Boreal ecosystem changes due to permafrost thaw across the discontinuous to sporadic permafrost zone

This PhD thesis developed a framework to model, quantify, and improve understanding of spatially explicit changes in short-to-tall-stature vegetation structure in the southern Taiga of northwestern Canada. This region is still changing due to the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet since the last glacial maximum (~22.1 cal ka BP). In addition, climate change has caused rapid ecosystem changes, for example due to permafrost thaw, with implications to carbon sink strength and wildland fire susceptibility, amongst others. Regional allometric equations for shrubs and short-stature trees were developed to estimate aboveground biomass (AGB) and live aboveground plant carbon stocks using 1D, 2D, and 3D field measurements. Spatially coincident bi-temporal airborne lidar data were used to develop a single AGB model applicable across changing relationships between lidar point clouds and AGB magnitudes as ecosystems change form, ecosystem boundaries expand and recede, and airborne lidar technologies evolve. By fusing field data with bi-temporal airborne lidar data, the study quantified and analyzed changes in vegetation structure and aboveground plant carbon stocks. By employing geospatial statistical analysis and machine learning the underlying important drivers of these changes were identified. Key findings of this thesis were the following: (1) the developed framework has improved understanding of the magnitudes and directions of short-to-tall-stature vegetation structural changes over the past decade (2010 to 2019); (2) increases in the growth and abundance of short-stature vegetation were substantial across the study region and need to be integrated into carbon accounting frameworks with extension to unmanaged forest and peatland ecosystems. Overall, the established framework could aid in the modelling of wildland fire fuel dynamics and fire behavior also in peatlands, which could reduce community risk to fire in this region.

Authors

• Flade, Linda
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

• climate change
• taiga
• airborne lidar
• allometric equations
• aboveground biomass
• carbon
• vegetation structure
• remote sensing
• 3-dimensional
• upland forests
• permafrost plateaus
• bogs
• fens
• ecotones
• vegetation mensuration
• shrubbification
• tree mortality
• baseline
• change detection
• carbon accounting
• fuels

Identifier

hdl:10133/6975

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/6975