Science Articles on Forest Ecology in British Columbia
- Natural Disturbances Have Broad Boundaries
- Ecosystems Unevenly Represented
- Gaps Remain in Protecting BC's Trees
- Logged and Burned Forests Have Similar Birds
- Garry Oaks Declining in Endangered Ecosystem
- Little Variation Exists Among Garry Oaks
- Some Conifers Clump, Others Scatter
- Change Dawdles in an Ancient Forest
- Fallen Trees Host Wildlife for Many Decades
- Large, Old Trees Best Suited For Wildlife
- Mite Species Differ Greatly Among Habitats
- Fungi Help Black Spruce Adapt to Different Soils
- Mushrooms Become Scarce After Clearcutting
- Pine Mushrooms Require Mature Forests
- Forest Edges Rich in Mosses
- Large Stands of Yellow Cedar Mysteriously Dying
- Yellow Cedar Vulnerable to Spring Cold
- Science Articles on Silviculture in BC
The transition between a stand affected by wildfire or mountain pine beetles and an undisturbed forest is seldom abrupt.
How well a landscape's ecosystems are represented in non-harvestable forests varies throughout British Columbia.
More rare ecosystems in British Columbia's Bunchgrass, Ponderosa Pine and Interior Douglas-fir biogeoclimatic zones gained protected status during the 1990s.
The types of birds living in a young forest depends not so much on whether the site was previously logged or burned, but more on the makeup of tree cover left behind.
The relatively undisturbed example of endangered Garry oak savanna at Rocky Point near Victoria, BC seems to be a fleeting artefact of European settlement.
Garry oak, a key member of an endangered ecosystem in British Columbia, shows little genetic variability throughout its range from Courtenay, BC to northern California.
How three species of conifers become distributed throughout a forest as it ages is mediated by competition.
In a subalpine forest on Mount Elphinstone near Gibsons, British Columbia, the turnover of trees is exceptionally infrequent, putting this 1000-year-old forest at the far end of the scale for stand disturbance dynamics.
Subalpine fir and interior spruce trees can serve as wildlife habitat for 100 years or more after they die.
In wet forests that are dominated by ancient red cedars, 22 to 30% of trees offer enough habitat for birds and mammals to be classified as a wildlife tree.
Various species of mites specialize in where and when they colonize dead tree needles.
The suite of symbiotic fungi associated with black spruce tree roots indicates the tree adapts well to soils ranging from dry uplands to saturated wetlands.
Most of the mushrooms from ectomycorrhizal fungi found in mature birch and Douglas-fir forests do not appear in recent clearcuts.
Forests must at least be over 85 years old for the commercially-valuable pine mushrooms to emerge in northwest British Columbia's Kispiox Valley.
The edges of remnant old-growth forests harbour a mix of mosses and liverworts that favour interior forest habitat as well as disturbed sites.
The phenomenon of dying yellow cedar prevalent in southeast Alaska is now documented as extending at least 150 km southwards into British Columbia.
In a further attempt to unravel the mystery of what is killing yellow cedar in southeast Alaska, scientists have turned to climate change as a possible culprit.