Brad Pinno

• University of Alberta

A commercial thinning and fertilization experiment using 2x6 factorial design was initiated in a 68-year-old lodgepole pine stand in Alberta. Commercial thinning to remove 50% basal area from below was combined with nitrogen fertilization at five levels (No fertilizer, 200 kg/ha N Urea +boron, 200 kg/ha N+blend, 400 kg/ha N+boron, 400 kg/ha N+blend...

The effect of thinning on stand structure and volume production is well studied. However, the effect of combinations of precommercial (PCT) and commercial thinning (CT) on the production of different log grades and differential growth responses is less understood, although it is crucial for forest managers to choose an optimal management regime. St...

Alberta’s forest industry is predicted to be impacted by a medium-term decline in timber supply. Intensive silviculture tools, such as pre-commercial thinning, have been shown to increase individual tree growth, shorten rotation lengths, and improve stand merchantability in important commercial species such as lodgepole pine. However, lodgepole pin...

The timber producing forest land-base in Alberta, Canada, is decreasing due to the increase in allocation of land to other uses such as agriculture, infrastructure, energy development and conservation areas, while the demand for forest products continues to increase. Tree improvement, first implemented in Alberta in 1975, is one strategy used for i...

Pre-commercial thinning in Alberta is a potential option for increasing the growth rate and shortening the rotation age of regenerating forests. Previous studies have focused on the evaluation of either the immediate- or long-term response to thinning after many decades. Our current study compares the pre-commercial thinning response in lodgepole p...

In this chapter we summarize key features of aspen mixedwood stands, their development following disturbance and current silvicultural approaches. We then discuss ecological silvicultural systems aimed at maintaining varying mixtures in space and time, maintaining structural heterogeneity, and accepting variability and uncertainty. We focus on use...

The positive effect of thinning on individual tree growth is well known, but the subsequent growth dynamics of individual trees over a rotation is relatively unknown, even though this is critical for interpreting actual thinning effects. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the thinning response of individual tree growth dynamics of lo...

We modelled the potential impact of intensification of plantation management and thinning, on timber supply of an ∼500 000 ha forest in Alberta, Canada over a 200-year planning horizon. Pre-commercial and commercial thinning were applied to a portion of the better sites, which allowed shortening of the time to merchantability and earlier harvest th...

Buried wood is an important yet understudied component of natural and anthropogenic soils. Nutrient immobilization as a response to wood addition during oil sands' reclamation may be a concern since surface wood is salvaged with the soil, thereby becoming buried wood in reclamation cover soils. This project investigated the impact of buried wood on...

We modelled how pre-commercial and commercial thinning affects development of merchantable timber, specifically large sawlogs (>20 cm diameter), on various site qualities and at different harvest ages. Data from juvenile permanent sample plots from post-harvest regenerated lodgepole pine stands in Alberta were projected using the Mixedwood Growth M...

Changing climates are altering the structural and functional components of forest ecosystems at an unprecedented rate. Simultaneously, we are seeing a diversification of public expectations on the broader sustainable use of forest resources beyond timber production. As a result, the science and art of silviculture needs to adapt to these changing r...

Buried wood is an important but understudied component of reclamation soils. We examined the impacts of buried wood amounts and species on the growth of the common reclamation tree species trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides). In a greenhouse study, aspen seedlings were planted into four soil types, upland derived fine forest floor-mineral mix (fF...

Intensive silviculture is practiced in many parts of the world but is rare in the public forests of western Canada. Here, we make the argument that intensive silviculture could be justified in Alberta but has not been implemented due to philosophies and policy decisions by foresters from government, industry and academia. These include adherence to...

The industrial wood supply from public lands is at risk in Alberta from natural disturbances and landbase withdrawals while simultaneously being asked to provide for an increasing timber harvest rate. While maintaining the timber landbase is critical, we believe that the only truly sustainable way of increasing wood supply is by growing more wood....

The majority of plant diversity in the boreal forest of northern Alberta, Canada is comprised of native understory plant species that are continuously facing competition from other species, including both undesirable native and weedy species. In oil sands mine reclamation, cover soils rich in organic matter are used to cap overburden materials. The...

Information on plant community assembly mechanisms is limited on forest reclamation sites after mining in the Canadian boreal forest. We assessed the change in plant community composition after Year 2 and Year 5 on species-rich forest floor mineral mix (FFMM) and species-poor peat mineral mix (PMM) reclamation soils by examining assembly mechanisms...

Oil sands surface mining and processing in Alberta generate large volumes of fluid tailings and process water high in salts and metals, which must be reclaimed. We investigated growth of four common plants (two native and two non-native) found in boreal oil sands reclamation sites as influenced by substrate type (tailings cake, and mixtures of cake...

Managing fluid fine tailings (FFT) present a major cause of industrial and environmental concerns in oil sands surface mining production. A potential management solution is to dewater and cap the FFT solids for use in land reclamation. A 16-week greenhouse study was conducted to assess whether FFT centrifuge cake with caps of various reclamation so...

Understory vegetation accounts for the most diverse part of the plant community in boreal forests and plays a critical role in stand dynamics and ecosystem functions. However, the ecological processes that drive understory species diversity are poorly understood and largely unexplored for reconstructed boreal ecosystems. The current study explored...

There is an expected decrease in the short to mid-term timber supply of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) in Alberta, Canada due to the impacts of past fires and the mountain pine beetle outbreak. Commercial thinning is a potential option for increasing mid-term sawlog timber supply by decreasing the time needed for individual trees to...

Soil stockpiles are essential to the reclamation of large‐ and small‐scale mining and other industrial sites. However, stockpiling soils can lead to the degradation of seed banks. This study examines the diversity, composition, depth of seed storage, and the relationships between the aboveground and seed bank plant communities in stockpiles and com...

Research Highlights: Black spruce (Picea mariana Mill.) and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) both regenerated vigorously after wildfire. However, pure semi-upland black spruce stands are at increasing risk of changing successional trajectories, due to greater aspen recruitment. Background and Objectives: Black spruce and aspen are found...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989419305803

Land reclamation in the Athabasca oil sands region requires construction of entire soil profiles from materials salvaged during mining. Although much attention has been paid to the limited supply of suitable topsoil materials and their impact on ecosystem recovery, suitable clean subsoil materials are also in limited supply, and their efficient and...

Understanding the effects of reclamation treatments on plant community development is an important step in setting realistic indicators and targets for reclamation of upland oil sands sites to forest ecosystems. We examine trends in cover, richness, evenness and community composition for four cover soil types (clay over overburden, clay over tailin...

We investigated the germination of 13 species commonly used in oil sands mining reclamation of boreal forest as influenced by substrate type (potting soil, tailings cake and mixtures of cake-sand, cake-peat and cake-forest floor mineral mix (FFMM)) and water quality (0, 50 and 100% oil sands process water). Germination responses clustered into thre...

Climate-sensitive height–age models were developed for top height trees of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) in natural and reclaimed oil sands stands. We used stem analysis data collected from the Athabasca oil sands region in northern Alberta, Canada, and...

Identifying the main drivers of tree height growth on reclaimed oil sands sites of northern Alberta can provide useful information on what can be done to shorten the recovery time of these disturbed sites. The effect of water availability, foliar nutrient concentrations, competition, and soil chemical properties on young trembling aspen and white s...

The Alberta Oil Sands Environmental Research Program (AOSERP), established in 1975, funded the creation of a soils inventory of the mineable Alberta oil sands, which was published as a set of eight soil map sheets with an accompanying report in 1982. These formed arguably the most comprehensive soils data set ever collected in the region and are of...

Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is an important early successional species in the boreal region that commonly regenerates via root suckering and, to a lesser extent, stump sprouting after aboveground disturbance such as harvesting or wildfire. However, the response of aspen to disturbance on reclaimed oil sands sites is not known. To d...

Core Ideas Stockpiling and organic matter admixing effects on reclamation soils were tested. Stockpiling effects were stronger on forest floor based reclamation soils. Organic matter admixing showed fertility and microbial benefits mostly in mineral sub‐soils. A faster microbial assimilation was achieved in soils admixed with forest floor organic m...

Ecological processes driving tree success in the early stages of succession are complex and often poorly understood, involving direct and indirect relationships among multiple agents modulated by legacies. Reclamation areas of open-pit mines provide a unique opportunity to study these relationships, as these sites are often homogeneous and have few...

Xeric jack pine forests in northern boreal ecosystems are becoming more vulnerable with the increasing fire frequencies in this region. Understory vegetation is the most diverse aboveground component of this seemingly homogeneous system consisting of only jack pine in the overstory. Understanding the relationship between understory vegetation, fire...

The majority of plant diversity in North American boreal forests is comprised of understory plant communities undergoing continuous interspecific competition. Anthropogenic activities, particularly surface mining, have introduced higher severity disturbances that not only remove vegetation, but also modify soil. During reclamation, soils used to ca...

Introduction: Following oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada, the main land management goal is to establish a functioning boreal forest ecosystem, including the understory plant community. One of the challenges with restoring the understory is the presence of non-native species that compete with desirable native species for resources. In a greenhous...

Species loss caused by anthropogenic disturbance threatens forest ecosystems globally. Until 50 years ago, the major sources of boreal forest disturbance in western Canada were a combination of forest wild fire events, pest insect outbreaks, and forest timber harvesting. However, in the 1960s, when the oil boom started in Alberta, oil and gas devel...

Soil stockpiling is a common reclamation practice used in oil sands mining in the boreal forest region of Canada to conserve soil resources; but stockpiling may have detrimental effects on soil quality and plant growth. We examined growth response of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), a fast-growing early successional tree, and green ald...

Quaking or trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is a foundational tree species, which is native, common, and broadly distributed in North America. The ecology of aspen has been extensively studied throughout its range, but both research and forest management practices have focused primarily on its ability to regenerate asexually via root su...

Key message Root systems of aspen seedlings display limited architectural plasticity in response to below-ground competition, but seedlings compensate for restricted rooting space and reduced root system size, by optimizing water uptake. Abstract Below-ground competition with grasses often plays a critical role during tree seedling establishment,...

Foliar nutrient concentrations are commonly recommended as indicator for soil nutrient status in managed and wildland ecosystems. Using data from an oil sands mine reclamation site in Alberta, Canada, we evaluated whether trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) foliar concentrations of macronutrients accurately represent soil solution and soil...

Coarse woody debris (CWD) is an important component of natural forests and is now being used in reclaiming oil sands land to control erosion, enhance diversity, and function as longer term storage of organic matter. However, the impact of woody debris on reclaimed ecosystems may vary depending on the amount applied and the soil it is applied to. We...

Understanding how reclamation practices influence plant community assembly and succession is an important step in developing realistic indicators and targets for reclamation of oil sands mine sites to upland forest ecosystems. We currently have a poor understanding of factors affecting plant community assembly and succession in reclaimed oil sands...

Spatial distribution of plants in early successional stands provides an indication of future plant community structure and population dynamics. Determining the factors driving plant interactions and their demographic relationships at stand initiation is critical to gain a better understanding of plants’ responses to competition and limited resource...

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of different soil covers used to reclaim decommissioned oil sands mining sites on the genetic diversity of aspen and their associated belowground microbiota. Aspen genotyping showed that trees mostly originated from sexual reproduction on sites reclaimed with soil covers made of upland fores...

Low-impact seismic (LIS) techniques were developed to reduce the environmental footprint of oil exploration. Though relatively narrow (∼2–3 m) and constructed with light-weight equipment, these lines cause forest fragmentation, and with their high density and potential edge influence extending into adjacent forest, their impact may be considerably...

Restricted rooting space in response to soil compaction and belowground competition with herbaceous plants are two main limiting factors for successful reforestation after surface mining. Fine-textured, nutrient-rich soils with adequate soil moisture are particularly susceptible to both of these concerns and while there are recognized ways to manag...

Comparing functional similarity in reconstructed ecosystems with natural benchmarks can provide ecologically meaningful information to measure reclamation success. We examined nutrient supply rate using ion-exchange resins as a measure of ecosystem function in two oil sands reclaimed soils, viz. peat mineral mix(PMM) and forest floor mineral mix(FF...

The goal of land reclamation after oil sands mining in the boreal forest of northern Alberta, Canada is to re-establish functioning forest ecosystems, including the development of a natural plant community. Reclamation practices include the use of operational reclamation soils derived from upland forest soils (referred to as forest floor-mineral mi...

Tree seedlings loaded with nutrients during nursery production have shown increased growth and survival relative to standard seedlings upon outplanting. We examined outplanting performance of nutrient loaded and standard trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) seedlings, along with composition and cover of competing vegetation, on a boreal oil sands...

Fire is the most common disturbance in northern boreal forests, and large fires are often associated with highly variable burn severities across the burnt area. We studied the understory plant community response to a range of burn severities and pre-fire stand age four growing seasons after the 2011 Richardson Fire in xeric jack pine forests of nor...

Much of Canada’s natural resource development (i.e., forestry, oil and gas, and mining activities) occurs in the boreal forest. These industrial activities lead to extensive and intensive land disturbances and complex ecological impacts. Mitigation of impacts requires science-based integrated resource management based on a thorough understanding of...

Forest development after land reclamation in the oil sands mining region of northern Alberta, Canada was assessed using long-term monitoring plots from both reclaimed and natural forests. The metrics of ecosystem development analyzed included measures of plant community structure and composition and soil nutrient availability. Early seral reclamati...

Actively facilitating the natural establishment of trees on reclamation sites is seen as an important step in ecosystem recovery after oil sands mining. We examined the effect of different reclamation prescriptions, including two soil types (peat-mineral mix and forest foor-mineral mix) and two fertilizer levels (200 kg N ha-1 and no fertilizer), o...

Boreal forests in northern Alberta have a growing anthropogenic footprint due to a rapidly growing oil sands mining industry. Although land reclamation is a necessary aspect of responsible industrial development, these activities nearly always affect higher order landscape components such as the broader landform, and its hydrology and biogeochemist...

Quaking or trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) forests occur in highly diverse settings across North America. However, management of distinct communities has long relied on a single aspen-to-conifer successional model. We examine a variety of aspen-dominated stand types in the western portion of its range as ecological systems, avoiding an...

There is abundant evidence from short-term experiments using herbs that nutrients can be translocated from mother ramets to daughter ramets, but there is little long-term evidence from woody plants. Here, we examine translocation in field populations of a clonal tree over two growing seasons. We applied 15N to mothers or daughters in clones of Popu...

Grassland root responses to mowing and fertility are less well-known than shoot responses, even though as much as 90% of productivity in semiarid grasslands occurs belowground. Thus, understanding root responses may aid the management of invasive grassland species such as Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaerth (crested wheatgrass). We asked whether root r...

Forest land reclamation after oil sands mining requires the re-establishment of self-sustaining boreal forest ecosystems consisting of native forest plant species. This greenhouse study examined germination, growth, and nutrient uptake of fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub), a circumpolar species common to the boreal forest. Fireweed was...

Nutrient loading of nursery seedling stock of species with an indeterminate growth strategy is challenging and poorly understood. Here, we explore the use of two potential techniques for nutrient loading of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) seedlings: (1) exponential fertilization and (2) early shoot growth termination in order to divert...

Background/Question/Methods Grassland root responses to grazing and fertility are poorly known relative to shoot responses. Roots are important because 90% of net primary productivity in semi-arid grasslands occurs belowground. Further, understanding roots may aid the management of invasive grassland species such as Agropyron cristatum,if belowgr...

Soil resource heterogeneity has clear effects on plant root development and overall plant performance. Here we test whether contrasting vegetation types have similar or different responses to soil patches of differing resource availability. We examined the fine root responses of grassland and forest vegetation at the northern edge of the Great Plai...

Invasive plants are often regarded as drivers that actively reduce diversity and alter ecosystem processes such as succession. Alternatively, invaders may be passengers that simply colonize openings produced by anthropogenic disturbance and are present only temporarily. Here we test whether the behaviour of invasive species as drivers or passengers...

Fertilization of conifers often results in highly variable growth responses across sites which are difficult to predict. The goal of this study was to predict the growth response of lodgepole pine ( Pinus contorta var. latifolia ) crop trees to thinning and fertilization using basic site and foliar characteristics. Fifteen harvest-origin stands alo...

Increasingly, trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is being planted in stressful situations such as forest land reclamation, afforestation and forest restoration in North America. This is due to its fast potential for growth and high resiliency, but its indeterminate growth strategy provides a special challenge in creating suitable planting...

Pinno, B.D., Landhausser, S.M., MacKenzie, M.D., Quideau, S.A. and Chow, P.S. 2012. Trembling aspen seedling establishment, growth and response to fertilization on contrasting soils used in oil sands reclamation. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 143-151. Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) is an important tree species for land reclamation. This study determ...

L'empiétement des prairies par les arbres est un phénomène répandu au niveau mondial, mais les conséquences de ce phénomène en termes de quantité de carbone emmagasiné dans les écosystèmes, particulièrement du côté souterrain, ne sont pas claires. Nous avons évalué la quantité totale de carbone de trois principaux écosystèmes de communautés végétal...

The productivity of trembling aspen, as expressed by site quality index (SQI), in natural stands growing on three different soil parent material types (fluvial, lacustrine and glacial till) in the boreal transition ecoregion of Saskatchewan was evaluated by using soil and site variables. The soil and site variables used were either general categori...

• Fine root responses to potential climate change are relatively unknown in spite of their central role in ecosystem functioning. • We quantified fine root length, production, and turnover in boreal forest and aspen parkland of central Canada because the future climate of the boreal site is expected to be similar to the current climate of the parkl...

Site productivity of the hybrid poplar clone Brooks6 was predicted using soil and site information from 6, 4-year-old plantations in north-east Alberta. Predictions were made at both the local and microsite scales. Percent sand (R 2 = 0.352, P = 0.001) was the best single predictor of hybrid poplar productivity, showing a curved relationship. Soil...

The response of hybrid poplar plantations established on former agricultural land in Saskatchewan to competition from weeds on a range of site productivities was studied. The short-term impact of competition control on the growth of juvenile trees and how tree responses to competition control differed across the productivity gradient was of particu...

Site quality index (SQI) of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx) in the Boreal Shield of Quebec was predicted using two sources of information: (1) mappable permanent site variables derived from permanent sampling plots and other sources and (2) measured soil and site properties including both biological and permanent site variables. General...

Boreal forest soils have the potential to sequester large amounts of carbon by accumulating charcoal from fire. Some suggest that sequestration rates could be large enough to account for some of the missing sink in the global CO2 budget, but further data on soil charcoal pools are necessary to adequately develop boreal carbon budgets under a changi...

A field study was conducted to assess the long-term effects of growing trees on ecosystem and soil carbon (C) pools in a pasture landscape situated in the Boreal Transition ecozone of Saskatchewan that is characterized by Black Chernozemic soils. Tree species consisted of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) and Siberian larch (Larix sibirica...

This study examines light competition between aspen and spruce during the sequence of aspen development. Leaf area index and light transmission were measured or estimated for aspen stands from 2 to 125 years old. Light transmission was lowest at 15-25 years, and in some stands, transmission was less than 5% of above-canopy light. Hypothetical aspen...

Crown dimensions, crown leaf areas, and leaf area densities were determined on individual trees in 96 juve- nile Populus tremuloides Michx. stands in central Alberta, Canada. Crown radius, height, leaf area, and leaf area den - sity were well explained by stem diameter at 30 cm (D30). Leaf area index, estimated using the LAI-2000, reached a maximum...

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2000. Includes bibliographical references.