Rapid Arctic warming is driving significant changes in boreal vegetation phenology and productivity. The potentially asynchronous response of these processes could substantially alter the relative impacts of phenological shifts on variations in gross...
Partial harvesting has been proposed as a key aspect to implementing ecosystem management in the Canadian boreal forest. We report on a replicated experiment located in boreal mixedwoods of Northwestern Quebec. In the winter of 2000–2001, two partial...
Carbohydrate-rich extrafloral nectar (EFN) is produced in nectaries on the leaves, stipules, and stems of plants and provides a significant energy source for ants and other plant mutualists outside of the flowering period. Our review of literature on...
Aboveground biomass (AGB) of short-stature shrubs and trees contain a substantial part of the total carbon pool within boreal ecosystems. These ecosystems, however, are changing rapidly due to climate-mediated atmospheric changes, with overall observ...
The Red List of Ecosystems, proposed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature can determine the status of ecosystems for biodiversity conservation. In this study, we applied the Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria 2.0 with its...
Permafrost formation and degradation creates a highly patchy mosaic of boreal peatland ecosystems in Alaska driven by climate, fire, and ecological changes. To assess the biophysical factors affecting permafrost dynamics, we monitored permafrost and...
Forest harvesting and fire are major disturbances in boreal forests. Forest harvesting has modified stand successional pathways, which has led to compositional changes from the original conifer-dominated forests to predominantly mixed and hardwood fo...
This research reviews the phenomenon of extractive deforestation as a possible trigger for cascade reactions that could affect part of the forest ecosystem and its biodiversity (surface, aerial, and underground) in tropical, subtropical, and boreal f...
The following review is the second part of a two part series on the use of remotely sensed data for quantifying wetland extent and inferring or measuring condition for monitoring drivers of change on wetland environments. In the first part, we introd...
Changes in the light availability in forests generated by diversified retention patterns (e.g., clear cut, partial harvest) have been shown to strongly filter the plant species present. Modified soil microsite conditions due to post-harvest site prep...
Forest ecosystems in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere are significantly affected by frequent extreme weather events. How different forest ecosystems respond to these changes is a major challenge. This study aims to assess differences in t...
Research Highlights: Windthrow can interfere significantly with ecosystem management practices. In some cases, their goal could still be reached but this may prove more complex in other cases, like the partial cutting of old-growth stands. In situati...
An important top-down predator, the northern pike (Esox lucius), faces harsh environmental conditions in the northern boreal ecoregion. They are often managed for recreational fishing and, more recently, to create environmental offsets; strategies ai...
We investigated how recent-generation (CMIP5) global climate model projections affect the volume growth, carbon stock, timber yield and its profitability in managed Scots pine, Norway spruce and Silver birch stands on medium fertile upland sites unde...
Silvicultural site preparation methods are used as planned disturbances for counteracting soil and vegetation constraints, as well as facilitating successful tree regeneration and growth. Understanding the possible effects of silvicultural site prepa...
Vegetation plays a vital role in the global carbon cycle, a function of particular significance in regulating carbon dioxide fluxes within tropical ecosystems. Therefore, it is crucial to enhance the precision of carbon dioxide flux estimates for tro...
Ongoing climate change has intensified fire disturbances in boreal forests globally, posing significant risks to forest ecosystem structure and function, with the potential to trigger major regime shifts. Understanding how environmental factors regul...
The global climate crisis forces mankind to develop carbon storage technologies. “Ladoga” carbon monitoring site is part of the Russian climate project “Carbon Supersites”, which aims to develop methods and technologies to con...
Accurately estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) is essential for assessing the ecological functions of coastal wetlands, and AGB of coastal wetlands is affected by Land use/land cover (LULC) types of conversion. To address this issue, in the current...
Accurate quantification of evapotranspiration (ET) is crucial for surface water resources and best agricultural management practices in watersheds. The aim of this study was to better understand ET changes caused by the rapid expansion of C4 (corn) c...
Wetlands have and continue to undergo rapid environmental and anthropogenic modification and change to their extent, condition, and therefore, ecosystem services. In this first part of a two-part review, we provide decision-makers with an overview on...
Precipitation plays a dominant role in regulating terrestrial carbon fluxes. In concert with global warming, aridity has been increasing during recent decades in most parts of the world. How global terrestrial carbon fluxes respond to this change, ho...
Research Highlights: To inform eco-designers in green building conception, we propose a conceptual model for the assessment of the impact of using wood on the quality of ecosystems. Background and Objectives: The proposed model allows the assessment...
A warming climate influences boreal forest productivity, dynamics, and disturbance regimes. We used ecosystem models and 250 m satellite Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data averaged over the growing season (GSN) to model current, and e...
The accumulation of trace metals in the shells of bivalves allows quantitative assessments of environmental pollution and helps to reconstruct paleo aquatic environments. However, the understanding on how marine and freshwater mollusks control the le...
Both topography and wildfire can exert significant influences on ecosystem processes and functions during boreal forest successions. However, their impacts on ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) remain unclear. A mega-fire burned an area of 8700 hecta...
Water-regulating ecosystem services (ESs) are a key factor in water supply for the population and the economy. In recent years, these ESs have been intensively included in regional and global assessments. However, the degree of knowledge of various w...
Fire disturbance can affect the function of the boreal forest ecosystem through litter decomposition and nutrient element return. In this study, we selected the Larix gmelinii forest, a typical forest ecosystem in boreal China, to explore the effect...
Permanent grasslands cover more than a third of European agricultural land and are important for a number of ecosystem services. Permanent grasslands used for agriculture are broadly separated into agriculturally improved and semi-natural grasslands....
Species distribution modeling is used in applied ecology; for example in predicting the consequences of global change. However, questions still remain about the robustness of model predictions. Here we estimate effects of landscape spatial configurat...
Upland forest ecosystems are recognized as net sinks for atmospheric methane (CH4), one of the most impactful greenhouse gases. Biological methane uptake in these ecosystems occurs due to the activity of aerobic methanotrophic bacteria. Russia hosts...
Native wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations are expanding across Europe. This is cause for concern in some areas where overabundant populations impact natural ecosystems and adjacent agronomic systems. To better manage the potential for impacts, manage...
The hypothesis of an increase in free energy (exergy) by ecosystems during evolution is tested on direct measurements. As a measuring system of thermodynamic parameters (exergy, information, entropy), a series of measurements of reflected solar radia...
The forest sector can help reduce atmospheric CO2 through carbon (C) sequestration and storage and wood substitution of more polluting materials. However, climate change can have an impact on the C fluxes we are trying to leverage through forestry. W...
Small aquatic ecosystems of the boreal zone are known to be most sensitive indicators of on-going environmental change as well as local anthropogenic pressure, while being highly vulnerable to external impacts. Compared to rather detailed knowledge o...
Tree crown diameter (CD) values, relating to the rate of material exchange between the forest and the atmosphere, can be used to evaluate forest biomass and carbon stock. To map tree CD values using meter-level optical remote sensing images, we propo...
Fire is the main disturbance in North American coniferous boreal forests. In Northern Quebec, Canada, where forest management is not allowed, the landscape is gradually constituted of more opened lichen woodlands. Those forests are discontinuous and...
Vegetation indices derived from remote sensing measurements are commonly used to describe and monitor vegetation. However, the same plant community can have a different NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) depending on weather conditions, an...
The soil microbiome plays major roles in the below-ground processes and productivity of forest ecosystems. Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is predicted to increase globally and might create disturbances in soil microbial communities, essentially...
The composition of soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important soil quality indicator. We investigated the effect of site-specific soil-forming factors on plant debris and SOC properties along a soil catena with Retisols and Stagnosols in a mixed conif...
On examples of n × 100 m2 permanent plots laid in 2005 on peatlands disturbed by quarrying and milling peat extraction in Meshchera National Park (central European Russia), changes in vegetation cover and environmental factors during self-reveg...
The state of meadow vegetation in areas with different ages of experimental spring burnout (from 1 to 12 years ago) was studied in the Tomsk region for 3 years. On experimental plots of 1 m2 and 100 m2 (small- and middle-scale levels, respectively),...
Soil respiration (Rs) is a significant contributor to the global carbon cycle, with its two main sources—microbial (heterotrophic, Rh) and plant root (autotrophic, Ra) respiration—being sensitive to various environmental factors. This stu...
Research Highlights: This research provides an application of a model assessing the naturalness of the forest ecosystem to demonstrate its capacity to assess either the deterioration or the rehabilitation of the ecosystem through different forest man...
In this review and synthesis paper, we review the resilience of secondary forests to climate change through the lenses of ecosystem legacies and landscape diversity. Ecosystem legacy of secondary forests was categorized as continuous forest, non-cont...
Wetlands are important globally for supplying clean water and unique habitat, and for storing vast amounts of carbon and nutrients. The geographic extent and state of wetlands vary over time and represent a dynamic land condition rather than a perman...
Responding to a growing concern about impacts from anthropogenic activity on several dozen lakes, a group of citizens initiated and led a water quality sampling program that included characterizing groundwater dependence. The small lakes are located...
Boreal forests provide important ecosystem services, most notably being the mitigation of increasing atmospheric CO2 emissions. Microbial biodiversity, particularly the local diversity of fungi, has been shown to promote multiple functions of the bor...
Recent Arctic warming has led to changes in the hydrological cycle. Circum-Arctic and circumboreal ecosystems are showing evidence of “greening” and “browning” due to temperature warming leading to shrub encroachment, tree mor...
Wildfires release the greatest amount of carbon into the atmosphere compared to other forest disturbances. To understand how current and potential future fire regimes may affect the role of the Eurasian boreal forest in the global carbon cycle, we em...
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