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WESBOGY Long-Term Study of aspen thinning effects

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

  • keyboard-arrow-right Location: Various sites
  • keyboard-arrow-right Province: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories.
  • keyboard-arrow-right Owner: University of Alberta
  • keyboard-arrow-right Contact person: Phil Comeau

 

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.

 

 

Aspen Density (sph)

 

0

200

500

1500

4000

Natural (unthinned)

Spruce Density  (sph)

1000

1

2

3

4

5

6

500

7

8

9

10

11

12

0

x

x

x

13

14

15

 

WESBOGY Long-Term Study of aspen thinning effects

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