Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39845271›Full record

ArticleLandscape ecology2025

Timber harvesting was the most important factor driving changes in vegetation composition, as compared to climate and fire regime shifts, in the mixedwood temperate forests of Temiscamingue since AD 1830.

Daniela Robles, Yan Boulanger, Jesus Pascual, Victor Danneyrolles, Yves Bergeron, Igor Drobyshev

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Landscape ecology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Daniela RoblesInstitut de recherche sur les forêts, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), 445 boul. de l'Universite, Rouyn-Noranda, QC J9X 5E4 Canada.
Yan BoulangerCentre de Foresterie Des Laurentides, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, 1055 rue du Peps, Quebec City, QC G1V 4C7 Canada.
Jesus PascualCentre de Foresterie Des Laurentides, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, 1055 rue du Peps, Quebec City, QC G1V 4C7 Canada.
Victor DanneyrollesInstitut de recherche sur les forêts, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), 445 boul. de l'Universite, Rouyn-Noranda, QC J9X 5E4 Canada.
Yves BergeronInstitut de recherche sur les forêts, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), 445 boul. de l'Universite, Rouyn-Noranda, QC J9X 5E4 Canada.
Igor DrobyshevSouthern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 190, 234 22 Lomma, Sweden.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Context: The vegetation composition of northeastern North American forests has significantly changed since pre-settlement times, with a marked reduction in conifer-dominated stands, taxonomic and functional diversity. These changes have been attributed to fire regime shifts, logging, and climate change. Methods: In this study, we disentangled the individual effects of these drivers on the forest composition in southwestern Quebec from 1830 to 2000 by conducting retrospective modelling using the LANDIS-II forest landscape model. The model was run based on pre-settlement forest composition and fire history reconstructions, historical timber harvest records, and climate reanalysis data. We compared counterfactual scenarios excluding individual factors to a baseline historical scenario. Results and Conclusions: Our results indicated that timber harvesting had the greatest impact on forest dynamics over the past centuries. In the absence of timber harvesting, pre-settlement species abundances were largely maintained, preserving key functional traits like fire and shade tolerance that contribute to ecosystem resilience. Increased fire activity during the settlement period contributed to the increase of early-successional aspen (Populus tremuloides), but timber harvesting played the dominant role. Fire exclusion had no influence on vegetation composition, suggesting mesophication unfolds over longer timescales than those captured in this study. Climate change, characterized by modest increases in temperature and precipitation, had a minor effect on vegetation shifts, as increased precipitation might have mitigated the adverse effects of rising temperatures. However, future climate change is projected to become a more significant driver of forest composition. These findings underscore the importance of forest restoration and continued research on past forest dynamics to better understand current and future changes. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-025-02043-x.

Indexed as

Climate changeFire regime shiftsForest disturbancesLANDIS-IILoggingMixedwood temperate forestsNortheastern North AmericaRetrospective modelingVegetation composition shifts

Identifiers

PMID39845271
PMCPMC11753300

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.