Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.5
2.9
Journals
Forests
Special Issues
Ecological Impacts of Industrial Disturbances in Boreal Forest Ecosystems and...
share announcement

Special Issue "Ecological Impacts of Industrial Disturbances in Boreal Forest Ecosystems and Approaches to Their Restoration"

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 29 February 2024 | Viewed by 1072

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jaime Pinzon

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, Edmonton, AB T6H 3S5, Canada
Interests: biodiversity; arachnology; land restoration; forest management; disturbance ecology
Dr. Anna Dabros

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Natural Resources Canada—Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Center, Edmonton, AB T6H 3S5, Canada
Interests: plant ecology; forest ecology; disturbance ecology; linear features; land restoration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Industrial disturbances resulting from the extractive activities of natural resources leave a substantial footprint in Boreal ecosystems, resulting in significant contributions to forest fragmentation and influencing various negative ecological features. The footprint in many of these affected areas is long-lasting and the natural recovery of forest cover is minimal even decades after the disturbance. Human intervention has become a common practice when aiming to restore ecological function on disturbed land efficiently and effectively. Many knowledge gaps remain regarding the impacts of industrial disturbances on ecosystem function and the outcomes of restoration efforts aiming to mitigate this footprint.

We invite authors to submit manuscripts to this Special Issue in order to compile an overview of recent advances in the field of land restoration with the objective of summarizing the current state of knowledge on environmental impacts following different industrial disturbances and providing guidance for restoration practitioners. This Special Issue especially welcomes contributions that describe ecological responses to disturbances and restoration approaches in diverse areas, including (but not limited to) biodiversity, forest structure and composition, natural and assisted regeneration, carbon dynamics, hydrology, soil properties, single species management, and remote sensing.

Dr. Jaime Pinzon
Dr. Anna Dabros
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • land restoration
  • forest management
  • ecosystem services
  • boreal forest
  • disturbance
  • adaptive management
  • mitigation of industrial footprints

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

get_app
Article
Examining Drivers of Post-Fire Seismic Line Ecotone Regeneration in a Boreal Peatland Environment
by
Humaira Enayetullah
,
Laura Chasmer
,
Chris Hopkinson
,
Daniel Thompson
and
Danielle Cobbaert
Forests 2023, 14(10), 1979; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14101979 - 29 Sep 2023
Viewed by 172
Abstract
Seismic lines are the dominant anthropogenic disturbance in the boreal forest of the Canadian province of Alberta, fragmenting over 1900 km2 of peatland areas and accounting for more than 80% of all anthropogenic disturbance in this region. The goal of this study [...] Read more.
Seismic lines are the dominant anthropogenic disturbance in the boreal forest of the Canadian province of Alberta, fragmenting over 1900 km2 of peatland areas and accounting for more than 80% of all anthropogenic disturbance in this region. The goal of this study is to determine whether the wildland fires that burn across seismic lines in peatlands result in the regeneration of woody vegetation within the ecotonal areas adjacent to seismic lines. We use a combination of seismic line and vegetation structural characteristics derived from multi-spectral airborne lidar across a post-fire peatland chronosequence. We found an increasing encroachment of shrubs and trees into seismic lines after many years since a fire, especially in fens, relative to unburned peatlands. Fens typically had shorter woody vegetation regeneration (average = 3.3 m ± 0.9 m, standard deviation) adjacent to seismic lines compared to bogs (average = 3.8 m ± 1.0 m, standard deviation), despite enhanced shrubification closer to seismic lines. The incoming solar radiation and seismic line age since the establishment of seismic line(s) were the factors most strongly correlated with enhanced shrubification, suggesting that the increased light and time since a disturbance are driving these vegetation changes. Shrub encroachment closer to seismic lines tends to occur within fens, indicating that these may be more sensitive to drying conditions and vegetation regeneration after several years post-fire/post-seismic line disturbance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecological Impacts of Industrial Disturbances in Boreal Forest Ecosystems and Approaches to Their Restoration)
get_app
Article
The Influence of Seismic Lines on Wildfire Potential in the Boreal Region of Northern Alberta, Canada
by
Lelia Weiland
,
Tori Green-Harrison
and
Scott Ketcheson
Forests 2023, 14(8), 1574; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14081574 - 01 Aug 2023
Viewed by 627
Abstract
Seismic lines are cleared corridors for the location mapping of subsurface bitumen. After use, the lines can be left to regenerate naturally with varying success. Wildfires, another prominent disturbance in the Boreal region, are propagated by continuous fuel distribution (coarse/fine), meteorological variables (e.g., [...] Read more.
Seismic lines are cleared corridors for the location mapping of subsurface bitumen. After use, the lines can be left to regenerate naturally with varying success. Wildfires, another prominent disturbance in the Boreal region, are propagated by continuous fuel distribution (coarse/fine), meteorological variables (e.g., wind speed, temperature, and precipitation), and the moisture content of the fuel and soil. However, little is known about seismic lines and the potential risk and severity of wildfires. This work presents a case study of wildfire variables on two paired (seismic line and adjacent natural area) sites near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Wind speed was increased on seismic lines, and the dominant wind direction changed. Higher precipitation, air temperature, and soil moisture and reduced water table depths were observed on seismic lines. Coarse fuel distribution was not continuous on seismic lines; however, fine fuels were. Although the Fire Weather Index (FWI) indicated an enhanced wildfire potential on one line (NS orientation), peat smouldering and ignition models (Hcomb/Hign) showed increased smouldering potential on both seismic lines compared to adjacent natural areas. Future work should focus on expanding the diversity of seismic line characterization, working towards the landscape-scale modelling of these variables. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecological Impacts of Industrial Disturbances in Boreal Forest Ecosystems and Approaches to Their Restoration)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review. 

1.Transplanting hummocks to restore linear features in forested peatlands: comparing operational efficiency and ecological efficacy of method and implementation season.
Back to TopTop