State of the Greater Fundy Ecosystem

GREATER FUNDY ECOSYSTEM RESEARCH PROJECT

UNB Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management

State of the Greater Fundy Ecosystem

Glossary

allochthonous - food material reaching an aquatic community in the form of organic detritus.

anadromous - migrating from marine waters upstream to breed in fresh water.

basal area - the cross sectional area of the stem of a tree usually measured at 1.3 m from the ground. The measurement is usually expressed as meters squared per hectare.

benthic - pertaining to the bottom of a sea or stream.

biodiversity - the variety and variability among living organisms, often referred to at the population, community or landscape level.

buffer harvest - special harvests carried out in riparian buffers. Under a buffer harvest, a maximum harvest of 30% of the basal area is allowed every 10 years. The canopy cover of the remaining stand must exceed 50% and must be greater than 10 m in height. There are also restrictions as to the amount of dead and dying material that can be removed.

buffer strip - a natural boundary of standing timber and/or other vegetation left between watercourses and road right-of-ways or harvest block boundaries.

bryophyte - member of the division of the plant kingdom of nonflowering plants. Includes mosses, liverworts and hornworts.

catadromous - migrating from freshwater downstream to breed in salt water.

chronosequence - use of measured variables that represent a time series; for example, comparing species numbers and diversity on plantation stands of 5, 15, 30, and 60 years

clearcut harvesting method - the most common forest harvesting method used in New Brunswick. Most clearcuts in the province are between 50-70 ha. Provincial regulations do not allow for cuts over 125 ha. The method results in even-aged stands. A commercial clearcut removes all the commercially valuable (usually softwood) trees. The method can result in the regeneration of hardwoods or poor quality softwoods if the clearcut is too large.

coarse-woody debris - logs or other large-dimension materials lying on the ground.

commercial thinning - partial tree removals in plantations and young stands that yield a commercial product. The stems removed are generally the poorer quality, smaller trees, allowing for improved growing conditions for the best stems.

connectivity - the interconnection of functionally related ecological elements of a landscape so that species can move among them.

culvert - a small channel or drain that allows water to pass under a road.

dbh - diameter at breast height; diameter of a tree measured 1.4 m above the ground.

ecological integrity - a state of ecosystem development that is optimised for its geographic location, including energy input and colonization history. The term implies that ecosystem structures and functions are unimpaired by human-caused stresses and that native species are present at viable population levels.

Ecological Land Classification for New Brunswick - a project completed in 1996 which identified and mapped terrestrial ecosystems in New Brunswick by defining the factors, both biotic and abiotic, which have influenced their distribution spatially and through time. The project was sponsored by the Department of Natural Resources and Energy through the cooperative efforts of the Timber Management Branch and the Environmental Stewardship Branch.

ecological monitoring - the observation of processes and indicators that show ecosystem dynamics and structures, leading to knowledge of how ecosystems work, indicators of ecological integrity, and how they may be managed based on modeling.

ecoregion - area that is reasonably homogeneous with respect to climate, geography, and topography; these are factors that affect growth response to disturbance and composition of plant communities.

ecosystem - all of the organisms in a given place in interaction with their non-living environment.

epiphyte - organism that lives wholly on the surface of plants, deriving support but not nutrients from the plants.

eutrophication - process in which nutrients are accumulated in a water body and lead to increased productivity of aquatic plants to a point where dissolved oxygen becomes depleted and water quality in general declines.

extirpated - any indigenous species of plant or animal that no longer exists in the wild in an area but is known to exist elsewhere.

forest road - a road on Crown Land; includes bridges and culverts along the way; does not include a highway or a logging road.

fragmentation - the breaking up of the forest into isolated patches through agriculture and urban development.

gap analysis - a procedure used to identify vegetation types and vertebrate species that are under-represented in areas managed primarily for native biodiversity and to locate areas where additional protection would increase the representation of native biodiversity in such managed areas.

gap-phase replacement - successional development in small disturbed areas within a stable plant community. The filling-in by plants of a space left by disturbance.

Geographic Information System (GIS) - a spatial database management system designed to allow users to collect, manage, and analyze volumes of geographically referenced and associated attribute data.

guild - group of populations that utilizes a range of resources in a similar way.

heterozygous - containing two different alleles of a gene, one from each parent, at the corresponding loci of a pair of chromosomes; measurements of heterozygosity are frequently used to determine the genetic variation in a species.

high grading - the consistent removal of all (and only) superior trees from a forest stand. This gradually reduces the quality of the stand itself as the parent trees diminish in vigor and dimension.

indicator species - a species whose characteristics (e.g. presence or absence, population density, dispersion, reproductive success) are used as an index of ecological attributes that are too difficult, inconvenient or expensive to otherwise measure

invertebrate - any animal without a backbone.

keystone species - a species which is crucial to maintaining the organization and diversity of an ecological community

lagomorphs - “hare-shaped” animals such as rabbits, hares, and pikas.

lentic - pertaining to standing water such as lakes and ponds.

logging road - a temporary road within a timber harvesting area on Crown Land built solely for the extraction of timber and includes landings and other works associated with the harvesting operation.

lotic - pertaining to flowing water such as rivers and streams.

maturity - as defined by foresters, is the stage during which tree biomass no longer accumulates, because losses due to mortality are similar to the growth of living trees. Mortality data from permanent sample plots in New Brunswick suggest that maturity typically begins for stands dominated by the following species at the following age:

- Black Spruce dominated stand 80 years
- White or Red Spruce dominated stand 90 years
- Balsam Fir dominated stand 60 years
- Intolerant Hardwoods 80 years
- Tolerant Hardwoods 120 years

minimum viable population - the smallest isolated population having a 99% chance of remaining extant for 100 years despite the foreseeable effects of demographic stochasticity, environmental stochasticity, genetic stochasticity, and natural catastrophes.

monitoring - the observation of phenomena in a way which is: 1) ongoing; 2) repetitive; 3) with a prearranged schedule in time; 4) with a prearranged schedule in space; and, 5) having a consistent methodology that allows the pooling of observations into one set. Monitoring should include the planning of data gathering, data gathering itself, data processing, and archiving, analysis, and the dissemination of results.

mycorrhizae - association of fungus with the roots of higher plants that improves the plants’ uptake of nutrients from the soil.

optimum yield - amount of material that can be removed from a population that will result in production of maximum amount of biomass on a sustained yield.

orographic - associated with or induced by the presence of mountains.

overmaturity - as defined by foresters, is the stage that begins when the death rate of trees is large enough to cause stand biomass to decrease.

paleoecology - the study of the ecology of past communities by means of fossil record.

Parulidae - the bird family of Wood Warblers; these birds are usually brightly coloured, active insect eaters.

pre-commercial thinning (spacing) - a thinning that does not yield trees of commercial value, usually designed to improve crop spacing.

protected natural areas - areas protected from human exploitation and legally dedicated to the preservation of biocentric values, ecological integrity, and biodiversity. These areas also play a crucial role as benchmarks against which management impacts can be measured or monitored on the rest of the landscape.

rare - an indigenous species of plant or animal that, because of its biological characteristics, or because it occurs at the fringe of its range, or for some other reasons, exists in low numbers or in very restricted areas but is not a threatened species.

riparian buffer - the area surrounding a natural watercourse. Harvesting and regeneration activities may be modified in these buffer areas to protect the watercourse.

richness - a component of biodiversity; the number of species present in an area.

ruderal - robust, sturdy or vigorous plants.

salvage cutting - the exploitation of trees that are dead, dying, or deteriorating (e.g. because overmature or materially damaged by fire, wind, insects, fungi, or other factors) before their timber becomes commercially worthless.

selection cut havesting method - a forest harvest method that is practiced by between 25%-33% of all private woodlot owners in New Brunswick and results in uneven-aged stands. The forest owner can select which trees have matured to a point where they have high value as sawlogs or veneer logs. Land owners employing this method also usually harvest fuelwood or pulpwood size trees or damaged trees which compete with the better trees for space, sunlight and nutrients. The remaining high quality parent trees are expected to produce healthy seedlings. Stands are usually revisited every 20-30 years and 40% of the volume is harvested.

senescing - aging

seral - acting as part of a successional sequence. For example, a forest still undergoing change following a disturbance.

shade intolerant - species of trees that are unable to tolerate low light or shaded forest conditions and require full sunlight. Typical shade intolerant species include White Birch, Poplar, and Black Spruce.

shade tolerant - a species of tree which has the capacity to become established and persist under the shade of a canopy.

shelterwood harvesting method - a variation of clearcut forest harvesting that has not been extensively used in New Brunswick. During a partial cut of a stand, the best trees are left standing to provide seed and protection for natural revegetation. The mature trees are removed once the young seedlings are established and an even-aged stand is the result. In using this method, the costs associated with replanting are avoided but special care is required during the initial and secondary harvests to avoid damaging any seedlings. The mature trees left exposed in a clearcut are also threatened with downfall from windthrow.
- 2 stage shelterwood cut - the removal of 30-40% of the volume of a stand primarily of the shorter lived species (Balsam Fir, Jack Pine, Poplar, White Birch, Red Maple). The trees to be left are generally Red Spruce, Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch, and White Pine, with the idea that these species will be promoted in the understory. After 10 to 15 years, once the regeneration is well established, the overstory is removed.
- 3 stage shelterwood cut - similar in idea to the 2 stage treatment but there is an additional intermediate harvest. All harvests are spaced 10 to 15 years apart.

silviculture - branch of forestry dealing with the cultivation and care of forests.

snags - dead or moribund trees that are still standing erect, as well as living trees with some degree of heart rot, especially where large branches have broken off the main stem.

stand - unit of vegetation that is essentially homogeneous in all layers and differs from adjacent types qualitatively and quantitatively.

subnivean - under the snow.

succession - the replacement of one plant community by another; often progresses to a stable terminal community called the climax.

sustainable development - a term which implies continuous production; a balance between present use and future ability to use.

two pass harvest - a harvesting system where harvesting of a forest stand is conducted in two stages. The first pass is made to remove overmature trees which are likely to die in the next 10 years. The second pass is made 10-15 years later to remove the remaining stand.

uneven aged management - maintaining stands in a condition where they contain at least three well defined age classes at all times.

viable population - a wildlife population of sufficient size and distribution to maintain its existence over time despite normal fluctuations in population levels.

witches broom - tufts of shoots or stems resulting from an infection by fungi or an infestation by insects.

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