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Drafting
– Forest Ecosystem Classification for Nova Scotia (2022): Field Guide
Peter Neily et al., Forestry and Wildlife Branch of NS Dep Natural Resources and Renewables. In the description for each of the 122 Forest Vegetation Types, there is a section on “Successional Dynamics”. An earlier version of this work provides more of an overview of the successional processes
– H6 INTRODUCTION TO FORESTS
pp 480-502 in Natural History of Nova Scotia, Volume I, 2013. Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History. “The classification of the forest habitats in the Natural History of Nova Scotia reflects the relative dominanance of hardwoods (deciduous trees) and softwoods (coniferous trees). The descriptions of these habitats are further divided into tree-species associations that reflect combinations of the dominant forest-stand types in Nova Scotia.
Hardwood-forest Habitat (H6.1)
1. Red Maple, Red Oak, White Birch
2. Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch, American Beech
3. Sugar Maple, American Elm
Softwood-forest Habitat (H6.2)
1. White Spruce 5. Black Spruce, Larch
2. Spruce, Fir, Pine 6. Spruce, Hemlock, Pine
3. Pine 7. Balsam Fir
4. Spruce, Fir
Mixedwood-forest Habitat (H6.3)
1. Spruce, Fir, Pine–Maple, Birch
2. Spruce, Fir–Maple
3. White Spruce, Fir–Maple, Birch (Coastal)”
Successional sequences are described for each of 10 tree-species associations listed above.
– Drivers of change in the temperate-boreal refugium of Cape Breton Highlands National Park
Hannah Kosick, 2023. MSc thesis, Dept. Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Borealization of the New England – Acadian Forest: a review of the evidence
Noseworthy, Joshua & Beckley, Thomas Environmental Reviews, Accepted for Publication 2020 ABSTRACT
The New England-Acadian Forest (NEAF) is an ecoregion spanning 24 million hectares of the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada. The region is characterized as a transitional forest naturally composed of both boreal and temperate species. The term “borealization” is sometimes used to describe various processes driving the NEAF toward a more boreal character at the expense of its temperate forest species and ecological communities. That the NEAF has undergone significant landscape-scale change in the last four centuries since European settlement is well understood. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the literature on the forest composition and dynamics of this region to investigate whether past, current, and/or predicted future processes of change are indeed driving the forest toward a more boreal character. We examine studies on the historical forest composition, impacts of past and current land-use practices, as well as indirect anthropogenic changes that are predicted to influence future forest compositions of the NEAF. We review over 100 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and government reports related to this issue. We find ample evidence to suggest that, at the landscape scale, there has been widespread replacement of temperate tree species by boreal species since European settlement. Five primary drivers have facilitated borealization across the NEAF: logging and high-grading, natural reforestation of abandoned farmland, industrial clearcutting, anthropogenic fire, and boreal conifer plantations. Furthermore, the borealization of the NEAF has continued to occur in direct contrast to the predicted impacts of climate change. We encourage future scholarship to tackle these aspects of borealization in the NEAF, including its social, economic, and ecological implications.