Opportunities and limitations of thinning to increase resistance and resilience of trees and forests to global change
We reviewed recent literature to identify the positive and negative effects of thinning on both stand- and tree-level resistance and resilience to four stressors that are expected to increase in frequency and/or severity due to global change: (1) drought, (2) fire, (3) insects and pathogens, and (4) wind. While our review suggests that thinning should not be promoted as a tool that will universally increase the resistance and resilience of forests, current evidence suggests that thinning could still be an effective tool to reduce forest vulnerability to several stressors, creating a window of opportunity to implement longer term adaptive management strategies such as assisted migration. We highlight knowledge gaps that should be targeted by future research to assess the potential contribution of thinning to adaptive forest management.
Authors
- Guillaume Moreau
- Alexis Achim
- John Caspersen
- Catherine Chagnon
- Loïc D’Orangeville
- Martina Sánchez-Pinillos
- Nelson Thiffault
Organizations
- Natural Resources Canada
- Université Laval
- University of New Brunswick
- University of Toronto