Understanding aspen in the James Bay area of Quebec at multiple scales by Kristen L. Whitbeck Doctor of Philosophy Department of Natural Resource Sciences Macdonald Campus of McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada November 2013 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Gradute Studies and Research in partial filfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... xi ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. xiii RÉSUMÉ................................................................................................................................... xv CONTRIBUTIONS OF AUTHORS ....................................................................................... xvii CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE ................................................................................. xix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... xxiii 1 General Introduction ........................................................................................................... 25 1.1 Literature Review...................................................................................................... 26 1.1.1 Theoretical perspectives on the distribution and abundance of species ...... 26 1.1.2 Populus tremuloides – the focal species...................................................... 28 1.1.3 Forest response to climate change ............................................................... 29 1.1.4 The distribution and abundance of trembling aspen in Quebec .................. 30 1.1.5 An ecological perspective of the study area – from biome to landscape ..................................................................................................... 31 1.1.6 A general review of the controls over species distribution and abundance .................................................................................................... 35 1.1.7 Aspen stand scale studies ............................................................................ 43 1.1.8 Aspen Ecology ............................................................................................ 44 1.2 Thesis Roadmap ........................................................................................................ 45 1.2.1 Thesis structure ........................................................................................... 45 1.2.2 Research Questions and Objectives ............................................................ 45 1.3 References ................................................................................................................. 47 2 Aspen near its northern range edge in Quebec: Is human activity more important than climate? ....................................................................................................................... 59 2.1 Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 59 2.2 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 60 2.3 Methods .................................................................................................................... 63 2.3.1 Study area - James Bay Area....................................................................... 63 2.3.2 Ground reference data ................................................................................. 64 2.3.3 Remotely sensed images and pre-processing .............................................. 66 2.3.4 Image analysis ............................................................................................. 67 2.3.5 Map generation and error characterization .................................................. 68 2.3.6 Aspen in the James Bay Area ...................................................................... 68 2.4 Results ....................................................................................................................... 69 2.4.1 Image classification ..................................................................................... 69 iii 2.4.2 Accuracy assessment ................................................................................... 70 2.4.3 Aspen in the James Bay Area ...................................................................... 70 2.5 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 72 2.6 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... 76 2.7 References ................................................................................................................. 76 2.8 Tables ........................................................................................................................ 81 2.9 Figures ....................................................................................................................... 86 3 Aspen growth response to change in environment along a latitudinal gradient in the eastern Canadian boreal forest ............................................................................................ 93 3.1 Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 93 3.2 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 94 3.3 Materials and Methods .............................................................................................. 96 3.3.1 Study area .................................................................................................... 96 3.3.2 Ethics statement ........................................................................................... 97 3.3.3 Site selection ................................................................................................ 97 3.3.4 Tree selection criteria, measurements and sampling ................................... 98 3.3.5 Sample preparation ...................................................................................... 98 3.3.6 Sample data set for analysis ........................................................................ 98 3.3.7 Sites and height growth-climate relationship .............................................. 99 3.4 Results ....................................................................................................................... 99 3.4.1 Latitude and climate .................................................................................... 99 3.4.2 Aspen growth in relation to latitude .......................................................... 100 3.5 Discussion ............................................................................................................... 100 3.6 References ............................................................................................................... 102 3.7 Figures ..................................................................................................................... 105 4 Ecological Analyses of Trembling Aspen and associated vegetation near Aspen’s Northern Distributional Limit ........................................................................................... 111 4.1 Abstract ................................................................................................................... 111 4.2 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 112 4.3 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................ 114 4.3.1 Study area – Old Factory Lake Watershed, Quebec, Canada .................... 114 4.3.2 Sampling design and data collection ......................................................... 115 4.3.3 Laboratory analyses methodology ............................................................. 116 4.3.4 Treatment of data prior to statistical analysis ............................................ 117 4.3.5 Synthesis of data - statistical analyses ....................................................... 117 4.4 Results ..................................................................................................................... 119 4.4.1 Vegetation – environment relationships – RDA........................................ 119 4.4.2 Aspen – environment relationships – multiple linear regressions ............. 120 4.4.3 Discussion ................................................................................................. 121 4.4.4 Understanding the distribution of aspen near its NDL .............................. 126 iv 4.5 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. 127 4.6 References ..............................................................................................................