marshall).