Natural jack pine forest edges are not an earlier warning system than interior forests to detect impacts of atmospheric deposition
Description
This dataset contains data to replicate analyses in Andrade-Silva and McIntosh (in review). In this study, our objectives were to compare between edge and interior sites: i) the foliar nutrient and trace element levels in the current annual needle growth of jack pine trees, ii) tree properties associated with jack pine growth (height and diameter growth and live crown ratio); and iii) the understory plant community composition. We used data from the two sampling periods (2012 and 2018), considering the influences of distances from the sources of emissions and wind directionality. Two types of sites were monitored in this study: interior jack pine sites and natural edge jack pine sites. Sites were standardized by choosing sites growing on coarse-grained Eluviated Dystric Brunisol soils (a1 ecosite phase – Beckingham and Archibald 1996). Sites are dry, nutrient poor, unmanaged jack pine forest stands with age at breast height ranging between 19-160 years in the 2018 sampling period. The current study includes 12 interior jack pine stands and 15 jack pine edge monitoring sites located between 4 -120 km from major oilsands mining operations within the AOSR. Data collected in the field (foliage chemistry, tree growth, and plant community composition) were obtained from field sampling campaigns from 2011-2013 (for simplicity called 2012 hereafter) and 2018.
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Jack pine monitoring sites as part of the TEEM’s Forest Health Monitoring program are located within the Central Mixedwood and Athabasca Plains natural subregions of Alberta, Canada.Two types of sites were monitored in this study: interior jack pine sites and natural edge jack pine sites. Sites were standardized by choosing sites growing on coarse-grained Eluviated Dystric Brunisol soils (a1 ecosite phase – Beckingham and Archibald 1996). Sites are dry, nutrient poor, unmanaged jack pine forest stands with age at breast height ranging between 19-160 years in the 2018 sampling period. The current study includes 12 interior jack pine stands and 15 jack pine edge monitoring sites located between 4 -120 km from major oilsands mining operations within the AOSR. Each interior monitoring site contained a permanent (10 x 40 m) vegetation plot established in the centre of the jack pine stand for the assessment of understory plant community composition and tree growth and health. The interior vegetation sampling plot is located a minimum of 50 m away from the stand edge. Each interior vegetation plot is sub-divided into one large subplot (2 x 20 m), two medium (4 x 1 m) and ten small (0.4 x 1 m) subplots. Within each interior vegetation plot, all standing trees (living and dead) with dbh > 10 cm (except dead trees that did not reach the canopy) were labeled and measured. Forest edge monitoring sites contained a large (5 x 20 m) vegetation plot oriented parallel to the stand edge. The edge vegetation plot is positioned in the direction of oil sands processing facilities; however, it does not necessarily follow the orientation emissions would travel based on wind direction at each site. Each edge vegetation sampling plot is divided into two medium (4 x 1 m) and four small (0.4 x 1 m) subplots. All trees (living and dead) with dbh > 10 cm growing within the edge vegetation sampling plot were also labelled and measured. Foliage chemistry, tree growth, and plant community composition) were obtained from field sampling campaigns from 2011-2013 (for simplicity called 2012 hereafter) and 2018. Both interior and edge monitoring sites were assigned an off-plot tree area, which is an area containing trees of similar growth form, morphology, patterns of insect/disease infestation, and stand density as those in the vegetation plot. Trees within the off-plot tree area were selected for destructive sampling, such as collection of increment cores and branch excision for foliar chemistry data. This avoided potential longer-term impacts of the destructive sampling on the trees if it were done in the permanent vegetation plots. A total of ten trees per stand were selected as off-plot trees.
Institutions
- University of Alberta
Categories
Funders
- Oil Sands Monitoring Program
- MitacsCanada