Ecological Modifications Caused by the Removal of Tree and Shrub Canopies in the Mackenzie Delta

Auteurs-es

  • Don Gill

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic2904

Mots-clés :

Active layer

Résumé

Environmental and floristic evidence is presented to show that after removal of the white spruce (Picea glauca) and willow-alder (Salix spp.-Alnus crispa) canopies from exposed sites in the Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories, environmental degradation is such that secondary succession of low-arctic tundra heath, moss and lichen species takes place. The extreme exposure of cleared sites enables a hardy group of tundra plants to compete with the local flora and invade the previously forested location. Site degeneration is further evidenced by turf hummocks and a characteristic "hummock-type" active layer configuration that developed within only 20 years after clear-cutting.

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Publié-e

1973-01-01

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Rubrique

Articles