Catherine Chagnon

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• Master of Science (Biology)
• Research Associate at Université Laval

As the pressure on forest ecosystems increases with the occurrence of more severe and frequent natural disturbances , the need for silvicultural treatments to mitigate multiple risks is becoming increasingly apparent. Thinning has been identified as a means of managing stands to enhance resilience and resistance to disturbances. However, the underl...

Increasing the productivity of planted forests may efficiently provide an important part of the world’s growing demand for wood while protecting natural forests. In this study, we developed an integrated modelling framework to evaluate the financial impacts of improving productivity of planted forests by tree breeding. Using this framework, we comp...

Black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marsh.) is an important species for the W8banaki Nation, which uses its wood for traditional basketry. This study aimed to identify the wood properties required for black ash splints used in basketry. Eleven logs were selected and pounded into 26 longitudinal groups of annual wood layers, which were then transformed into s...

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh) is a key species in the northern hardwood forests of North America and management has historically focused on promoting its regeneration and yielding high-quality timber. A decrease in the abundance of sugar maple to the advantage of American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) has been observed over the last decades....

In northern hardwood forests, tree markers select the trees to be harvested during logging operations using classification systems that assign harvest priorities based on the presence of a wide range of individual defects. According to the most recent advances in our understanding of the impact of defects on both tree vigour (the risk of mortality...

Boreal forests are experiencing severe climatic changes that vary widely across the broad geographic distribution of the biome. The changes are greatest near the subarctic treeline where trees often exhibit high climatic sensitivity because climatic conditions approach the limits of their physiological tolerance. Despite the importance of subarctic...

Boreal forests are experiencing climate change more rapidly than other biomes, which is likely to impact their future management. Understanding how tree growth responds to regional and seasonal variation in climate is essential to anticipate future management of boreal forests. We compiled and summarized black spruce climate-growth relationships fr...

In the context of global change, a better understanding of the dynamics of wood degradation, and how they relate to tree attributes and climatic conditions, is necessary to improve broad‐scale assessments of the contributions of deadwood to various ecological processes, and ultimately, for the development of adaptive post‐disturbance management str...

We reviewed recent literature to identify the positive and negative effects of thinning on both stand-and tree-level resistance and resilience to four stressors that are expected to increase in frequency and/or severity due to global change: (1) drought, (2) fire, (3) insects and pathogens, and (4) wind. There is strong evidence that thinning, part...

Forest logging has contributed to the decline of several woodland caribou populations by causing the fragmentation of mature coniferous stands. Such habitat alterations could be worsened by spruce budworm (SBW) outbreaks. Using 6201 vegetation plots from provincial inventories conducted after the last SBW outbreak (1968–1992) in boreal forests of Q...

Aim Lichens are a major component of Arctic biodiversity. However, they appear vulnerable to climate change, as they are exposed to warmer temperatures and increased competition with vascular plants. Our study aims to evaluate lichen cover, species richness, functional diversity and community composition among the dominant vegetation types along a...

Climate strongly limits the physiological processes of trees near their range limits, leading to increased growth sensitivity. Northeastern North America is experiencing considerable warming, so the growth of trees near the northern treeline represents a key indicator of forest responses to climate change. However, tree-ring series and correspondin...

Lichens are an important component of biodiversity in northern ecosystems and are involved in diverse ecological processes. They contribute to nutrient availability through nitrogen fixation, are a substantial part of caribou winter diet, and influence global climate by increasing land surface albedo. Over the last decades, increased primary produc...

Highlights •Few (2%) planktivorous fish from coastal waters of the southeast Pacific had ingested microplastics. •Microplastics were degraded hard fragments and threads of various colours. •Planktivorous fishes from the SE Pacific coasts are under low risk of microplastic contamination. •Upwelled coastal waters may quickly transport plastic litt...