Social and Biophysical Correlates of Change in Forest Landscapes of the Interior Columbia Basin, USA

Understanding multi-scale interactions among human activities and biophysical factors in ecosystem dynamics is a critical step toward managing for long-term ecological integrity. Studying variation and change over multiple spatial and temporal scales (100-100 000 ha and 1-500 yr) allows one to tease...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecological applications 2003-02, Vol.13 (1), p.51-67
Main Authors: Black, Anne E., Morgan, Penelope, Hessburg, Paul F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
biophysical assessment
Censuses
change detection
Changes in Forest Landscape
Columbia River Basin (USA)
Coniferous forests
Forest ecology
Geology
ICBEMP
landscape assessment
Landscape ecology
Landscapes
Logging
Pacific Northwest
social assessment
spatial pattern
Subwatersheds
Topographical elevation
Vegetation
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Summary:Understanding multi-scale interactions among human activities and biophysical factors in ecosystem dynamics is a critical step toward managing for long-term ecological integrity. Studying variation and change over multiple spatial and temporal scales (100-100 000 ha and 1-500 yr) allows one to tease apart the relative roles of these factors. Using meso-scale data predominantly from the recent Interior Columbia River Basin Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP), we assessed the role of several economic, demographic, cultural, climatic, topographic, and geologic factors in forest spatial pattern changes (from the 1930s to the 1990s) across $800\,000\>km^2$ of the interior Northwest, USA. Our 228 forested subwatersheds (~10 000 ha) lie in 76 counties in six states. We identified key correlates of change, their hierarchical scale, and the scale of vegetation classification at which these correlates explained most change. We used general linear models and partial multiple regression analysis, supplemented by logistic and correlation analysis. Models explained 40-93% of total variation. Changes were not necessarily correlated to factors of the same scale. Broad-scale social systems encompassing land ownership systems, economic market structures, and cultural value systems appear in all significant models regardless of the response scale. Biophysical parameters describing growing site conditions moderated or exacerbated changes.
ISSN:1051-0761
1939-5582
DOI:10.1890/1051-0761(2003)013[0051:SABCOC]2.0.CO;2