Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is declining across its range due to disturbances such as mountain pine beetle and white pine blister rust. In this thesis, I assess the response and vulnerability of whitebark pine ecosystems to multiple stressors and disturbances at the northern edge of P.albicaulis range in the Coastal Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Both the compositional change over time of overstory and understory communities as well as vegetation spatial patterns suggest that different sites or ecosystem types housing whitebark pine may differ in their response to disturbance and stress. Surveys conducted ~ 20 years apart indicate that overstory community change differed between site types following the decline of P. albicaulis over time, while the understory did not change significantly. The spatial pattern of overstory species and understory communities also indicates that site type may be important in determining forest change under ongoing disturbance to whitebark pine. / Forest Biology and Management
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/1569 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Clason, Alana |
| Contributors | Macdonald, Ellen (Renewable Resources), Haeussler, Sybille (Ecosystem Science and Management Program, University of Northern British Columbia), Hamann, Andreas (Renewable Resources), Hik, David (Biological Sciences) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 10077854 bytes, application/pdf |
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