In an attempt to reconcile wood extraction and forest biodiversity in managed boreal forests, ecosystem-based forest management (EBM) has become the de facto management approach. Retention forestry represents one prominent way that EBM is implemented in many parts of the world. Retention patches commonly left after harvesting serve as analogues of fire island remnants, which are patches of unburned forests in the burned forest matrix. Although the persistence of retention patches has been questioned, few studies have attempted to quantitatively compare forest attributes in both burned and harvested forests. As part of a larger program examining multiple aspects of ecosystem function in fire and harvest island remnants, we investigated the impact of disturbance type (fire/harvest) and forest edges on C stock in snags and coarse woody debris (CWD) found in island remnants in mixedwood boreal forests of Alberta, Canada. Total C stock (in snags and CWD) was similar between the two disturbance types and edge plots had similar total deadwood C stocks to interiors. The edges of island remnants had about two-fold more snag C stock than their interiors in both disturbance types, but C stock in CWD was unaffected by edge effects and disturbance type. Our results suggest that deadwood C dynamics in island remnants in fire and harvest disturbed boreal forests were similar, thus lending support for the continued implementation of retention forestry in Alberta.

中文翻译：

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在阿尔伯塔省北方森林受到干扰十年后，火灾和滞留岛残余物具有类似的枯木碳储量


为了协调管理北方森林中的木材采伐和森林生物多样性，基于生态系统的森林管理 （EBM） 已成为事实上的管理方法。保留林业是循证医学在世界许多地方实施的一种重要方式。采伐后通常留下的保留补丁类似于火岛残余物，火岛残余物是被烧毁的森林基质中未燃烧的森林斑块。尽管保留斑块的持久性受到质疑，但很少有研究试图定量比较燃烧和采伐森林中的森林属性。作为研究火灾和收获岛屿残余物中生态系统功能的多个方面的大型计划的一部分，我们调查了干扰类型（火灾/收获）和森林边缘对加拿大阿尔伯塔省混合木北方森林岛屿残余物中发现的障碍物和粗木质碎片 （CWD） 中 C 种群的影响。两种干扰类型之间的总 C 存量（在障碍物和 CWD 中）相似，边缘图与内部的枯木 C 总存量相似。在两种干扰类型中，岛屿残余物边缘的障碍 C 存量大约是其内部的两倍，但 CWD 中的 C 存量不受边缘效应和干扰类型的影响。我们的结果表明，火灾和采伐干扰北方森林中岛屿残余物的枯木 C 动态相似，从而为阿尔伯塔省继续实施保留林业提供了支持。