In Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba the SMARTFORESTS Canada project supported instrumentation of 10 WESBOGY (Western Boreal Growth and Yield Project Team) LTS (Long-Term Study) installations and three related "Banding" study installations to provide climate and microclimate data to support testing of ClimateNA and other models, and to evaluate effects of thinning and other treatments on microclimate and soil moisture.
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Forest biome type
Boreal Forest
Forest species
Trembling aspen and white spruce
Intruments available
PAR, air temperature, RH, soil temperature, soil moisture (VWC)
The WESBOGY LTS was initiated in 1990 in response to an identified need for quantitative information on the effects of aspen density on spruce and aspen growth (Bokalo et al. 2007, Comeau 2020). The LTS involved planting white spruce seedlings in recently clearcut areas where aspen regeneration was establishing. Spruce and aspen were thinned to desired treatment densities at age 5. The Long-Term Study currently includes a total of 615 plots with 20 installations established and maintained by 11 agencies in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories. Each installation consists of two replications of 15 treatments (Table 1). Measurement plots are 20 m × 20 m (0.04 ha) with a 5- to 10- meter-wide treated buffer on each side of the measurement plot.
Specifications
Location: Various sites
Province: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories.
Table 1. Treatment numbers associated with each of the 15 spruce and aspen density combinations created in the WESBOGY Long Term Study. Shaded cells indicate the treatments that were instrumented as part of SMARTFORESTS Canada.