FRI-days Brown Bag Lunch Speaker Series
November 20th, 2009 "Preparing for the Attack: Effects of simulated Mountain Pine Beetle on hydrology and vegetation of lodgepole pine forest in west-central Alberta."
On Friday November 20th, 2009 three researchers from the Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta gave the audience a very informative presentation- Dr. Uldis Silins, Professor of Forest Hydrology; Anne MacIntosh, Ph.D. candidate in Forest Ecology and Pablo Pina, Ph.D. candidate in Forest Hyrology.
We learnt about a project in the Mountain Pine Beetle Ecology Program at Foothills aimed at developing a better understanding of 1) how MPB attack impacts the hydrology of Lodgepole Pine forests in the short-term, and 2) how surviving post-attack overstory and understory vegetation governing hydrologic recovery is likely to respond to variable intensity MPB attack.
The study simulates a MPB attack using individual tree herbicide application to simulate variable intensity MPB attack at the stand scale using a before-after; treatment-control study design. The research is being conducted in mature (110 yr. old), pure Lodgepole pine stands near Robb, AB. Twelve large replicated stand-scale plots ( 1.3 to 2.2 ha) will be used to produce 2 levels of simulated MPB attack (50% & 100%), and these will be compared to hydrologic & vegetation responses in small clear cuts, and untreated control stands. The study is scheduled to run until 2012.
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