Site Productivity and Land Classification Lecture 13: Forest Ecology 550

Objectives Discuss indirect ways to measure site productivity Briefly discuss land classification Introduce ecosystem process models What role can remote sensing play in estimating forest species composition, structure, and function.

Site Productivity Definition Sites potential to produce one or more natural resources Sustainable Manage for multiple resources

Site Productivity: indirect measurement approaches 1) Site index: Forest measurement to measure site quality Based on height of the dominant and co-dominant trees based on some standard age Age depends on location and stand type Typically 50 years but..

Forest Productivity: Site Index Curve Anamorphic curves

Site index curves: Pros/cons Easy and inexpensive Height growth is less sensitive than basal area growth to stocking density. Cons very site dependent (soils, topography, aspect) Differs among species Requires trees growing on the site Cannot capture dynamic nature of tree growth and global change

Site Productivity: indirect measurement approaches 2) Overstory tree species Each species occupies its own niche Black spruce image from: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cfl.scf.rncan.gc.ca/CFL-LFC/images/eclaircie/amenagement02.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cfl.scf.rncan.gc.ca/CFL-LFC/publications/eclaircie/amenagement_e.html&h=283&w=425&sz=22&tbnid=Mrvx2ZNyQOsJ:&tbnh=81&tbnw=122&hl=en&start=4&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dblack%2Bspruce%2Bforest%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

Site Productivity: indirect measurement approaches 2) Overstory tree species Each species occupies its own niche Advantages Allows you to make quick assumptions about a given area Disadvantages Challenging for species that are able to exist in a wide range of climates

Site Productivity: Indirect measurement approaches 3) understory species Definition: use of understory species to make classifications of site Advantages: More sensitive to micro-climate differences Indicator species Disadvantages What about disturbance Indicator species: have such a small ecological niche that their presence or absence can mean different things. Marsh marigold: fen indicator species

Site Productivity: Indirect measurement approaches 3) understory species Other examples: Ephemerals often have a narrow ecological niche

Site Productivity: Indirect measurement approaches 4) Ecological Site Classification Primary means is through Habitat Typing Identified by distinct understory plant assemblages natural vegetation to identify ecologically equivalent landscape units growth natural resource use potential

Soil usually sand to loamy sand. At least two species present:low sweet blueberry, wintergreen, sweet fern, pipsissewa, cow wheat, witch hazel, maple-leaf viburnum, pointed leaf tick treefoil witch hazel, maple-leaf viburnum, pointed leaf tick treefoil Species on right rare or absent blueberry, wintergreen or absent At least 2 present honeysuckle, twisted stalk, partridgeberry, yellow beadlilly, shield fern, ironwood Sum of the coverage > 2x’s the sum of species In right box trailing arbutus, bear berry, reindeer moss hazelnut, false Soloman’s seal, barren strawberry AQVib PMV QAE AQV

Examples of WI Habitat Types Epigaea: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictures/eclectic/kings-epigaea.jpg Vaccinium angustifolium Maianthemum canadense: http://www.ualberta.ca/~mjs14/vascpics/images/Maianthemum%20canadense%20(3).jpg Viburnum acerfolium (maple-leaf viburnum): http://www.desotostatepark.com/photogallery/wildflowers/maple-leaf%20viburnum.jpg Osmorihza: http://biology.missouristate.edu/Herbarium/Plants%20of%20the%20Interior%20Highlands/Flowers/Osmorhiza%20longistylis.jpg coptis_goldenthread: http://www.themortoncentre.net/digital_herbarium/descriptions_flowers/coptis_trifolia.htm

Examples of WI Habitat Types Maianthemum Coptis Sweet anise/osmorhiza

Habitat Types: Comparisons in WI Litterfall C and N generally increase from low quality to high quality habitat type For more general information about specific habitat types please feel free to check the website listed below. http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/treehaven/TreehavenlistDDMMS.html

Habitat Types Advantages Disadvantages Fairly detailed Qualitative formulae Disadvantages May take some time to identify the factors in the stand

Site Productivity: Indirect Measurement Approaches 5) Environmental Relationships/factors Simple relationships between one of more variable and tree growth. from E.C. Steinbrenner. 1981. Forest soil productivity relationships. In Forest Soils of the Douglas-fir Region).

Environmental relationships/factors cont.. from E.C. Steinbrenner. 1981. Forest soil productivity relationships. In Forest Soils of the Douglas-fir Region).

Environmental relationships/factors cont.. ANPP Leaf biomass

Site Productivity: Indirect Measurement Approaches 6) Ecosystem Process Models based on biophysical and ecological principles every physiological process model has some level of empiricism

PPT evaporation LAI transpiration LAI Soil water Soil water outflow General Outline for the conceptual framework of biome-BGC PPT evaporation LAI transpiration LAI Soil water photosynthesis Soil water outflow respiration

Remember our radiation lecture? http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/ccrs/learn/tutorials/fundam/chapter1/chapter1_5_e.html We can see in this figure that red is strongly absorbed by vegetation and infra red is strongly reflected.

Site Productivity: Indirect Measurement Approaches 7) Remote Sensing Common Vegetation indices derived from radiation reflectance measured using satellites Simple ratio = (near infra-red(NIR)/red (R) wavelength) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)= (NIR - R)/(NIR + R)

Site Productivity: Indirect Measurement Approaches 7) Remote Sensing Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)= (NIR - R)/(NIR + R) See Tom’s book about this a bit more.

Remote Sensing: Global Classification of Vegetation

Predicted versus Measured LAI What does ETM mean on this slide presentation? Corn LAI=4.00+0.45*CCIca R2=0.63 Soy LAI=3.44+0.49*CCIsa R2=0.27 ETM+ predictions of Aug. LAI Corn LAI=4.41+0.63*CCIcj R2=0.61 Soy LAI=1.54+0.49*CCIsj R2=0.58 ETM+ predictions of July LAI

RMSE=9.09 Slope=0.98 RMSE=1.19 Intercept=1.46 Slope=1.00 R=0.84 1:1 1:1 Canonical indices ETM+ March, June Canonical indices ETM+ March, June

Generally how do you get the remote sensed values? http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/ccrs/learn/tutorials/fundam/chapter1/chapter1_7_e.html

Modis GPP project GPP (gC m-2 d-1) = PAR * fAPAR * g Where: PAR = from climate model fAPAR = from MODIS reflectances g ( gC MJ-1) = GPP / APAR MODIS g from lookup table Spatial Resolution is 1 km Temporal Res. is 8-day mean

Remote Sensing Disturbance - Disturbances are an important component of any forest ecosystem - Disturbances have no effect on the C budget if the system is in steady state Fire frequency and extent has increased 270% in recent decades In Saskatchewan and Manitoba 98 1995 1989 81 50 km

Fire scar profiles taken from 2003 NDVI seasonal data. Hudson Bay 2003 NDVI 3-date Composite max leaf area Fire date leaf expansion NDVI: normalized difference vegetation index. NDVI=(near infrared-vis)/ (near infrared + Vis) snowmelt 2003 fire Fire scar profiles taken from 2003 NDVI seasonal data. Selected burn areas shown in image on the right. 2002 MODIS Image Manitoba-Saskatchewan